Jambalaya

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Jambalaya and collard greens w/garlic

Kari's Jambalaya

(serves 4)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups water

1 tsp Better Than Bouillon No chicken base

1 can no salt diced tomatoes

1 Spicy Smoked Kashi Seitan Sausage, cubed (See note)

1 cup long grain white rice

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

In a 4-qt Dutch oven, saute onion, celery and bell pepper until softened, adding small amounts of water if necessary to prevent sticking. Add garlic and sausage cubes and cook a couple minutes longer. Add water, Better Than Bouillon base, tomatoes, rice, and spices. Stir to combine. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 to 25 minutes until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked. Cooking times may vary depending on your rice. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Note: I used my Kashi seitan sausage in this, but you can use any type of seitan you like. You could also substitute a can of rinsed and drained beans for the sausage. Red beans or blackeye peas would work well, but use your favorite. Mushrooms is another possibility.



Spicy Smoked Kashi Seitan Sausage

Use bigger pieces of foil than I did.  You can see how mine "poofed" out of their wrappers.  Oops.  My logs all ended up with lumpbacks, but they were tasty lumpbacks.  Straight out of the steamer, this reminded me of stuffing--probably because of the sage.  Use this seitan sausage in recipes like you would any seitan sausage.  Or cut a log into slabs, grill or brown them in a skillet, throw a couple between pieces of whole grain toast with some tomato slices and fat-free mayo.  Call it lunch.  Eat the other slices later cold out of the fridge, and call them a snack. 

Kari's Spicy Smoked Kashi Seitan Sausage

This seitan is a little spicy, but not overly so. The bits of kashi grains add a little extra chewiness (and fiber).

Ingredients:

2 cups water

2 tsp Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base

1 cup Kashi 7 Grain Pilaf

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

6 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

1/2 tsp kosher salt  (Salt isn't prominent in this recipe, so increase this amount if you want a saltier tasting sausage)

4 Tbsp spice blend*

1 Tbsp tahini

1 Tbsp molasses

1 tsp natural hickory liquid smoke

1 1/4 cups cold water

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Spice Blend:

1 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika

1 Tbsp granulated garlic

1/2 Tbsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2 Tbsp rubbed sage

1 1/2 Tbsp ground coriander

1 Tbsp fresh ground black pepper

2 1/2 tsp onion powder

Combine all ingredients.

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1. Bring 2 cups water and bouillon paste to boil in saucepan. Stir in kashi, reduce heat to medium, cover and cook 25 to 35 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Cool. (To cool quickly, spread kashi on a large plate or pan and place in the freezer.)  You want all the ingredients cool when you add the gluten.

2. In medium bowl, combine vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast flakes, kosher salt and spice blend. Set aside.

3. Place cold kashi, tahini, molasses, and liquid smoke into food processor and pulse several times. Add 1 1/4 cups cold water, and gluten mixture. Pulse until mixture comes together. Scrap down sides of processor bowl, then process on low about 1 minute. Let rest 10 minutes.

4. Prepare steamer and large squares of foil.

5. Transfer seitan dough to counter and divide into four (or more) equal pieces. Wet hands and shape dough into logs. Wrap each log in foil, twisting ends of foil tight. Make sure it's wrapped well because the gluten will expand. Place foil-wrapped logs in steamer. Steam 1 hour.

Makes 4 large logs (or more smaller logs).