Breaded Ranch Seitan with Avocado Black Bean Salsa

I've been trying to incorporate quinoa into my diet lately since it's heralded as the perfect protein. It's been rough. This is just plain quinoa topped with breaded ranch seitan and an avocado black bean salsa-- sriracha and broccoli sprouts for garnish.

I used to eat ranch all the time, which I feel a little embarassed to admit. It's so bad for you. But I think almost everyone goes through that phase where you just dip everything in ranch. From burgers to steak to pizza to burritos. It's really kind of disgusting now that I think about it.

Anyway, the quinoa isn't the exciting part of this dish, unfortuately. It certainly adds to the healthiness of it though.

Here, I tried to make a vegan ranch that's pretty healthy. A small amount of vegenaise with soy milk, lemon, and seasoning. After marinading for an hour, I coated it in whole wheat bread crumbs. Then I heated up a small amount of grapeseed oil and lightly fried the outside for some cripsiness. I can't believe how amazing it turned out. This is by far my favorite way to eat seitan now. Hands down.

The ranch marinade with seitan

[[Bread Ranch Seitan]]
I'm hesistant to post this because I almost think this recipe is my masterpiece. But what the fuck, right?

Ranch Marinade
5 tbs vegenaise
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper

about 10 4 inch slabs of seitan
about 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
2 tbs grapeseed oil, plus more if needed

-- Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well. In a shallow dish, fully coat each piece of seitan [[like above]] and refridgerate for about an hour.
-- Lightly scrape away any excess ranch from each piece while still keeping a thin coat for the bread crumbs to cling to. You still want the seitan to be coated so you retain that ranch flavor. The breading will be loose because of this, so handle with care. Once each piece is coated, heat oil in a pan.
-- Lightly fry each side for about 2 minutes. Lay on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
-- This would also work really well without bread crumbs. You could put in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes or use an outdoor grill to add a smoky flavor.