It’s all up to you…

It’s Monday again and that means that there is a slew of “Meatless Monday” recipes flying all over the internet. All of us over here at YDV roll our eyes at the concept of Meatless Mondays (for every day should be animal-free) but lately I’ve been thinking that it couldn’t hurt to throw out an animal-free recipe for ya’ll every week. It’s always a good idea to build a great recipe database, particularly when one is first learning to cook vegan. This past weekend I made some stellar food and can’t decide which recipe ya’ll would like best. So, I’m going to leave it up to you. You decide.

Contender A: A Lemon Genoise Cake w/fresh Blueberry and Lemon Buttercream filling, coated in a rich Vanilla Butter Cream frosting and topped with toasted coconut. This cake is not for the faint of heart. Genoise is a classic, fine-crumbed French sponge cake. It is different than American sponge cakes in that it has less sugar in it. It’s a sturdy cake and is fantastic for layering. I added fresh blueberries and lemon buttercream in the middle of mine and served it with a side of blueberry/acai compote and it was divine. I may have to add a bit of time onto my trail running this week, but it’s well worth the extra calories.

Contender B: Homemade Seitan Skewers with a homemade Blueberry BBQ Sauce.  I find that packaged seitan tends to be pretty pricey if I’m trying to feed a bunch of folks.  I can save some serious loot if I just make it myself, so I do.  I love that I have control over the firmness of my seitan, something I’ll never get from a prepackaged brand.  These skewers were made with marinated seitan, yellow peppers, green peppers, home-grown tomatoes, pineapple and onions all slathered in a rich and spicy BBQ sauce, which was also homemade- of course.  These lasted all of 5 minutes in my house before they were gobbled up by my meat-loving family.

So, what’s it gonna be? Sweet or Savory? Cast your vote now!