Blog about not blogging (and sausages and hamburgers and buns and quinoa and vaginas)

Oops. When I started writing more frequently recently my intention was to write at least one entry a week. Well it's been more than that since my last. All I can do is try harder, and update you on my last couple weeks of course.
Nothing too exciting going on. Lots of cooking and baking of course. Some good old fashioned family time. Some photos. A couple NEW recipes to share! I guess THAT is exciting. Okay, let's get started.

One thing I got into recently was making my own sausages, hamburgers, and buns. Very fun. So economical. So easy. So fast. So yummy. So healthy, at least compared to store bought, and especially compared to non-vegan fare. I used Vegan dad's general recipe for both sausages AND breakfast sausages. I made a few minor adjustments perhaps (for example kidney beans instead of pinto), but the recipes are very flexible and customozable. The sausage recipe was actually really FUN to do... and satisfying. They come together exactly how they are supposed to, I definitely recommend trying them. They taste just like a Tofurkey brand sausage. Find them here: http://vegandad.blogspot.com/.
Here is my pic:

Yes, I know they look like shit. But what sausage doesn't?

Next is the burgers. As I mentioned, I used my imagination. I made them twice with sliightly different ingredients, but the basic recipe is as follows:

Bare bones ingredients (all flexible really. You could use rice instead of quinoa but you'd loose the health benefits of the protein. Even the wheat gluten could be replaced with regular flour but for best results use gluten!):
1 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup quick oats (uncooked)
1/2 cup wheat gluten
1/2 cup mashed beans (optional)
1/2 cup water or broth
2 tbs oil
2 tbs soy sauce or Braggs
2 cloves minced garlic
liquid smoke

Optional/Various ingredients for flavorings (probably not all at the same time, but use your imagination):
2 tbs nut butter
2 tbs nuts/seeds (I used sesame seeds)
1 tsp steak spice
onion powder
red pepper flakes
italian seasonings
smoked paprika
... endless possibilities

Money shot.

And for the buns I used my breadmaker (of course) and this recipe: http://lucyskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/breadmaker-hamburger-buns.html. I used half warm water, half soy milk instead of skim milk powder and water. Did it twice, awesome both times. I did not cut the buns into circles but rather rolled the dough into a rectangle on a cookie sheet and cut into squares. I was clever and made half hamburger size and half sausage size. They looked like store bought. Oh yes, I sprayed olive oil cooking spray on top before cooking to make them brown a little more but that probably isn't mandatory.

My next 2 recipes also include quinoa. The first is just a note on an old recipe of mine, pancakes. http://madisonconlin.blogspot.com/2011/12/perfected-pancakes.html It turns out you can straight up add cooked quinoa to these pancakes and they turn out great! A cup or two depending on your preference. It really adds some fluff, not to mention makes them a LOT more nutritous!

Fat Tuesday. Any excuse for pancakes. Not that I need an excuse.

The next recipe is adapted from Isa Chandra Moscowitz's lemon poppy seed muffin recipe.

2 cups flour (all purpose works best, but do as you will! The quinoa will make up for it)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbs baking powder
2 tbs poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup soy milk
juice and zest of 2 lemons (at least 1/4 cup juice)
1/3 cup coconut oil (or any oil but coconut adds a nice flavour)
2 tsp vanilla

1 cup (or a little more) quinoa
1/2 cup cranberries (for those who love a complicated muffin once in a while)

Lemon Poppy Seed Quinoa Muffins

Mix the dry ingredients, and add the wet in a well in the center. Be careful when adding the coconut oil that it doesn't harden when added to the cold milk/juice. You can either warm the milk to prevent this or mix it slightly before adding the oil. Fold in the quinoa. Bake in oiled muffin tins for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

Well I have a few more things to share but I will leave them for another time. Enjoy these Vagina treats! I made them for a fundraiser for the Vagina Monologues that my sister is participating in at Carleton University (March 10 and 11 I believe).  



Funny names for vegan cupcakes and cookies decorated with vaginas welcome.

Vegina cupcakes is mine.