What…? But You Said You Were Vegan…

Yep… I BBQ too…

Why is it that people think that when you’re vegan, you don’t BBQ? Obviously from this blog, it’s evident that I absolutely love BBQ-ing! So, tonight, what did we have for dinner? Yup BBQ. 🙂

What was on the menu tonight? Oh my goodness gracious me, it was super yummy! Ooops I digress… mouth was having a quick flash-back to dinner… 

Ooops… Was so hungry I almost forgot to take a photo for you all!

Acorn squash, round zucchini, onion wedges, sweet corn on the cob, potatoes (lightly spiced and cooked in aluminium foil with a bit of vegan butter), and vegan burgers. I flavoured the acorn squash with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder with butter and started off with cooking it in the aluminium foil – but the foil kept opening so thought “sod this” and took them out the foil and put them direct on the grill – best thing about that was the butter had almost all melted so poured it over the squash ummmm. I did pretty much the same with everything else (spice-wise) except adding paprika to the potatoes, onions and zucchini with the addition of smoked paprika to the onions. With the burgers, I did the same spice (omitting the smoked paprika) and then added chipotle BBQ sauce over top. Oh yaah… 

But alas… what would our blog post be without at least one “issue”? Today we picked up a bag of charcoal and Ben doused the coals in lighter fluid, but not everything took! So it took another good dousing before we had a good fireball and the coals finally took. Even Jack had a chuckle as I explained the “issues” we’ve been having with this BBQ! BUT… it finally caught and we got to cooking – although Ben was fretful that we’d not be having dinner tonight. 

One of the highlights was when I came out the vardo and spotted Billy the goat up round our neighbour Ron’s rig and said “Hello Billy” and he came trotting over to me at rather high speed. First thought “Oh shit! Is he going to attack?!!” With a picnic table and BBQ between us, I had a quick thought of backtracking at a relative high speed back up the steps into the vardo. But no, he was just happy to see me and eager to come for his scratch. I guess I’ve felt a bit comforted having a natter with them all while they’re in their pens with a fence between us. But a goat on the loose high trotting it over for a visit…

Vegan candy being sold at Walmart – and only $1!!!

He’s a damn smart cookie though as he realised that he was not able to get round to me with a table and BBQ in between us, so I told him to walk round the table and BBQ and he totally listened to me! Came for a quick scratch behind the ears and then proceeded to munch on the Nopales cactus right behind the picnic table.  Jack came over for a quick visit with Cleo (who I’d been erroneously Chloe) and I told him about Billy’s rushing over to visit and he told me that he only does that with people he knows and likes. Yep… I beamed. Billy the goat likes me! 😀

Even says “VEGAN” right there on the packet! It’s kind of like Starburst candy, but not quite.

Popped up to Anthem today to hit-up Walmart and while we’re checking out, Ben picks up a packet of sweets and gets all excited and exclaims “WOW! These are vegan – even say’s it right there on the packet…!” That’s a pretty big thing for Walmart! Noticed it first with the new packet of Earth Balance (butter), but it’s still a novelty.

If I thought simply wearing hijab to Walmart out here brought out people staring, wearing full abaya (long dress) and hijab brings people to a literal mouth-gaping-open standstill… C’mon, I wore my nicest abaya today and all – they must have been mesmerized by the beautiful designs over it… 😉

It was a rather uneventful day all-in-all other than getting up to “the big smoke”, an incredibly delicious BBQ dinner, and Billy the goat near making me pee my pants with momentary thoughts of being mauled by a goat… But while I love it out here, and Billy the goat is a huge anchor (ha!), I’ve been feeling my feet itching… Ready to move on to the next destination and adventure… Could be the heat getting to me or has the wind changed direction and it’s calling deep within my soul…?

RV Vegan Cooking: Seitan Malaysian Chick’n Satay

I was craving chicken satay the other night… something I have not had in years. Having easy access to the BBQ, I figured that was the perfect opportunity to make these delicious morsels and experiment on my own vegan version of satay. I gotta say… I was so happy with the results. Delicious!

Of course… you have two nimrods operating the BBQ and I swear there must be a You Tube video up featuring us… again. This time, Ben got the BBQ started well, but then popped the satay’s on the grill right away instead of letting the coals heat up first… Just another laughable experience on our adventure here. But I gotta say, he sure is learning from these experiences… Eventually, we’ll be expert BBQ-ers. 🙂

Seitan Chick’n Satay

½ Onion
1″ piece ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks lemongrass (white parts only)
½ teaspoon Salt
2 TBSP Sugar
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Sweet Paprika Powder
½ tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp Tamari
3 TBSP cold water

2 cups and 1 TBSP vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp Vegeta vegetable bouillon powder
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 cup cold water
3/8 cup vegetable oil
3 tsp Tamari

12 bamboo sqewers (soaked in water for 2 hours)

1. Mix the first 15 ingrediets together in the food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.
2. Mix the next four ingredients together in a large bowl until very well mixed and then in a separate bowl, whisk together the next 3 ingredients plus the mixture in the food processor. Add it to the dry ingredients and bring together into a dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes and then set aside for 20 minutes.
3. Take 2 TBSP of the mixture and knead the dough very well, then form it into a log shape and flatten out slightly. Sqewer the dough through the bamboo sqewer and set on a tray. Repeat until all the dough is on the bambook sqewers and set on the tray.
4. Steam the seitan in the oven while on the skewers until it is cooked through (20-30 minutes). Place the skewers of seitan satay on a baking tray which is sitting over a basin of water and cover seitan with aluminium foil.
5. Heat BBQ until very hot. Brush about 2 TBSP vegetable oil over the grill (I placed an aluminium foil over the grill and then brushed the oil all over the aluminuim foil). Add the skewers of satay and then let cook on the BBQ until browned well.

Serve with steamed rice and chunks of fresh cucumber, sweet onions and satay sauce.
Satay Sauce

2 cups dry roasted peanuts (I didn’t have so I used 3 TBSP smooth peanut butter – if you have chunky peanut butter, that would be better)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup coconut cream (from can)
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp sweet paprika
3 TBSP sugar (I used white but brown would be best)
2 tsp sesame oil
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 TBSP Tamari
1-2 tsp Sriracha chili sauce
1 TBSP lime juice (or lemon juice or 2 TBSP tamarind pulp)

1. Place the peanuts in the food processor and process until they are chopped and still chunky (do not over process). Remove from food processor and set aside.
2. Put the remaining ingredients (unless using smooth peanut butter, if you are using this, add it now) into the food processor and process until smooth. Add the mixture to the peanuts and mix very well together.

 

RV Vegan Cooking: Vegan Spice Mug Cake

Ben went to bed early and I got a desperate urge for dessert – what to do? Ignore my craving, or be selfish…? Selfishness won out… easily. 😉

Chocolate cake flashed through my mind and my mad craving launched me on a frantic search for cocoa powder in the pantry in hopes of making a chocolate mug cake. Can’t even blame mid-month hormonal surges or PMS for this… URGH, we’re out of cocoa powder. Damn! What to do…? Ahhhh spice cake, yes I think so.

I raid the pantry in hushed silence grabbing everything that I need to make this secret cake, curbing my midnight mega snack attack, and not wake Ben up – his bed is right opposite the pantry. Mission accomplished, yaay! Who says I can’t be stealth? hehehe

I make my mug of cake and just as I sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top as a perfect finale, the scent of fresh spice cake desperately pleading with me to grab a spoon and dig in, a sound shocks me back out of my reverie and silent preparation of jumping face first into this mug of deliciousness… “Are you making a dessert?!” DAMN! The man has woken up! I then hear a small, child-like voice pleading… “I want sum…” Stealth-mode has been compromised. Here we go… round two.. slaving over a hot… er… microwave. Thank goodness this cake only takes a couple of minutes to prepare and 1 minutes and 45 seconds to “bake” in the microwave.

This is a perfect size individual serving, and I love that I don’t have to bake a full cake, plus not having a stove that works at the moment, this is a great alternative especially when the sudden desperate midnight urge for cake hits.

Vegan Spice Mug Cake

4 tbsp all-purpose white flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all the dry ingredients together very well until incorporated. Add the wet ingredients and mix together very well. Cook in microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. If the cake is still a bit wet after 1 minute 30, add another 15 seconds to the cook time.

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Now if I can only convince Winston that he doesn’t need to go out for a walk… He’s snoring, maybe I can pop into bed without him waking up? But then again, I do need to walk these calories off…

RV Vegan Cooking: Seitan Char Siu (BBQ Vegan Pork)

Now does this look like authentic meat or what? Very authentic in taste and 100% plant-based

Oh yes, I am obviously enjoying the break from crockpot cooking as we used the BBQ again tonight in an experimentation that went very well. 😉 Tonight’s dinner was a combination of Ben and my cooking. I did all the prep work and Ben BBQ’d it all. I only turned the seitan over on the BBQ and turned the veggies over while Ben got busy working on something with the car, but other than that… he took care of it. 😉

When Ben first married me, I introduced him to a lot of authentic Chinese food. I remember at one point his father came over to visit and he opened up one of our cupboards and pulled out a few items and said to his Dad “In all my life, I never would have thought that I would have something that looks like black wiry hair or seaweed in my pantry!” Those early day introductions were sometimes quite “interesting” dinners for this poor meat-and-potatoes American boy. But 10 years later, he’s as comfortable with many of these items as I am.

One of Ben’s absolute favourite dishes (from our pregan and non-Muslim days) was char siu – roast BBQ pork – often found in dim sum restaurants and hanging up in the window of the restaurant kitchen along with hanging roast duck and chicken. I’ve made char siu in vegan version before, but never on the BBQ which gives it that added authentic flavour and crispiness of the flame roasted parts. This is one dish that Ben gets an actual craving for, and thank goodness I’ve developed a recipe that satisfies his appetite and craving. But, as I mentioned above, tonight was the first time I’ve actually made it on the BBQ, and oh my goodness gracious me… I am in very much love. 🙂

In fact, the smell of the food cooking wafted over some great distances… Just before dishing up and sitting down to dinner, I took Winston for a walk down to the doggie park. On the way back, I hit the area just before the swimming pool and oh my! My olfactory senses were in a heady spin and my stomach began to talk to me quite loudly as I could smell our BBQ’d food all the way down at the swimming pool. I wonder what others in the park who know we are vegan must think when they get hit with the delicious scent of what is cooking on our BBQ…? I wonder if they get jealous! lol

It’s a bit of a haul in preparing the seitan, and quite honestly, I suggest making the seitan ahead of time and then keeping in the fridge overnight, but if you didn’t have a chance to do this, then it’s no problem cooking it earlier in the day and then putting it on the BBQ.

Here is the recipe…

Char Siu BBQ Seitan

2 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
1/2 cup plain white flour
1 packet “Hor” brand Char Siu marinade mix
1 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP onion powder
1 1/2 cups cold water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 TBSP tomato paste
3 TBSP light soy sauce (or Tamari)

1. Mix dry ingredients together until very well combined. In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients until very well combined. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix together until it combines into a glutenous dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes. Set aside and let it rest for 20-25 minutes. Shape it into a log that resembles a piece of meat.
2. In a crockpot, add 1 1/2 cups cold water, 1 TBSP each onion and garlic powder and 3 TBSP Hoisin sauce. Mix very well. Add the seitan log into the crockpot and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours until cooked through. At the half-way point (either 1 1/2 or 2 hours) turn over the seitan log and resume cooking.
3. Once seitan is cooked through, remove from crockpot to a large tray. Pour 2 TBSP Hoisin sauce and 1 TBSP sesame seed oil over the seitan and let sit while the BBQ is heating up. Once BBQ is hot, add the seitan and cook on BBQ for 15-20 minutes each side until the outside is cooked to your perfect desire.

Rabbit sitting underneath our next door neighbour Ron’s RV this afternoon. I took this photo while sitting on our sofa.

While the seitan was cooking in the crockpot, I was sitting on the sofa crocheting a blanket – figure it’s good to get blankets and such made so that when we move further north – and when we hit winter time – we’re all set. So I was sitting here crocheting and Ben says simply “rabbit”, I look up and see this rabbit hop under our next door neighbour, Ron’s, RV. Of course, I’ve always got my camera handy, and had to snap a couple of pics. I’m still in awe of this wildlife that is so close and living among it all.

Vegan RV Cooking: Black Beans and Rice

I’ve been well under the weather the past few days with a really bad Fibromyalgia and arthritis flare-up, so I wanted to make something super easy today, and something that Ben could easily keep an eye on every couple of hours while I spent much of the day in bed after yet another sleepless night. So as I went through the pantry, found a bag of black beans and decided to make black beans and rice. It’s a bit Brazilian inspired, and something Ben loved, reminding him of the time he spent living in Brazil and the foods he ate there.

This is a very simple dish, packed full of healthy protein, and delicious. You only really have to check on it a few times, especially in the first few hours to make sure that the water level doesn’t drop too low and the beans burn. Found out that it actually didn’t dry up and the liquid made a really delicious soupy sauce over the rice.

Here’s the recipe – something I’m going to be making more often I feel.

Black Beans and Rice

2 cups black beans, washed
Enough water to cover with 2 inches above top layer of beans
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 bay leaves
1 TBSP chili flakes
1 TBSP salt
1/2 TBSP ground black pepper
3 TBSP ground cumin
1 TBSP ground coriander
3 TBSP vegetable oil
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup TVP chunks

1. Soak beans for 4 hours until doubled in size. Drain water and add to the crockpot.
2. Add garlic, chili powder, bay leaves, salt, cumin and coriander. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours.
3. After the beans have cooked for 4 hours and are soft, (taste the liquid to see if you need to add more salt) add the diced tomatoes, TVP chunks and vegetable oil. Stir very well and cook for a further 2 hours on HIGH. Taste again to see if you need to adjust seasoning. I only had to add a little more salt and just a little more cumin. Remove crockpot lid and cook for a further 1 hour until the liquid has reduced but the sauce is still soupy-ish.

Serve over steamed rice.

RV Vegan Cooking: Monday Night Pasta… On Tuesday

Here is another recipe on my series of crock pot cooking. I’ve never made pasta in the crock pot before and I’ve been wandering how it would turn out. So today, being a bit under the weather, I wanted to make something really easy. I had posted on Facebook if anyone had tried this before and mentioned that I had no idea how this would turn out. My friend Alia told me to not worry about how it turned out, but to post yummy photos so that she could drool. So this one is dedicated to her. 😉

I was really happy with how it did turn out. Although, next time I won’t cook it as long… I went down for a nap and specifically told Ben (four times) to not let me sleep longer than a hour… he swears he didn’t “hear that part”… four times. So when he told me that next time he suggested I not cook it as long… *grrr*

Yes, the pasta was a wee bit soft and it could have done with at least an hour less cooking, so what I’d definitely suggest in this instance is to keep an eye on it after 2 hours cooking and time it from there.

1 packet Radiatori pasta (or pasta of your choice)
1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 can favourite pasta sauce (I used Hunts brand Garlic and Herb)
1 can diced Italian-style tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP onion powder
2 tsp Vegeta vegetable bouillon powder (or use your favourite vegetable bouillon)
2 tsp salt (or to taste)
3 tsp dried Italian herb mix (optional)
2 cups water

Mix the onions and garlic together and then add all the ingredients to the crock pot and stir well together. Cook on HIGH for 2 hours and then start keeping a watch every 30 minutes on how the pasta is cooking, and each time give it a good stir.