Vegan Protein Kitchen Marathon

Hey, guys.  I'd forgotten how much fun a cooking marathon can be.  It's been a while since I hit the kitchen with the goal of stocking the freezer for a spell.  A few hours, a couple podcasts, some Play-Do on the kitchen table to keep the Bean happy - life was good.  Today's madness had a mission, and that my dear friends was protein - lots and lots of protein. Protein is important in my current delicate condition, and I needs it in a nice high-fiber form to keep the glucose monsters happy.  So this afternoon I made a fiesta of seitan and bean-based goodness.

I've gotten a little too dependent on Tofurky lunch meat recently.  A little mustard, a handful of salad greens, a slice of rye toast... mmm, sandwich-tastic!  Anyway, I decided that I needed to woman-up a bit and make my own fixings (Tofurky slices are pricey).  Thus said, behold - Vegan Dad's veggie lunch meat!  I'm still waiting for it to finish cooling, so I'll let you know my impressions after the initial slice.  I hope I like it; as you can see, the recipe made enough to feed an army of vegan teenagers.  Shouldda halved that one.

Also accomplished today - chickpea shmeat!  Lots and lots of chickpea shmeat.  I made the updated version of Isa's chickpea cutlets, although once again I didn't process the chickpeas finely enough.  I fear hummus patties, and instead I end up with lumpy garbanzo steaks.  Perfection on these bad boys continues to elude me, I'm afraid.  Oh, well - I know from experience that they will at least taste good.

Of course, the real reason I made these was so I could try out the nifty variation Katie made over at Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk.  Stuffed anything is my buddy, and these stuffed chickpea cutlets looked so good in her photos.  I'll show the insides after I devour one later this week.

Rounding out the lineup was dinner tonight: Vegan Dad's Cajun chickpea patties.  Maybe it was the power of suggestion, because Vegan Dad plainly stated that this was NOT his intention, but these guys really reminded me of crab cakes.  More coastal New England than Gulf Coast, though I may have just been too timid with the spicing.  I had one plain tonight, with datil pepper mustard, but I plan on making one into a sandwich with tartar sauce and greens for tomorrow's lunch. 

Wow, y'all - Vegan MoFo is almost over.  Just a couple more days and we can all launch into Vegan NoFo, as Becks so memorably coined a few days ago.  Only here I apply it to the ten days or so following the Month of Food, in which everyone recovers from constant blogging and catches up on all the neat stuff everyone else did all month.  Burnout is well deserved, everyone - rest and rejoice in all the good reading!

I'm going to try to stick it out to end, even though I'll admit to laziness for a day or two at time this MoFo.  So I'll see you guys tomorrow with... something.  Probably not made of chickpeas.  Maybe.