RECIPE METHOD: Shredded Seitan

Seitan (pronounced SAY-tan) is one of those "weird vegan foods" that I swore I'd never cook. I had absolutely no clue what it was until I attempted to make it for the first time. I learned that making seitan is more of an ART than anything else--getting the texture and the taste right is a lot more difficult than I thought.

First, if you don't know what seitan is, I'll explain in a very tiny nutshell: Seitan is a vegan meat alternative that is made out of vital wheat gluten. Vital wheat gluten is what is left when you remove *everything* but the gluten from wheat flour. Gluten holds things like dough together and makes things stretchy (think pizza dough). This is what vital wheat gluten looks like:

It looks like flour, basically, but it's "springy"--which sounds odd until you see it for yourself. Anyway...

All seitan has one common ingredient: vital wheat gluten. But there are a million recipes out there for different flavors and textures of seitan. You can make it taste like pretty much whatever you'd like, based on what seasonings you use. Depending on what you add to it, you can get all sorts of different textures. Usually, the recipes involve adding some sort of protein (like tofu or beans), lots of seasonings, and vital wheat gluten. The only other thing you need is a blender or food processor.

I tried what felt like ten billion recipes for seitan and something was always off. Each time, though, I learned something else I might be able to tweak for next time. When I mentioned this several weeks ago on my blog, someone asked for the recipe--and naturally, I forgot to share! However, I made some seitan today, so I took pictures for the post.

This recipe for seitan is meant to replace shredded chicken. I tried so hard with other recipes to get the shredded texture and it just wasn't happening. This recipe is where it finally came together for me. Then I tweaked it to my preferences in taste and method. This recipe isn't from one source, although the basis of it comes from this video on YouTube by Green Beets Kitchen. That is how I made it before I started tweaking things.

Below is the recipe as I make it... including my changes. This is how Jerry and I like it best!

(Here is a PDF copy if you'd like to print it!)

First, the ingredients:

480 mL water

2 Tbsp. miso paste

1 tsp. salt (or ¾ tsp. salt + ¼ tsp. msg)

2 servings vegan “chicken” bouillon powder (2 cubes, 2 tsp. paste, etc. I use 2 Tbsp. of this homemade vegan powder)

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. onion powder

½ tsp. white pepper

20 g. nutritional yeast

1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. neutral flavored oil

70 g. pea protein isolate powder

230 g. vital wheat gluten

Notes about ingredients:

Since seitan can be finicky, the difficult-to measure-ingredients are listed by weight--which makes it much more consistent. (I love when recipes list ingredients by weight!)

About the msg (monosodium glutamate)... I know it's a super "frowned upon" ingredient, so it's definitely not necessary here. However, after reading quite a bit about it a while ago, I decided to give it a try in this recipe. The point is, though, it's optional.

The vegan "chicken" bouillon... this can be vegan bouillon cubes or paste or powder. For this recipe, you just want two servings of it. I use 2 Tbsp. of this homemade bouillon powder by Plant Power Couple. (I use that powder for everything, by the way! I don't put the turmeric in it, though, just because of the color--it makes the seitan very yellow, which is off-putting.)

Pea protein isolate is literally just pea protein powder--I bought a big bag of it on Amazon and it was pretty cheap (especially considering we make this seitan all the time). The same with the vital wheat gluten--I buy big bags on Amazon (I use Anthony's brand for both of them, as well as nutritional yeast and several other products).

A note about appliances:

Most recipes call for use of a food processor to make seitan. I got rid of my food processor when I got the Ninja "all-in-one"-type system. I use the Ninja--I use the metal blade for the first part of the recipe and then the dough blade to finish it.

However, you can use whatever you have, as long as the motor is strong enough to hold up to the dough. I even used my KitchenAid stand mixer to knead the dough before! (It takes much longer, but I'll write about that later.) For this post, I'll refer to the appliance as a blender, since that's what I'm using.

Okay, on to the method of how I make the "perfect" shredded seitan...

First, just add all of the ingredients *except for* the pea protein and the wheat gluten to the blender:

1) Before blending; 2) after 30 seconds I scraped down the sides; 3) after another 30 seconds.

Then, you add the pea protein (don't add the gluten yet). This is what it will look like after blending with the pea protein:

Finally, add the vital wheat gluten to the blender:

(I switched out to the dough blade at this point. If you want to use a heavy duty stand mixer, you'll want to put it all in there now. If you're using a food processor, just make sure you don't overheat your machine. That goes for all appliances, really.)

Now comes the monotonous part. Blend on high with the gluten for 60 seconds. It will look like this:

60 seconds of blend time.

Let it rest for 5-10 minutes; this gives your motor a chance to calm down and it gives the gluten some time to activate (and become "stretchy"). After the rest, blend again--for 45 seconds. It will look like this:

1:45 minutes of blend time.

Rest the dough again, 5-10 minutes. Then blend on high again for 45 seconds. It should look similar to this:

See on the bottom right, how it's starting to look stretchy? 2:30 minutes of blend time.

Keep repeating this process--45 seconds on high, 5-10 minutes rest...

3:15 minutes of blend time

4:00 minutes of blend time

4:45 minutes of blend time

That last picture, the one that was 4:45 minutes of blend time, is what the texture should look like when it's ready to move to the next step. It will be very sticky and stringy. It'll feel like soft taffy, and you'll see individual striations/fibers when you stretch it.

(Note: Be careful not to let the blender get too hot--it will start to steam the seitan, and you don't want that! Just be patient and let it rest as often as needed.)

In this picture, you can see the comparison between just 45 seconds of blend time. If you stop too early, and it doesn't look like the ball on the left, then the texture won't be shreddable. You want it to look like the ball on the left:

Once the dough is ready, divide it into two portions:

Working with just one ball at a time, form it into a long rope (the longer the better; don't let it break, though!).

Once you have a long rope, grab a small bowl and add some water to it. Using your fingers, just barely glaze the rope with water to make it slippery (don't douse it with water, but you don't want it to be sticky for this next part).

Next, starting in the middle of the rope, tie a knot (the same kind of knot you would use to tie your shoe--very simple):

After that, tie another knot, directly on top of it, as close as possible:

Continue tying knots, dipping your fingers in the water as needed, until you reach the ends. Tuck the ends into a crease. You'll have a very odd-shaped ball:

Give it a gentle press together on all sides. Then lay it on a piece of parchment paper:

Tightly roll the ball in the parchment paper, then roll up the ends to seal:

Once it's wrapped in parchment, set it on a long piece of aluminum foil. Beginning at one end, roll it up just like you did with the parchment paper. Wrap as tightly as you can, but be very careful not to let the foil rip on the folds of the parchment:

Once you wrap both loaves, place them in a steamer basket. Cover and steam gently (a very gentle simmer) for one hour and forty five minutes. 

Carefully remove them from the steamer basket using tongs and place them on the counter to cool:

Allow them to cool at least one hour. Open while still warm for an easier time shredding (or you could place them in the fridge overnight before opening). This is what it will look like when you open it:

Kind of like a loaf of deli meat. To shred it is kind of fun! Just hold each end and twist in opposite directions. The loaf will start to pull apart at the "seams" (where the knots met):

As you "unfold" the rope, you can pull off the skin. (It tastes fine in my opinion, but it's not as shreddable.)

Once you have the skin removed, you can pull the seitan apart into smaller shreds:

Isn't it crazy how much it looks like meat?! And it was made from flour, basically.

What do you do with it? You can use it anywhere that you would normally use shredded chicken or pork. My family really likes it with barbecue sauce for a super fast meal (when we have the seitan already shredded in the fridge). It reminds me of pulled chicken (but I don't get grossed out, wondering what I might bite into, hahaha).

Anyway, THAT is how Jerry and I really like our seitan. We continue to try new recipes, but this one is our go-to. The biggest key to remember is: The texture MUST look like shiny, stringy taffy before dividing into ropes in order to get the shreddable texture.

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Friday Night Photo #120

I have gotten up so late the past couple of days that it feels sickening to me--I feel like my entire day is almost gone by the time I get up! The only thing I can really contribute that to is taking the iron supplements. They have helped me SO much in several ways, including sleep. But I really don't like sleeping until late morning--time to start using the alarm clock again. Haha! (I could probably do with going to bed earlier, too.) I am so used to getting up on my own super early that I haven't used an alarm clock in forever.

Anyway, this day feels like it's going by ridiculously fast and I have quite a bit to get done. So, I'm going to get on with it. Friday night photos...

First, and I thought this was super cute, I found "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." by Judy Blume at Goodwill. When I opened it up, I saw a note that a girl must have written for her friend. So sweet! The  was a hardcover, but the dust jacket was missing. Still, I wanted to buy it to give away or something, since I love it so much. (I never did get to go see the movie! I had planned to go with my mom for Mother's Day, but we had something big come up. Maybe we'll be able to watch it when it's available to stream.

Speaking of Goodwill, I bought several items for an experiment I'm going to try (probably next week). It's well known that I *never* wear dresses. Perhaps once every 2-3 years? I always feel good about myself when I do, though--dress, hair, make-up--and I really should do it more often.

And since I do things in extreme (are you *shocked*? hahaha) I'm going to try wearing a sundress every single day for a week (I have 11 total, so maybe I'll even aim to wear all of them). Why do I have so many when I don't wear them? Well, I only had a few before I went to Goodwill. And I got them cheap. I want to see if it makes me feel good about myself, or if I get bored with it, or if it feels like it makes no difference whatsoever. I'm just curious!

Since thrift stores are NEVER short on dresses, I flipped through the racks until I found several that I liked. I despise my upper arms, and have no plans to have surgery to remove the excess skin, so I avoid anything that shows my arms. However, sundresses are pretty much meant to show your arms! 

I'm hoping that by doing this, I'll get less self-conscious. It's kind of like exposure therapy, in a way, like my psychiatrist was talking about--doing things that cause high anxiety and the anxiety will eventually come down (it can only get so high until you spontaneously combust). (I lied about the combustion, but seriously... anxiety has a cap.)

I won't show a picture of me wearing all the dresses on this post, but yesterday I tried them on for Jerry (I had no idea until yesterday, but he has a "thing" for sundresses--why did I never know this?!). He (on his own, I did not suggest this) laid them on the bed in order of favorite to least favorite as I tried them on, hahaha.

A lot of them are sleeveless/spaghetti strap or halter top, so they show my arms big time. I'm nervous and it's super tempting to wear a shrug or jacket over them, but if the weather is warm enough, I want to try to wear them as-is. (I have a permanent farmer's tan from when I was running all the time, so that's not exactly attractive, either.)

One of the dresses--which I realized isn't pictured above, probably because I set it aside--I bought more as a "project" dress. I hated the wooden beads at the neckline, so I figured I could remove them and turn it into spaghetti straps. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!

I had to include the black buttons along the neckline because of the tiny holes in the fabric from where the wooden beads were. It wasn't super noticeable, but I thought the black buttons looked cute there.

I'm going to alter two more parts to the dress (which is why I'm only showing the neckline now). I hope it turns out! I'll show pictures once I'm done.

Anyway, a couple of other thrift store finds:

These jeans, I did not buy--but I thought they were so cool with the fleece sewn in! If I was still having problems with being cold 100% of the time, I totally would have bought these. The entire inside, including the legs, had this fleece lining. 

I thought this dress was very ugly and wasn't considering buying it, but it made me think of this dress trend that I wish I'd been able to do because it looks so cute on other people! I'm talking about the side cutout from dresses so that it leaves the side of your waist bare. It looks so flattering and adorable on people with the right body for it, but for me--it's just a window revealing stretch marks and love handles, haha.

This is Duck's favorite time of year because he gets to watch the birds. Anyone who owns cats is probably familiar with the chirping noise cats make when they see prey. Duck will spend hours entertained by the birds outside.

Sorry for the gross picture, but Jerry had to have staples in his head from an accident at work! He hit his head pretty hard on some duct work. Of all the things to get injured by...

This is how Duck was lying on my lap. Isn't it so sweet?!

I've had this gray zip-up hoodie for a while but I didn't like the design on back (it was a picture of grapes and had some sort of saying on it--I should have taken a picture before I started this). I was going to get rid of it, along with a very large Michigan t-shirt. Then I wondered if I could cover the hoodie design with the t-shirt design. So, I used embroidery thread to sew it (in a big circle) on the back. I also replaced the wrist and waist bands of the hoodie, which I thought looked too tight for the shirt. I want to do one more thing to it (there is a design on the actual hood as well that I want to cover up) so I'll post pictures when it's done. So far, though, I really like the back! I may do something to the letters and Michigan shape on the back, too. 

This was the disaster that was my bed several days ago when I decided to organize my sewing stuff. I managed to condense it down somewhat and organize it a little better. But the only way I'll ever have everything organized and readily usable (like my sewing machine and serger, ironing board, cutting mat) is if I have my own craft room. And that will likely never happen ;)

I posted this picture a few days ago with the whole story, but I was very close to being attacked by the dog in the center here. It was kind of a crazy story. You can find it here.

Jerry got to start playing softball again! This is HUGE news for him. He absolutely loves softball and his employer used to sponsor a team. They quit doing that several years ago, but this year, they were finally able to do it again. So, he'll be playing double headers on Monday nights. I really like his work friends, and I'm excited to go watch him play. Seeing him play on Monday was so much fun--I haven't seen him so happy in a while! And it was cool to watch him interact with his friends.

Jerry's coworkers kept calling Noah "little Jerry" (Noah's on the far right). I don't think they look alike! Eli definitely looks like my family. Regardless, I have three great-looking guys, don't I? ;)

Eli, Jerry, and Noah

Jerry and I don't have a headboard on our bed (super annoying!) so we have this large wedge pillow that goes between the wall and the bed. Estelle has claimed that as her favorite place to sleep, now. Unfortunately, she purrs SO loudly, but it's sweet that she likes to sleep by my head.

A little while later, Duck decided to come lie on my lap as well. And Joey was up on the bed. Phoebe was actually behind Duck, but you can't see her in the pic. 

And there we have it! No big plans this weekend; Jerry is off, but the weather looks iffy, so I don't know what we plan to do. Have a great weekend! xo

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Three Things Thursday: Timeless

When I was tying my shoes yesterday, I thought about how long I've had that particular pair. I was wearing a pair of gray Converse Chuck's and tried to imagine how many miles were on them. A LOT. Then I realized that Chuck's are never really "in" or "out" of fashion--they've been around here and there all through the decades. They're timeless. I think they'll be around forever.

It made me start thinking about other timeless things, so I decided to write three things that are timeless for Three Things Thursday: 

1. Chuck Taylor's (a.k.a. Converse sneakers)

It's no secret that I love my Chucks! It's also no secret that I'm not a fashionable person, hahaha. I am never up-to-date about what the currents trends are and what's "hot or not". Growing up so overweight, I didn't have many clothing choices and I resigned myself to being about as far as you can get from trendy. 

I've worn pretty much the same look for as long as I can remember (aside from a few short time periods where I have no idea what got into me). My ideal "look" is: blue jeans with a well-fitting hoodie, cushiony socks with Chucks, and a messy bun.

I think Chuck's are a shoe that is recognized pretty much everywhere. And when thinking of or drawing a shoe, the Chucks are pretty much the prototype that I imagine people think of. They go with all sorts of different outfits--I even bought some for Noah to wear to homecoming several years ago.

I have several pairs of Chucks--lots of different colors--and they are always a favorite.

2. Pizza

I debated whether to include this, because it's SO BROAD (when it really doesn't need to be). I think most people probably imagine a round pizza pie with hand-tossed crossed crust, topped with a tomato sauce and cheese. Plus toppings--meat, veggies, and pretty much anything imaginable has been a topping for a pizza.

Pizza is one of those foods that will be around FOREVER--it's almost as versatile as a potato! Through the years, people have tried to improve upon pizza, making thousands of crazy variations--and rather than ruin pizza altogether, it just makes it more of a staple. There is a version of pizza for everybody out there.

Pizza can be a hot midnight snack, a cold breakfast, fancy appetizer bites, easy party food, made to consider any dietary restrictions, fancy dinner food, or for eating in front of the tv on Friday night. There really isn't a "wrong" time to eat pizza ;)

This was the last non-vegan food that I ate--reuben pizza. (I eat vegan pizza all the time, though!)

3. Deck of Cards

Yes, I'm talking about a regular old 52-card (or 54 with jokers) deck of cards: diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades, black and red, ace through king.

I love playing board games, and card games are some of my favorites. Cards have been around for God-knows-how-long and the deck has stayed the same. I was curious about why there are 52 cards, and I learned a very cool fact today:

There are 52 cards to represent 52 weeks in a year. The four suits represent the four seasons (summer, winter, spring, fall) and the 13 cards in each suit represent the 13 weeks in each season.

Isn't that interesting?! Anyway, in my opinion, there is NOTHING that will ever take the place of a deck of cards. I've played my share of virtual card games, but they aren't the same as actually holding a deck of cards, shuffling it, feeling the texture and the weight of the cards as you deal them out... it can't be replaced.

And, of course, the company... unless you're playing solitaire, playing cards is such a great way to spend time with people! Whether it's Go Fish on family game night, or blackjack at the casino, or a street magician telling you to pick a card... cards are everywhere and I think they are going to stick around for a while.

And there we go... three things that I think are timeless. 

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 107

Every week, I have nothing but the best intentions for the upcoming week in regards to diet and exercise. Sometimes I meet or even exceed my expectations; many times, though, I don't even come close.

This week, I actually did really well with the exercise. I ran three times! I started doing Jeff Galloway's run/walking method; I can't say that I really love it so far. It's hard to get lost in my thoughts (or in a podcast) when I get an alert every time I switch from running to walking and vice versa. Also, the 30 second walk breaks seem SO short!

As of right now, I've been doing 30-minute runs--that means 15 repeats of the 90-30 run-walk intervals. When I think of it that way, 15 repeats makes the run sound so much longer than it is. When I am running, I can't get it out of my head how many repeats I have left. I can't imagine what it will be like doing a longer run (six-ish miles)--that's a LOT of repeats.

I'm going to continue with the method, though, because I do like the novelty of trying something new and it is definitely less intimidating than running without having walk breaks to look forward to.

For my eating habits this week, well, I'll get to that in a minute. First, the scale. Last week, I was at 142.2. Today?

I was at 143.4. Honestly, though, I did better this week than I did the previous. I have been eating great all day long, but then for some stupid reason, I eat a big scoop of peanut butter before bed. It's not out of hunger. It's like I'm self-sabotaging for no reason at all. I know that all I need to do is just go to bed before it gets to that point, so I'm going to try that.

There were a couple of nights this week where I sat on my bed and organized a bunch of crafting stuff, and the last thing on my mind was a snack (I love to organize and I hate to leave things unfinished, so I was very focused on finishing before bed).

When I organize things like my closet, I take everything out and dump it on my bed--that way I have to put it all back in order to go to bed that night! ;)  Maybe this week I'll pick some things to organize before bed, when I typically want to snack.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the week went. Even though the scale was up, my eating habits improved over the week before AND I ran three times during the week. So it was definitely an improvement! I just wish the scale would show it. (Maybe it will if I just stop with the peanut butter, haha.)

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