Mofo Post # 2 - Mezze Lunch

I got the shock of my life (slight exaggeration) this lunch time when I checked my blog stats. One minute I had about 9 people from the UK looking at my blog and then when I refreshed the page at 1pm which I believe is 8am in parts of the USA I had 201 American readers on my blog.

Hello Vegan Mofo'ers!

I've already been trying to work my way through the blog roll although it'll take me the whole month to check out all of the blogs. I decided to work my backwards alphabetically because my last name begins with W so I was at the end of every list from primary school to university. I even found a blog in Spanish which I'm trying to read - I understand the ingredients but don't know whether she's talking about today, yesterday or doing something right now...oh well.

This month is a busy month for me. Not only have I signed up for Vegan Month of Food I'm also launching Housebites Lunches this week. I already work as a vegan takeaway chef in my own home in the evenings and this week I've started doing lunches.

The lunches are a mixture of hot meals, salad boxes and sandwiches. One of my salad boxes is a Mezze box although I've pictured it on a plate here, because this is my lunch! In the box you get homemade falafel, hummus, tabouleh, salad, grilled vegetables, pitta bread and olives. I tried to base my menu on the kind of thing I would like for lunch. When I worked in an office my options were quite limited as the amazing veggie canteen across the road was closed all summer.

I'd love to get more lunch ideas. Tell me what you would have for lunch if you could get vegan lunches delivered to your desk at work!

Bangers and Mash Mofo!

Today is the first day of Vegan Mofo aka Vegan Month of Food. Along with hundreds of other bloggers I have signed up to write 20 blog posts this October all about vegan food.

My posts are going to be all about vegan meals. I'm relatively new to veganism having been vegetarian for almost 19 years before going the whole hog. As I cook for a living I'm always trying out new meals to add to my Housebites menu as well as to try to keep my own diet varied.

I'm kicking off with one of my favourite Autumn/Winter meals. Bangers and Mash is one of my favourite week day meals to eat when it's getting cold and dark.
 
My first few attempts at seitan sausages were a total disaster because my local health food/organic shop only had a gluten free, gluten substitute instead of just gluten flour. If someone tries to sell you this don't take it! It turns out all sticky and horrible and is impossible to mould into shape. Having tried a couple of sausage recipes from The PPK (without that website I would never have become vegan!) I have finally come up with my own variation of seitan sausages. Mine have less gluten in so they are a bit softer and juicier. I finally got my gluten from Earth Natural Foods in Kentish Town eventually. Let me know if you find it anywhere else in London...I need a back up just in case.

All you need to do is blitz everything in the ingredients list in a blender.

• Roll into sausage shapes.

• Roll the sausages in foil and twist up the ends.

• And then steam for about 45 minutes. If you don't have your own steamer then check out this tip!

After that they are really good fried in a pan or brushed with oil and grilled or baked in the oven as you would prepare shop bought veggie sausages. I like to cook too many so I can have some cold in a sandwich the next day.

1/2 cup cooked black eyed beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegan worcester sauce
A few dashes of chipotle tabasco
2 cloves garlic, grated (with a microplane, or very finely minced)
1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons chickpea flour
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of chilli flakes
Several dashes fresh black pepper
Salt to taste

I serve my sausages with mash and onion gravy and an obligatory green vegetable. Yes, there is mash in the picture, somewhere underneath all that gravy!