HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

According to a certain someone, March means Birthdays (important, milestone birthdays), Reuben Sandwiches and Shamrock Shakes. Instead of making the trip to Chicago Diner, home of the award-winning Radical Reuben Sandwich, we decided to tackle this recipe on our own.

Vegan Reuben Sandwiches

1 lb. seitan, thinly sliced (we made our own seitan as the store bought version leaves something to be desired - see recipe below)
1 cup pickle juice
1/2 cup beet juice
1 tsp. pickling spice
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
(we doubled this recipe in order to cover the enormous amount of seitan we made)
Reuben Sauce
1/4 cup soy mayonnaise
3 Tbs. ketchup
2 Tbs. finely chopped pickles
(we just kind of added ingredients to the bowl until we found something that tasted good)
Sandwiches
rye bread
mozzarella style rice cheese
sauerkraut, for garnish

To make seitan: Place seitan in baking dish. Bring pickle juice, beet juice, pickling spice, garlic powder, pepper, and 1 cup water to a boil in saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes. Pour over sliced seitan. Cover and cool. Chill overnight.

To make reuben sauce: Combine all ingredients in bowl.
To make sandwiches: Preheat oven to broil. Butter one side of each slice of rye bread and place on baking sheet. Place in broiler for 2 minutes or until bread is crispy. Remove two slices of bread and set aside. Top the remaining two bread slices with drained seitan and cheese. Broil 5 to 7 minutes, or until seitan is hot and cheese is melted/slightly brown. Transfer seitan-topped bread slices to serving plates, and garnish with sauerkraut. Spread remaining 2 bread slices with reuben sauce, and place on top of sandwiches.

We served our sandwiches with boiled cabbage.
Pretty simple: cut cabbage and place in a pot with water. Cover and boil until tender. Add salt, pepper, and vegan margarine to taste.

Easy Do-It-Yourself Seitan
1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cups nutritional yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 - 1 cup cold water
1 tbsp. ketchup
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp garlic powder

Truth be told, we kind of just added spices at random.  This recipe acted more like a loose template for important ingredients like water, wheat gluten, etc.

Preheat oven to 325.
Mix dry ingredients.
Mix wet ingredients.
Combine and knead for several minutes.
Roll into a log and wrap tightly with tin foil.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 90 minutes.
The loaf will expand and possibly break the foil. Continue to bake for full 90 minutes.

Vegan Shamrock Shake

soy ice cream (we used SO delicious vanilla)
soy milk (vanilla flavored)
mint extract
green food dye

basically scoop some ice cream in a blender, add a little soy milk, a splash of mint extract to taste, and 5 drops food coloring.  blend.  add more soy milk as needed for consistency. Serve.
Take that McDonald's!

sassy joes

at work all day friday. ten hours.

i walk in the door and am greeted with a kiss and a beer...and, about 30 minutes later, a delicious meal. it was supposed to be a surprise.

a peek in the kitchen:
the cutting board was covered with diced vegetables: tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and peppers (green and jalapeno).
since everything we eat contains vegetables, this did not really reveal much.
there was also a bowl of tofu - mashed with a fork.
again, nothing too revealing.
bottles of ingredients filled the counters and i spotted a package of whole wheat buns.
ideas were starting to form.

as i sat on the the couch smoking a cigarette, watching chopped, and drinking a beer, i could smell said diced vegetables being sauteed.


a trip to the fridge to grab another beer revealed a delicious coleslaw prepared with shredded broccoli, carrots, and red cabbage and coated with a mixture that involved white wine vinegar, sugar, and veganaise.

more couch sitting, cigarette smoking, tv watching, and beer drinking. in the kitchen, tofu was being browned with molasses.


the sauteed vegetables were added to the tofu along with spices, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, horseradish mustard, a can of tomato paste (there may have been other ingredients, but i was watching tv so i'm not quite certain).

essentially, the contents of the pan were placed on the whole wheat bun and we ended up with sassy joes - i call them sassy because the chef was sassy. said sassy joes were served alongside the delicious coleslaw to produce a meal reminiscent of childhood. it was delicious.
~L