Horizon's in Philadelphia makes what might be one of the best appetizers ever, vegan or not.
They have a Jamaican barbecued seitan that is unreal.
Their secret is the seitan.
Ray's Wheat Meat is made by an Allentown, PA company and is available in Whole Foods and other retail outlets in the region that are veg-friendly.
I tried to approximate the joy I found at Horizon's, but for far less money.
A container of Ray's runs about 4 bucks at Whole Foods, and I'll be experimenting with other sauces, but my first attempt was with a bottle of whatever-was-on-sale barbecue sauce. 
Lightly coat a frying pan with some olive oil on a medium-high heat.
Break the seitan into rough pieces about bite sized and heat them up until they are hot all the way through.  This should only take a couple of minutes.
Coat each one with the sauce and sear them on each side. 
Serve them hot and enjoy.
The sauce at Horizon's is better.  The smoked chipotle dip they serve with it is unbeatable.  But this low end version of the Horizon's classic is easy and satisfying. 

This recipe starts with seitan.  You can either make you own like this one, or buy some from a store. 
You want to start by finely chopping and onion and a green pepper.  Mince the garlic unless you're using the wonderful pre-minced jar of garlic.   
Heat up a large splash of oil in a heavy skillet (cast iron works great) over a medium-high heat. 
saute the onions, garlic and pepper until the onions are clear.  and starting to get a little brown. 
While the veggies are sauteing, shred the seitan with either a food processor, or just by chopping it finely with a knife. 
Once the veggie mix is ready (slightly browning) mix in the shredded seitan. 
Let this heat up for a few minutes and then add the barbecue sauce.  This is not an exact science, just pour it in from the bottle and mix well.  Once everything looks like it is coated, you've put in enough sauce. 
I've found that the best flavor for this comes from letting the sauce burn on the bottom of the pan and scraping it into the mix.  So let everything cook well and wait a little while between stirs.  It will be cooked pretty quickly, but a little bit of burning this will actually add to the flavor, just try not to go overboard. 
It is done when it looks like sloppy joe, dark red but still moist and as burnt as you like it to taste.
Put it onto your favorite rolls alone or with some lettuce and sliced tomatoes.  Toasting the rolls first makes a nice contrast in textures to the soft, sloppy filling to the sandwich.

Ingredients:
Seitan (I usually shred about 6 or 7 cutlets, not sure how that equals store-bought, but it's about 2 cups or so after shredding)
1 bottle of barbecue sauce (most brands are vegan if they are not the honey or bacon flavored varieties)
One onion
One green pepper
One clove of garlic, minced (or the jarred stuff works great)
Rolls

I found this at VegWeb.com:

Ingredients:
substitute for 2 eggs (mix 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder, 1 tablespoon corn starch, and 4 tablespoons water)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 box medium firm silken tofu (350 g)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 packet vegan dried onion soup mix (1.5 oz)
1 teaspoon oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2/4 cup chopped celery
2 cups chopped mushrooms (use portobello mushrooms for a heartier taste)
1 1/2 teaspoon each of oregano and basil
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (Variations: To make it stick together better, try lowering the bread crumbs to 3/4 cup and adding one of the following: 1 extra box of tofu, 1 cup of instant mashed potato flakes, 1 - 1 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice or 1 cup burger-style crumbles)

Directions:

Mix egg substitute, soy sauce, tofu & onion soup mix together in blender. Add walnuts & blend until smooth.

Saute vegetables until onions are transparent (add other diced veggies if you wish - ie peppers, carrotsetc). Add herbs/spices while vegetables are frying.

Mix blender ingredients, cooked vegetables and bread crumbs together in a large bowl.

Press into a greased loaf pan. (Or, as user giraelei suggests, "Instead of a loaf pan, I usually use a square cake pan and liberally coat the loaf with ketchup so it gets kind of burnt and caramelized. Yum!")

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool slightly. Turn loaf out and slice.

This has become a standard dish at my parents house when all sorts of eating habits must be catered to. Even the most obstinate meat eaters love it. It is also excellent the next day cold on a sandwich with a bit of mustard.

I constantly get the barrage of questions and comments from people about the impact of a vegetarian diet on a human's health.
Our bodies are designed to break down foods from animal and plant sources.  People will always argue that it means we should be eating an omnivorous diet.
But a world filled with millions of healthy, happy vegetarians will prove that it is quite possible to live and flourish with a completely vegetarian diet.
http://www.medicinenet.com/vegetarian_and_vegan_diet/page2.htm
MedicineNet.com has a nice piece about the idea of a balanced vegetarian diet providing all of the nutrition that a human needs to survive. 
Sure, if you're a vegan who eats nothing but Swedish Fish and Peanut Chews, then of course your body is going to be in terrible condition.  But if you're a meat eater who only consumes burgers, you're going to be in a bad place, too. 
The key is always having a balance, whether you are vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, omnivore or carnivore.
Variety is the key.

There is a recipe for seitan that is making its way around the food blogs called Seitan O'Greatness, so I figured I had to give it a try as well.  I found what I think is the original at Post Punk Kitchen.
It is a little time consuming, but very easy to make.  The majority of the time is the 90 minutes it has to bake. 
Start by turning your oven on to 325.
You just want to combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix each bowl well separately, then pour the wet into the dry and mix. 
Once it forms a dough, knead it for about a minute. 
Roll it into a cylinder about six to eight inches long.
Wrap it tightly in foil and twist the ends.  Bake this for 90 minutes.
Let it cool and then slice it as you use it. 
This can be used in pretty much any recipe where you want chunks of seitan, but is also tasty just sliced and eaten.
I haven't tried it, but many people seem to like it fried and a little hardened on the edges, and then mixed into their favorite recipe.
It has a little spice to it, but a tomato-ish flavor from the tomato paste.  So it's pretty good crumbled over pasta.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp pepper (I use 2 tsp)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (you can use 1/8 tsp if you like it less spicy)
1/8 tsp allspice
2 tsp garlic powder


3/4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

There are a lot of recipes that call for a tablespoon or two of Worcestershire sauce. This is a problem for vegetarians, since there is usually anchovies or anchovy paste in the brands you buy in the store.

There are a couple of them out there without, but they are hard to find.

I found this recipe on CookingWithRockStars.com and just tried it.

You just take all of the ingredients and mix them in a sauce pan. Let it boil while stirring constantly.

Simmer it for another minute and then let it cool.

The recipe doesn't yield a whole lot, but it's not like we're using it to marinate a steak, so it is perfect when you need a little bit for a recipe, then store the rest in the fridge for another recipe.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon pepper

I found this recipe for arribiata sauce over at Epicurean.com and decided it looked easy enough to try.


Making homemade tomato sauces seems like such a daunting task that I've never even attempted it before.  This sauce calls for canned tomatoes and some fresh spices, so it seemed like something I could handle. 
The first step is to chop the parsley and crush the garlic. 
Heat up the olive oil in a large saucepan over a med-low heat.  Once hot, cook the parsley and garlic in it for about five minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in the chopped onions and mix this several times during ten minutes over this heat. 
Next you'll want to dump in the  oregano, red pepper flakess, basil, salt and pepper.
Then put in the tomato paste.  Stir this mixture constantly for about two minutes. 
Break up the tomatoes as you stir them into the saucepan and mix in both cans of tomatoes and the juice they come in. 
Let this simmer, still over the medium-low heat for about 45 minutes uncovered. 
Stir the sauce frequently and don't over cook it, or the tomatoes will become kind of bitter. 
This makes a pretty large batch of sauce, so you'll have enough for a few different meals.  You can separate this into one quart containers and freeze it until you're read to use each batch. 
Dump the frozen sauce into a pan and stir in some cooked pasta for a quick and easy meal down the line. 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
4 crushed garlic cloves
4 onions, coarsley chopped
5 1/2 oz. can tomato paste
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 - 28 oz cans whole tomatoes w/ sauce