upton’s naturals

Recipe: Chorizo & Mushroom Potato Skins

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Upton’s Naturals sent me a variety of their seitans for review last week and I have been working my way through the flavors.  Last night I decided to make stuffed potato skins with the chorizo along with mushrooms, onions, garlic and topped with vegan cheese.  The chorizo was really delicious, nice and smoky and the texture was great.

Chorizo and Mushroom Stuffed Potato Skins

Yields 3 servings as a main, 6 as a side or appetizer

Ingredients:

  • 3 baking potatoes, baked at 350F for 1hr 15 min and cooled
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4-5 button mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 package of Upton’s Naturals chorizo seitan
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/3-1/2 cup shredded vegan cheese
  • Garnishes: diced tomato, arugula, thinly sliced green onions and my smoked paprika aioli from my latest e-book

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425F. Slice the cooled potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides just enough to stuff with 2-3 tablespoons of filling; place on a baking sheet and set to the side.
  2. In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat; stir in the onions and cook for 5-6 minutes until soft and translucent.  Stir in the garlic and mushrooms and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Stir in the chorizo, salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes- vegetables should start to caramelize and everything combine.
  3. Scoop 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture into each of the potato skins; using all of the filling.  Top with shredded vegan cheese- as much or as little as you like.
  4. Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil- making sure to tent the foil so that the cheese does not stick ot the foil. Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for 5 more minutes until the cheese has melted and the potato skins are lightly brown.
  5. Plate and garnish with your favorite toppings.
Disclaimer: Upton’s Naturals provided me with a their seitan for product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway. For more details read my bylaws.

Weekend Wrap Up: Art Shows, Cooking and Movies

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The Hubz and I started off our weekend with a bagel and coffee from City Market and then headed to my G-Ma’s to visit, have lunch and then we headed to her art show.  Over the past 10 or so years my G-Ma has taken up painting and each year there is a seniors art show where she features her art work- check it out:

G-Ma's Art

G-Ma and Aunt Carol with G-Ma's Art

'rents and G-Ma art the art show

After spending the afternoon at G-Ma’s art show we headed to my parents house to visit with them before they head to warm, sunny Florida for 6 weeks *colour me jealous*. When we arrived we were greeted by this site:

The roof on the old barn at my parents house caved in last week due to the heavy, wet snow causing the entire barn to crumble.  It is a huge loss for them and sad to see.

We spent the remainder on the night relaxing, looking over old photos:

My G-Ma and Grandpa (Dad's parents)

I love looking back at old photos and checking out the fashion back then- don’t they look so classy? Whatever happened to nice dresses and suits?

For dinner I decided to try out some of the seitan that Upton’s Naturals sent me in one of the recipes from Appetite for Reduction for the Cookbook Club. I made the Caulipots and the Portabello Pepper Steak Stew – my first recipes from Appetite for Reduction and both I really liked and so did the ‘rents and Hubz.

The Portabello Pepper Steak Stew does not call for kale but my mom had some that needed to be used up so I added it to the stew and it was a great addition.  The stew was nice and peppery and the sauce was so tasty.  I have to say salt was the only thing that the recipe needed a little more of but that may have been do to the vegetable broth that I was using.  The Caulipots were good but I think I would try one of the variations that the cookbook includes because I really felt that there was a lack for flavor- again may have been partially due to the broth.  Overall though I liked both recipes an it is a good start to this months Cookbook Club.

Sunday we headed home early so that the Hubz and I could get some work done at home (on our computers).  We spent most of the day except when we headed out for groceries sitting on the couch enjoying leftover stew and caulipots as well as a few Oscar Best Picture nominated movies in preparation for our Oscar party next Sunday.  We watched:

Out of the four we watched Winter’s Bone was by far my favorite- the movie is not weighed down by A List celebrities and the acting and story is really amazing. I would recommend that everyone see this – it is really a powerful movie.  We still have to watch The King’s Speech, The Fighter, True Grit and Toy Story 3, however we are only planning to watch the first 3 and if we have time we will watch Toy Story 3 before Sunday.  So far my top three nominated films are Black Swan, Inception and Winter’s Bone. Which one is your favorite? Are you planning anything for the Oscars?