VeganMoFo VIII: Sloppy Breakfast Sandwich

If you've been reading my blog long enough, then you just know I love nothing more than breakfast.  I don't care the time of day as long as it involves pancakes or scrambles or coconut bacon greatness.  Today is all about the sandwich I used to eat as a kid.  It's basically a fried egg sandwich veganized.  And because I love you, I'm giving you two recipes today.

holler at that sesame seed bagel

White Bean Sausage

(Makes 8 patties)

15 oz can white beans, rinsed and drained

8 oz tempeh, steamed and crumbled

2 tsp rubbed sage

2 tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp garlic pepper or granulated garlic

1 tsp liquid smoke

½ tsp red pepper flakes

⅛ tsp nutmeg

1 Tbsp fresh minced parsley

½ tsp salt, more or less to taste

pepper to taste

½ cup vital wheat gluten

olive oil

Combine the beans and tempeh in a mixing bowl and mash until there is a uniform consistency.  Add the spices and adjust the salt and pepper accordingly.  Stir in the vital wheat gluten and knead for about a minute.  Meanwhile, heat a large skillet on medium and add the oil.  Form the sausages into thin patties and fry for about three minutes on each side, until cooked through.

the carnage!

Sloppy Breakfast Sandwich

(Serves 4)

GF Option: Use gluten free English muffins or bagels.  Use gluten free sausage.

Class this baby up a bit by adding sautéed greens and fresh tomato and replacing the jam with chipotle mayo or garlic aioli.

14-16 oz firm tofu, drained

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Black salt (kala namak) to taste

Pepper to taste

Olive oil

4 bagels or English muffins

Vegan cheddar, optional

White Bean Sausage or your favorite sausage

4 Tbsp jam

Squeeze the tofu of excess water and cut into 8 slices.  Combine the nutritional yeast and salt in a small bowl.  Sprinkle half of the mixture on one side of the tofu.  Sprinkle on the pepper.  In a large skillet over medium high, heat the olive oil.  Add the tofu seasoned side down and fry for about three minutes.  Sprinkle the unseasoned side of the tofu with the remaining nutritional yeast mixture and pepper to taste.  Flip the tofu and fry for an additional three minutes and remove from heat.

Toast the bagels or muffins.  Melt the cheddar on the bottom half of the sandwich.  Place two pieces of fried tofu and a sausage patty on the sandwich.  Spread jam on the top half of the sandwich and enjoy.

VeganMoFo VIII: Kaiserschmarrn

The thing I love most about Wednesdays is that I get to redeem myself.  I originally made this recipe in 2011 when I was trying to veganize meals from Best Thing I Ever Ate.  Wolfgang Puck was describing this Austrian pancake dish, and I decided to try it.  However, I mostly just kept making mistakes and getting enraged that I couldn't conquer some pancakes.

This time, I just used this fancy recipe that includes blackberries and peaches.  I substituted in my own pancake recipe (halved and with slight modification).  It made one large pancake and went really well with everything!  Recipe included below.

Fruity, pancakey goodness

Giant Pancake for Kaiserschmarrn

¾ cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp nutmeg

¾ cups non-dairy milk

2 Tbsp maple syrup or agave

1 Tbsp unsweetened apple sauce

1 Tbsp oil

½ tsp vanilla

Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl and stir everything until just mixed. Pour pancake batter into greased large skillet heated over medium high. Flip when bubbles are seen throughout and the edges look dry. Proceed with the linked recipe.

Without a doubt, I'd say this redemption challenge was a huge success! Plus, it was way less stressful than my first attempt three years ago. Haha.

VeganMoFo VIII: Aw, Kale Naw!

Timeline Tuesday is here!  When I first went vegan, I knew jack about cooking.  My meals predominantly consisted of ramen, salad, fries, and this tofu scampi dish I made pretty regularly.  However, my mom hooked me up with How It All Vegan.  That was the first cookbook I ever owned and I remember making so much from it.

The one recipe I use regularly until this day is Barnard's Brown Rice Breakfast.  Truth be told, I was really hesitant to try the recipe initially.  It was this weird breakfast concoction involving toast, vegan mayo, ketchup, and a brown rice stirfry.  It made no sense to me...until I tasted it!  It's delightful really.  The key is to keep things simple.

I've been making this so long that I've made it into my own.  I upped the health factor a bit by adding tons of kale and using a good grainy toast.  This is easily made soy free (sub beans for tofu and use soy free mayo) and gluten free (use gf bread).  The recipe doesn't call for aromatics or seasonings but you can tweak it to your likes.  I like it just the way it is, though.

Word up!  Hey!

Mo's Brown Rice Breakfast

(a very loose adaptation from How It All Vegan)

Serves 4

2 Tbsp olive oil

14-16 oz extra firm tofu, squeezed of liquid and cubed

2 cups cooked brown rice

5 leaves of kale, de-stemmed and shredded

4 slices bread

4 Tbsp vegan mayo

Bragg's Liquid Aminos (to taste)

4 tsp flax oil, optional

ketchup

In a large skillet heat the olive oil on medium high heat.  Add the tofu and cook until slightly golden.  Add the brown rice and cook for about 3 minutes, until the tofu/rice mixture loses some moisture.  Stir in the kale and cook until wilted.  Remove from the heat.

Toast the bread.  Spread mayo on each slice of bread.  Load each serving with a quarter of the brown rice mixture.  Add liquid aminos to taste, 1 tsp of flax oil, and a drizzle of ketchup.  Devour.

Eureka! grainiac bread...super delicious

This meal is perfect for after an epic workout or if you need a breakfast to sustain you for hours.  Plus, the simplicity makes it super easy for variation.  Examples:

Want Mexican?  Sub chipotle mayo, black beans instead of tofu, avocado instead of flax, and salsa for ketchup.

Italian: Pesto mayo, broccoli rabe instead of kale, and arrabiata instead of ketchup.

Mediterranean: roasted garlic mayo, chickpeas instead of tofu, olives for flax, romesco.

Asian: adzuki beans for tofu, savoy cabbage, toasted sesame oil for flax, and sriracha for ketchup.

I Wish It Was a Little Bit Faller

Besides Skee-lo on the brain, I can't help but think of how much I want to get out of these triple digits.  Now, we're only in the low 100s.  Perhaps soon I will know what it's like to wear a hoodie again!

I'm hoping everybody had a great summer.  We spent ours vegging out and watching reality television.  I know somebody who made it on Big Brother, so Era and I kinda became a bit obsessed with the competition.  It ends on Thursday, so we can finally get our lives back!  Haha.  I also spent a lot of time compiling recipes and hope to do something with it all.

Right now, I'm really playing catch up with food blogging.  I have some stuff from last month that was cute and nerdy at the time, so I thought I'd share.  August happened to have a Friday the 13th, and I decided to have a horror movie marathon...but only horror movies that took place in space.  It was awesome!  The plan was to watch Jason X, Alien, Event Horizon, Critters 4, and Leprechaun 4.  I only made it through the first three, though.  Which is fine because I'm totally gonna watch Critters after I finish this blog.

I went with themed food.  For Jason X, I made Campers in a Sleeping Bag (breakfast pigs in a blanket).  I used a pancake recipe I've been tweaking all summer and a really easy maple simple syrup.  It was super frickin great!

campers in a sleeping bag w/ maple simple syrup (plus my favorite piggy mug!)

Everyday Pancakes
(makes 10-12 small or 6 large pancakes)
soy free

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups non dairy milk
3 Tbsp canola oil
3 Tbsp Maple Simple Syrup, agave, or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
nonstick cooking spray

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt until well mixed. Pour the milk, margarine, syrup, and vanilla over the dry ingredients. Whisk until completely smooth (some lumps are okay).

Heat a pan or griddle over medium high heat. Once hot, spray with nonstick spray. Using a ladle, pour batter onto the hot pan or griddle using a circular motion. Flip the pancakes over when they begin to bubble in the center and the edges look dry.  Make sure not to press down on them once flipped because the baking powder will cause them to rise and become fluffy. Serve with more margarine, Maple Simple Syrup, and/or fresh fruit.

Variations

• Hint of Sumthin’: Add 1 tsp of cinnamon to the dry ingredients.
• Blueberry Cardamom: Add 1 tsp ground cardamom to the dry ingredients, and fold 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries into the batter.
• Chocolate Chip-Banana: Fold 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1 roughly chopped medium banana into the batter.

the sausages are Kittee testers and oh-so-good

Maple Simple Syrup
(makes about 16 oz)
soy free
gluten free

1 1/2 cups evaporated cane juice or granulated sugar
1/2 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp natural (not imitation) maple extract

Place evaporated cane juice, brown sugar, and water in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Heat until the sugars have completely dissolved and the syrup has thickened a bit, about 10 minutes. Be sure to stir regularly and watch so the syrup doesn’t bubble over. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the maple extract. Let cool for at least 15 minutes, as the syrup will thicken even more as it cools.  Store in a condiment bottle in the fridge

leprechaun hummus w/ pita chips and snap peas

I also made Leprechaun Hummus and a gnarly Android Blood Date Shake (not pictured).  It was a pretty tasty day and I thoroughly enjoyed the movies.  The hummus was just some green veggies thrown into regular hummus and blended until smooth.  Super good, though.

bonus taco salad pic! (baked ww tortilla shell, brown rice, kidney beans, broccoli slaw, tequila lime tofu, avocado, salsa, reduced fat cilantro lime dressing)

Two quick things before I go...  I changed the layout of my blog so it's brighter and looks less like my other blogs.  Hope it's easier to read now.  Also, I added a recipe section.  It's kind of bare right now and mostly recipes I only ever made once, but I plan to be expanding it with the quickness.  More to come soon and Happy Labor Day!