Not Your Mama's Pot Roast

On Sunday night, I did something that little old ladies have been doing on Sunday nights for years. I made a pot roast! But this was not your grandma's pot roast. In fact, it was the Not Your Mama's Pot Roast with Roasted Vegetables from Vegan Diner:

This seitan roast is slow-simmered along with red potatoes, carrots, and onions in a Crock-Pot of flavorful broth for hours. I haven't had pot roast in at least 17 years, and although I don't remember exactly what roast tastes like, I think this was pretty spot-on.

I always make seitan from scratch, and I've tried many, many recipes ... all of them delicious. But this one may be the most flavorful. The recipe did come from Julie Hasson, after all. She's the woman who gave us the steamed sausage. Of course, her seitan pot roast would be fabulous!

The tender, juicy roast is seasoned with Marmite and porcini mushroom powder, which I almost left out because it sounded too expensive. But thankfully, Whole Foods had dried porcinis in the bulk bins, so I was able to just get a small amount and grind them down into a powder using my mortar and pestle.

On the side are the veggies from the Crock-Pot, which were also bursting with slow-roasted flavor, and my own recipe for smoky collard greens (it'll be in my cookbook). This was the perfect Sunday meal, even though I cooked it too late on Sunday night and didn't get to try it until Monday night.

This is the first recipe I've made from Vegan Diner, a Xmas gift from my BFF Sheridan. But everything looks so amazing. The Grilled Cheezy Sandwiches with Homemade Great Smoky Mountain Cheeze, the Blue Plate Special (waffles 'n' gravy with potato scramble!), the Brown Rice Hazelnut Burgers, the Beer-Battered Onion Rings, and the Vampire Fries (garlic fries!) are next on my list. Oh, and don't forget the Ooey-Gooey Brownies and Mocha Malt for dessert.

Also, don't forget to enter my Good Belly probiotic drink giveaway!

More Lindsay Love!

Look Lindsay Nixon, I know you have a husband and all. But I really think we should get married anyway. I assume this means that you would cook delicious fat-free meals for me every night, right? If so, let's get hitched!

Yes, I just proposed to the author of Happy Herbivore. Since she's spoken for, I may have to keep dreaming. But maybe I can just marry her book. I would settle for that. Why am I so very enamored with Lindsay and her recipes? Here's why — Spicy Greens with Spicy Sausage:

It's simple really. Just Lindsay's homemade spicy steamed sausages (made in the Julie Hasson way) sliced up in collards with red pepper flakes, onion, garlic, and hot sauce. But as a Southern girl, I've never been all that crazy about collards that weren't cooked for at least 40 minutes. I've tried the quick-cook methods, but they always leave something to be desired. For some reason, Lindsay's simple preparation is just as tasty as if the greens simmered on a stove for hours. And there's no oil! Just blows my mind, really.

Did you notice that sexy macaroni peeking in the background? Yep, that's a Happy Herbivore recipe too. There's two variations on vegan mac & cheeze in the book — one is baked and the other is made on the stovetop. As a former fan of boxed macaroni and cheese, I opted for the latter — Easy Macaroni & Cheese:

It's made with Lindsay's creamy-as-hell vegan noochy sauce. Ridiculously good, y'all.