Wednesday, July 22, 2009

We Have a Winner! And Some Hot Wangz ...

Let's cut to the chase and announce the granola contest winner before I start showing ya'll everything I ate today. Last week, I hosted a MixMyGranola $20 gift certificate giveaway, in which the lucky random winner gets a chance to personalize his or her own granola from MixMyGranola.com. You guys posted great comments about what you'd include in your mix if you won.

This morning, I used a random number generator to choose a number from the comments of participants. And that lucky ducky winner is ..... (drumroll, please) ...Melisser of The Urban Housewife (#5)! Congrats Melisser! I'll shoot you an email with further instructions!

Now, on to the foodiness. Last night's dinner (and today's lunch) featured these Seitan Hot Wangz, a recipe I'm working on for my cookbook:

I've made these before, but they were much better this time. I've tweaked my seitan recipe to make it more tender and less chewy. Also, I used smaller seitan chunks than usual because this was some leftover seitan that I'd originally made for a seitan beef stew.

On the side were the Green Beans with Shallots and Walnuts from Vegan Soul Kitchen:

I got these beans in a CSA share that I'm sharin' with my friend who is currently in Germany. I knew I didn't want plain old green beans, so I found this tasty recipe. The beans are lightly boiled and then tossed with roasted shallots, a tangy mustard vinegarette, and garnished with walnuts. I think this is my new favorite way to eat fresh green beans.

I also had some Jalepeno-Basil Watermelon Salad:

This recipe is also going in my cookbook. It's super simple though — 2 cups chopped watermelon, juice of one lime, 1 Tbsp. finely minced jalepeno, and six leaves of chopped fresh basil. Oh, and salt to taste. Yummy-nummy!

This will be my last post until at least Tuesday night. I'm headed to Asheville, North Carolina for Veganstock, a big ole' PPK camping trip that involves lots of communal cookin' and something called tater pigs. I'll share plenty of pictures when I return, of course!

22 comments:

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

the 12 year old in me finds hot wangz very very funny!! they do look tasty though, so do those greens. yum.

have fun on your trip, looking forward to seeing the pix!!

Mary said...

Enjoy Veganstock! I'm very jealous.

jessy said...

oh man, i didn't know about Veganstock! i'm gonna have to see if i can join up next year or somethin'! the ppk folks seem so freak'n awesome! have fun, Bianca - i know you will!

the green beans 'n shallots sound so good - i love the tangy mustard vinegarette! hooray for your hot wangz tasting better & better! i cannot wait to test them out! totally making your watermelon salad as well - i never would have thought to try that combination and now i can't wait to! mmmmmmmmmm!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Yaaaay, Melisser is awesome - I'm glad she won!!

Have fun at the event!!

Anonymous said...

That bowl of watermelon looks amazing! So simple too. Yummy.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to Veganstock too! I'll only be there on Saturday though. I can't wait to meet everyone, it should be fun!

brandi said...

what!? i live in asheville and haven't heard of that! if you need any info on asheville feel free to hit me up!

ilovewalrus@yahoo.com

also, shawna lives here, and i think you know her through sheridan.

Gina said...

Hehe, the 12 year old in me found hot wangz realllly funny also...glad I wasn't the only one, haha.

Everything looks yummy as usual Bianca, have fun at Veganstock!

Kelly said...

...number me among the dirty minded, hehe. Even so, the hot wangz sound great.

And have a fantastic time at Veganstock!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Oh snap, I WON! I guess all the giveaways on my blog paid off! woo.

Those Wangz look so GOOD!

Mike K said...

Love the hot wangz - veganstock sounds like a blast, and I've never heard a bad word said about Asheville. Have fun!

The Voracious Vegan said...

Watermelon, lime juice, basil and jalapenos!?! YES PLEASE! This is the most delicious and inventive flavor combination I have heard in a loooong time. Thank you SO much for the inspiration.

Jen said...

i love hot wingin' seitan. love it. the green beans look good, and the jalapeno/mellon salad sounds intriguing.

btw, totally jealous about you getting to attend the gathering. hopefully you'll say something funny on my behalf. oh yeah, please give poopie a huge hug for me.

Unknown said...

I came here craving food...

I read the words "hot wangz."

And I am now craving something entirely different...

In news that I swear is TOTALLY UNRELATED, my boyfriend takes ill-timed naps. Grrr. Want to poke him in the chest and wake him up. Must... Resist...

(Great post, despite those of us with awesomely dirty minds mucking up your comments!!!)

Cyn said...

Those wingz look delicious! And I'm definitely making those green beans the next time I get some. I wish I was going camping with the PPK! Have fun.

Jen Treehugger said...

DAMN those Wangz look tasty good.
Congrats to Melliser and have a wicked time at veganstock!!

dirtyduck said...

that seiten (sp?) looks pretty yummy!you can tell you put a lot of effort into making them. seiten is the wheat gluten?

aTxVegn said...

Those wings look really spicy and good. Love the watermelon salad, and I am defintely craving some green beans now.

Anonymous said...

veganstock sounds so fun! have an amazing time! and your seitan hot wings look delicious. i'm JB, by the way. i'm definitely going to start following your blog, girl! :)

Lisa said...

I love your watermelon salad creation! And can't wait to hear about Veganstock. Hope you had a great time.

miss v said...

can't wait to hear about your trip! and i can't wait to try those hot wangz... yum!

Erin said...

Lucky Melisser!

Those green beans look super duper good, I like the idea of the walnuts with 'em. Yummy looking wings too!