Such a Scrumptious Sunday: Salad, Spaghetti, and Seitan

Gotta love Sunday.  Catch up on you to-do list, and with those who lift you higher!  I made plans with the brilliant Owen Densel- who is going to be the most incredible superhero of a dietitian and inspires the crizzaap out of me- we are both huge food nerds! We were going to go out and order veggie dishes, but instead  I asked Jesse if we could maybe borrow his kitchen with high hopes of some mouthes to feed..

They didn’t seem to have any complaints about the idea 🙂  Owen made an awesome light, cooling, and hearty avocado, tomato, cilantro, cucumber salad, and I made some zucchinilini with raw marinara and steamed sweet potato, as well as a millet, okra, corn and purple cauliflower casserole.

Owen (with the baseball cap in the bottom corner there) made:

The Salad:

Ingredients:

• 3 handfuls of spring mix
• 3 avocados
• Package (or 2 cups) of grape tomatoes
• Bunch of Cilantro
• 1 cucumber

Steps:

1. Dice up spring mix, place in mixing bowl
2. smash up the avocados,( place in mixing bowl )
3. cut the grape tomatoes in half,( place in mixing bowl )
4. dice the cucumber into little cubes, (place in mixing bowl)
5. dice up cilantro, (place in mixing bowl)
6. mix mix mix !

The Spaghetti:

Ingredients:

• 6 zucchini
• 2 sweet potato
• any leftover veggies (we had leftover frozen corn and okra)

Steps:

1. Spiralize the zucchini with a spiralizer or a potato peeler
2. Slice the sweet potato into small chunks and steam until soft
3. mix veggies up in a large bowl

The Marinara:

Ingredients

• 3 tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 small-medium onion
• about 1/3 cup sun-dried tomato
• 4-5 soft medjool dates (pitted)
• about 3 Tbs Italian seasonings

Steps:

1. Chop tomatoes, onion, garlic, and dates just enough to be easy on your blender or food processor
2. Blend in blender until desired consistency (until smooth, or chunky.. if you like it chunky)
3. Pour over bowl of prepared vegetables.  Garnish with diced tomato, chopped kale, and plenty of basil!

The Casserole:

From Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet” “Polenta Casserole with Seitan”

I had most of these ingredients just sitting in my desk drawer (the tahini, braggs liquid aminos, millet) and I’ve been trying to experiment with more recipes lately.  This recipe was perfect to try, if I can do it- I guarantee you can to!  It was so light and fluffy, with a mild hearty Asian twang. Really great dish 🙂 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup millet or 1 1/2 cups polenta or cornmeal
• 1 medium-size head cauliflower, cut in large pieces (I could only find purple cauliflower, so our casserole ended up being a pretty purple 😛 )
• 1 cup peas, fresh or frozen and thawed (I didn’t have peas, but I had frozen okra, so I used that.  I ❤ okra! It was great!)
• 1 (8-ounce) package seitan, sliced (I couldn’t find seitan so I used organic tempeh, I have never used either before and am still learning about the differences between the two, but the tempeh seemed to be fine)
• 1 cup of thawed frozen corn
• 6 asparagus spears cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame tahini
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 1 1/2 Tbs shoyu (I used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos) plus one more to sprinkle on top
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• fresh basil for garnish

Steps:

1. Place the millet in a large heavy pot.  Add the cauliflower, peas (if using fresh) and 3 cups of water (add 5 cups if using polenta). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes (30 minutes if using polenta).  Polenta must be stirred frequently as it cooks to prevent it from sticking or becoming lumpy, but you don’t have to stir millet.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8″ x 8″ casserole dish.
3. While the cauliflower mixture cooks, arrange the sliced seitan in the casserole dish. Layer the corn kernels on top, and then add the asparagus. (I think next time I make it I won’t do these layers and I will just mix in the corn and asparagus pieces into the cauliflower part, up to you!)
4. Remove the millet mixture from the heat.  Add the tahini, milk, shoyu, and mash with a potato masher or fork until the mixture resembles mashed potatoes.  Add the chopped parsley and peas (if using frozen) and mix well.  Spoon the mashed mixture into the casserole dish over the vegetables and smooth the top.  Poke a few small holes in the surface, and sprinkle with a little extra shoyu (this makes the top crispy)
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes (I think I got impatient and took it out at 25).  Let the casserole cool for 15 minutes (ya right..) before cutting into squares.  Garnish with basil, and serve.

It was so nice getting to share this scrumptious and healthy bounty with such wonderful people!  Everyone was inspired by the delicious vegetable dishes- ah! It brought me so much joy!  Owen and I were stoked to see people enjoying these amazing health foods.  I am so thankful for this opportunity tonight!  What a satisfying Sunday!  Off to a great week!

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