Dijon Pecan, Take Two

A few days ago, I posted a picture of some Dijon Pecan Tofu that I'm testing for my cookbook. The flavor of mustard and crunchy, Southern pecans made for a tasty coating, but I wasn't happy with the soft texture of the tofu under the heavy breading. So I vowed to try again using seitan in place of tofu. I did that tonight. Here's my Dijon Pecan Seitan:

They were more like seitan nuggets because my homemade seitan always ends up in little nuggets or chunks. But it could be rolled out and shaped better, I'm sure. Unfortunately, this wasn't really what I was hoping it would be. It tasted okay and the texture was better this time, but that seitan really soaks up oil when fried resulting in a pretty greasy hunk of wheat gluten. Tasty, but damn, I feel fat after eating that stuff.

Since I already have a few fried faux meat recipes for the book, I've decided to try this flavor combo yet again ... but next time, I'm going to bake it. So it'll be kinda healthy. Southern food doesn't always have to be about fat and grease, right?

On the side, I made the Maple-Glazed Veggies from Pudge-Free Holidays by Happy Herbivore (head over there to get your own copy!):

The recipe calls for two cups of whatever veggies you want, but I followed the suggestion in the intro and used carrots and parsnips. These were so yummy, and I believe they were even fat-free (no oil!). The fat-free part made me feel a little better about my fried seitan. Frying doesn't always bother me, but some days it does. Probably because I didn't have time for the gym today.

Here's the whole plate:

I'll keep ya'll posted on the next incarnation of the Dijon Pecan Seitan. And hopefully, I'll have some yummy Solstice and Xmas sweets to show ya'll soon.