This recipe marks my first ever successful seitan attempt! Since succeding with sausage, my husband and I have been experienting with variations on this recipe, as well as different cooking methods for seitan (baking, deep frying, etc), and everything has been coming out great! Here, you can find Julie’s recipe (along with a great video guide!). These sausages are amazing! Fry them, chop them up, put them in everything! They would be great in pretty much any dish that you’d like to add a “meaty” texture to. Go check out the recipe!

Holy crap these are good! I stole the recipe from BunnyFoot, and modified it a bit. In my version, I put 3/4 cup of cranberries, an entire 14oz. can of pumpkin, and used less for cloves, and less for allspice. I have used this recipe twice now, and each time I got 18 medium sized muffins. Also, I bake mine at 375°C for about 25 minutes or so (when a toothpick comes put clean). The best thing about these muffins is how amazing they smell when making them!

This recipe is pretty simple, but does require a few steps, and a whole lot of vegetable chopping. Keep in mind, you can add any vegetable you like in your own pot pie and this recipe loosely outlines what was in mine.

Cooking away:

Ready to seal:

Finished baking! 1 large, and 2 individual sized pot pies:

Good eatin’:

Veggie Pot Pie

Crust (makes enough for 1 pot pie, double if following my filling recipe exactly):

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup Earth Balance (or vegan butter of choice), very soft or melted
• 8 tbsp water

Filling:

• 1 cup chopped rutabaga
• 1 cup chopped yam
• 2 cups chopped potato
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms of choice, chopped
• 1 large red (or green, or yellow, or orange) bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 small, or 1 large carrot chopped
• 1 big handful baby spinach, loosely chopped
• 2 cups vegetable stock (water is fine as well)
• Seasonings of choice – I used seasoned salt, Vegetable Better than Bullion,
• Extra water (if needed)
• 1 tbsp oil of your choice

-Preheat the oven to 375
-Chop the rutabaga, yam, and potato
-Place the items into a very large, deep skillet with vegetable stock and oil, begin cooking on a medium-high heat (not maximum heat)
-Next chop the carrot, red pepper and mushrooms, and dice the onion - add to the skillet
-Lastly, chop the spinach and add to the skillet
-Add your chosen spices and seasonings, stir well, and let cook

-While the filling is cooking away, make the crust
-The crust is super easy! Begin by mixing the flour and salt together in a large bowl
-Add the Earth Balance and stir well
-Now you can slowly add the 8 tbsp of water while kneading the dough
-Knead very well for about 1 minute
-Don’t forget to keep an eye on your filling! Continue to stir as you work with the crust, add extra water in small amounts if needed
-Divide your crust so that you have about 3/4 of the dough for the bottom of the pot pie. and 1/4 of the dough for the top of the pot pie
-Use a rolling pin to roll out the larger section until you have a nice big thin circle
-Take the rolled out dough and line the bottom of your pie tin. Be sure to crimp the dough to the sides of the tins!
-Now check your filling – you want to cook the filling until all of the root vegetables become soft
-Once your filling is nice and soft, and seasoned to your taste you can fill your pie crust! Be sure not to put too much into pot pie – you want the filling to lay flat, or mound just a little, but not to be super full or overflowing.
-Next, use the rolling pin to roll out the remaining chunk of dough – you want another fairly large circle.
-Take the dough and place over top of your filling – crimp the top layer of dough to the bottom layer to prevent spillage while baking.
-Make a 1″ slit in the centre of the pie with a knife
-Now, we’re ready to bake!
-Place into a preheated oven, and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the crust turns a lovely shade of brown.

This recipe yields a huge amount! I was able to make one large pot pie for dinner, and two individual sized pies for freezing. If you don’t want the extra, just half the recipe! If you would like to freeze your pot pie, allow to cool completely before putting it into the freezer. I just used tin foil to seal mine up.

These were pretty darn good. I think I might have added a bit too much for beans, so next time I will be sure to stick to the recipe’s two cups (I added a bit more than this to finish off the can). The only other modification I made to the recipe was a dash of seasoned salt in the wet mixture. They work the best when pressed faily thin  with a spatula while cooking. I will definitely be making these again!

Got some chickpeas in your cupboard? How about making some Roasted Red Pepper Hummus! This recipe is darn near perfect, and I do consider myself to be somewhat of a hummus connoisseur. Here’s a picture of the giantic batch I threw together this past Sunday:

Check out Sarah Kramer’s La Dolce Vegan for this hummus recipe!

Fool Proof Pita Chips
(To Compliment Your Fancy Hummus)

• Pitas
• Seasoning of your choice
  (Paprika, Old Bay, Salt, pepper, anything!)

-Preheat oven to 350°C
-Take some pitas (you choose the quantity), cut once down the middle
-Cut each new piece into 1″ strips
-Spread the strips evenly on a baking pan
-Sprinkle with your choice of seasoning
-Bake at 350°C for about 15 minutes
-Voila! Pita chips!

I have even made “Salt & Vinegar” pita chips by brushing the unbaked pita wedges with vinegar, and topping with a sprinkle of salt. Experiment with spices and come up with something you like!

Since I am a bit late in contributing to the Vegan Month of Food, I figure I should post as much as I can in the next eleven days. First up is a recipe for Chewy Granola Bars!

These granola bars are super simple and super yummy! I like to wrap them up individually for easy morning grabbing. Here is the recipe:

Chewy Granola Bars

• 1 cup maple syrup
• 2/3 cup peanut butter (chunky works best)
• 2 and 2/3 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)
• 1 cup flour (whole wheat or all purpose)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional, but good if you have it)
• 1/2 cup wheat germ

• About 2 cups of your choosen mix-in (vegan chocolate chips, rasins, nuts, etc)

-Preheat oven to 350 °C, lightly grease a 9″X13″ baking pan and set aside
-Mix syrup and peanut butter – blend well
-Add the oats, flour, wheat germ, spices, and mix-in
-Once well blended, drop the mixture into a 9″X13″ baking pan
-Bake at 350 °C until top begins to brown, about 15-20 minutes
-Cut into your desired size while still warm
-Enjoy!

These bad boys save really well, especially when stored in an air-tight container.