cordon bleu

I have been on a roll lately!

First the Twice-Baked Crispy Gluten, then the Braciole, and now

"Chicken" Cordon Bleu. Cordon Bleu has a thin slice of Prosciutto and Swiss or Gruyere Cheese rolled in a pounded chicken breast, then breaded and pan-fried.

This is very easy to veganize and the result is extravagantly exquisite.

Using the Tender Seitan Recipe (recipe is coming), roll out the gluten and place a slice of Tofurkey and a slice of vegan cheese (I used Daiya and Follow Your Heart) in the middle. To make this soy free, use a recipe from the Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak, maybe the Buffalo Mostarella or the Muenster Cheez (use 1 T less fresh lemon juice than the recipe calls for) and skip the Tofurkey unless you have a soy-free cold cut.

Roll the gluten up and sear the packages. If you do not sear it on all sides, the gluten will unravel. Not good. If you want to see a How-To, check out the Braciole How-To Breakdown for the rolling and searing instructions, scroll down to The Seitan part.

After searing each gluten roll, cook them in the simmering liquid from the Tender Seitan Recipe and bake them for two hours, just like the recipe says to do for the whole roast, just use the seared rolls and cut the cooking time to 2 hours.

When they are cooked, cool them and bread them in (1) flour then in (2) cashew cream (soy free!), then in (3) fresh bread crumbs and pan fry them until golden brown. The cashew cream is just as effective as using soy yogurt

or eggs (BAD- never use eggs!!)

to stick the crumbs to the rolls.

Cost Breakdown

gluten: $3

Tofurkey: $3

Cheeses: $5

fresh bread: $1

coconut oil: $1

cashews: $2

bok choy: $3

polenta: $2

Total to feed a family of 7:

$20.00

swedish vegan meatballs

Swedish Meatballs!

Swedish meatballs are supposed to be light and fluffy on the inside. Since I am not using meat, I made a  version of Bryanna's Neatballs. These are made with TVP and gluten. I am positive that they can be made with bulgur instead of TVP to make it soy-free. These are first baked, then cooled and then simmered in the gravy or tomato sauce. These little guys stay together really well and are light and fluffy - just as intended.

The gravy is a cashew cream based gravy with a dark rich stock to replace the veal stock in the original recipes. 

My husband commented that he had not realized how much he had missed Swedish Meatballs until I made these. He also said that they kicked-butt.

Serve these with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce in lieu of the authentic, but hard to locate, lingonberry jam. 

Cost Breakdown:

TVP, gluten: $4

cashew: $1

onion, garlic, veg stock: $3

bread: $1

potatoes: $5

cranberry: $.50

Total to feed a family of 6:

$14.50

Swedish Meatballs Recipe