Thursday, March 27, 2008

Seitan and Dumplins

I've been working on perfecting my Seitan and Dumplins recipe, my vegan version of Chicken and Dumplins, for awhile. But tonight, I think I've finally settled the right combination of ingredients.



Last night, I made some quick seitan from vital gluten flour and simmered it in a "chicken"-flavored broth. Tonight, I simmered cubed potatoes, chopped carrots, and onions in vegetable broth. I made a batch of vegan biscuit dough, and dropped little pieces in the boiled broth mixture and then added the seitan. In the last minute of cooking, I added frozen peas.

This was definitely a hearty winter meal, even though it's spring now. But I really wanted to get this one right before it got too hot to eat hearty food. It's going in the cookbook since Chicken and Dumplins (notice there's no "g" at the end of "dumplin") are totally Southern fare.

My friend Leslie stopped by and sampled the dumplins, and she also brought me a very special treat — homemade herb-infused cinnamon maple syrup!!! I took a picture, but I'll have to flip it in Photoshop. I think I'll wait to post it when I make waffles again...which will be soon because I'm dying to try this stuff.

For dessert, I whipped up a batch of Mississippi Mud Cookies, a no-bake treat made with cocoa powder, peanut butter, and oats.



Stef from the Poopie Bitch blog brought a batch to lunch yesterday, and that got me craving more. I've been wanting create a veganized version for the dessert section in my cookbook anyway. These are REALLY simple.

Here's the recipe:

Mississippi Mud Cookies
---------------------
1/2 cup soymilk
2 cups evaporated cane sugar
1/2 cup soy margarine
3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 cup natural crunchy peanut butter (or any crunchy nut butter)
3 cups oats

Mix soymilk, sugar, margarine, and cocoa in a saucepan. Heat to a rapid boil, and then boil one more minute. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and oats. Drop tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper and place in the fridge to cool and harden.

UPDATE: This batch did not set completely so they were a little gooey. My mom tells me I should have let the mixture boil for 2-3 minutes. She also suggests plopping a little of the cocoa/butter/soymilk mixture into a glass of cold water before turning off the heat to see if it forms a ball. If it does, she says it's ready. Either way, they taste the same. It's just easier to pick up when the cookies are harder.

BTW, this will be my last post until Sunday or Monday....going to Nashville for the weekend...see ya!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This looks delicious!! Especially those mud cookies... I'm drooling over here!

J said...

Oh my goodness Bianca! You are my Queen! Brett has long missed the infamous 'No-Bake Chocolate Cookie', which is very unvegan, and I hadn't thought of a way to veganize it. Now I don't have to!! I'm totally sending him a link to this post. I imagine he will want me to make these for him. Thank you so much!!!!

Kumquat Peekapoo said...

I'm such a soup junky, and this looks amazing! I'll let you know how it turns out once I make it.

Anonymous said...

Those are almost exactly how I make mine, but I use 1/3 cup dutch process cocoa, boil for two minutes and add a tsp of vanilla. I also don't put mine in the fridge... darn it! Now I wish I had saved some more for myself - yours look so good!

And I can't wait for this famous cookbook to come out - I want 'chicken' and dumplins! Have a good time in Nashville!

Anonymous said...

Haha! Looks like we were leaving each other comments at the same time.

Yeah, I cook mine for two minutes (or a few seconds more) and I wait until they're at a full rolling boil before I start timing. Too long though and they get a little crumbly when dry.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Aww, thanks for the sweet comment on my blog. I was kinda sad, because it was so cold that I had to wear a sweatshirt all day (except to take the pictures).

Your food looks so good. The seitan and dumplings reminds me of pot pie filling. I have a pot pie recipe I've been meaning to make for some time now, and you reminded me that I need to do it!

Anonymous said...

your dumplins were damn good. I can't wait to buy your cookbook & then try the recipe.

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

why is it everyone makes food i cant live without the week I try to detox. If I don't have one of those missippi tasties (and appease my cramps who are now screaming for them) I might have to cry in public!

.w.o.w.

and no bake? you do love us!

oh, and the soup looks good. poor soup gets no attention with a treat like that in the same post....

p.s. adding your lovely blog to my neighborhood

Sam said...

I'm glad someone had seitan that turned out well! I made some tonight and it was horrible. It wasn't good at all... The cookies look wonderful!