…Today I’m craving chickpeas, so tonight I’ll be making Roasted Asparagus, Chickpeas and Potatoes from the very reliable FatFreeVeganKitchen. But I think I’ll substite a lemon vinaigrette (like these here or here or here) for the recipe’s balsamic-raisin vinaigrette.

…And speaking of chickpeas, Chickpea, Cheese and Onion Burgers from Meat Free Monday Cookbook by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney, via RecipeResolution.com. DP:  I haven’t tried this yet, but hello, it’s Paul McCartney.

…As a non-vegan growing up in Texas, I probably never experienced johnnycake.  In the South it’s known as hoecake, but I only ever knew fried cornbread (and may I have some more).  And there was little in the way of food I looked forward to more than my mother’s pressure-cookered to death green beans and fried cornbread slathered with butter. And sometimes, the whole thing sprinkled with vinegar. Tomato, tomahto, johnny, jonny, hoe, ‘ho. They’re all the same basic recipe – yellow or white cornmeal mixed with salt and hot water and fried in oil – but this variation of roasted red pepper, basil and parmesan sounds worth a try. Substitute vegan parmesan (my favorite is Galaxy’s) for the parmesan cheese and enjoy.

Popcorn is a great vegan snack.  This one for barbecue popcorn I found in the parents section of PBSKids.org. Tried it over the weekend because I had all the ingredients on hand. There wasn’t the strong barbecue taste I was expecting, but I liked it.  Good snack for kids, too.

…An oldie but a goodie — Tofu Egg Salad from LunchboxBunch. A simple recipe and worth every minute of the 10 minute prep.  Have some for lunch today.  I’m still trying to figure out what the maple syrup does, though.

… And for dessert, how about a Lemon Bundt Cake with Buttercream Frosting?  I haven’t tried this recipe from VeganThyme, but the picture is sure enough mouth-watering and the blog is a fun read.  I love eating cake more when someone else bakes it. I’d just as soon sit down with a bag of Newman-O’s and a glass of almond milk and pine for Paul.

Biscuits, sausage and gravy. Photo courtesy of SimplyRecipes.com

If they wrote a book about the Unhealthiest Dishes Ever, sausage, biscuits and gravy would be featured in one of the first 3 chapters. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, in that scrumptious triad that has any nutritional or moral value whatsoever.

Yet, who can deny sausage, biscuits and gravy is just plain splendor in a cast iron skillet – the butter, the flour, the flour turning a nutty color in the butter, the milk, the sizzle as you add the milk, the sausage, the sausage fat, the buttermilk biscuits, the butter, the milk, the butter on the biscuits, the sausage spices, the smell, the taste, the butter, the cholesterol, the fat, the triglycerides, the butter. I grew up on this stuff. It’s a wonder I’m still alive.  And, stunning that so many Americans still eat this way.

I’m glad I’m no longer one of those people. But even more glad that I’ve found a way to enjoy this dish again as a vegan. I defy any meat eater to try this recipe and tell me it’s not every bit as good or better than old school.  And the best part? It doesn’t involve animals. Good for them, good for you and good for the planet.

Ingredients:

• Flour – all flour is vegan, so it’s your choice.  I used unbleached because chemicals are used to bleach flour and why add chemicals.
• Earth Balance Whipped Buttery Spread
• Almond milk – I use Blue Diamond Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze.  You can use soy milk, but I don’t like or drink soy milk, so I don’t know how it will affect the recipe.
• Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage Sausage – this is what makes the dish, so don’t substitute.
• Biscuits or toast – I use toast instead of biscuits because I’m lazy.  But there are tons of good vegan biscuit recipes. This is my go-to because it’s simple.
• Salt (optional) – you shouldn’t need it with sausage
• Black pepper – not optional. (It’s not cream gravy without black pepper!)

Directions

1. Prepare the cream gravy. Cream gravy is just pan drippings or butter (in this case vegan butter) melted in a skillet, flour added and cooked in the melted butter until it’s a bubbly, nutty brown, starts to smell nutty, with enough milk added to make a gravy, then topped off with black pepper to taste. There are hundreds of “cream gravy” or “sawmill gravy” recipes on the Web. I’ve never measured my recipe so I can’t provide one here, but here’s one to give you an idea of measurements. There are only 4 ingredients: flour, milk, butter, black pepper. Stay away from any recipe that adds anything else. The trick to good cream gravy is knowing just the right moment to add milk to the butter/flour mixture and that just takes practice.
2. Once your gravy gets going, crumble two sausage links into the gravy and stir it around just enough to heat the sausage (it’s already cooked) and let the sausage flavors meld with the gravy.
3. Toast and butter 2 or 3 pieces of bread.
4. Cut toast diagonally and place 2 of the pieces in the middle of a plate.
5. Cover the toast with the sausage and gravy. Use the extra toast for sopping.

This recipe will make enough for two people, but I’m going to admit to you that I usually eat the whole thing by myself. I’m so ashamed.

Note: The picture above is from simplyrecipes.com. I doubt the food pictured in the photo is vegan, but the vegan version looks exactly like it. It’s not a vegan site, but before I went vegan I got a lot of recipes and ideas from them.  It’s a great cooking site.  Thank you, SR.