Seitan-Mushroom Stroganoff

Friday was my boyfriend's birthday, so I decided to go all out and try out some new recipes.   And I have to tell you that every single thing turned out so amazingly well, we stuffed ourselves and the leftovers disappeared forthwith. 

We started with a Caesar Salad with Roasted Garlic Croutons from Veganomicon.  I absolutely loved the dressing.  It was creamy and garlicky and tangy, made with soft tofu, capers and ground almonds.  It even had the consistency of the traditional Caesar Salad.  I'm sold.  And the recipe made enough dressing for at least two or three big salads.

The salad was followed by Seitan-Portobello Stroganoff from Vegan with a Vengeance.  I even made homemade seitan, which is not difficult once you've found the vital wheat gluten.  As almost all the recipes I have tried from Isa, it was awesome.  Creamy, rich, 'meaty' and satisfying.  I used white wine instead of red, since that's what I happened to have on hand.   I would confidently serve this at any dinner party!  We ate the rest of the seitan on it's own with mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes, which was a satisfying meal on it's own.

The piece de resistance was this Triple Layer 'Cheesecake'.   I found the recipe in this month's VegNews magazine.   It had a chocolate wafer crumb crust, then a layer of peanut butter cheesecake, then a layer of chocolate cheesecake, then a layer of vanilla cheesecake all topped with swirls of peanut butter and chocolate.  I just can't say enough about it!!  I just could not bear to stick this masterpiece with 48 candles......



This was such a memorable meal.  Totally decadent.  I think the birthday boy liked it at least as much as I did, especially since it was prepared with lots of  love.