Seitan with Vegetables and Meyer Lemon (No Added Fat)

I made an easy waterless dish with my large Saladmaster stock pot.  I put into the pan some sliced onion, diced garlic, frozen Brussels sprouts, sliced red bell pepper, sliced fennel bulb, seitan, and a cubed whole Meyer lemon, skin and all. I warmed the pan, covered, until the vapor release began to jiggle, then turned the heat down and cooked on low (with the jiggling stopping) for about 20m.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Roasted Chipotle Beans with Brown Rice, Tomato, and Romaine Lettuce (No Added Fat)

There is a line of bean dips from a company called Better Bean that I've recently noticed. I bought their roasted chipotle dip and was going to use it with dinner, but found that it had too much hot pepper heat for my daughter, so I made a tempeh burger for her instead. I made a ring of brown rice with the beans in the middle, and included tomato and crunchy romaine lettuce. It was good!

Black-Eyed Peas with Vegetables (No Added Fat)

I came home to find that my wife had made some black-eyed peas in the Instant Pot. I added some kale, carrot, and ginger, and cooked for "zero" minutes (i.e., the pressure cooker just got up to pressure then stopped), then added lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. I also served some Jade Pearl rice (1 part rice to 1 3/4-2 parts water and a vegan bouillon cube, simmered for 20m).

O'Connor Sweet Potato with Yukon Gold Potato, Brussels Sprouts, Peas, and Bell Pepper (No Added Fat)

I was excited to try O'Connor sweet potatoes that I found in the store a day or two ago. We love Japanese sweet potatoes, and these, also with white flesh, are supposed to be similar. My daughter and I were heading out to a Nutcracker performance from a troupe from Moscow, so I had to put dinner together quickly. My daughter doesn't like onions and I use them commonly, but decided to put a meal together tonight without onions. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 3 Sweet potatoes
• 3 Yukon Gold potatoes
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 - 1 cup Brussels sprouts (fresh or frozen; I used frozen)
• 1/2 cup bell pepper slices (about 1/4" x 3/4"; fresh or frozen as above)
• 1 cup green peas (fresh or frozen as above)
• Seasoning to taste (see notes)

Process

1. I put the sweet potatoes (one per person, so three for my family), along with Yukon Gold potatoes (also one per person) and water, in my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked on high pressure steam for 20m.
2. I put the rest of the ingredients except the seasoning (i.e., the remaining vegetables) in a small Saladmaster stock pan and cooked waterlessly - i.e., I heated the pan on medium high, covered, until the vapor release valve started jiggling, then reduced the heat to low to mostly stop the jiggling, and let it cook for about 15m.
3. When the pressure cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then removed the sweet potatoes and potatoes.
1. I cut out two little triangle indentations 1/3 and 2/3 up the length of the sweet potatoes.
2. I cut the Yukon Gold potatoes into 3/4" cubes or so.
4. I put a sweet potato on each plate and surrounded it with the potato cubes.
5. I mixed in a little salt to the waterlessly cooked vegetables and spread atop the sweet potatoes.
6. I put a tablespoon or bit more of salsa as part of the seasoning atop the sweet potato and vegetables, and served.

Results

The sweet potato and potato could have been cooked for less time - they were softer than I'd usually serve them. My daughter appreciated having an onion-free meal and enjoyed it. I also liked it; it wasn't very tasty or complex, but was healthy, reasonably tasty, and filling. Unfortunately, my wife, who has a slight aversion to anything like steamed vegetables (and she considered the waterlessly cooked vegetables a bit like steamed, surprisingly), thought that the meal was "okay" but not particularly tasty.

Ideas for the future

I had considered making a sauce, perhaps a "cheesy" one with cashews and nutritional yeast, or maybe a miso-ginger sauce. That would have made the meal, I think, more appealing to my wife. The potatoes and sweet potatoes were normal sized; I have noted in the past that it takes 10-19m for sweet potatoes. I should have gone with maybe 12-15m as these were not large, thick sweet potatoes.