Shocking Twist & Delicious Seitan Recipe

If this blog was a soap opera, this post would be the shocking twist where you find out that I had an evil twin or that John Black was really Roman Brady with amnesia.  I’m being dramatic, but I’m about to tell you something I’ve never shared on this blog before.  I don’t eat meat.

I’m sure y’all fell off your chairs with that one.  Okay, maybe not, but I warned you I was feeling dramatic today.  No, I am not a hippie, nor am I starving, nor do I only eat lettuce.  I’m just a regular gal who happily hasn’t eaten meat in four years.  Someday, I want to share a longer post about my reasons and the misconceptions I’ve encountered, but for now I just want to share a really delicious recipe.

I made seitan for the first time.  Seitan is the protein part of wheat.  It’s made by washing wheat flour until the starch dissolves and all that’s left is the gluten protein.  And despite common misconceptions, there’s no reason for the majority of people to avoid gluten.  Gluten-free is not the same thing as carb-free and seitan is actually very healthy and is low in carbs, low in fat, and high in protein- a great diet food!

Now onto the recipe, we purchased pre-seasoned seitan from Whole Foods.  You can actually make seitan yourself, but from what I understand it is a laborious process and I haven’t tried it yet.



It came in a tofu-looking package, but inside the container it looked much different.  To be honest, it didn’t look too appetizing to me uncooked, but it did resemble chicken.  Seitan is often used as “vegetarian chicken” in meatless dishes.



I put the seitan in a warmed up and oiled frying pan and added Trader Joe’s Soyaki sauce (similar to teriyaki sauce and I’m sure you can add any sauce of your choice).



I added sliced baby portobello mushrooms, scallions, and frozen green beans to my stir fry and cooked until the seitan was browned.  I also added some some black sesame seeds for fun towards the end.



So easy, right?  Once cooked, I served it on top of some pasta.  Rice or quinoa probably would have gone better with the seitan stir fry, but I was in the mood for pasta and had finally found whole wheat elbow macaroni at the store and really wanted it (why do only some pasta shapes come in whole wheat?!)
And let me tell you, it was absolutely delicious!  Even my husband who still eats meat from time to time thought seitan was absolutely delicious!  He has been calling it his new favorite food since this dinner.  Sorry for the at-night photos, but it was dinner time and I was too hungry to mess with taking photos!



So that’s my shocking twist and seitan recipe.  It was so quick and easy, I can barely call this a recipe, but it was too tasty not to share.  Have you ever tried seitan ?  Are there any other part-time or full-time meatless eaters out there?

Easter Dessert Ideas

I don’t know how Easter manages to sneak up on me every year, but somehow it does.  Easter is in just a few days so I’ve been thinking of some Easter desserts I could make, as I do every year.  But first, a look at some of the spring and Easter desserts I’ve made in the past:

Easter Bunny Cupcakes: These were a hit when I made them last year.

My sister’s Easter Bunny Cupcakes which inspired the ones I made above.

Edible Fruit Arrangement Bouquet: I originally made this for Mother’s Day, but think it would be a perfect Easter dessert too.

Those cute little bunny cupcakes are going to be hard to top this year, so I’ve been on the hunt for some new cute Easter dessert ideas.

The pretty flower is actually edible and made from pineapple!

(source: duitang.com)

These carrot cupcakes are decorated with M&Ms. 
Looks tasty and not too complicated to make.

(source: Squidoo.com)

Instead of cupcakes, I love these adorable Easter bunny cream puffs.

(source LandOLakes.com)

Although these Carrot and Zucchini bars aren’t “Easter shaped”
they sound like a delicious Spring dessert.

(source RealMomKitchen.com)

I just love making holiday desserts.  Can you guess which one of the above desserts I’m thinking about making for this Easter?  Do you have any Easter desserts planned for this year?

My Dream House

I’ve got some bad news.  I did NOT win the $640 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot on Friday.  Total bummer.  Even though I didn’t win, I had some fun waiting for my winning numbers to be drawn and dreaming about what I would do with all that moolah (besides my initial act of rolling in it and throwing it into the air to make it rain, gangsta style).  Of course I would give a ton of money away to my family, friends, charities, and travel around the world, but I also fantasized about what my dream house would look like. 

I’m thinking I’d want my dream house to be on a tropical beach somewhere with a big wrap around porch and some swinging or rocking chairs to enjoy the view.

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I’d love to have a big bright kitchen with white cabinets, a huge island, and lots of windows.

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And since this is my dream kitchen, it needs a big butlers pantry where I could prep and store food so it would be out of the way while entertaining in the kitchen (even in my wildest dreams I think practically)
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I’d love to wake up and go to bed to the sound of the ocean, so I dream of a bedroom with a big balcony with sweeping views.  And maybe it would have a window seat where I could look out and count my lucky stars too.

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Since my dream house is in a beautiful tropical place, I think it needs an outdoor shower and bath.

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And of course the dream house needs some entertainment space.  How about an outdoor movie theatre (although my practical self wonders how to enjoy a movie while avoiding mosquitos and other critters- my dream house would have to be in a bug free zone).

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I’d want to stay active, so basketball and tennis courts in the backyard would be amazing.  I know they’d be on my hubby’s dream list too.

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And I wouldn’t want to give up gardening.  I think I’d like a big garden where I could grow flowers and my own fruits and veggies.

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And chickens.  I’ve always wanted to raise my own egg laying hens.

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Of course, no dream home would be complete without a pool in the backyard.  I think I’d want one with palm trees and a waterfall.  Who am I kidding, it would need to have a water slide too.

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Ah, it’s nice to dream isn’t it?  So I didn’t win the lottery, but it was fun to find photos of these amazing homes.  What would your dream home look like if you won the lottery?  Would it be on a beach like mine?