My Seitan Stand by and the Death of a Bread Machine

So today was another day where I had no idea what to make for dinner. In my defense, I have been exhausted since the kid went to the hospital - partly because of stress, perhaps partly because of the topamax I've been taking to help prevent migraines, perhaps partly because I haven't been able to workout because of the hospitalization and my exhaustion. Anyway.

This afternoon I started making seitan because the kiddo asked for some yesterday - I decided on boiled (instead of steamed) so I made the Veganomicon recipe (in case you've never made boiled Seitan, Kennyboy's tutorial is how I managed to make decent seitan the first time). I have found that if I put it in the Kitchen Aid stand mixer and let it go longer, it makes the texture firmer and nicer. Also, I usually just boil mine with water, not broth - this is pretty much just because I don't want to use that much broth (it's a cheapness thing:)

So kiddo's dinner was boiled seitan, steamed broccoli, raw carrots, and some pasta with soy free smart balance (it was pretty cheap at a recent excursion to Wal-Mart for Halloween goods (on a side note, it turns out Wal-Mart actually makes me physically ill)).

But for me, what to eat? The original plan for dinner had included fresh made bread - we have a bread machine and we haven't had fresh bread in awhile, so we loaded the bread machine and started it.

A little while later, I thought I smelled something funny - a little like burning rubber - but I wasn't sure (darned allergies!). I checked the bread machine and the dough looked funny. I thought it just needed more water so I added a tiny bit and tried to restart it and then I realized - my machine, around 4-5 years old and around $80-$90, was dead. Good bye bread machine. You helped me gain too much weight while I was pregnant and I appreciated you. I'll try to make bread without a bread machine from now on.

So back to my dinner. My stand-by seitan meal is to saute it with green peppers and onions, to make a noochy cheese sauce and throw it all on top of bread and call it a cheese steak. I did that tonight, no onions, using the nacho cheese sauce from Yellow Rose Recipes.