So these exist. Hedgehog mushrooms were pretty amazing to look at and had a nutty earthy flavor. I wouldn’t go out of your way to find them unless you’re up for an adventure.
I’m sure you can tell how these mushrooms got their name just by looking at them. If you find some, let me know what you think!
This is Christie, signing off!
This is a quest that has rivaled cheese but only because gluten-free vegan sausages are few and far between. I’ve got 2 for you:
LightLife Tofu Pups These babies are about as boring as regular hot dogs. They’re lower in sodium than their traditional counterparts but otherwise have a disturbingly similar taste and texture. These are highly processed but make a welcome addition to mac and ‘cheese’ or pizza after being sauteed and seasoned. Each package will cost you about $5 so that’s less than a dollar a sausage. They’re worth giving a try but nothing special.
Elani Sausage Roll comes in 4 flavors: Fine Herbs, Mediterranean, Mushroom, and Tomato. We tried all 4 flavors and tomato is the only flavor that’s particularly interesting; the rest are just okay. This product has a distinct peanut flavor and that’s because they’re made with peanuts. If you have an allergy to this particular legume, steer clear. It’s not quite as good for you as the tofu pups but it’s a better flavor option. The texture is pretty homogenous but it’s ingredients are fairly innocuous (despite being fairly processed) mostly peanuts and seasonings. Sauteed with spices, it’s awesome. This oversized sausage roll will run you $6.50 or so and is worth the investment. This sausage is great with a tofu scramble, on pizza or in a wrap.
If there’s a vegan sausage that’s gluten-free that you’d like to see reviewed here, I would really love to know about it. Until next time, the best gluten-free vegan sausages you’ll find are the ones you make at home as far as I know.
This is Christie, signing off.
I got this eerie sense of deja vu as I was cooking this dish and then realized that it was because I had made something like it before. I panicked at first, thinking to myself that I was mentally challenged for not being able to come up with something new. But then I realized how much had changed since I last made mushroom and tofu tacos, and I suddenly felt this sense of pride.
Allow me to explain. I went from barely cooking to suddenly learning how to cook vegan meals for myself. Every time I would prepare something, I had to do “research,” figuring out how to prepare and cook things, what ingredients to use, even simply making sure that what I was making was actually vegan. When making this dish, I didn’t think much about it. I just got my ingredients and dove right in. I am not the same Melissa that I was a year ago!
This is a good variation on my original recipe since it’s “ground” tofu and mushrooms. You will need the following:
1 block extra firm tofu, liquid squeezed out, and then mashed with a fork for a ground meat-like texture
1/3 cup of mushrooms, minced – I used some dried mushrooms that friends from Thailand brought for us
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp chipotle chili powder (or ancho chili powder)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cumin
salt, to taste
olive oil for frying
ground annatto (optional)
Mix all but the olive oil and annatto together in a bowl. Fire up a frying pan and heat up the olive oil. Then, toss in the tofu/mushroom mix. Cook until heated through. I add some annatto halfway through to give the tofu some color.
Stick that stuff on a warm tortilla, put your favorite taco toppings on it, and stuff your face! –Melissa
This particular experiment will have to have another go. I wanted to make a lentil loaf in the spirit of meat loaf. Meat loaf always concerned me as a kid because I couldn’t tell what it was made of except that I always saw cousin Mary dumping crackers and meat that had been into the refrigerator long enough that not really be called meat anymore into a bowl and later, meatloaf would appear. Hmmm… I wonder if I should talk to a therapist about that. Anyways, my experiment involved the following:
1 carton of silken tofu
2 cups of mushrooms
1 1/2 cups of lentils
3 cups water
2 cubes of ‘beef’ bouillon
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
1 pinch nutmeg
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of flax meal
salt and pepper to taste
I cooked the lentils with the water in my microwave with the bouillon. I heated them at 2 minute intervals until the water was all absorbed.
When they were ready I put them into my food processor with the rest of the ingredients.
I mixed it until relatively smooth and then put it into my loaf pan. I baked it at 350F/175C until a toothpick came out clean – about 45 minutes. We sliced it up and made it into sandwiches that were hearty, savory and aromatic. The sage and thyme definitely made a great combo with the mushrooms and lentils.
I think that the flavors were good but I might add some cumin and coriander along with soy sauce instead of salt. It developed a nice firm crust but I think that more flax meal would make it stick together better. I might also not blend up the mushrooms I think the presence of whole mushrooms will make this more visually attractive. A diced onion might help that too. This was delightfully moist but the texture was more like paté than loaf. There will definitely be a next time.
This is Brent and Christie, signing off!
We served this along with Brent’s BBQ butternut squash ribs and the savory earthy mushroom wild rice was an excellent addition to the sweet, spicy, smoked tartness of the “ribs”. You’ll need the following for the rice.
1 1/2 cups of wild rice blend
1 cube of vegetable bouillon
3 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste
Brent did this part while I made the mushrooms because I’m too impatient to make rice. We buy our rice at our local farmer’s market and I like to add extra long grain wild rice to a basic wild rice mix but any rice will do. I collected the following veggies to saute:
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 small red chilis, minced
2 cups mushrooms
1/4 cup fiddleheads or chopped asparagus (optional)
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp thyme
I sauteed the garlic, onion, peppers and herbs in olive oil over medium heat until it became fragrant and then I added the mushrooms.
I stirred until the mushrooms were reduced and then I added the fiddleheads and turned the heat to low to allow the fiddleheads to soften lightly. They can turn brown quickly, so be gentle.
We mixed the mushroom mixture into the rice and served. The herbal flavors of the thyme and sage brought out the earthiness of the mushrooms and complemented the flavors in the fiddleheads. The nutty and savory flavors in the rice rounded the whole thing out and made it really rich and decadent.
This is Christie and Brent, signing off!
Turning Veganese 