Asian Style Panko Crusted Seitan

Time to cook: 45 minutes

Difficulty: Moderate-Difficult

Serves: 2 (large portions) 

You will need:

Seitan! 

They do make a few different kinds of pre-made seitan which can be purchased at Whole Foods or your local vegan market, but we typically go for the Arrowhead Mills brand of Vital Wheat Gluten and make our own. It gives you a bit more freedom as far as taste. Just prepare it according to the instructions and don't be afraid to add some extra spices like garlic and dried basil. It takes some time to prepare but the taste in sensational in the final product when you go homemade. Also make sure to simmer in veggie stock and not water- big difference!

When you're finished with your seitan it should look something like this. You want your pieces to be bite sized for the most part. Some variation is to be expected.

You will also need:

Ener-g Egg Replacer

Panko Crumbs

Non-dairy milk (we like Almond Milk)

Garlic powder

Salt and Pepper

Oil

Fruit/veggies (we went with fresh pineapple and green bell peppers)

Sauce of your choosing 

So first get your ingredients together for the breading station- Ener-g, panko, and non-dairy milk. Add a few tablespoons of Ener-g to a bowl with 1/3 cup of non-dairy milk. You want your mixture to be thick enough to coat your seitan but not pudding thick. Fill a plate with layer of panko crumbs and also mix in a small amount of garlic, salt, and pepper if the mood strikes you. Mix well.

Heat a skillet with a 1/4 inch of oil on medium-high heat. Then begin the breading process. Take a piece of seitan and dip it in your Ener-g and non-dairy milk mixture then immediately toss into panko crumbs. Coat both sides.

When the seitan is entirely coated set it in the oil. Each piece will need to cook around 10 minutes on each side depending on your heat. It may need less, it may need more. Just turn them over when it feels right! You want that lovely golden brown color.










Once all of your seitan pieces are breaded and fried set them on a few paper towels to let the excess oil drain off.











Let your breaded seitan sit while you chop your fruits and veggies. If you're going with a sweeter sauce we suggest pineapples and green peppers, but this part is totally up to you. You're going to just want to pair it with your sauce.

Note: If you're using a spicier sauce like General Tso's, fresh pineapple is a great way to balance out all that heat!

Chop your fruits/veggies just slightly smaller than your largest seitan pieces. You want them to complement each other.

Throw your fruits/veggies into a heated skillet with a little oil and toss around to coat.

After a minute or so add in some of your sauce and continue to toss and coat. Add in a little garlic, salt, and pepper as well if desired.

The goal here is to just slightly cook your fruits/veggies. Just enough to heat and make soft.  You want to make them easy to chew but never soggy.

Your next step is to add in your seitan and the remainder of your sauce. So let's talk about sauce options for a minute.




The sauce we used to coat our breaded setian was a special plum sauce Brandy's mother brought down from Conneticut. For some reason they don't sell it outside of Chinese restaurants in the Northeast and although we have found a recipe for it online, the process takes two weeks. This sauce is intense to say the least! If you live up near Connecticut/Rhode Island or are visiting the area- they call this stuff "duck sauce" but it's really just a dark brown deliciously sweet plum sauce. We highly suggest purchasing it by the gallon and using it with all your asian inspired meals.

So, if you aren't in the Northeast and want a delicous sauce and don't have time to make your own, what should you do? We suggest the Iron Chef's line of glazes and sauces. With these you can really go any direction with flavor. General Tso, Sesame, Teriyaki, Orange, Sweet Pepper. As far we know all the sauces are vegan aside from the Mexican Beer and Chipotle (that one isn't quite an asian style sauce anyway) and obviously the Honey Garlic contains honey.

You're going to want to use about 1/2 a cup of this sauce all together and with the last few tablespoons add a splash of warm water and throw it into the pan to really spread the sauce around and coat the fruit/veggies/seitan. Let that heat for a few minutes while the sauce and water gets absorbed and then remove from heat. Do not over cook during this step or your seitan breading will get mushy.

Serve with brown rice and broccoli or any sides of your choosing.

Don't forget, everything tastes better when you eat it with chopsticks!

With love, peace, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies

Quick and Easy "Impressive Bread"

Have you ever had impromptu company show-up and suddenly you're in a position where you need to make some dinner that is going to be quick as well as impressive? This easy bread recipe can help!

This bread is great for random dinner guests because it's something you can always keep on hand in the back of fridge and just pull it out then you need it.

The Two Vegan Ladies "Impressive Bread"

Time to cook: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy!

Calories Per Serving: 100

Serves: 8

You will need:
1 package of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

We know this seems strange, but they really are vegan. "So fake it's vegan!" we've heard people say. We didn't say it was good for you- just animal product free.





1 tsp Olive oil or Earth Balance
Fresh or dried basil
Fresh or dried rosemary
Garlic powder
Salt and Pepper

First. Preheat your oven according to the crescent roll directions. If you're using fresh herbs separate and chop them up into pieces.

Then. Take your herbs and mix them together with a teaspoon of olive oil/earth balance and a sprinkle of garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Next. (This is the worst part.) Pop open your crescent rolls. Why do these things always cause so much anxiety? Now, do nothing to your crescent rolls. Do not, we repeat DO NOT SEPARATE THE CRESCENT ROLLS.

Then. Spread your herb mixture out on a flat surface and roll your whole crescent roll dough cylinder in the herb mixture until every part (including the ends) are coasted in some sort of herbs and spices.

Next. Place it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven. You will probably need to bake it a little longer than the directions instruct to make sure it cooks throughly. Really you just want to wait for it to get golden brown.

Lastly. Place on serving dish and serve with a side of fancy herb Earth Balance. This is a great side dish or appetizer!

With love, peace, and compassion-
The Two Vegan Ladies

The Etsy Experience

We've been making little jewelry pieces and accessories from recycled materials for years now. It started with incense burners. We took empty wine bottles, drilled holes in them, then painted or decoupaged them with different designs. Then we added a ring at the top to hold the incense stick and attached a braided or beaded rope around the neck to hold the ring. We sold these for $10.00 each at a flea market booth we ran for a while.



The recycling/upcycling aspect of using the discarded glass bottles was very appealing to us and we ventured to create more crafts from used materials.

In March of 2010 we visited Key West with some friends and spent a few hours in Mallory Square waiting for the sun to set. There were so many performing artists and art vendors lined up along the pavement. One vendor had what appeared to be intricate little handmade clock charms and we stopped to investigate. We spoke with the female artist for a while and inspected the merchandise. It was beautifully crafted into little circles with clock hands and numbers. After flipping it around a few times it finally dawned on us- these are inside bottle caps. The artist verified that this was correct although she seemed as if the used bottle cap portion was not a selling point. It was much more about the little detailed sculpture inside. Considering she was selling them for anywhere from $25-$50 each we can understand why she may have been inclined to leave that part out.

But this gave us an idea! A few days after we returned from our Key West vacation we started asking our friends to save their bottle caps. From anything. Beer. Soda. Yerba Mate. We even went to a local bar and they handed us a huge bucket full of used caps. Now we were in business.

After making the first few ourselves, we started having get togethers with friends where we would just sit at the crafting table watching movies or listening to music and creating these little bottle cap charms. It was so interesting to see all the little designs people would come up with from the various materials. Beads, broken mirror pieces, chain, glitter, broken jewelry, hardware, wire, buttons, and lots and lots of glue.

For a while we just told everyone to take whatever they made and then we gave the charms we made ourselves as gifts to friends and family. It wasn't till we had a few dozen just lying around that someone suggested we sell our creations.

 We were very interested in the suggestion but weren't sure where to start. We had sold things at flea markets before but it seemed more and more that the idea of selling handmade art in local venues was a dying medium. We had heard of Etsy before, and upon browsing it realized- this is the place.

We opened our Etsy store about a month and a half ago. It took a little time because we just got married this past November and all production on crafts were halted unless they had to do with the wedding. Our bottle cap nights with friends had turned into a sweat shop of people gluing paper to matchbooks, tying bottles to sticks, braiding yarn, cutting out program paper, and various other ridiculous tasks they must have loved us to actually complete. In the end we were very lucky because the whole ceremomy and reception turned out perfectly and we couldn't have done it without them.

Now, fast forward. We just opened our Etsy store and we were told not to be surprised if it took a few months to sell something. Well we have officially sold one item so far! It went to Sweden 2 weeks ago! The item we sold was actually not one of them bottle caps. We have expanded into making two sided charms. This one was inspired by the movie "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". Specifically the song "The Origin of Love". If you don't know what we're talking about we highly suggest you check out the below video. It's a beautiful song.

By the way- if you love the above charm necklace and MUST have one- we just recreated it and posted it as a new item. It can be yours for only $6.99!

So now, here we are, with our little Etsy store up. We're making more things everyday and have obviously expanded from bottle cap charms. Some of our charms are molded from clay or made from reclaimed vintage items. They are always sold on a vegan necklace cord and made (to the best of our ability- it's difficult with some upcycled products to verify) with entirely vegan products.

Our shop is called LeoGemDesigns because Brandy is a Leo and Jenna is a Gemini. We will continue to evolve, be inspired, and add new creations onto our store and hopefully continue to get sales! So far it has been quite exciting and we're pretty optimistic that it will keep getting better.

If you would like to check out our shop use the link on the right sidebar and browse away! Follow us, pin our items on Pinterest, help us get out products out there!

LeoGemDesigns is on Facebook! Click here! Like us!

And tell us, what would you like to see on our shop? More Hedwig stuff or other indie movie inspired items? Should we bring back our bottle incense burners? Do you have a theme you would like for your very own unique bottle cap charm? Tell us! We're ready to make your handmade item dreams come true!

With peace, love, and compassion,
The Two Vegan Ladies

Vegan Garlic Mushroom Alfredo Recipe

When we were vegetarian we often talked about going vegan. We knew it would eventually happen but we prolonged it because we didn't want to let go of certain foods. We both assumed that with committing to an entirely plant based diet came the fact that there were food items and certain meals we were committing to never eating again. What we have found however, since going vegan six months ago, is that those fluffy textures and savory flavors we thought we were going to miss out on- cheese, cream, egg- are all available to us in different non-animal derived forms. We just needed to figure out how to put them together.

Last night we had a little thrift store expedition with a few friends followed by a small dinner party. Don't get the wrong idea here. This was nothing too fancy. We didn't break out the fine dishes and dress in ball gowns. In reality, our dining room table remains covered in craft supplies, as usual, and we sat in the living room with our food watching reruns of Rupauls' Drag Race together. Yeah, we're that kind of glamorous. Looking back we probably should have worn ball gowns.


We've made this meal before for just ourselves and made a lighter version with slightly different ingredients, but tonight since we were making it for 5 people we changed it up a bit and made a full flavor version. Let me tell you we got some great reviews! This is the sort of meal you serve your non-veg friends so you can see their carnivorous eyes light up and watch them speak the words "THIS is VEGAN?"

 So without further ado we present to you another original recipe.

 The Two Vegan Ladies:

Vegan Garlic Mushroom Alfredo

Time to cook: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate (it only looks hard, we promise)

Calories Per Serving: About 200 (excluding noodles) less than 100 if you're doing the lite version

Serves: 6-8

You will need:

4 tablespoons Earth Balace (we use soy-free, it seems to have the most natural "butteryish" flavor)

6 cloves of fresh garlic

3/4 cup of fresh basil

2 shallots

1 large package of white or baby bella mushrooms
1 cup fresh kale (optional)

2 cans of coconut milk (lite coconut milk if you're going for the lite version of this recipe- you may want to up your corn starch and nutritional yeast if you are using the lite coconut milk or else your sauce will come out on the thin side. *Note: If you sampled this dish at the potluck we made the full-flavor version with the regular coconut milk.)

1/2 cup nutritional yeast 

2 tablespoons corn starch

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 packages of noodles (we went with Barilla Penne noodles for this meal)

The way to make this sauce come out thick and smooth is to add everything together slowly and give the flavors time to meld. It will be a process but it will be worth it!

1. Heat a large sauce pan/skillet to medium heat. 

2. Add 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance to pan.

3. Chop all your garlic and shallots then add to pan. 

4. Chop half of your basil into medium pieces and add to pan.

5. Stir everything and let simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Then chop all mushrooms and add to pan.

7. If you are adding in kale (not shown in pictures but highly suggested for flavor!) chop and add in now. You want them to be bite sized when they cook.

8. When the mushrooms and kale are coated in the Earth Balance, shake the coconut milk cans. Especially on the full flavor coconut milk it can get very thick and chunky. It may even need to be stirred once opened. Add both cans into the pan. This is going to seem very runny. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

9. Now add the another 1/4 of chopped basil along with your nutritional yeast, salt, pepper and garlic powder. You can go a little liberal with the spices here. I like mine a little more peppery so I probably end up adding a lot more. Just do it to you personal taste.

10. Add the remainder of your Earth Balance and let melt in while stirring. 

11. Time to start thickening your sauce! Grab a whisk and add in the corn starch. (Add more if you're using the lite coconut milk and you feel like it needs to be thicker.) With this ingredient you really need to make sure to mix it well or you could end up with little chunks of raw corn starch in the final product... and no one wants that.

12. You should have half of your basil left now. Add 1/4 of it in and leave the rest chopped to the side.

*Super secret ingredient tip: taste your sauce. If at this point you feel that the mix needs a little something to even out the zip of the garlic add a pinch or two of raw cane sugar. That will do it!

At this point your alfredo sauce should look something like this:

Yeah, it's sort of a gray. Don't worry that's natural coloring from the mushrooms. (Note: If you added in the kale it will a lot more green and leafy!)

13. Turn heat down to low and let simmer while you boil the water for your noodles. Keep stirring the sauce every so often for a few minutes then remove from heat. It's ready to use!

14. Once cooked, drain your noodles then set to the side. 

15. In a large bowl layer your sauce and noodles so that every bit is well coated. 

16. Mix pasta and sauce well then garnish with your remaining fresh chopped basil.

As Rupaul would say:


"It's an eleganza extravaganza!"


But really it's more of a basil alfredo garlic and mushroom (and kale!) extravaganza.






Serve with a big scoopy spoon or tongs and don't be surprised when your friends go for seconds.

With love, peace, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies

Kitty Katniss and The Hunger Games

This is Kitty Katniss. She is a little kitty who belongs to a friend of ours and she has been shacking up with us for a few days while her Mommy is away. She's a very adventurous little kitty. The type that will chase a shampoo cap in an empty bathtub for hours and paw at a 9 year old dog's tail in hopes of making friends.

Her name is very fitting because like the character she is named after from The Hunger Games she is brave and her beautiful coat makes her look like a girl on fire.

For those of you who have not read The Hunger Games that phrase "girl on fire" is referenced a lot because of an outfit Katniss wears in the books. The clothing is designed by her stylist Cinna (played by Lenny Kravitz in the upcoming film adaptation) and the fabric is so radiant and bright it makes her appear as if she is on fire. I don't think there is another breed of cat which fits that description better than a tortoise shell like Katniss. Her yellows and oranges are so brilliant- she really does embody the essence of fire. Not to mention those intense amber eyes. Her mother has named her well.

Kitty Katniss's mother, by the way, is a very important person to both of us. Not only was she the first person to suggest we read The Hunger Games but she was also one of the two ladies who first introduced us to the vegetarian and vegan lifestyle. We were very lucky the universe found a way to make our paths cross. She has been quite an influence on our lives.

Now, really we're not the type of people who read books like this, but we trusted our friend's opinion. Brandy typically reads authors like Chuck Palahniuk and Jenna usually goes with dance magazines, but we both agree The Hunger Games is probably the best series either of us have read in a very long time. We hear these books are written for young adults but just about everyone in our group of adult friends has read them and raves about them. There's 3 books in the series- The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay- and they are just so compelling. We actually read the last few chapters of the last book, Mockingjay,  aloud while on the way back from a road trip (seriously, who needs audiobooks?!) and we were both laughing and balling our eyes out the whole time. Experiencing the ending together was so emotional.

Don't listen to what you hear about the "love triangle" and all that stuff. That sub plot is an interesting addition, but there is really so much more to these books than the love driven b-story. Suzanne Collins has an interesting way of telling a story. She has created a world of the future which is not an impossible political outcome for our current society. My point is, regardless of your age... read these books. Before the movies comes out if possible. That's really not far fetched. Once you pick them up, you won't be able to put them down.

Now, if we haven't sold you on the books already then at least commit to seeing the film. Although we really highly suggest the books before the film. The countdown has begun for the first movie to be released. It looks fantastic. It's really hard to say at this point whether or not the adaptation will do the book justice, but so far it does look promising. It has quite a cast and it seems as if they were given a nice budget.

If you are yet to see the trailer here's some of them:

So anyway, little Kitty Katniss is going back with her mother today, but it was really nice to have her visiting with us. Our two girls gave her a hard time for the first couple days but the odds were in her favor and she did survive The 74th Annual Hunger Games.


If you've already read The Hunger Games share your favorite parts/opinions/expectations for the movie with us. If not, read the books! See the movie! And after if comes out tell us what you thought of it.

With love, peace, and compassion-
The Two Vegan Ladies

Vegan Crabby Cakes Recipe

Vegan Crabby Cakes

So let's get this started right with a little recipe we created the other day. We were both raised in a fishing community in southern Florida and we grew up eating a lot of seafood. When we stopped eating fish and shellfish a few years back it was quite a transition to find something to curb that craving. Especially when it came to crab cakes. 

There's a lot of imitation meat out there. Hell, you can really get a fake version of just about anything if you look hard enough online. There's a website that makes a one pound hunk of textured vegetable protein molded into the shape of a lobster and dyed shades of red and white.


Not that we don't appreciate the effort the vegan community is making, but the idea of it actually being molded with legs and claws sort of creeps us out a bit.

Anyway, were trying to keep it a little more natural here. We like to take natural things and flavor them to taste like other things. You can do anything with just the right ingredients and spices. 

So with that introduction we give you one of our newest creations.

Name: Vegan Crabby Cakes
Difficulty: Moderate
Servings: 6-8
Calories (Per Serving): 150

You will need:
1 large sweet potato
1 cup bread crumbs (homemade or canned)
4 cloves of garlic
1 small red bell pepper
1 small green bell pepper
1 small red onion
2 ribs of celery
2 pinches fresh rosemary
2 pinches dill (fresh or dried)
2 TBSP soy sauce
tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)
tsp salt
tsp pepper
tsp garlic powder
2 TBSP olive oil

First: Take that sweet potato and stick it in the oven if you have a year or so to bake it. If you don't have a year then stick it in the microwave. Either way you want it to get very soft. The idea is that once cooked you'll be able to pull all the insides away from the skin without much problem. Once throughly cooked, set aside to cool for a minute while you chop your veggies.

Next: Chop your garlic, peppers, onion, and celery. You may also need to give your rosemary and dill (if fresh) a little chop depending on how large you want your pieces. Everything should be small enough to fit nicely into the patty without sticking out.

Now: Cut your semi-cooled sweet potato in half and scoop the contents of into a large mixing bowl. Add your vegetables and fresh spices. Mix well.

Then: Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce along with the remainder of your spices and continue to mix. The mixture will be semi-thick. By the way, the turmeric is optional because it really just adds a yellow tint to the mix. It is not necessary for the flavor. So if you want your patties orange then you're good to go. If you want them to be golden yellow then throw some turmeric in that bowl.

Next: Add your cup of bread crumbs and continue to mix throughly. The mix should be thick enough to easily form patties with. If not- add more bread crumbs. Make sure your bread crumbs are saturated in the mix or else one of you diners may get a nice bite of dry bread crumbs, and no one wants that.

Now: Heat a large skillet with olive oil on medium heat. Form your patties to the desired size (we like mini but if your going for crab cake sandwiches make them the size of your buns) and throw them on the pan. Cook each side until golden brown. You should probably let each side sit for 5 minutes or more and cover with a lid for a bit- you want that raw garlic to cook through.

Finally: Once cooked set patties on plate lined with paper towels to drain extra oil. Serve with vegan tarter sauce.

Oh no! Vegan tarter sauce- what's that? Well don't you worry this is a super easy recipe and we're gonna throw it at you right now.

You will need:
3 TBSP Veganaise (you can get this just about anywhere now. We have it at our local Publix near the eggs. Why near the eggs you ask? Because where else would vegans look for fake mayonnaise that contains no egg or dairy products? Of course! Right next to the eggs! Bad placement on the part of Publix. We're working on that one with them right now. If you have a Whole Foods or a local store that specializes in vegan products they should carry it as well. (Always shop local when possible!)

You will also need:
3 TBSP Sweet relish
1 TBSP Deli Mustard (or spicy brown mustard)

Mix those ingredients together in a small bowl and you'll have yourself some delicious vegan tarter sauce! For us a seafood-esk meal is never complete without some tarter sauce goodness. The calories run a little high on this scrumptious sauce though so use it sparingly (if possible).

A little wedge of lemon is also a nice edition to serve with your crabby cakes. Enjoy!

With love, peace, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies