Seitan Sausage & Hot Dog Bun Payoff

So it seems like a month ago or something that I put out tweets that I was making seitan sausages and buns from scratch. It seems kind of weird to say “from scratch” considering that’s about how I cook everything. Anyway, I usually don’t go so far as to make my own hot dog buns. But then, here they are:

hot dog buns

I used Bryanna’s Fluffy But High Fiber Hamburger and Hotdog Bun recipe. For the first ingredient, I used EnergE Egg Replacer because I didn’t have the other things and it’s mostly potato starch anyway. Seemed to work fine. These are all full of whole grains and yet not heavy. I’m not sure I’d call them fluffy exactly, but they are really nice. One thing they don’t do is keep a little “hinge” when you slice them like store bought hotdog buns. I didn’t really think of that. In the future, I’ll experiment with shaping these so the sausage can be wrapped in bread. Even so, the sausages weren’t too messy to eat.

The sausages? Right, I made the steamed seitan sausages that every other vegan food blogger did months ago and probably already has a freezer full of them. I just used Julie Hasson’s original recipe. Next time I’d probably punch up the seasoning a little. I like a really spicy sausage. These had great flavor though. Steaming them was no problem. I just used one of those metal steamer baskets that you fit into the bottom of a pot to steam vegetables. Even though the bottom is rounded and not flat, I was able to stack all the sausages from this recipe into my pasta pot without a problem. 

Don’t be freaked out when you first unwrap these from the foil. They’re still moist on the outside but dry out pretty quickly. I’ve had them both right out of the fridge and into the George Foreman grill and frozen, defrosted partially, then into the grill. It’s crazy convenient to have these just hanging out in your freezer. Sometime soon I’ll incorporate them into some other recipe rather than simply eating on a bun.

seitan sausage cabbage kale salad

Oh, and that’s the Cabbage Kale Slaw from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen next to it. And here’s a slaw extreme close up:

cabbage kale slaw

I had the slaw a couple of days later for lunch at work with sunflower seeds sprinkled on it. It held up just fine and possibly got a little better.

Yes, there’s more food. Asian Baked Tofu from The Candle Cafe Cookbook, Teriyaki Quinoa from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, and some stir fried baby bok choy.

asian baked tofu teriyaki quinoa baby bok choy

Jimmy Crack Corn Crack from Alternative Vegan and Chipotle Kissed Red Bean Sweet Potato Chili from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

sweet potato chili

Sometimes you just need chocolate cake

Eating healthy raw food is great, but sometimes, about one week a month, a girl just needs some chocolate cake. So while we had a lovely, healthy raw dinner of Sunflower Seed Paté on celery sticks and Gazpacho from Raw Food Made Easy:

sunflower seed pate

gazpacho

Afterwards, there was cake. I had bananas I needed to use so I asked the interwebs about chocolate banana bundt cakes. I found Memmaw’s Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake. To make it even more chocolaty, I made a half batch of the ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and drizzled it on top. The cake is moist and lovely with little chocolate chip bombs throughout. I like the texture but will warn you that it’s slightly non cake like, or at least not what you’d expect in a bundt. Maybe it’s all that banana. Anyway, it’s good, but if you’re looking for light airy cake, this isn’t it. This is moist, fudgy intense chocolate yumminess.

chocolate banana bundt

I still dig Vegan Italiano, especially for quick food. The Fusilli with Beets is practically instant beyond cooking the pasta. Obviously these aren’t fusilli, but I liked the idea of little beet cubes ending up inside these guys, so that’s what I picked up.

pasta with beets

And it took me a while, but I finally busted into Healthy South Indian Cooking. It’s been sitting around here for a while waiting for me to get to it. I finally got to Taj Mahal Market last week and picked up prepared Rasam and Sambhar spice mixes just to make life a little easier. This is the Carrot Sambhar and it was lovely. And I even had to leave out fenugreek seeds because I didn’t have any. I used to so I’m not sure where they ran off to. Anyway, it was bright, lovely, complex, not terribly hot. Enough dal to give it some substance, but not so much that it gets heavy.

carrot sambhar

And the “Butter” Tofu made another appearance.

butter tofu

Raw, Half Raw, Not Raw

What’s there to do in Knoxville? Sit in the hotel and blog apparently. I kid. I’m heading out in a bit to walk a nature trail by the river, stomp around a victorian cemetery and eat lunch. But first, the blogging.

fettucini alfreda

First, the raw. This is Fettuccine Alfreda from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine. I could drink gallons of this sauce. I want to pour it on everything.

cheezy broccoli rice noodles

So I did. This is just rice noodles & broccoli with the cheezy sauce from above. Half raw.

currant scones

And, while I was at the gym Thursday, I watched Ina Garten mix up a batch of scones full of butter and cream. I needed to make something to bring with me to Knoxville, so when I got home I made…scones! These are the Classic Currant Scones from the Joy of Vegan Baking. Decidedly NOT RAW. And NOT HEALTHY. But, REALLY FREAKIN GOOD. I think watching Ina’s technique helped me make these perfect. Mostly I paid attention to how the Earth Balance was cut in making sure it was still in little bitty chunks rather than creamed thoroughly. It can be a little tricky since it softens faster than butter. Especially now that it’s all warm out, and in if you’re me and haven’t turned on the air conditioning yet.

Not Cooking

Here are some more tasty raw goodies we’ve been munching on.

Moroccan Carrot Salad from Raw Food Made Easy

morocca carrot salad

Walnut Paté spread in celery sticks, from Raw Food Made Easy

walnut paté on celery sticks

Just some red bell pepper strips

red bell pepper strips

Carpe Diem Carrot Almond Paté Nori Rolls from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine

carpe diem rolls

Aiyah’s Garden Living Corn Chowder from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine

living corn chowder

So, is this stuff any good? The next pic tells that story.

clean plates

Teese Bread

Hey, three pounds is a lot of Teese…so expect to see a few more Teese goodies here. I’ve been wanting to bake more breads, because I really don’t have a lot of experience with it. Then I ran across this recipe. It reminded me of the cheese breads I ate in Italy many years ago and seemed like a good way to use up some Teese. All I did is swap out Teese for regular cheese in the recipe. Since the recipe’s already posted online, I’ll just give you a few pics of the process.teese bread starter teese bread starter bread mixer action shotteese bread teese bread before bakingteese bread doneteese bread innardsOh yeah, and dinner one night was teese bread dipped in pizza sauce with spinach so we could pretend we were eating healthy.teese bread and pizza sauce