Adventures in Vegan Cooking: Seitan Pot Pie

Last weekend, I went to my friend Daniel's apartment to make seitan pot pie.  I had never tried seitan before, and I've decided it is my new favorite fake meat.  Daniel got the recipe off the blog Vegan Sweetie, who, in turn, got it from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's book, Veganomicon.  Considering it was my first time making a pot pie, or pie crust for that matter, I think we did an awesome job and it turned out deliciously! 

In case you've never made a seitan pot pie before (and I'm guessing not many of you have), you will need the following incredients...

There is, of course, the seitan...

Add potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, corn, edamame...

Spinach works too!

Don't forget the vegetable broth!

Combine all into a hearty, stew-like concoction.

Consumption of alcohol whilst cooking also helps.

Oh, right, it's a pot pie!  So, at some point...a pie crust should be assembled...this process was surprisingly difficult, involving chopping the shortening into the flour mixture.  According to the recipe, however, it would make, like...the best pie crust ever.

Voila!  You have a pie crust!

And then...assemble!

We discovered that cooking can be stressful.

But it's all worth it, because in the end you have delicious seitan pot pie!

Pop a slice on a plate...and enjoy!

Adventures in Vegan Cupcake Making - Part 1

I've been so busy the past month with moving to a new apartment and other general life things that I've been too lazy to post on this blog. Sorry! So, to ease myself back into the habit of posting, I will share with you one of my more recently acquired pasttimes - Vegan Cupcakes!

I thought I would give vegan baking/cooking a try after several visits to Sticky Fingers, a bakery in the neighborhood of Columbia Heights in DC. I admired their delicious confections and discovered that you don't have to use milk, eggs, or butter to make tasty baked goods.

This brought me to the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (of Post Punk Kitchen fame) and Terry Hope Romero. There are over 75 cupcake recipes in that book and over the course of this summer, I'm determined to try making many of the amazing-sounding recipes in this book. So here are the first few attempts. I'll keep you posted.

Batch 1 - Chocolate Cupcakes (Made with Agave Nectar!) with Vanilla Buttercream Icing, Topped with Berries.

Batch 2 - S'mores!

Batch 3 - Margarita Cupcakes!

Batch 4 - Cookies & Cream

Anyhoo, those are all the vegan cupcakes I've made for now. I'll keep you posted as soon as I try some of the other crazy recipes in that book. Stay tuned!