Sunday, October 9, 2011

Two Recipes and a review

Where has the time gone? I cannot believe it has been so many weeks since I last posted on my blog.  I have been busy cooking, taking my 2nd son to millions of doctors appointments, and trying to keep the peace.  My 13 yo has some sort of mystery illness. He has felt sick for the past six weeks with no dr knowing what he has.  He has missed tons of school, feels like he has the flu, has no appetite, cant sleep, feels lightheaded at times, and itches all over.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Every blood test comes back negative including celiac, lyme, strep, and mono.  The allergist we saw on Friday seems to think this could be a mycoplasma infection.  But that blood test will not come back for two more weeks, so we wait.
So on to happier things like cooking!!!
I was sent a great surprise in the mail to review.  A huge container of Jasmati Rice by Rice Select.  The best thing about this container is that it is so secure.  No bug or little hands can get into very easily.  It also looks very nice on the shelf, and is easy to find!  As soon as the Jasmati Rice arrived I decided to make one of our favorite dinners.  Vegan Seitan Stirfry over Jasmati Rice.  This is the easiest and healthiest dinner.  Take your favorite veggies, chop them up small and saute them in a pan with a little EVOO.  For our dinner I chopped up onions, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, and zucchini.
After they saute for about 5 minutes, add in some chopped up seitan.  If the word seitan scares you, you are not alone!  I had seitan about 6 years ago and I hated it!  But once my husband went vegan I gave it another try and it is sooooo good! It seriously tastes just like pieces of meat.
So once your seitan is in, add in a little bit of soy sauce or any other sauce that you like.  Saute 2-4 more minutes so everything is nice and hot.  Serve it over your Jasmine rice and enjoy!!  Yum! Fresh, healthy, delicious!  I like to make my rice, steel cut oats, quinoa, wheat berries, or any other grain in my rice cooker.  It is so easy, set it and forget about it! No stirring, no checking. Comes out perfect everytime.
Here is how my Jasmine Rice looked in my rice cooker.
I quickly have time for one more cool recipe!
As I have written before, my kids love pizza.
So today I tried something new, pizza braids and boy was it a hit!
I used 2 loaves of Trader Joes white pizza dough, pizza sauce, shredded cheese, parmesan, and oregano.
It is a bit hard to describe how to make it and next time I do I will take step by step photos.
You stretch your pizza dough into a rectangle.  Cut little strips on each side of the dough so that you can make the braid.  Put the sauce and cheese, and any veggies or meat that your family likes in the center, then braid up your pizza. Once the braid is done, spray the top and sprinkle oregano and parmesan on top.  Bake at 325 for 15-30 minutes.  I thought it would be done at 15 minutes but I kept it in the full 30.  Just keep an eye on it.  I let mine sit outside the oven for 25 minutes and then it was easy to slice and the kids enjoyed it just a little bit hot, not burning.
Here is a picture of what it looked like at the end.
Next time I will be making a vegan pizza braid with sauce, veggie pepperoni and daiya cheese.  I am sure it will be amazing!
Have a great week everyone!
I hope to be back soon.