Sage-Baked Seitan with Brown Sugar Buttered Acorn Squash and Balsamic Rainbow Chard

It's FALL. So that means winter squash, sage, and brown sugar. Despite the looks of this recipe, this is a relatively simple dish (once you've made your seitan). If you're looking for a seitan recipe, there is one here, just please forgive me for the terrible pictures!! I guess it is evidence that I have learned a lot about food photography in the last year of blogging.

It will take about an hour with the baking times and will serve 4.

Brown Sugar Buttered Squash

1 acorn squash, halved

2 tablespoons Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Sage-Baked Seitan
4 seitan cutlets
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 ground black pepper

Balsamic Rainbow Chard
1 bunch rainbow chard (of course you can substitute other greens)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Place acorn squash halves in a baking dish, cut side up. Place 1 tablespoon margarine and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in each half. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, combine bread crumbs, sage, thyme, paprika, salt and pepper. Dredge each seitan cutlet in panko. Place on baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. If you're really streamlining your dinner-making, you should put the seitan in the oven after the squash has cooked 35 minutes (and has 25 left).

Once you have put the seitan in the oven, you can prepare the chard. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Cut the leaves lengthwise, and then chop widthwise. Add the chard to the pan and simmer. Once leaves have wilted slightly, add the balsamic vinegar and salt. If you finish and are still waiting on  the squash and seitan, just cover the pan and remove from heat.

Enjoy!

Curried Kobucha Peanut Soup

Here is an exotic take on a creamy butternut squash soup. I posted this recipe originally in 2012, and now (in 2015) am going back through and retesting my recipes, since I (think) I have become a better cook over the past couple years. I've made some improvements to this recipe. 

For one, I wanted to have a protein and a green in the soup. I wanted the protein because I like to have a protein at the heart of all my main dishes, and I wanted the green because I wanted the additional nutrition. 

After some thinking, I've decided to entirely omit the greens. It took a lot away from the soup, and really, between the tomatoes and squash this soup is extraordinarily nutritious already. The beans really took a lot away from the soup too. But I still wanted to have protein in this soup, so instead of mixing them in after blending the soup, I've blended them along with the rest of the soup, achieving a creamier and heartier texture and taste (but not one that screams "beans!" in any way at all).

I've used adzuki beans, which look like small black beans, although a bit browner. I have occasionally found these beans in cans, but for this recipe I cooked them fresh, which is easy to do--just combine 1 cup beans and 3 cups water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding water if necessary. For this recipe you can then strain the beans and add to the pot when called for. If you cannot find adzuki beans at all, you can substitute red kidney beans. Likewise, if you cannot find any kobucha squash, you can substitute with a pie pumpkin or a large butternut squash.

Curried Kobucha Peanut Soup

Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 Kobucha Squash, about 3 1/2 pounds, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes 
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon grated ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups cooked adzuki beans
3 cups veggie broth
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and squash, and saute until softened and the onion is translucent. Add the jalapeno, ginger, and garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the curry and garam masala and saute for 30 seconds longer. Add the tomatoes and veggie broth, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the squash is tender, about 20 minutes. 

Stir in the beans. At this point, if you have an immersion blender, you can use this to blenderize your soup and make it creamy. If you do not have an immersion blender, you can pour the soup in batches into a regular blender, blending until smooth. Return the stew to the pot and stir in peanut butter and cilantro. Serve with crusty bread.

Cheers!