With MoFo one third complete, I'm making steady progress through my stack of cookbooks. I'm surprised I waited this long to use Chloe's Kitchen since it's my newest acquisition and every recipe sounds fantastic. I think I started salivating when I saw the picture of Mongolian BBQ Seitan, so that's what I went with. The recipe is posted here.
The book claims this is "almost effortless to make." I'd dispute that, but it wasn't difficult and would have been super fast, except I had to wait an hour for the brown rice to cook. Poor planning aside, it's stir-fried mushrooms, seitan and snow peas in a reduced hoisin-based sauce. The seasonings are fresh ginger, cinnamon and cloves. I couldn't get over it smelling like gingersnap cookies while I was making it, and that stuck with me while I was eating it. Next time I'll skip them entirely.
One funny thing about this book is that it has a bunch of pictures of the author in it, with a weird open-mouth smile staring back at me whenever I turn a page. Chloe came on the vegan scene when she won Cupcake Wars, and I always wonder how she stays so thin while developing all those dessert recipes. When I portioned out the four servings, I figured out why:
Portion control! I really like books that list calorie information with recipes - not because I'm counting, but it gives me an idea of whether I need to make sides. These are pretty small portions. It certainly won't hurt me to have a smaller lunch, but I'm training for the Free Press Marathon with morning runs, so I get really grumpy at work if I don't have a decent sized lunch. Or I go buy McClure's Garlic Dill Potato Chips, which are the most amazing thing on the planet, and inhale the entire bag before I even get back to my desk.
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