Vegan MOFO - Day 16 - "Turkey" Surprise

Thanksgiving for my sister's family was spent for years at her in laws in San Diego. Grandma G spent hours and probably even days prepping for the feast. Of course, there was always some leftover turkey. After a few days you knew you were going to get tired of turkey sandwiches.

As was the yearly tradition, the day after Thanksgiving, no one wanted her to spend a lot of time in the kitchen...especially her. I'm not sure when this fun packet of yum was conceived, but both of my sister's girls always raved about Grandma's turkey surprise when they were little. I had the opportunity to finally try one when I was invited for the feast. They are a sinful little treat.

The original version was made with a filling of cream cheese, broccoli, and of course, turkey. The filling was then encased in crescent rolls that come in the cardboard can. In this remake the turkey is replaced by chicken style seitan, the cream cheese by toffutti brand non-hydrogenated cream cheese, and the crescents with vegan puff pastry.*

"Turkey" Surprise

4 servings

2 - 8 x 8 sheets of vegan puff pastry thawed and quartered
1 - 8 oz tub of toffutti non-hydrogenated cream cheese
1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 head broccoli crowns, chopped small (Approx 2 cups)
6 oz chicken seitan, chopped to approx 1/4 inch pieces (or leftover thanksgiving vegan roast)

Preheat oven to 350.

With mixer, blend onion powder and garlic powder into cream cheese in medium sized mixing bowl. Saute broccoli and seitan in about 1 tablespoon of liquid (cooking liquid from seitan or vegetable broth is perfect) until broccoli just turns bright green. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature (this is very important, see note below). Stir into cream cheese until completely blended. Divide filling evenly over 4 of the squares of puff pastry. Top with other four squares. Pinch to close. Place two of the pouches each on a cookie sheet. Bake for 28 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

**Note**

To avoid sticking issues with the puff pastry, do not let it get too warm.

Vegan MOFO - Day 15 - Chicken Cacciatore

I had a couple of suggestions for this conversion. My friends Julia and Jerry both requested this one. Neither of them had a specific recipe, but gave me some basic ingredients. I also remember my mom making this. I didn't like it much as a kid, but as my palate matured, I came to appreciate it more.

There are as many version of this as their are Italian men hitting on unsuspecting women in lounges all over the world. I took what my friends mentioned, what I remember my mom's version being, and ideas from the internet for inspiration. The result was stick to your ribs yummy.

Seitan Chicken Cacciatore

6 Servings with pasta

12 oz chicken style seitan chunks
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil divided
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
8 oz white mushrooms thickly sliced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper or to taste
1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
1 - 28 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

In saute pan brown onions in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once browned, remove from pan. In same pan add two tablespoons of olive oil to pan over medium low heat. Dredge seitan chunks in flour and add to pan. Saute until browned, turning once. Turn off heat. In large pot heat remaining olive oil. Add minced garlic and saute about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add green peppers, mushrooms, herbs, salt, and pepper. Saute until peppers are slightly soft and mushrooms have released their juices. You may need to add a bit more liquid if vegetables start to stick (use veg broth or a bit of the wine). Once the liquid starts to reduce, deglaze with wine. Saute for 2 minutes and stir in tomato paste until combined. Add diced tomatoes and onions. Saute for 20 or 30 minutes. Add seitan and saute for 10 more minutes.

Serve over warm cooked pasta of your choice. If you like, you can sprinkle with vegan parmesan and crushed red peppers.

Vegan MOFO Day 14 - Chicken Fried Tofu

I've been out of town and trying to get caught up with stuff at home. I will get back to conversions very soon.

This delicious dish was originally inpired by Johnp. Fried chicken is a favorite of many of my friends and family members. This was one of my closet...or for that matter, not so closet food addictions before giving up the birdies. I loved the crispy coating, the seasoning in the breading, the finger licking goodness. The thought of it is making me drool as I'm typing.

When we were little, my parents owned a pet shop. The shop was open late on Fridays, so no dinner was made. The ritual was to order pizza from a small family owned pizza joint. I hated pizza as a kid. This same little place had incredible fried chicken. I am still trying to duplicate the spices of that stuff. When we had it at home my mom used to use a giant skillet and hand bread the chicken. I remember not so patiently waiting for the crispy goodness to hit my plate. No fried chicken dinner was worth it's weight without some creamy mashed potatoes with peppery gravy. Man this is the stuff that food dreams are made of!

Here is my tribute to crispy, greasy, deliciousness!

Vegan MOFO - Day 11 - San Antonio

I'm still out of town visiting my two besties from grade school in San Antonio. I don't have the cord for my camera, so no pics today. San Antonio doesn't have a whole load of vegan options, but I can work my way around a lot of menus.

Our first stop was Acenar. It's very close to our hotel and is right on the Riverwalk. We decided to start slow with drinks and appetizers. The prickly pear margaritas were very pretty and quite tasty. We were so excited to be together, they could have served us riverwater and cardboard and it would have been awesome. They offer tableside guacamole. This is a save vegan bet. We had her put extra serranos in it. OK, so it wasn't the best I've ever had, but the ambiance and the company were outstanding.

I'm feeling a little carb overload. I can probably do without chips and salsa for a couple of months after this. That seems to be one of the few vegan things on the menus here. Hee hee. We had lots of red wine last night, so I'm not feeling very inspired today. So I apologize for the boring entry. I'm hoping I will have a nice plate of grilled veggies tonight! My poor belly.

When I get back home on Tuesday, the family recipe conversions will continue! Stay tuned and have a great Sunday.

Vegan MOFO - Day 10 - An ode to Mrs Eichenberger

Mrs. Eichenberger was our lunch lady in grade school. We actually went to school in a time when lunches were actually real food made by old ladies who cared about what they cooked for the kids. We paid 4 cents for a pint of milk.

One of my favorite lunches was the "pizza burger". It was neither a pizza or a burger. In hindsight and with many years of food experience behind me, I found it was a rather crafty way to use the leftover spaghetti sauce from the lunches earlier in the week. The matrons of the school cafeteria took spaghetti sauce (probably made with some soy burger rations) and a really cheap nasty cheddar cheese that got totally crusty when broiled. OK, now when I think of this today I'm thinking, "really? That is some nasty shiitake." But in the day it was like gold.

I had some leftover spaghetti sauce from the remake of Tracey's sauce. I found some Orrowheat sandwich rounds, which seemed to me to be the perfect canvas for this remake. I slathered that sauce on the rounds, added some Daiya cheddar and plopped it under the broiler. Ah, the sweet memories of grade school took over my snobby foodie palate and made me 10 years old again. It was the best forking lunch I've had in a long time. Viva la Mrs. Eichenberger and LITH Elementary School!!!

Vegan MOFO - Day 9 - Durty Rice Cakes

I'm doing tomorrow's post a little early. I am going to be on the road and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get online. I also didn't want to forget how I made these. The flavor is really good. I still want to tweak the cooking method a bit to get the perfect texture, but they are pretty good as written. Give them a try and let me know how they came out.

I made these to go with the stuffed okra. They still need a little tweaking to make them perfect, but they were damned tasty.

Durty Rice Cakes

Makes 10 cakes

1 cup uncooked short grain brown rice
2 cups filtered water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 green pepper, diced fine
1/2 medium onion, diced fine
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons catsup
2 teaspoons Tony C's Creole seasoning
6 oz seitan bacon
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 Tablespoon ground flax seed
1 Tablespoon unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons unseasoned breadcrumbs

Place brown rice in small saucepan with water. Bring water to a boil and cook rice 45-50 minutes until all liquid is absorbed. Let rice cool completely.

In medium sized iron skillet or saute pan, saute pepper, onion, an garlic until softened. Add catsup, creole seasoning and saute for about 3 more minutes. Add seitan bacon and black beans. cook until most of the liquid is gone. Take half of the mixture and puree in food processor. Add back to saute pan. Saute for 3 more minutes. Turn off heat.

Mix flax meal and soy milk together in small bowl. Let sit for a few minutes until flax seeds start to thicken. In a large bowl mix black bean mixture, cooled rice, bread crumbs, and flax mixture (flax egg). Stir until completely combined.

Form into 3-4 inch patties about 1/4 inch thick. Put on baking sheet lined with parchment. Let patties chill for at least an hour or they may fall apart when you cook them. Before cooking, coat both sides with bread crumbs.

Here is where they need a little tweaking. I baked them in the oven for about 15 minutes per side. They were still not quite the texture I wanted them. After baking, I sauteed them in a small amount of oil, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. I haven't tried just sauteeing them yet. They are delicate, so make sure to use caution when flipping. Cook for about 4 minutes per side. Gently remove from pan and drain on paper towels or paper bag.

Vegan MOFO - Day 8 - Iron Chef/Okra and Horseradish

Today I am straying from my there. I love iron chef! Did I tell you how much I love iron chef? It gives one a chance to see how creative they can be. It also opens you up to the possibility of ruining some perfectly good ingredients. This is my favorite arena. I love trying to figure out to how I can wing throwing together a great dinner with ingredients someone else picks out.

This challenge was a bit daunting for me because I can't really stand okra normally, especially the frozen stuff. The first challenge was finding fresh okra this time of the year. Score one for my friend Daphne! One of her neighbors had okra in her garden. I couldn't decide whether to use fresh or prepared horseradish, so I bought both. Now with the chosen ingredients in hand, I needed to get creating.

I had a theory that the pith in the okra is what gives it to that nasty slimy texture I despise. So I decided to clean out the seeds and pith and stuff those bad boys. Okra seems to show up in cajun/creole cuisine. This made me think I should put a cajun twist on things. Here is what I came up with.

Cornmeal Crusted Stuffed Okra served with Durty Rice Cake and Creole Sauce

Cashew Horseradish Cheese

1 cup raw cashews (measured before soaking)
1/2 package Mori-nu silken firm tofu
1 Tablespoon fresh grated horseradish
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Pinch of white pepper.

1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup corn meal
3/4 cup corn flour

Soak cashews in filtered water overnight. Drain. Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down sides of processor once or twice. Refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight. This cheese is excellent as a spread on crackers too!!

Get 12 medium sized fresh okra. If it is too large it will be very woody and stringy. If it is too small, it will be hard to stuff. Make a slit down the length of the okra. Carefully remove the pith and the seeds. Gently stuff the okra with the cashew cheese. Refrigerate stuffed okra while you prepare the creole sauce.

After the creole sauce is simmering. Heat canola and peanut oil to 350. Make a breading station with two shallow bowls. One with 1 cup of unsweetened soy milk. In the other bowl mix corn meal and corn flour. Place stuffed okra in milk, then dredge in flour mixture. Repeat one more time. Place breaded okra in hot oil carefully. Fry for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towel. Can keep warm in 250 degree oven while preparing side dishes.

Serve over Durty Rice Cake. Drizzle with creole sauce. (Recipes for these will be posted later as another MOFO entry. I have to pack for my trip!!!)