Are You Smuggling Seitan Sausages or Just Happy To See Me?

I really bombed the last few weeks of mofo so I am going to try to make up for them. I am still on a budget and trying to make the most of the cookbooks and ingredients I already have. You should do it even if you aren't on a budget since wasting food is terrible and sleeping on your cookbooks can really bum you out when you realize all the awesome stuff you could be making.

I have been in love with seitan since some time last year when I finally switched over to the "steam team" and had great results. Even though its really easy and you can do a bunch of other things while you wait for them to cook, I don't make seitan as often as I should. I have been wanting breakfast/brunch type foods so when I flipped through Vegan Brunch I knew it was time to get of the dime and make the "Chorizo Sausages."

These came out great. I love that they have the flavor of chorizo but without all of the grease. I halved the crushed red pepper and avoided the cayenne because I didn't want them to be too hot. I'm building my spice tolerance but since I was planning on serving these to my niece I wanted her to be able to enjoy them too. Whenever I make seitan, we call it "meat log" so I asked her if she wanted to try the "meat log". She loved it. I asked her if it was too spicy and she said it had a little kick to it but it was really good. She had a few little slices while I was prepping and we made some chorizo/cheese cracker sammiches too. I really wanted to make a frittata but it was just too warm this week so I am going to make the "Taquitos with Chorizo and Potatoes" from Viva Vegan instead. There's a chorizo recipe in that book too!

"We Are All Sausages" *

Pizza is one of the foods that I eat all the time when I'm out but rarely make at home. I hoard up a few Amy's and Tofurky pizzas for "special times", but that's as close as it usually gets. I don't know why I do it, pizza isn't that tough to make, you can buy sauce and dough at most stores. If you really are hard core, those shouldn't be too hard to do either, unless you are impatient like me, then the sauce might drive you crazy.

To feel like less of a lazy person, I did make my own sausage. Ever since I stopped being scared of seitan, thanks fo Julie Hasson, I have been wanting to make her recipe for Spicy Italian Vegetarian Sausages. I probably wouldn't have gotten around to it as soon as I did except that I had leftover bell peppers from when I made enchiladas the other day. I wasn't sure what to use them in until I thought of pizza. I love mine to have a ton of bell peppers so from there I decided to add some sausage in as well.

My steamer is not too large so I think next time I will arrange them better so they cook more evenly, but they still turned out great. I was a little off in my portions so I ate the little baby sausage with some mustard while I was putting the rest of the sausages away. I only used one sausage for the pizza so I have 5 or 6 more, which I could probably eat all by myself, but I'm going to offer some to my sister since she might want to make a pizza too. If I am really nice I will just give her half of the the new pizza I make with all the extra ingredients I have. I will go easier with the daiya next time since it got greasier and gooey-er than I intended. It was still really good, but I am notorious for overloading pizzas and need to have a lighter hand.

On a non-food related note, I got the best phone call ever today from my future boss. I am going to start my job on Tuesday. I am beyond excited. I was offered the job two months ago, but there was a lot of behind the scenes paperwork that had to happen between now and then. I am truly thankful to be working again and particularly happy that it's in a field that means so much to me. I'm starting at the bottom, but I'm not worried since I'm a quick climber. 2012 is going to be an amazing year full of changes for the better.

p.s. If you don't know what I'm talking about in the title, click here.