Vegan MoFo Day 14: Sausages!

Last night I made a huge batch of vegan sausages using the recipe in Vegan Brunch and my new spices from Portland. Yum! They freeze really well, so I figured I might as well make a bunch and have them on hand in the freezer, since I'm working six days a week for the foreseeable future (or at least the next 6 weeks...) and won't have much time to cook. The spices worked really nicely and the sausages came out great!

Some of the sausages fresh from the steamer, still wrapped in foil.

Tonight's after-work dinner for one: Quick Thin Crust Pizza with Sausage

This Week in My Kitchen: Veggie Chorizo 3 Ways + Vegan Prailines

The last time I made veggie sausages they were good, but I didn't like the bean skins in them. This time I set out to make better ones, so I used the recipe in Vegan Brunch as a jumping off point, but ground the beans in the food processor to make a smoother texture and adjusted the seasonings more to my taste. The chorizo came out great (although the first batch was a touch too spicy), and we ate it all week!

Chorizo Stuffed Poblano Pepper, Grilled
I stuffed fresh poblano peppers with chorizo crumbled and sauteed, then Kirk grilled them just until the skin was scorched. Yum! I made a Mexican style red sauce and served it with over the peppers, which we ate with salad and grilled pineapple. I love having a barbeque! Grilled pineapple is seriously my favourite food right now.

Chorizo Jambalaya with Polenta and Salad
When my friend Stephanie came over for dinner, I used one of the packages I got in New Orleans to make jambalaya, which I served with polenta (because I suck at making corn bread), salad and young pickles. Now I need to learn how to make jambalaya from scratch!

Huge Salad with Chorizo
I did not feel like cooking tonight, so I made a HUGE salad with baby greens, bell pepper, tomato, cucumber, green onions and chorizo. Definitely satisfying!

Pecan Pralines
I had a sweet tooth this week, and was craving the (non-vegan) pralines I had in New Orleans. I found this vegan praline recipe and, because I am obsessive about keeping my pantry well-stocked, I had all of the ingredients on hand. So I decided to give it a shot. I have never made candy of any kind before, so I was a little nervous about that. I did do a little internet research beforehand and came up with this handy site. One thing I'd recommend to anyone attempting candy-making is to invest in a proper candy thermometer. I just have this kind, and I had to rig it to the pot with a binder clip. Not ideal! But it did work out in the end and the pralines turned out fabulously. I totally overdosed on sugar for two days, and finally gave the rest to my mother today.

Here's a bonus shot of Jerry in her new bed, given to her by her Aunt Nova (Mum's cat).

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This Week in My Kitchen: Barbeque Chipotle Weiners n' Beans, Veggie Pot Pie, Vegan French Onion Soup, Tom Yum Soup Broth

The past ten days have been ridiculously busy with work, socializing ('tis the season), chores, and various other stuff. But I have had time to do some cooking. I'm certainly not the best cook, but I do love to create new dishes in the kitchen. I'm one of those cooks who just can't follow a recipe verbatim - I'm always experimenting, with generally good, but sometimes mixed results! My goals are always to create yummy, healthy vegan food that's going to satisfy me as well as my omni hubby and friends. Here's a selection of the food I've made this past week (Barbeque Chipotle Weiners n' Beans, Veggie Pot Pie, French Onion Soup).


Barbeque Chipotle Weiners n' Beans
One of my favourite things to eat is baked beans, and last week I decided to make a vegan version of weiners n' beans (or beaners n' weins as my mom calls them). I used the sausage recipe from Vegan Brunch to make the weiners, chopped them up, and added them to cooked pinto beans and a sauce made from barbeque sauce, chipotle hot sauce, vegan worcestershire sauce (I use Annie's) and a bit of vegetable stock to thin it out. I baked it, covered, for about 45 minutes. Yum!

sausages steaming

sausages ready for chopping

weiners n' beans fresh from the oven

hearty dinner for a cold night

Veggie Pot Pie

On Tuesday my friend Stephanie came over for dinner. She made salad and I made veggie pot pie. I always use the hot water pie pastry recipe from How it All Vegan. For the filling I just chopped up and par-cooked yams, a russet potato, a parsnip, some carrots, broccoli (florets and stems), mushrooms and finely chopped spinach. With the leftover filling and pastry I made a cute little single-serving galette.

 

pie, made with love

the galette made a good lunch the next day

French Onion Soup

My husband Kirk's birthday was yesterday, and instead of going out for a fancy dinner, he wanted to stay home and have home made french onion soup with me and our friend Hugues. It's one of Kirk's favourite meals, and I used to love it too (before I found out it's made with beef broth). I've never made french onion soup before, so I looked at a bunch of recipes online and watched Alton Brown make it on Good Eats, season 1 episode 9 (I have all the seasons - it's my favourite cooking show). Then I just went for it.

I chopped up three large sweet onions, one medium red onion, and one medium white onion. There were many tears. I melted a couple of tablespoons of margarine in my non-stick high-sided frying pan, added the onions and carmelized them over medium-low heat. I made the broth from organic vegetable broth with a bit of apple cider vinegar, simmered with a bouquet garni of fresh sage, thyme and rosemary and a halved garlic clove and two bay leaves. I added the onions and simmered it for another half hour, then spooned it into two ramekins (for the guys) and a bowl (for me). I toasted french bread and rubbed a fresh clove of garlic on both sides and added one each to the top of the ramekins, then grated some cheese on top and melted the cheese under the broiler. Paired with some nice red wine and good company, it was a great dinner.

a lot of sliced onions

carmelized onion smells fantastic

my bowl of soup with garlic toast on the side

Kirk's cheesy soup

Tom Yum Soup Broth

Yum is right! Right now, as I write this, I'm making some lemongrass broth for my favourite soup - tom yum, or Thai hot & sour soup. I eat tom yum soup for lunch three or four times a week, but I've never truly made it from scratch. My methods are by no means traditional, and I'm making it up as I go along. To make the broth I'm boiling three lemongrass stalks, two garlic cloves, an inch of ginger and a dried red chile in a few cups of water. I removed the chile after half an hour so it didn't take over the flavour. The house seriously smells amazing!! I'll make soup in the next couple of days and post the results.

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