Veganmofo 3 has begun!

Happy World Vegetarian Day and the first day ofHi everyone! I missed you all, but am back and ready to meet the challenge of posting something tasty, fun, informational, and interesting concerning my vegan life daily for October! Three years ago today I began my vegan journey and have loved every minute of it.

Happy veganniversary to me!

My life turned upside down last week when my work schedule changed. I needed to go with the flow in order to keep my job so once again school has been put on the back burner of life as I once again drop my classes. This is the second or third time I have had to do it this, so I am thinking that there are more important things in life than school and that is ok. I have been focusing on the positive things, which include no more studying, sleeping more, spending time with family and friends, and just in time to join in with the VEGANMOFO CRAZE! If you have never done VEGANMOFO and are ready to have the time of your life meeting new vegan bloggers, new recipes, and ideas now is the time. Head over to Kittee's blog and get your name and blog signed up right away. Hurry, what are you waiting for? Oh, yes please finish reading my post and get a look at some mouth watering faux sausages!

So, Brandie, my daughter, which many of you know found a super recipe over at Susan's site for faux Irish sausage. Using Brandie's adaptation here are some delicious, yummy, mouthwatering faux sausages. Brandie figured out that if you toast your bread just before burning it and wrapping the sausage a bit looser you get a wonderful texture in your sausages. DH just finished off this plate and loved them.


Ok, now being the wonderful grandma it is my duty to share with you the cutest vegan grandson in the world. Meet my lil man, Jr. This month PETA is having a contest for the cutest vegetarian kid and I am asking all of you to vote for this little man. He truly is the cutest little vegan I ever did meet! Look at him swimming in the deep end of our pool thinking he is all that. Isn't he just the cutest lil man ever. I can't believe he is already 15 1/2 months old. WOW!!!

Testing Breakfast Recipes for Julie. Delish!!!

Some test recipes for Julie. Sorry to make everyone drool, but you will have to just keep drooling until Julie's new book, "Vegan Diner" comes out. Trust me you will want this book for the biscuits and gravy alone!!! Enjoy! :o)

Breakfast anyone?

New Sausage and pancake recipe. Can you say YUM?

Ok, stop drooling on your keyboard.


Now wipe your chin, folks!

This is my weakness. Can I say RED LIGHT FOOD?

You bet. They are perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

You ask, How do I know? Trust me I ate biscuits and gravy 4 times in one day. lol

The next day I walked 5.6 miles.

:o)

VeganMoFo Day 3 and Sauerkraut

VeganMoFo is to expand your horizons, go where you have never gone before, or at least not very often. I rarely try to really veganize an omni recipe. Why? Because so many of you out there do it for me! Thanks! Well today was my day to reach deep inside and go for it. I am in love with the Food Network Channel. Watching people cook is a fantastic learning tool. I watch the shows and DH and I talk about how I can veganize the recipes, but by the next day we are back to our usual meal plan. Today I ventured out. I knew yesterday that dinner would involve sauerkraut and had our main dish planned, but I wanted to go further out on a limb and it's good to report that the limb didn't break.

Before vegetarian days and vegan days I made a sausage, kraut, and mustard pita pockets. Thanks to Vegan Dad and Julie vegan sausage were born. Really though, I am not sure where they started, but they are where I first heard and saw them. Now the recipes are all over blogland, which is a very good thing. I know have my own additions to both of these wonderful vegan chef's recipes and our family loves them. Needless to say my pita pockets were really easy to veganize. Our side dish was a little more adventurous. I went to the Food Network and found one of Emeril's recipes and I made it! Mary Beth's Sauerkraut Balls! Everyone knows that potatoes and sauerkraut go together so this was a perfect dish. Enjoy!

Sausage, Kraut, and Mustard Sauce Pita Pockets

(I don't measure a thing for this recipe. I just depends on how much you want to make)

Ingredients:

Vegan Italian Sausage ( I use homemade)

Sauerkraut

Onions sliced thin

Olive oil

salt and pepper

Whole Wheat Pitas

Sauce for both pita pockets and sauerkraut balls

Plain soy yogurt (if anyone knows an unsweetened brand I would love to know)

Dijon mustard

Turmeric

Salt and pepper

Fresh chopped parsley

First heat your skillet add about 1 tsp of olive oil, your onions, season with salt, and let them slowly caramelize stirring often. This can take up to 20 0r 30 minutes. While they are cooking make up your sauce by mixing all the ingredients together to taste. Once the onions are done remove them from your pan, add your sliced or diced sausage , season, and cook until done to your liking. Add the caramelized onions back in along with the sauerkraut. Stir to combine and turn down to low. Meanwhile heat up your pita breads. When they are warm, slice them in half and begin stuffing them full of goodness, add your sauce, and dig in!

Sheree's version Mary Beth's Sauerkraut Balls from Emeril Lagasse (Here is original recipe)

Ingredients:

1 pound Idaho potatoes, peeled, diced and cooked until tender

2 cups sauerkraut

1 cup vegan ham, homemade or store bought

2 flax eggs

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons chopped onions

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 flax eggs, beaten with 2 tablespoons soy milk

3 cups fine whole wheat dried bread crumbs

Oil, for frying

Using a food ricer, rice the potatoes into a large mixing bowl. If you don't have a ricer (I don't) You can use a metal colander. Just push the cooked potatoes through the holes of the colander, plastic colanders don't work. To the potatoes add the sauerkraut, faux ham, flax eggs, 1/4 cup of mustard and chopped onions. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Form the mixture into small balls, about a tablespoon each. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer and freeze for 30 minutes.

Preheat the fryer to 375 degrees. Place your flour, flax egg mixed with soy milk, and fine bread crumbs into 3 different dishes. This will be your coating stations. Make sure you season the flour, flax egg wash, and bread crumbs, with salt and pepper. When the oil is hot take the balls from the freezer and roll each sauerkraut ball in the flour, coating completely. Dip each in the flax egg wash, and roll each in the bread crumbs. Fry the sauerkraut balls in batches until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the fryer and drain on paper towels. I use cooling rack over a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. This way they don't get soggy. Season with salt.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen. I have not tried this since I just made them, but I am going to freeze the leftovers. My plan to reheat them is to cook them frozen in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Remember this is just guess work.

The final verdict is in! The sauerkraut balls are very tasty and moist inside, this recipe will go into the recipe box for sure. :o)

What adventure I will be on tomorrow, time will only tell.

Julie's Healthy Pancakes, Vegan Dad's Breakfast Sausage, and Testing Grammy's Meatless Balls

Breakfast is usually the same for DH and I . He eats a variety of cereals, soy or almond milk, and banana. My breakfast, as of lately, has been grapefruit, oranges, and mango or melon, which ever I have on hand. Somehow we got into a tradition of making Sunday morning breakfast a bit hardier. Why Sunday? I have no idea. We are always super busy getting ready for church and still this tradition has taken hold. This past Sunday we tried Julie's new pancake recipe from http://www.everydaydish.tv/ Well, it is the main batter minus the blueberries and orange juice. I increased the soy milk to compensate for the missing orange juice and added a bit of vinegar to the milk to make "Buttermilk" pancakes. We used what we had on hand and they are wonderful. Julie makes hers with what looks like about a 1/4 cup but I used 1/2 cup. Shall I say right now, make 1/4 cup, they are huge! DH who usually eats 4 pancakes could only eat 2. :o) They were a hit. Along with them is Vegan Dad's breakfast sausage recipe. Simply put, a staple in our home. They freeze well and taste delicious!

Thank you Julie and Vegan Dad for making this Sunday a meal to remember!

The Happy Herbivore has done it again. Here is another mouthwatering preview of another great recipe for her upcoming cookbook. Enjoy, drool a little, and let your imagination go wild.

Here we have Grammy's Meatless Balls, which happen to be the best vegan "meatballs" I have ever tasted. Forget the frozen ones, these put those to shame! Here they are accompanied with mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies.

Ok, now I know this meal is not the healthiest, but some days you just need some good old fashioned comfort food. Grammy's Meatless Balls worked wonderfully in this Vegan Alfredo dish by Don't get Mad get Vegan. By the way the Alfredo sauce calls for white wine, which we never have so I added 2 Tbls of "No Chicken Broth" and it tasted great.

And finally what everyone has been waiting for Spaghetti and "Meatballs". Once again Grammy's Meatless Balls did their job quite well. They hold up so nicely

in sauces and taste fantastic.

Well, it is time to wipe your chins and enjoy life. :o)

Spicy Vegan Italian Sausage and Whole Wheat Bread

First let me tell everyone thank you for your kind thoughts during our past couple of weeks with the loss of Eddie. I was told that the best place to be during sadness is in the kitchen so here you have what I have been cooking.

Spicey Vegan Italian Sausage! Yes, folks you heard it right. Julie did it. She made a wonderful Vegan Italian Sausage and shared the recipe with all of us. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of a "chicken seasoning". Julie uses Bills Best Chik'Nish seasoning and advises that if you use another one be careful about the amount of salt you add. I used Bryanna's homemade "Chicken seasoning" and wasn't sure so I cut the salt way back in my recipe. Next time I will keep the amount of salt in the recipe the same. I guess Bryanna's is not too salty. Anyway the amount of spice is fantastic. I did use the optional fennel seed and red pepper flakes. AWESOME taste and texture. My uncle has a Summer Sausage recipe that is out of this world. I am hoping to use his seasonings with this recipe and make a vegan version. I think this recipe has limitless possibilities. I hope everyone out there give it a try. No kneading, boiling, or baking. These are steamed!

Here you see them after cooking and cooling.

Sliced browned up in a non-stick skillet and ready for eating. My dear omni hubby loves them. He ate them right out of the foil. Brandie came over and decided baby kidlet (she's pregnant) needed them too. lolDH has asked to have them in spaghetti and a dish I used to make with

Kielbasa and sauerkraut. I told him add them to the weekly menu. :o)

Vivacious Vegan makes a very light and completely whole wheat bread. Very simple recipe that she adapted from another blogger. You use whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten, salt, olive oil, molasses, water, and yeast. Try going to a store and seeing those few ingredients in a loaf of bread. After my 2lb loaf was done cooking DH couldn't believe it when he picked it up. Light as a feather. We were both amazed. I usually make a hearty, heavier bread, but thought

I would give this a try. Fantastic!

Look how light and fluffy this bread is. Yum!

Enjoy everyone! See you in the kitchen. :o)