baked broccoli and seitan pasta

Meal 3 in the Prep Ahead Week 4 plan is a creamy, cheesy, pasta bake. The sauce is a sun-dried tomato bechamel that coats the pasta perfectly. In fact, if you aren't a fan of whole grain pasta, this sauce is the ultimate foil.

The sauce has just the right amount of sun-dried tomatoes and gives the sauce its own unique flavor. I love sun-dried tomatoes but even I notice when there is just too much of it, so I was very pleased with the flavor outcome of this bake.

For the Prep Ahead meal the pasta and broccoli are cooked the night before and then melded with the sauce and seitan. For this stand alone version, you cook the pasta and broccoli and bake. You can even increase the broccoli in this dish to 2 pounds and skip the seitan altogether, if that's your wish.

I had a little bit of a Daiya block leftover from another dish that needed using up, so I finely grated some on the pasta, but that is just extra icing on the cake. If you like your broccoli green and crisp-tender, cook it separately and add it to the pasta in the last few minutes of baking.

Baked Broccoli and Seitan Pasta
Serves 4 to 6 

Béchamel ingredients: 
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons white miso
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried thyme

12 ounces penne pasta
12 ounces broccoli, chopped
1/2 pound seitan, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 400-degrees F. Combine the broth, miso and nutritional yeast in a bowl or blender. Whisk or blend until smooth. Set aside. 
2. Add the onion to a large pot over medium heat. Cover and cook. Chop the tomatoes into 1/4-inch slices and add to the pot. Add garlic to the pot. Add a splash of broth if the onion is burning. Cook until the onion is golden. Add the flour. Add the thyme and mix well. Cook for 1 minute, stirring.
3. Slowly add the broth mixture to the pot and use a whisk to mix until the sauce is smooth. Bring to simmer to thicken. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. Cook the pasta al dente. Add the broccoli during the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking water and add to a 13x9-inch baking dish.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Spray with oil or add 1 teaspoon oil. Cook the seitan until golden. Add the seitan to the baking dish.
6. Add the bechamel sauce to the baking dish and toss well. Add some of the reserved cooking water, as needed to make a creamy sauce. Bake until bubbly and heated-through, about 30 minutes. Stir once halfway through baking. Serve.




© 2017 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

firecracker chickpeas and vegetables

Meal 2 of Week 4 Prep Ahead menu is Firecracker Chickpeas and Vegetables.  This delicious dish is full of vegetables and beans and is cooked in a spicy chili sauce.

This fiery dish is very versatile because you can adjust the heat level to suit your taste. You can use the called-for jalapeno or not. Or you can use 3 jalapenos. You can increase the garlic chili sauce or reduce it - the choice is yours.

This is a very easy and quick dish to make - made even faster as a Prep Ahead meal, but can still be ready in around 30 minutes, if you make the rice using my Fast and Easy Brown Rice recipe.

The dish is served with steamed broccoli but you can serve it with mustard greens, bok choy or even cauliflower.

Firecracker Chickpeas and Vegetables

Serves 4 to 6 

Firecracker sauce ingredients:

1/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 tablespoon garlic chili sauce

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon sweetener

12 ounces broccoli, cut into florets

2 bell peppers, sliced

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (use gloves if needed)

1/2 medium onion, sliced

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (2 cups cooked)

3 cups cooked rice

1. Combine the ketchup, vegetable broth, garlic chili sauce, garlic, tamari, cornstarch and sweetener in a small bowl. Stir very well and set aside. 

2. Steam the broccoli until tender. 

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced peppers and onions. Stir-fry (cook, stirring constantly) until lightly charred. Add the chickpeas, cook to heat. Mix the sauce and add to the vegetables. Cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Serve the stir-fry with the broccoli and rice.

© 2017 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.