Homemade Vegan Sausage

For my Chopped Vegan Brunch entry I made sausage gravy using homemade vegan sausage.  I used two for the gravy and the other two for a marinara sauce the next night for dinner.  The recipe is incredibly simple and the only ingredient I had to pick up for the recipe was vital wheat gluten. 

The recipe calls for the use of a steamer basket which is a kitchen gadget I don't have.  So I thought I'd share with you my inventive, homemade steamer.  You know those store bought pie crusts that come in a disposable pie plate?  Save that plate and poke a bunch of holes in it.  Put the plate on the top of a pot of simmering water.  And tada! You have a homemade steamer.

Tampa Bay Veg Fest 2012

 It's that time of year again.  The time of year that I attend not one, but two, veg fests.  This Saturday was act one, the 3rd annual Tampa Bay Veg Fest.  While it was still hot out it wasn't scorching with 98% humidity like Tampa has been all summer.  With the park being on the water there was even a nice breeze.  Perfect weather for the strawberry limeade I downed in about two minutes. 

The food vendors were pretty much the same as last year.  And I ended up eating what I had last year.  I'm a creature of habit.  Sammi had the giant Italian sausage with the works on the left.  I had the regular sized hot dog with onions, relish, and ketchup on the right.  Don't they look like a mommy and baby hot dog?

Of course, I'm all about dessert.  And I absolutely love this frozen banana soft serve from the Gone Bananas truck.  I had mine with "cookie crumbs" (which turned out to be two whole oreo cookies), graham crackers, and chocolate syrup.  It was divine.

I wish there had been more new vendors at veg fest this year.  That being said, I still had an awesome time.  The food was delicious and the weather was great.  I love that I live in a place that celebrates veganism at least once a year!

Chopped Vegan Brunch Round

It's another round of Chopped Vegan!  Again, I'm pretty impressed with myself.  This round was brunch so I could have gone sweet or savory.  The mystery basket contained butternut squash, fresh rosemary, popcorn, and apricot preserves.  I made Rosemary Sausage Gravy over Butternut Squash Biscuits and Rosemary Potatoes with Apricot Popcorn.  It's a mouthful to say, but a mouthful of awesome when you eat it.  The salty savory potatoes go surprisingly well with the sweet popcorn.

Butternut Squash Biscuits:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine), cold
• 1 cup homemade butternut squash puree 
• 1/3 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar

In a bowl mix the squash puree, almond milk, and sugar; set aside.  In a food processor combine all other ingredients.  Pulse until the margarine is pea sized.  Add the squash mixture.  Pulse until a dough ball is formed.  Roll dough out on a floured surface.  Using a biscuit cutter, cut and drop biscuits until a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes in a 425 oven, until the tops are golden brown.  Serve warm under gravy.  Or with margarine and agave or maple syrup.

Rosemary Sausage Gravy:

• 2 homemade vegan sausages, chopped
• 2 1/2 cups unsweetened plain almond milk
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

 In a saute pan over medium heat brown the sausages in olive oil.  Once brown add the rosemary and coat the sausage in flour.  Stir in milk.  Let the mixture simmer until thick.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over butternut squash biscuits.

Rosemary Potatoes and Apricot Popcorn

• 3 large red potatoes, chopped into even pieces
• Olive oil
• 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary, minced
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups salted popcorn, preferably homemade
• 2 tablespoons apricot preserves

Coat potatoes with olive oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Roast in a 425 oven for 15-20 minutes, until cooked and slightly crispy.  Meanwhile, pop your corn with just a bit of salt.  Toss hot popcorn with apricot preserves, coating the corn.  Mix with roasted potatoes.  Serve with biscuits and gravy.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ever since I got an iPhone for my birthday I've been really bad about using a camera.  And I've also become kind of crazy about instagram.  So excuse the instagram photo.

I started graduate school in August.  I'm loving it and I've made new friends really quickly.  One of my new friends had a birthday in September and her favorite dessert is red velvet cake.  Wanting to let my new friends know how awesome vegan desserts can be, I made cupcakes for the M.A. students on her birthday.

I found the recipe for the cake here.  Instead of making 2 8-inch rounds as the recipe calls for I made about 20 cupcakes.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops spring back and a toothpick comes out clean. 

I topped the cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting.  That recipe can be found from the early days of the blog here. 

*Make sure the red food coloring you use is vegan.  Alternatively, you can substitute with an equal amount of fresh beet juice!

Paris Cafe

When I was in high school about once a month or so my school would have "late start days".  Sometimes I would sleep in, but more often my friends and I would meet downtown for brunch before going to school.  I'm not sure which friend found this gem, but the Paris Cafe was where we went.  The food has always been consistently fantastic.  The place is fairly vegetarian friendly, but this was my first time back as a vegan.

The options were more limited but I really enjoyed what I ordered.  It was the Moulin Rogue salad; mixed green, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and pistachios.  They also serve a house made tarragon dressing with almost all of their salads.   I'm not a huge fan of salad dressing but I'm tell you I could drink this stuff!  It's seriously the best salad dressing I've ever had.  And they serve it to you in a super cute Eiffel tower bottle.  Also served along with your salad is a big chunk of fresh baguette.  It's an awesome place and I highly recommend it if you're ever in downtown West Palm Beach.

Victory Garden

USF has a botanical garden on campus, including a limited number of plots in an organic vegetable garden.  Who has two thumbs and one of those plots?  This girl!  Florida's growing season is pretty much reversed from the rest of the country.  October is a good time to plant, as the weather is slightly cooler (this is kind of a joke, I sweated buckets out there in the cool 88 degree weather).  We started with some tomato, basil, and parsley plants picked up from a local shop.  Then we planted carrot, kale, and lettuce seeds.  I'm going to update the blog with progress from the garden.  I'm hoping for lots of kale by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.

Holy Guacamole

Probably like most people I go through cycles with recipes.  I'll find something I like, make it once a week for a month or two, then kind of forget about it for another few months.  Then one day I'll think, it's been a while since I've had ____, and then the cycle starts again.  Enter empenadas.  I've posted two different recipes for empenadas on the blog before.  And to be honest I never make the recipe the same way twice. 

The filling always consists of whatever I have in my fridge and/or freezer.  Today I used half a package of Boca meat crumbles, a can of black beans, red onion, garlic, cilantro, and spinach.  Then I sprinkled a tablespoon or so of taco seasoning.  Top that mixture with some pepper-jack Daiya cheese and that makes one tasty empenada.  In the past I used Goya brand empenada shells, which aren't vegan.  But I found another brand in the same section of the grocery store that is vegan.

I served these with yellow rice (Mahatma brand is vegan) and homemade guacamole.  Guacamole is a new passion of mine.  I simply can't get enough of it.  When I saw a recipe for a copycat of Chipotle's guacamole on Pinterest I knew I had to try it. 

Chipotle Guacamole:

• 2-3 ripe avocados
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
• 1/2-1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• Juice of one lime
• Salt to taste

Mash avocado with a fork, it can be chunky.  Mix with all other ingredients.  Serve with empenadas, tacos, or tortilla chips.