Friends! I am overwhelmed! Yesterday I asked you to help me raise $730 for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary — a way to celebrate my 730 days (2 years) of living a vegan lifestyle. As of this morning we have raised $430!

We are over half way there! And, guess what? A supporter of WFAS has pledged to match half of what we raise. Thank you, one and all, for any size donation!

Now, a weekend cooking tale. Sunday morning I pulled my veggie scrap bag out of the freezer. The one-gallon bag was ready to burst! As it thawed on the counter I wondered how I should season my homemade vegetable broth this week. I sent out a message on Facebook and Twitter for ideas. The overwhelming winner? Cinnamon! (Thanks, Elisa!)

I loved the idea of simmering the veggies in cinnamon and knew I needed to add a few more spices in the mix. Cumin came to mind. Then I spied fresh ginger root on the counter. YES!

My pressure cooker vegetable broth this week:

8.5 cups filtered water

1 gallon bag of frozen vegetable scraps (lettuce, spinach, celery, tomatoes, mushroom stems, red and yellow onion, garlic, red and green peppers (and seeds), and asparagus)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cumin

Half inch fresh ginger, coarsely chopped

Pinch of iodized sea salt (seriously, just a pinch, consider this a low-sodium stock)

I brought the veggies to pressure, then cooked at pressure for 10 minutes. I allowed for natural release and then strained the broth through a cheesecloth.

Delicious! This made over 12 cups of vegetable broth! Most often I store about four cups of stock in a mason jar in the refrigerator to dip into throughout the week; I also freeze a good amount in freezer bags. This week there wasn’t as much to store because as the aroma of cinnamon, ginger and cumin filled the house I had an idea!

I decided that the time had come. With inspiration from seitan recipes by Elise, Christy and Candle 79, it was time for me to try my own hand at creating a “wheat meat” dish, reflecting my own unique taste.

Cinnamon-Ginger Seitan & Veggies in Coconut Gravy by JL goes Vegan: Food & Fitness with a side of Kale Keywords: stove top, pressure cooker, entrée, vegan, seitan Ingredients For the seitan 1.5 cups vital wheat gluten

1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon each ground ginger, cinnamon and cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 cup vegetable broth (I used homemade, which was seasoned with ginger, cinnamon and cumin)

1 teaspoon avocado oil

1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses

2 tablespoons Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)

Cooking broth: 3 cups water, 3 cups broth (yep, the seasoned homemade broth!), and 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce For the veggies 1/2 cup vegetable broth

Half a yellow onion, cut into half-moon slices

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

Fresh ground black pepper

8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, room temperature (I used So Delicious)

2.5 teaspoons arrowroot

Two tomatoes, diced

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of cumin

2 handfuls kale, chopped

Sea salt, to taste (I used about half a teaspoon) Instructions For the seitan Combine the first six ingredients (dry) in a medium bowl (or KitchenAid bowl).

Whisk together the wet ingredients (NOT the cooking broth) in a small bowl.

Add wet to dry and stir until well combined.

Knead for five minutes (I highly recommend using the dough hook of a Kitchen aid, or similar appliance).

Pull dough apart to form six cutlets. Set aside.

Bring broth ingredients to a boil in the uncovered pressure cooker and add the cutlets to the boiling water. Lock the pressure cooker cover in place.

Bring to pressure, cook at low pressure for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow for a natural release.

Remove cutlets from the broth to cool before handling or serving. Store cutlets, in the cooking broth, in an airtight container in the refrigerator or in a sturdy bag for the freezer. For the veggies Heat half a cup of vegetable stock in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and saute for a few minutes Add mushrooms and saute for five minutes. In a small bowl (or large measuring cup) whisk arrowroot in coconut milk, making sure to whisk away clumps. Add coconut milk to the skillet and bring to a boil to make a medium-thick coconut gravy. Add tomatoes, cinnamon, and cumin and bring back to a boil. Add kale, cover the skillet and reduce the heat to simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover the skillet, bring the heat back to medium high for one last quick boil. Taste and add sea salt, if desired. Serve veggies in a bowl, add thinly sliced seitan and spoon the coconut gravy from the vegetables over the top. Powered by Recipage

A few notes to the recipe:

I opted to make smaller cutlets and place them directly in the water (versus wrapping in cheesecloth) because I thought this would allow for a consistent texture throughout the entire cutlet and that it would be more moist (I was right). Moist — but not too moist, i.e. not done enough — is important because seitan can dry out when stored and be too tough. Not this seitan!

Blackstrap molasses, you ask? The smell of cinnamon, cumin and ginger was sweet. I love sweet and savory but I knew that aroma would not translate to an actual sweet taste. Adding just a small amount of molasses to the seitan did the trick.

I used a nutritional yeast powder (versus flakes) that was fortified with vitamins (some people assume all nutritional yeast is a source of B-12. Not so! Look for “fortified” on the label and make sure B-12 is listed).

I feel really proud of this recipe.

I followed my intuition and combined foods and spices that just made sense to me.

And it worked!