Roasted Vegetable Stock 101

ROASTED VEGETABLE STOCK

(Very Rich Tasting)

One of the hardest things when cooking vegan and with your health in mind, is finding pre-packaged items that are fat free and low sodium. This is an easy recipe and you can make as much as you want as it easily freezes. So instead of opening a low fat, salt filled box of stock, you can open your freezer and have a homemade healthy option.

Roast for about 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees:
Use either a Silpat (silicon) sheet or parchment paper to line your baking sheet
Whole or rough chopped peeled or cleaned carrots
Whole or rough chopped celery
Cut your onion in half (peeling isn't necessary)
Clean your leek to get the grit out and cut it into large chunks
To a large stock pot add all the vegetables, fresh cloves of garlic (your choice how many) tablespoon of peppercorn, three bay leaves, a bunch or fresh parsley.  Fill the pot with cold water.  Bring to a slow, rolling boil, not a fast boil. Turn it down to a slow simmer, put a lid on it and cook for about an hour. Let it cool to room temperature.  Pour it through a cheesecloth lined strainer. Throw out the veggies unless you're hungry.  Freeze in 2 cup up to a quart containers.  Use it for soups, sauces, gravies or anything else that you can think of where stock would be better than water.

FREEZES WELL

QUICK TACO BOWL

TACO BOWL

Popped into my sister Kasey's house last night and she threw together this quick and easy taco bowl with stuff she found in her kitchen.  Tasty and easy.

She had some meat sprinkles that she cooked with garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.  Basically, add everything to the pan and heat it up for about 10 minutes.  You can also just add packaged taco seasoning mix, but check for the salt content.  The rest was just open some cans and cut up some vegetables.  Served over brown rice, but you could do lettuce, quinoa or even serve them taco style with heated corn tortillas.

Sausages, 2 Ways

It was my dad's 79th birthday and a good chunk of my family has gone vegan.  We wanted to come up with something that would be easy and tasty, and that the non-vegan contingent would try.  I've made the first sausages several times and they have the texture and flavor of spicy italian sausages.  They are made of a vital wheat gluten base with lots of spices.  The second one has a softer base and is held together by Xanthan Gum, which works as a thickening agent or emulsifier.  You would us it in place of wheat gluten in many recipes.  There is also Guar Gum which acts the same way but would be used in colder foods such as ice cream.  Here's what Bob's Red Mill, who manufactures both, says about them.    Xanthan Gum vs. Guar Gum

The first recipe I used was this (the sausages on the left side of the picture):  This sausage is gluten free.

Gluten Free Spicy Sausage

The sausages in the photo on the right side of the plate are the ones I've made several times.  Basically, they have most of the same ingredients as meat sausages without the pork fat.  Once you have the ingredients ready to go, the mixing goes really fast.  The thing about Vital Wheat Gluten, it will only absorb as much water as it wants to and nothing more.  In other words, if you put too much liquid in the recipe it will only take on the correct amount.  This is also a stepping stone to making Seitan (wheat meat).  I make mine really spicy and you can tweak the dry spice mix to your liking, so play around with them.  Here's the link to the recipe I used.  Leave out the oil, it won't make a difference.

Homemade Spicy Sausages

Serve both on a whole wheat bun with your favorite toppings.  No oil fried potatoes and onions are great, or onions and bell peppers, or onions, bell peppers and spicy marinara sauce.  Have fun with them.