Seitan

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten flour

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes (Again...Whole Foods)
1 cup very cold water
1/2 cup soy sauce (I used about 1/3)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated on a microplane grater
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Simmering Broth
10 cups water or vegetable broth
1/2 cup soy sauce (I would use either the broth or the soy sauce. Not both.)

1. In a large bowl, mix together Vital Wheat Gluten Flour and nutritional yeast flakes.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine with a firm spatula, knead dough for about 3 minutes until a spongy, elastic dough is formed. Let dough rest for a couple of minutes and prepare your broth, but don't start boiling it.
4. Now roll your dough into a log shape about 8 inches long and cut into 3 equal sized pieces. Place the pieces in the broth. It is important that the water/broth be very cold when you add the dough, it helps with the texture and ensures that it doesn't fall apart. Partially cover the pot and bring to a boil. 
5. When the water has come to a boil set the heat to low and gently simmer for an hour, turning the pieces every now and again. 
6. Let it cool in the simmering broth for at least a half an hour. It is best if it cools completely. 

Buffalo Wings

1/4 cup flour
1 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup Frank's Hot Sauce, or hot sauce of choice
4 tbsp butter, melted

1. Break the seitan into wing-size pieces. In a large pan, heat oil over medium heat. 
2. In a shallow bowl, combine the flour, garlic, salt, and pepper. Dredge the seitan pieces in flour, making sure to cover all of it. Carefully drop each piece in the oil. Let the seitan cook for 5 minutes, or until browned. Flip on all sides and brown.
3. While the seitan is cooking, heat the hot sauce and butter.  Mix until well incorporated. 
4. Remove the seitan from the pan. Pour the hot sauce mixture over your seitan, making sure to coat each piece.

Anatolia's Restaurant : New Paltz

Anatonia’s was amazing!

We sat down and were greeted by our waitress with some toasted pita served with olive tapenade and olive oil.  We decided to start off with a Tabouli salad (7.95) which was a dish of couscous, tomatoes, scallions, red peppers, lemon juice, and some other seasonings served with toasted pita bread.  It was so light and flavorful and not overly lemony.  Just delicious, we gobbled it right up.

Andrew got the Tofu and Vegetable Pita (7.95) which was served with fries, a cucumber yogurt sauce, and a Turkish hot sauce.  He said it was “delicious” though he would have preferred it without mushrooms.  He took about half of his sandwich home.  I ordered the falafel wrap (7.95) which came with a delicious salad tossed lightly with the house dressing with a large chunk of feta on top.  The dish also came with hummus (which was deliciously garlicky) as well as some cucumber yogurt sauce.  I had to take more than half of my meal home because there was so much!  With two sodas the meal came to less than $30.  Great deal and it was nice to eat something a little different (though I sure do love my falafel wraps!)

Our waitress wasn’t great and it was pretty loud in there but that was not bad enough to even make us second guess going there again.  There were tons of veggie and vegan options on the menu.  We definitely want to go back to try some other stuff!

Citrus: Thai and Indian Fusion

Last night Andrew and I went to one of our favorite restaurants. Citrus is a Thai and Indian fusion restaurant located on the five corners in Vails Gate. From the outside Cirtus is not very exciting looking, the décor inside is much nicer. Citrus has a fairly extensive vegetarian menu, which is awesome.

They started us off with a crispy flat bread which I believe is called Khakra. This is served with three different toppings, red peppers, tamarind, and a cilantro sauce. I like to combine all three on top of the bread. For starters we split Po Pia 5.99 which is a Thai Spring Roll Deep fired golden brown spring rolls stuffed with carrots, cabbage, and glass noodles. Served with sweet chili sauce. Andrew and I love to try spring rolls whenever we go out for Thai food and these are delicious. The chili sauce is perfectly balanced with sweet and spicy flavors. We ordered Cheese Naan 3.50 which is stuffed with Paneer. We also ordered Aloo Paratha 3.99 a whole wheat multi layered bread stuffed with lightly spiced potatoes. This is a little spicy and delicious.

For dinner Andrew ordered Channa Masala 11.99 and asked for it to be spicy. Be careful ordering spicy here! This was way too spicy for me but he loved it. They gave him a generous serving of Channa Masala which consists of chick peas in a curry sauce as well as a big bowl of basmati rice. I ordered from the Thai menu and ordered Pad Thai 11.99. This was not the best Pad Thai that I ever had but it was still delicious. They added different vegetables than are usually in Pad Thai such as snow peas and asparagus but the flavors worked well.

We were way too stuffed to try desert and we barely ate half of our meals. Restaurant.com has gift cerficicates available for $10 for a $25 certificate and $20 for a 50. We had a $25 certificate and with tax and tip we paid $26. We left an extra tip because service is wonderful.

If you are in the mood for some delicious Indian or Thai food, try this place. This place is definitely worth it!

At home cooking

Money has been a little tight lately with the holidays coming so instead of going out, I have been cooking things I wouldn’t normally cook.  Tonight for dinner is….wait for it….wait for it…

Philly Cheesesteaks

1 package Gardein beefless tips, cut into strips

½ cup veggie broth

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp onion power

2 tbsp soy sauce

Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and marinate for a half hour or so.  Put everything in a frying pan and sauté until heated and most of the liquid has absorbed.  If it is taking too long, dump out some more liquid.

 In the meantime cut 1 large onion into strips and sauté in a separate pan until translucent.  Slice 1 small green pepper and sauté with onion.    

Put ‘steak’ and onions on rolls.  Add American cheese and broil until cheese is melted.  (or use Wiz).  To make this vegan just use vegan cheddar such as Daiya.

So delicious!

Pure City

Most people that I know around here that enjoy vegetarian food have been to Pure City in Pine Bush.  This is an amazing Asian restaurant that serves only vegetarian and vegan food.  If you haven’t made it out there yet you are missing out.  It is a little expensive, but well worth it.

I went twice in two weeks recently, once for Andrew’s birthday and once out with our friends Jackie and Paul.  Both times were amazing.

The first visit I had the General Tso Veggie Nuggets $12.95.  These are the best veggie nuggets I have ever tried.  They are meaty and delicious.  This meal is served with peppers, broccoli, and mushrooms.  It also comes with brown rice.  AMAZING!  I could eat this every day.  So flavorful and delicious.  The broccoli is amazing, as are the mushrooms.  Andrew ordered the Wonton Soup $2.50.  The wontons were delicious and the soup was served piping hot.  For his main meal he ordered the same as me and devoured it.  We also had an order of Vegetable Lo Mein $6.95 to split.  This was loaded with fresh vegetables and did not have too much sauce to overwhelm the flavors of all the veggies.  By this point we were so full that we did not order dessert.

The second visit we ordered Spring Rolls $2.50.  Andrew and I each had one and they were amazing.  Super crispy, super hot, and served with a tangy dipping sauce, what more could you want?  For dinner I ordered Sesame Veggie Nuggets $12.95.  I am telling you, I could eat these veggie nuggets day and night.  The Sesame Veggie Nuggets were not that different than the General Tso Veggie Nuggets and were served with the same sides.  Andrew tried the Pure City Veggie Steak $15.95.  This was a very meaty dish served over a ton of veggies with a side of brown rice.  I was not thrilled with the chef’s special sauce but Andrew seemed to like it.  We also split Soy Protein Pan Fried Noodle $10.95.  It was okay, but I was thinking it would be a Lo Mein type noodle but it was a crispy noodle almost like uncooked ramen.  It was yummy but it didn’t hold a candle to the Lo Mein.  We also had Vanilla Tofu Cheesecake $4.95.  This was delicious.  If you are expecting it to taste like non-vegan cheesecake you will be disappointed but if you try it without expectations you will be pleasantly surprised.  Our guests had been to the restaurant once before and Paul is a meat fan but definitely seemed to enjoy his vegetarian meal.

Make sure you try this place out if you haven’t already!

Lake George

It has been a busy couple of weeks.  We haven’t been out to eat at all in the area so this post will focus on our trip to the Lake George area.

We learned after we got there that LG is not very vegetarian friendly.  There were a couple of options at most places but not much variety.

The first place we ate there was the Bank Café.  We had tomato, pesto, and mozzarella panini.  They were good (though I think it is pretty hard to mess them up).  This came with a pickle and a bag of Terra Veggie Chips.  They were about $8 each which I think is pretty standard.  The café was cute, but nothing fancy.  They had outdoor seating as well but we chose to get our food to go and sat down by the lake which was only a block away.

We ate dinner at Ali Baba Express and had falafel.  Their menu didn’t have a lot of vegetarian options either but after we ordered our falafel we realized that they had vegetable gyros and would have tried them.  Oh well, maybe next time.  The food was delicious.  This was a Turkish take on falafel but was pretty standard though it did not have the usual cucumbers and hummus.

The best part of the trip was white water rafting!  While it was expensive (~$92) it included the 17 mile raft trip, river guide, wet suit, jacket, and shoes, as well as lunch and dinner.  They were very happy to accommodate vegetarians which was exciting!  For lunch they made us PB&J, peanut butter and cheese crackers, apples, and a delicious tomato basil soup.  The meat eaters had a turkey sandwich with mustard rather than the PB&J.  For dinner they had bread, a huge salad, peanut butter cookies, and an Asian pasta dish loaded with veggies.  Apparently the menu changed every night and is home cooked by a staff member.  Our guide was amazing and we had a great time.  The Indian and Hudson Rivers were at class 3 and 4 when we were there but we can’t wait to go back in the spring when they are class 5!

We stayed at Season’s B&B.  Eileen, the owner, was very accommodating to me as a vegetarian though had a little bit of trouble accommodating Andrew who does not eat eggs.  For breakfast I was served over the two days, 3 cheese and spinach quiche, cheesy eggs on a croissant, blueberry scones, blueberry and strawberry cream cheese coffee cake, fresh fruit,  coffee, and orange juice.  Delicious!  She even brought me a cup of tea one afternoon when we came back to rest for a bit.  The room was adorable and had a huge Jacuzzi tub.

We stopped in Albany on our way home.   I ate at a place called Sukhothai years ago and loved it so we made a pit stop for lunch.  It was as good as I remembered.  We started off with deep fried tofu with a dipping sauce.  It was very peppery at first, but the flavors grew on us.  I had Pad Thai with shrimp and it was amazing.  Couldn’t have asked for anything different.  Andrew had Pad Mee Khao (I believe it was called) and ordered it with no egg or fish sauce so it was vegan.  They were very accommodating with Andrew’s requests and had a 10% coupon if you texted them!

We had an amazing time in Lake George.  We want to go back again (the ice cream was amazing!  Check out A&W and their 60 flavors of soft serve!  And there was mini-golf!).  There is so much to do up there.  A three day weekend was not nearly enough!

Allan's Falafel: Chester, NY

It can be difficult to find vegetarian and vegan food at times.  Andrew and I decided that we should find delicious vegetarian restaurants and menu items from  local places and compile a list of veggie friendly places.

The first place we decided to review was Allan's Falafel in Chester, NY.  Allan's is an Israeli restaurant located only a couple of miles from exit 126 off of Rt 17.  This place is small and simple, and the service wasn't spectacular.  We seemed to be almost an afterthought and took the backseat to the phone ringing.  The tea I ordered was also forgotten about and I had to remind them to get it for me.

The food however, was amazing.  We had falafel pita ($4.50) which were delicious. The falafel was made fresh while we waited.  The pita was stuffed with fresh cucumber, lettuce, hummus, tzatziki, and had a few pickles placed on top.  All the ingredients were super fresh and delicious.

The prices were also very reasonable.  For two falafel pita, soda, and tea, the total came to a very reasonable $12.  We would definitely go there again.  There were several other options that are veggie and vegan friendly.

Hummus with 2 Pitas (V)
Falafel, 4 Balls: (V)
Hummus with Shawarma (V)
Boreca
Israeli Salad (V)
Tahini Salad (V)
Tabouleh (V)
Baba Ghanough (V)
Eggplant Salad (V)
Greek Salad:
Falafel: Pita or Plate (V if no tzatziki)

Allan's Falafel

Tue - Thu:	11:30 am	-	8:00 pm
Fri - Sat:	11:30 am	-	9:00 pm
Sun:	11:30 am	-	7:00 pm