It is that last week of November, when the flurry of having Thanksgiving co-exists with the beginning preparations for Christmas at our house. Every year, I seem to have pumpkins, corn, autumn leaves, and the Christmas tree all decorating my house during this last week of November. I’ve learned through the years though, that if I don’t start pulling out the decorations from the attic on the Friday following Thanksgiving, our family gathered for Thanksgiving misses putting “their” ornaments on the tree. I get excited about re-visiting every ornament as it is brought out of the box. Each story of how… or when…or where…gets re-told as it ceremoniously is hung on a branch.
Even the dogs help…or better yet…
Some families have very posh, designer trees right out of a magazine. I think these coordinated trees are very beautiful. Our tree is not one of those trees. Our tree is simple, ordinary,
but OUR living history.
A remembrance of people we have known.
A treasured collection of creations crafted by our children’s hands.
Our tree holds now 29 years worth of memories.
It is the most beautiful tree to me in the entire world! We all stand back when we are finished and "oooo" and "ahhh"!!
Then we go outside once it gets dark and view it from the street. The white lights twinkle
through the picture window!
We then eat breakfast. Don’t you just love breakfast?? I LOVE eating breakfast for supper. Unless it is the weekend, or a holiday, we never have a big breakfast. Yes, I know it is the most important meal of the day, but we always just have simple breakfast meals, so to go all out and fix a big breakfast meal is a treat! Here was our menu: pumpkin waffles with apple cider/cranberry syrup, fried apples, tofu scramble, and “sausage”. I was again STUFFED! I rationalized how hard we had worked carrying boxes down from the attic, putting up the tree, and exerting ourselves out of our usual Post-Thanksgiving prone position. I enjoyed every bite!! I told you I would share with you my sausage recipe. Here it is for your upcoming holiday breakfasts to come, or to use in other recipes in your entertaining days ahead. It makes great sausage balls, stuffed mushrooms, or to use to make my meatball recipe instead of the
pre-made sausage.
To be honest with you, I said a little prayer to my grandfather Mohler (my mother’s father) when I created this sausage. He was a sausage maker by trade. He worked in a meat packing plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas and his recipe was never written down. A loss…probably one of the reasons I am writing down my recipes. I ate his sausage as a young girl every time we visited him and that spicy taste is still in my mind. I always remembered the red pepper flakes and so this has that same kick. If you don’t like things as spicy, just back off on the pepper, but it is really good and so much like his sausage – without the meat! Thanks, Grandpa Mohler!! (He looked just like Santa without the beard…
REALLY :-))
It seems a bit…well…overwhelming to make your own sausage, BUT in timing this, it goes together in 15 minutes. Cooks in just 14 to 16 minutes, so really you have no excuse to say making this sausage takes too much time! It is quicker than you think...and so worth it!!!
Veggie Sausage:
1 Cup TVP (Textured vegetable protein)
(This is found near the dried beans in our grocery store – Bob’s Red Mill brand)
1(scant) Cup boiling unsalted vegetable broth
(I just heat broth for 1 minute in microwave oven)
(Allow TVP to absorb liquid while getting additional ingredients together)
1 15 oz. can of pinto beans (drain and rinse)
1 T. of vegetable broth
2 T. olive oil
1 T. maple syrup
1/8 tsp. liquid smoke
(Place all of the beans and liquids in food processor and process until smooth. Scrape sides down and process again to achieve a smooth consistency)
Add the beans to re-hydrated TVP.
The seasoning to make all of this taste like “sausage”!!!
(I know it looks like a lot of different herbs and spices, but you are making sausage out of vegetables so…TRUST me!! These are seasonings you should have on hand at all times, but especially during the Holidays!!
1 tsp. rubbed dried sage
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion salt
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. fennel seed – (grind in mortar and pestle)
½ tsp. black ground pepper
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
(again you can back off the pepper if you choose – but I highly recommend the heat if you can – sooo good!)
Mix the spices into the mixture to distribute evenly.
½ cup vital gluten
(This is used in bread making – found in the section with flour and yeast in our grocery store and also what is used to make seitan…wheat meat)
Mix vital gluten into the mixture.
Dust bench or counter with additional unbleached all purpose flour and knead lightly. Knead this mixture for 3 minutes or so to develop the gluten strands. I keep dusting with flour and scraping with bench scraper. The technique is like making bread. I use (depending on day and moisture in the air) about ¼ cup of all purpose unbleached flour to knead the veggie sausage.
The veggie sausage becomes firmer to the touch and I roll it into a log. The diameter is up to you, but I usually make it about 2 to 2 ½ inch diameter…like a roll of pork sausage.
Wrap in wax paper like a giant caramel – yum!
Refrigerate until you are ready to cook. With it chilled, you can slice it like pork sausage into small patties. You can also use it right away and the slices are a little more organic in shape. I do think the texture improves if given a bit of chilling time.
When ready to cook – pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees
Place a couple of Tablespoons of oil into a non-stick skillet. Allow oil to get hot and then place patties into the hot oil. Brown 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
A nice crust will be formed, but the middle will still be a bit soft and not completely hot, SO…place patties on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. If your skillet is oven-proof (and handles) you can drain grease and place skillet in oven. It is important that the grease is removed or the bottom of the patty will continue to brown and be too overly browned…learned the hard way…that is what I am here for… to help you not make my mistakes - hehe! I place veggie sausage patties on a baking sheet and then use that flavored veggie sausage oil to make the tofu scramble, but that is just what I do…you do as you wish.
The patties will become firm in the middle, hot, and ready to add to your breakfast meal in 10 minutes!!!
I started off this week’s blog by talking about putting up our tree. I want to share with you my gift today (my Christmas a..ha…moment) as I walked with our dog Grace and my neighbor from across the street. We walk almost every morning and last year about this time when we walked, we noticed a little tree in a yard in our neighborhood. It looked just like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. The little tree was crying out to be decorated. The tree just needed a little LOVE. So each morning when we walked, my neighbor and I took turns taking an ornament and placing it anonymously on the little tree. It was so much fun to sneak the ornament onto the tree. Day by day, the little Charlie Brown tree looked better and better. As Christmas day came near, my neighbor added a tree skirt just like Linus adding his security blanket in the story and the look was complete. Well, to our amazement, this morning – the little tree was decked out with our cast off ornaments and looking like a real Christmas tree!
Is it not the perfect Charlie Brown tree???
On Sunday, we lit the first candle on our Advent wreath that is in the center of our dining room table. This first candle is the candle of Hope. Each evening we light this single candle and have a reading.
So all of this has been dancing in my head today. I guess the little Charlie Brown tree decorated today was my sign of Hope for the Day! Like Charlie in the Christmas story, I was drawn to a baby tree, a real tree! It represents for me today the Hope of Christmas. What is the baby tree in your life that needs a little love??
Thoughtful living moment today: Even the smallest acts of love done in the past are not forgotten. They return and remind us that Hope is REAL!
1 comment:
Leslie,
It is a treat to scroll through and read your descriptions and look at all the great photography (which is also so helpful in underatnding the directions. Keep up trhe good work! Will you share the whole wheat biscuit recipe? We are trying to eat vegan/vegetarian at least every other day as a start and liking it a lot.
Norma G.
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