Seitan Disasters, Our Blender and Guitar Lessons

I went through this whole rigmarole to make seitan and ended up ditching the thing because it was so unappealing. For those of you who don't know what it is, be grateful. It's wheat gluten that has been shaped to imitate meat, and it's standard fare at vegan restaurants as a meat substitute. It's actually very popular, and some say it's the ultimate meat impersonator, but it is in no way meat. In the end, you have to accept the fact that meat is meat, and you just can't replicate it. If you don't want to eat it, great, but don't try finding some facsimile because none of them cut it.

The seitan I made, and keep in mind I could have screwed it up, but it's pretty simple and straighforward, dare I say, un-ruinable. It's the appearance and texture that got to me, because the flavor is pretty benign. Kind of like a rubbery tofu, but mine came out brown so it looked just like stool, and I don't mean the kind you sit on. I cut it up and made a stew (or should I say "stewl?), hoping the gravy would hide the gluten, but then there was the texture to contend with. I ended up picking out every piece and then serving a vegetarian stew made with vegetables, and no meat substitutes, the way it should be. I put peas in the brown rice and figured that was enough protein, at least for that meal.

Needless to say, we won't be making any forrays into the world of wheat gluten any time soon.

We practiced guitar yesterday and the kids got a kick out of it, so much so that they are saying (I'd like to believe it's sincere) that they can't wait for their next lesson, which will be today. We practiced tuning the guitar (I cheated and used the electric tuner on mine, then we tuned theirs relative to mine w/ the pitch pipe) and then strumming. The lesson plan is extremely easy, so they haven't been discouraged thus far.

One last note-we love our blender. It's a great way to eat fresh or frozen fruit in a form that the kids really like. We pick berries in the spring/summer but never know what to with the excess. Sure, we can freeze them, but then you have to put them into something or cook them, because you can't eat frozen berries, and once they thaw, they're not very pleasant to look at or eat.

But now we have our blender, and can get crazy with smoothies. Best of all, we toss in a little yogurt and get all those benefits. Life is good with a blender, I recommend them.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Leslie Watts for the pic.

New Adventures in Dadhood

In the constant quest to eat less meat, I happened upon a dad blog (more on this later) by a dad blogger who was, like me, moving more towards vegan eating. On his site he had this post about seitan, (he didn't give the recipe!), which intrigued me. It's wheat gluten, and according to Moosewood, is a "dead ringer" for meat. Apparently wheat gluten, besides being a common allergen, is used as fake meat in a lot of vegetarian dishes. Not one to buy into the fake meat thing, (why fake it if you can have the real thing?) I was skeptical, but after seeing his vegan Philly Cheesesteak, I was intrigued. I did a search for a seitan recipe and it was actually pretty simple. Not unlike making bread, but much simpler, because once you start kneading it, it forms this clump that's easy to work with, even if it's a little gnarly looking, if unappealing. I'm guessing you hide the stuff in some sort of dark sauce. I even took the courageous step of eating it, and it wasn't bad. Crazy texture, not much flavor. I'm going to try to make a stew, so we'll see how this goes.

I've found more links to the world of dad blogging, and it's pretty substantial out there. I'm not sure how many of those guys are actually the primary caregivers, but a lot of dad's blog. I joined Dad Blogs, for all it's worth, and I guess there's a big community of dad bloggers out there who get together and swap bread recipes.

In our quest to make the perfect loaf of bread, I also went in search of diastic malt, I believe it's called. Never heard of the stuff, but a few bread experts have told me it makes the difference between good bread and life-altering bread. I'm willing to give it a try, if I can find the stuff. They didn't have it at the Coop, so I may need to break out the big guns and head over to King Arthur Flour. Should be interesting.

Until the next time, thanks for reading., and thanks to Jasper Greek Golangco for the pic.