The Food Traditions of 4th of July with Upton Naturals - Giveaway!!!

You don't often find a 4th of July gathering without certain traditional 4th of July fare. Of course most people will be busting out the grill and we'll be no exception. I'm going to making some veggie burgers from The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet later on today. If I can find non-GMO corn on the cob, we'll be grilling that up too!

No 4th of July picnic or cookout would be complete without BBQ Baked Beans. When I lived in the midwest, I remember just about every outdoor gathering had a pot of sweet and smoky beans. The ladies at my grandma's church started their beans with chopped, fatty bacon and added loads of sugar. These days, I opt for a much healthier non-animal version using Upton Naturals seitan bacon and agave nectar.

BBQ Baked Beans

8 servings

1 - 15 oz. can pinto beans with liquid

1 - 15 oz. can red kidney beans with liquid

1 - 15 oz. can butter beans with liquid

1 tablespoon olive oil separated

1 - 5 oz package Upton's Naturals Seitan Bacon, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced small

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 - 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup molasses

2 tablespoon agave nectar

2 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 tablespoon vegan worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

Add beans with liquid to slow cooker or casserole dish. 

In 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat add 2 teaspoons olive oil. Saute seitan bacon in olive oil until browned, stirring occasionally, about 5-7 minutes. Add to beans. Add remaining olive oil and diced onions. Saute until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute until just fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add to bean mixture. In a small bowl stir together remaining ingredients and add to bean mixture, stirring to combine. If using slow cooker, cook on high for 4 hours. If baking, cover casserole and bake at 325 for 2 hours.

Upton's Naturals and a Giveaway!!!

Let's talk about Upton's Naturals for a moment, shall we. The Chicago-based company was founded in 2006. They use all natural ingredients. There seitan products are low in fat, high in protein and fantastic in texture and flavor. I was thrilled to find out they use non-GMO ingredients. Hurrah!!! Sadly, at that time, you could not find their products here in Arizona. That has all changed. Several Whole Foods locations and the Tempe Farmer's Market are now carrying Upton's. You can find their products all over the country now and even in Germany! Yay!

I first tried their ground seitan when I was visiting home (Illinois) a couple of years ago. I was really impressed with both the flavor and the texture of the crumbles. When I stumbled upon their seitan bacon at Whole Foods, I was really anxious to give it a try. It comes in a 5 oz. package of smoky slices. Fred had a hankering for BLT's, so that was the first thing I made with their bacon. 

For Father's Day I broke out another package and made Fred a breakfast fit for a king. The texture was chewy, like I remember bacon being. It is much lower in fat, so there is not greasy nastiness going on. 

Upton's is opening their new vegan cafe this summer in Chicago. Even more exciting? Kelly Peloza, the Vegan Cookie Connoisseur is going to be creating their baked goods!! Stop by Upton's Naturals website for more information on their line of vegan "meats" and where you can find them. 

I'm super excited about today's giveaway. Upton's Naturals sent me coupons for free packages of any of 4 of their seitan products: Traditional, Ground, Chorizo or Italian. Yes, REALLY! Leave a comment on today's post about what recipe you would use their awesome seitan in before midnight Sunday, July 7th for your chance to win. There will be two, yes, two winners drawn. Each winner will get 2 coupons. Make sure to leave a way to contact you if you win. Happy and delicious 4th to you!!

FNF - Bobby Flay Throw Down

In his show Throw Down with Bobby Flay, Mr. Flay often travels into some great cook's/chef's home territory to challenge them to a culinary duel. The native is the master at a particular dish in his or her region. Well, we Food Network Friday foodies don't do a head to head competition with the fabulous Mr. Flay, but it doesn't mean our throw downs aren't pretty darn exciting. Who knows, maybe someday he'll want to take one of us on!

This week's challenge was a vegan makeover of Bobby's recipe for BBQ Duck and Sauteed Shiitake Mushroom filled Blue Corn Pancakes with Habenero Sauce. Our little group has become fairly masterful at converting recipes. Check out Vegan Appetite for the other submissions. This one only needed a bit of tweaking to make it totally animal free. I did take the liberty of straying a bit from the original by making Blue Corn Crepes rather than pancakes. I felt that the mushroom/protein filling should stand out more and not be weighed down by a thicker fluffier wrap. The results were all the proof I needed. The crepes were beautiful and let the filling really shine.

There were a couple of tweaks made to the Mesa BBQ Sauce recipe. Vegan Worcestershire sauce was used. I only used 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar as I don't like an overly sweet sauce. The honey was replaced by agave nectar. Pasilla chili powder was unattainable this week. Instead I finely chopped 2 large fresh pasillas and sauteed them with the onions at the beginning of the recipe. This makes a huge amount of sauce. You could easily halve this recipe and have plenty for the 4 servings the recipe below makes.

Veganizing the habenero sauce was a breeze. The only necessary adjustment was vegetable stock for the chicken stock. I only used 2 tablespoons sugar in the sauce. I did use the full recipe of this sauce.

No changes were necessary for the shiitake mushrooms. I do have to say that I used a full recipe of the mushrooms for the 4 servings below. Bobby used this amount for 8 servings.

The biggest challenge was to make a delicious substitution for the very fatty and unhealthy duck thighs. Butler Soy Curls to the rescue!!!

BBQ "Duck"

4 servings

1 cup Butler Soy Curls
1/2 cup Habenero Sauce
3/4 cup vegetable stock
2 tablespoons Mesa BBQ Sauce
1 recipe shiitake mushrooms
1 cup Mesa BBQ Sauce

Bring habenero sauce and stock to a boil. Stir in BBQ Sauce. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes to rehydrate soy curls. Add soy curls to pan that the mushrooms are in. Saute and stir for about a minute. Add BBQ sauce and simmer until sauce becomes slightly sticky (5 minutes or so). Turn heat to very low to make crepes.

Blue Corn Crepes
(Makes 11 crepes if you are a crepe master and don't lose any)

3/4 cup blue corn meal
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup soy milk
1 cup water
1 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon salt

Blend all ingredients in blender until well combined. Mixture will be very thin. Let chill in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes. Heat crepe pan or 8" non stick pan until it sizzles when a drop of water hits it.. Lightly spray pan with canola oil before pouring batter in (for each crepe). Using a 1/4 cup measure, quickly pour batter in pan and swirl around to cover the bottom of the pan evenly. When the crepe is dry on top and there are a few bubbles, flip crepe with a thin spatula and cook for 1-2 more minutes on the other side. Transfer to plate and keep warm making sure to put either wax paper or parchment between each crepe to prevent sticking. Freeze any leftover crepes for later use.***

To assemble:

Once all of the crepes are cooked, place 1/4 cup BBQ mixture in the center and roll up. Place 2 filled crepes on each plate. Drizzle equal amounts of reserved habanero sauce on each plate. If desired, serve with extra BBQ Sauce. Garnish with cilanto leaves and avocado slices.

***Everything can be made up a day ahead of time, stored in the fridge. Reheat sauces and filling on the stove top. For the crepes, spray a little oil in your non-stick or crepe pan and reheat for about 1 minute on each side.

The Return of Food Network Fridays - BBQ "Pork" Panini Sandwich

It has been a bit of a hiatus for Food Network Fridays. This is a little challenge started by the one and only Tami Noyes of American Vegan Kitchen (AVK) and Vegan Appetite fame. A few of us goofy food obsessed types go about converting a Food Network recipe to a much more kind vegan version. It is a lot of fun to see what all of the fantastic cooks whip up.

This week we converted this BBQ Pork Panini Sandwich from an episode of Down Home with the Neelys.

I started off yesterday with a test recipe from the upcoming Vegan Bakesale by Carla Kelly of The Year of the Vegan. Her recipe for what she calls plain bread was hailed by my number one taste tester, Fred, as the best bread he has ever had! It was darn good. Because I had my sights set on this conversion, I made the bread into French-style torpedo rolls. It had to bribe Fred not to eat all of the rolls so that we could eat them with this today.

This morning when I got home from another graveyard shift (yuck), I whipped up another tester from Julie Hasson's upcoming Vegan Diner: Smoky Sandwich Spread. This cheesy, creamy, tasty spread stood in for the cheddar in the original recipe.

For the "pork" I used Tami's Beefy Seitan recipe from AVK. If you don't have her book yet, there is something seriously wrong with you. Go buy it!

I bring you my version of

BBQ Porque Panini Sandwich

Makes 4 Sandwiches

3 tablespoons Earth Balance, softened
2 large cloves garlic, minced
12 oz Beefy Seitan roast
Rub - Recipe below
1 cup BBQ Sauce - Recipe Below
4 French-style sandwich rolls
Smoky Cheezy Sandwich Spread (or your favorite vegan cheddar)
4 large dill pickles, sliced length wise

In a small bowl, blend the Earth Balance and garlic. Set aside for later use.

Coat seitan roast with rub. Save remaining rub in airtight container for later use. Let rub soak into seitan for at least and hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In covered casserole, bake roast for about 20 minutes. Roast will be warm, but not hot. Slice as thinly as you can and return to the pan with 1 cup of the BBQ sauce. Bake for 10-15 more minutes until heated through and sauce becomes a little sticky. Remove from oven and set aside while you prepare the sandwich.

Preheat Panini press or griddle depending on what you are using. I used the griddle on my stove and a big old cast iron pan for the press.

Butter the outsides of the bread with the Earth Balance mixture. Spread a thick layer of cheezy spread on top piece of bread. Working quickly set the bottom piece of the bread on the press/griddle. Top with pickle slices and seitan (divided into four equal portions). Grill on each side for about 2 - 3 minutes until bread is golden and crunchy. Slice at a diagonal and serve with a little extra BBQ sauce for dippin' if that is your style.

Fred likes more pickles and less meat on his. This is a very flexible recipe, so add and subtract the ingredients to fit your taste.

Happy FNF!

Dry Rub

1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Can store in airtight container for future use.

Smoky BBQ Sauce

Makes approx 4 cups

2 teaspoons canola oil
3/4 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 medium)
3 cloves garlic minced
1 - 15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (leave seeds intact)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
6 oz can tomato paste**
2 teaspoons vegan worcestershire sauce
5 Tablespoons chili powder (hot if you like a very spicy sauce)
3 teaspoons celery salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoons toasted yellow mustard seeds*

In medium saucepan, saute onion and garlic in oil over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. While they are sauteeing puree diced tomatoes and chipotle together making sure chipotle is chopped fine. Pour mixture and remaining ingredients into saucepan. Bring to simmer and turn heat to low. Simmer on low for at least 30 minutes.

This sauce is even better if you can let it chill overnight in the fridge to intensify the flavors.

* Some people like thinner smoother sauce. For a thinner smoother sauce, add 1/2 cup of water and puree all ingredients except for the mustard seeds. Add seeds and then simmer.

** I have to indulge myself in a little rant here. I get so miffed when recipes call for 2 Tablespoons or less than a whole can of tomato paste. I know this has to happen sometimes, but it irks me to no end to have this small amount of tomato paste sittin' in the fridge. I purposely developed this recipe so that you, my dear reader, will not encounter this common cooking irritation. Boooooya!