Pastiche Peppers

It seems like everyone has been doing stuffed pepper posts lately. Does it help that I typed this up at the beginning of the month and just scheduled it for now? Is it possible to get sick of stuffed peppers? This is the last post in my unofficial series of Things I Wrote Ridiculously Ahead of Time Because It’s Summer and I Want to Go Outside.

I haven’t had stuffed peppers since I was a child. All I remember about them was the fact that I used to eat the stuffing, but not the pepper, in that peculiar logic children seem to have, and that the stuffing itself was ground beef & rice. 

Since I have long since abandoned an omnivorous diet, and wasn’t in a veggie mince mood, I was faced with the challenge of coming up with something that was savory enough to do my memory justice. I was also intent on making this a make-now, eat-later meal. The recipe combines this broth recipe and the cooking temperature & averaged time from the stuffed tomatoes. I was very happy with how these turned out. 

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Ingredients:

5 peppers

1 bag of boil-in-the-bag rice

The broth from the seitan recipe

1 box of babybellas

Spray olive oil

Cheddar cheese shreds (2 or 3 cups)

5 or more american cheese slices

Nutritional yeast

Romano cheese

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Tools:

Cake pan and aluminum foil. (You just need something tall enough to stand the peppers in, & the foil makes clean-up easy).

Oven

Cutting board & knife

Food processor

2 large pots

Strainer

Mixing bowl

Cling wrap

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Preparation: 

1. Start the broth, then start the rice. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Process the mushrooms, then place in broth.

3. Is the rice ready? If so, strain & place in broth. Stir.

4. Strain the broth, mushroom, rice mixture. Place in mixing bowl & add cheese. Stir.

5. Remove the top portion of the pepper & insides.

6. Spray cake pan & peppers with olive oil.

7. Put mixture in peppers. Place peppers in cake pan. Place a slice of American cheese with a sprinkle of Romano & nutritional yeast on each cheese slice. Do not wrap peppers before placing in oven. Just let them stand up in the cake pan.

8. Place in oven at 400F for 15 minutes.

9. Remove from oven. Place on cooling rack, pan & all, and cover with cling wrap.

10. Go watch a movie for a couple of hours.

11. Remove cling wrap. Individually wrap each pepper in cling wrap & store in fridge in new container.

12. I microwaved these at 30 second intervals both wrapped and unwrapped, & ended up with an average microwave time of about a minute. I also think they heated up better unwrapped, which was a bit of a surprise. Decide for yourself which method you prefer, & check at intervals to determine your preferred cooking time.

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Enjoy!

So, what was in that? Salsa

I like salsa, but have never made it. So, I played around until salsa happened, without measuring or taking notes. 

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Ingredients:

4 Roma tomatoes

some vine-ripened tomatoes

some leftover prepped peppers (about a cup)

a bushel of cilantro

2 scallions, diced

some minced garlic

some garlic powder

some dried oregano?

some dried parsley

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Preparation:

About 3 of the Romas were diced, the rest were processed. The peppers & cilantro were also processed. Mix it all up until you are happy with the spices. This was stored & served cold with Sweets & Beets.

Enjoy!

So, This Is Seitan!

I’ve never made seitan, though I think I’ve tried it professionally prepared. Vegan Monologue recently posted her recipe for homeade seitan, along with points about the cost of prepackaged seitan and a mention of its nutritional value. I bought some prepackaged just to be certain l Iiked it, then decided to give the recipe a try. 

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Points I ignored which you shouldn’t:

Let it dry, even if the broth is calling to you like a siren song.

It really is enough for months. Even though the above looked pretty both in the picture and in person, you will never eat that much. Ok, *I* will never eat that much in one sitting.

Pan-frying and whatever it was I did up there with the broth are not the same thing, but it was fun and the flavor was yummy.

Seitan is chewy. Maybe it would have been less chewy if I had been more patient. If you want to try the fried flavor brothy goodness, party on, but then let it dry & fry it for real later. I liked that better than the fragrant but chewy first round.

I froze the rest, then thawed one slice, put it in the processor, fried the little seitan shreds with a dash of nutritional yeast, refrigerated it, and later made a faux cheesesteak, which I heated in the oven. (Real cheese, faux steak: I’m vegan-friendly, but vegetarian myself). I even added some ketchup for an authentic feel after the picture was taken. Good stuff!

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Her recipe is perfection, but I had to change some minor details due to a combination of allergies, personal taste, & what I had around. 

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Seitan Ingredient Modifications: 

1 tsp marjoram to Mrs. Dash

No onion powder

2 tsp garlic powder

+ a dash of nutritional yeast

+ a dash of parsley

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Broth Ingredient Modifications: 

No soy sauce

1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon liquid smoke

1 teaspoon Habanero Catsup

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Prep Modifications: 

I left it as one big loaf and cut it after removing from the broth.

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Enjoy!

Overnight Crockpot Oatmeal

After some consideration, I decided to not to pursue further nutrition appointments. While I was grateful for the meeting, too many things just weren’t sitting right. For starters: “I’m a vegetarian, why are you telling me to consider eating meat?”  

In short, I just felt like I wasn’t being listened to. Though my opinion may change, I felt it was best to go with my gut. Still, the mandate to eat more protein falls within my personal goals, so I’m going to continue on that path, in my own time and with my own stride.

Oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfasts, but I rarely eat it because it requires effort in the morning. I tried instant, and it’s good, if you don’t mind flakes in hot water. First thing in the morning, I don’t have the presence of mind to let it set. Which, is sad, I know, but know thyself…

I’ve done eggs on weekends or prepped them, but how many eggs can one woman eat? Boxed cereal tastes fine to me, but isn’t really protein-rich, nor particularly healthy. Oatmeal. The perfect solution. So, I looked it up. I have no connection to this writer, nor am I a regular reader there.

This is quite possibly the easiest recipe ever. Just remember to buy STEEL-CUT OATS and you’re good to go. I have a 3 quart crock and it worked fine. I didn’t add the fruit- just oatmeal and a dash of salt, follow directions, and wake up to warm fuzzies. Though, I did add a few fresh blueberries after the fact, and that was pretty yummy. I did not eat the crusty parts on the side & would not recommend them. This picture was taken after an 8 hour cook time. With the 7 hour, you end up with a creamier version and more usable food. After the first batch, I refrigerated it and microwaved each 1 cup serving for a minute. That worked perfectly.

(Note: the picture was taken after it had cooled down, because I don’t have the presence of mind to take a picture in the morning, either!;)

Enjoy!

Mini Product Reviews: Coconut Yogurt, Workout Powders, and Antihistamine

Here are some short but sweet product reviews. I did not receive any compensation, not even free samples, for doing this. These aren’t “real” reviews in the sense that I wrote these up out of a need to share/commiserate/express my opinion more than anything else. Sample-fed reviews, should they ever appear, will contain more details and will be clearly marked.

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1. First up, So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt/Chocolate:

Why? I learned of this on another blogger’s site & just had to try it.

Thoughts: It was good. Delicious, even. But, because it’s coconut-based, there is minimal protein (duh). This makes it a good dessert/snack, more than anything else. Probably great if you were already big on yogurt. I was not.

In summary: Liked it, won’t be making any special trips to get more.

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2. Next, Vega Sport Pre-Workout Energizer:

Why? Recommended by a vegan guru at a health-food store. I’ve never tried this sort of thing before my workouts, but figured why not.

Thoughts: Pretty good, wish it came in different flavors. I tend to avoid lemon-lime drinks, because I’m not crazy about them in general, but this was ok. Strange color. I was happier about the fact that I felt pretty energetic after drinking only half the glass.

In summary: Liked it, might get more if in the store for something else.

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3. Next, Vega Sport Performance Protein:

Why? Also recommended. I tend to feel hungry and exhausted after workouts, plus, this has protein, which I’ve been actively trying to incorporate into my diet.

Thoughts: Tasted great, smelled great. I’m allergic to it. I read and re-read the label, enjoyed the shake, but then started having a reaction. Such a bummer… I really wanted to like this.  I won’t know if it did anything because I had to take an antihistamine afterwards. Now, I’m all sleepy. This leaves me wondering if there are some unlisted allergens, or if it’s me.

In summary: Food allergies suck. This is probably a good product, too, but I’ll never know.

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4. Finally, Benadryl Allergy Strips:

Why? When I have a reaction, it sucks, but has thankfully been OTC-treatable. I saw these in the store one day and thought it was an excellent idea. The sooner I can get medication in my body when I’m having a reaction, the better off I am. Easy-dissolving strips seemed perfect. No glass of water needed.

Thoughts: This would be a great idea, if you could actually get the darn things to open. Supposedly, you can tear these open. Not my box. I cut and tore and origami-ed the packet until it finally opened. Totally defeats the purpose.

In summary: I think I’m going to stick with the regular kind. Either that, or perforate them ahead of time. Also, really, Benadryl, please work on a non-drowsy formula. Love that your products work, hate that they put me to sleep.

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Want to learn more about Vega Products? Check out The Cruelty-Free Review for a comprehensive review of their nutritional shakes and The Veggie Nook for her thoughts on the Workout Recovery Accelerator.