mushrooms, brussels, kale and sundried tomatoes in a wine sauce, vegan

Hi bloggies!

You will probably notice that a lot of my new recipes are vegan. I have been cutting back on a lot of the meat i eat and experimenting with cooking and going out to eat vegan food. This is something I am doing for health, social and environmental reasons that I won't go into in too much detail in this post. In addition, I truly enjoy the challenge of vegan cooking and the satisfaction of knowing what I am eating is nutritionally sound. 

The recipe I want to share with you today is from the cookbook Veganomicon. The recipe was for braised Seitan with brussels, kale and sun-dried tomatoes. Since I don't want to eat "fake meat" seeing as a lot of it is overly processed, I subbed out the Seitan for mushrooms. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 6 shallots
• 2 cups seitan, sliced on the diagonal into bite sized pieces (I used 1 8oz package of sliced baby portobellos)
• 1/2 brussel sprouts, quartered
• 4 cloves of garlic (I used 4 tbsp crushed garlic)
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried tarragon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• several pinches freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped into bite-size pieces
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 4 cups chopped kale

Directions

I like to measure out my ingredients first for speedy cooking

Preheat a large pan over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots and mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for about 7 min, until they have browned.

Add the brussel sprouts and saute for three more minutes, adding more oil if needed. Add the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper and saute for another minute. Mix in sun dried tomatoes. 

Add the broth and wine. Once the liquid is boiling, add the chopped kale. Stir the kale until it is wilted. 

(Sorry for the blurry pic)

Cover the pan, leaving a little room for steam to escape and lower heat. Simmer for 5-7 minutes. Adjust salt and serve immediately. 

I had to adjust the salt and squeeze some lemon over the top to make it truly to my liking but then I thought it was quite delicious! I served over mashed potatoes (made by boiling red potatoes and mashing with garlic, earth balance, almond milk and salt) and enjoyed it while watching last week's Game of Thrones episode. Is anyone else watching the season finale tomorrow???

Leftovers heat up nicely. I like sprucing them up with some Tabasco and hummus. Enjoy!