Week 3: BBQ Seitan Sandwiches & Radishes

I'm not sure what it says about our family, but since we tried the mock chicken salad from Whole Foods, we can't stop thinking about seitan and the slew of possibilities it represents. What I'm afraid this says about us is that eating is the highlight of our day, which if this blog is any indication, it totally is. But little kids and careers have a strange way of sucking the life force out of grown ups, and traveling to satiate our adventurous spirits is off the table. So we have replaced this youthful longing for the unknown with food –– more specifically –– with seitan and mounds of vegetables.

Before any unsuspecting soul gets the idea that seitan is magical and divine, you should know that it's really just wheat gluten. It has the ability to be divine, but you must work to make it so. And since I'm the cook in our family and abhor any animal protein that is not, apparently, flash frozen from Costco, I'm always looking out for an alternative protein source. So the mock chicken salad was a game changer. After some time spent digging my heels into seitan recipes online, the barbecued seitan sandwich was introduced to my family. Served on a sesame seed bun with pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, a touch of mustard, and a side of olive oil and balsamic roasted radishes, we were once again satiated. Not only were the seitan sandwiches gobbled right up, roasting the radishes with a touch of balsamic really reduced the bitterness and gave them a tangy, slightly sweet flavor. One valuable lesson was learned in the process, however: never roast anything in balsamic vinegar without first lining your roasting dish with foil. It would take a series of expletives to paint a picture of me trying to clean the pan, so just trust me on this.

In other important news, because we are discovering so many great new foods and recipes, I've decided to start a recipes page for meals that are just too good not to share. So if there are other adventurers whose wings have been temporarily clipped to raise children and shove money into a 401K, I humbly present you with seitan, radishes, haloumi, tempeh and of course, many varieties of leafy greens. If that's not as good as hopping the next red-eye to Belgium, I don't know what is.