Cajun Sausage, Bean, and Vegetable Casserole

Here’s a little tidbit about me: I love casseroles. I love the idea of casseroles, I love the presentation of casseroles, I love eating casseroles. I even love to collect nice, vintage casserole dishes. I think I just have a fascination with putting things in the oven “unfinished” and then having them come out all nice and warm and whole. It’s like magic! I think this is where my obsession with lasagna comes from.

It’s been a long time since I’ve made a casserole. Recently, I decided to get into the habit of eating more beans, and I particularly enjoy firm beans for their texture — kidney beans in particular. So, I wanted to make a hearty bean casserole, like a stew, except less soupy. And I wanted it to have a certain kind of jambalaya-esque flavor and tone about it so, it appears seitan sausage and okra was in order!

This recipe is heavy, but in a good way. It fed me for a week too. If you had any doubts about vegans never  being able to “get full” or eat more than just wimpy salads, this will prove you very, very wrong. Like I said, the flavor of this casserole is reminiscent of a jumbalaya. If you want more kick, just add more cayenne pepper. I think it’s fine without, but I’m also kind of a wimp when it comes to spicy food. I really like how easy this was to make and how much food it made. I’ll be making it again soon when I want something hearty and satisfying but without all the fuss. To break up the procedure, I made the sausages in advance, the night before, but you can make them an hour before starting the casserole.

Enjoy!

Cajun Seasoned Seitan Sausages

I’ve been craving Field Roast sausages for a while now. I used to buy them all the time because their texture and flavor is impeccable and because as a starting vegan, I didn’t know how to cook without still having the space for meat on my plate occupied by something meat-like. As far as flavor and texture go, I think they’re the best vegan grain meat product on the market, and besides Gardein, the most texturally gratifying. But, hell, they’re kind of expensive to buy often, just like any good processed food is, vegan or non-vegan. Nowadays, I don’t even understand the need to “fake it,” but who can resist seitan?

So, with a recipe in mind for a Cajun inspired sausage and bean casserole (which I’ll post in a moment), I knew I had to take matters into my own hands and start making sausages from scratch. This way, I could make larger amounts, save a whole lot of money by using common vegan pantry ingredients I already had, and have the satisfaction of making something really cool and delicious. I was going to cook them in 15 minutes using my pressure cooker, but I couldn’t find my steamer insert and I figured that most people don’t have a pressure cooker so, this might be a more convenient way for most, although it takes 45 minutes longer. Trust me, it’s worth the whole hour.

These sausages are so very delicious and have a nice “chew” to them. Let’s all hail seitan for that! In fact, I ate two right out of the oven. I couldn’t wait. They are incredibly simple to make and don’t really require a lot of effort. Most of the time you spend on these will be waiting for them to come out of the oven; the prep will only take about 10 minutes. You can use these in casseroles, alongside your tofu scramble in the morning, in hot dog buns topped with onions and hot peppers, on pizza, in rice dishes, or pasta dishes — basically in any dish you would normally use sausage.

I hope you love them too!

Breakfast Polenta with Field Roast Mexican Chipotle Sausage and Daiya Cheddar

For all you hungry Mexican food aficionados who enjoy a hearty, (a bit spicy) and savory breakfast or brunch, but have grown tired of the omnipotent tofu scramble, I give you this: The power of polenta – for breakfast!

Call me a fat kid, I don’t care, but when I couldn’t decide between oatmeal and muffins, I made oatmeal cakes, and when I couldn’t decide to only eat oatmeal cakes for breakfast – I made this too. And thank the vegan kitchen gods I did! I couldn’t stop eating it. In fact, I made enough for two (so I could save some for later), but I ate the whole thing! Oh boy.

This was inspired by my recent trip to NYC where I had brunch at a little restaurant in the lower east side called, Caravan of Dreams. I got the french toast. My best friend got the polenta. When our food came out, it was obvious I would be secretly seething with jealousy no matter how good my french toast was.

Need I say more? Oh yes, on thing more: enjoy!