vegan explosion: the diablo dog

as a child, i always had an aversion to the taste of hot dogs. and a kids in the hall skit confirmed my distaste when they claimed that hot dogs were composed of yucky animal parts, mixed with old phone books and wieeeeener flavour. (i still firmly believe this is the original recipe for hot dogs). and truth be told, i've never liked the vegan hot dogs all that much either. then behold, the diablo dog. ms. jewbacca and ms. crunk both had me intrigued, then salivating, and then running to the store. i snatched up the jumbo dogs and some seriously awesome vegan hoagie buns. i kid you not, this is a little (er, huge) piece of sinful heaven.


my diablo dog consisted of:

• huge hoagie buns
• jumbo vegan hot dogs
• jalapenos
• chopped tomatoes
• regular mustard
  
• hot scottish mustard
• chopped pickles
• chopped green peppers
• vegan queso
• chili beans
• hot sauce
• ketchup
• sauerkraut
  

first get your prep out of the way, because when those dogs are done, you aren't going to want to be cutting tomatoes and pickles.

split the hot dogs down the center and pop them on the grill (about medium heat). then split the hoagies and grill them for a minute or two as well so they are nice and crunchy. pile all the fixins on, smush everything together and do your best to get it in your mouth.

definitely a three or four napkin dish.

veggie and kraut pizza

pizza has long been one of my favourite foods. another one my favourites is sauerkraut, and when i went vegan, i found that kraut made a tasty substitute for cheese on pizza. it's not exactly apples to apples in terms of taste, mind you, but it's really worth giving it a shot (if you like kraut). the best part - it crunches up perfectly on the edges.

• 1 batch of pizza crust
  
• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• 1/2 cup artichoke hearts, quartered
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 tomato, sliced and halved
• 5-6 mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup vegan sausage crumbles
• 10-15 black olives, chopped
• 1 cup of sauerkraut, drained

for the pizza sauce:

• 1 small can tomato paste (6oz)
• 3/4 small can tomato sauce (6oz)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1-2 teaspoons black pepper
• pinch of salt

jessy of happyveganface recently blogged about her whole wheat pizza dough and i had been dying to give it a shot. the verdict - absolutely perfect! i will definitely use this dough more often.

the pizza sauce recipe listed is my go-to recipe when i haven't really 'planned' on making pizza. i prefer a nice combination of fresh and sun dried tomatoes for my sauce, but sometimes a girl just doesn't have all the fresh ingredients she needs. and it's simple - just whisk up all the ingredients in a bowl. also, i really love black pepper in my sauce. i learned this from my italian grandmother, who i once watched make pizza sauce with a heavy hand of black pepper. her sauce tops mine of course, but i haven't forgotten the special black pepper ingredient. :)

i think everyone knows how to make pizza, so i'll just skip to the best part. after layering your sauce and veggies, drain and hand-squeeze your sauerkraut. spread it thinly over the top of your pizza - much like you would with shredded cheese. if you want the kraut to crunchify, make sure you can still see the veggies below. i've tried it both ways, and i say 'thin to win'...

pop it in the oven at 425°f, and let cook for at least 12 minutes. usually i just eyeball it after this, depending on how thick it is, and how crispy you like it.

tony soprano sandwich

i was craving an old-school italian meatball sandwich. but, i really didn't feel like making meatballs, so i made a sloppy 'meat' sandwich instead. it might look like a modified sloppy joe, but it tastes way more tony soprano-like to me.

• 1 hoagie bun
• 1 cup cooked tvp (about 1/2 cup dry tvp)
*or 1 cup boca crumbles
• 1 8oz can of tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
• 1 small green pepper, chopped

cook the textured vegetable protein with half the water according to package (about 1/4 cup). add the tomato sauce, water, spices, and peppers to the tvp. heat the mixture for about 2 minutes on med. temperature. toast hoagie if desired, and stuff with tvp mixture.

and if you are a kraut nut like me, i think it complements this dish nicely.

kraut potato medley

i'm going to hermann, missouri at the end of this month for octoberfest, and it has been putting me in mind of my favourite german food: sauerkraut. i made this the other morning when i was craving some sort of breakfast scramble, and the leftover sauerkraut from my pizza was calling my name.

• 1 can whole potatoes, drained
  
• 1/2 cup (or more!) sauerkraut, drained well
• 1½ tablespoons onion powder
• salt & pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegan bacon bits

slice up the potatoes into round coins about 1/4 inch thick. cook on high in a non-stick skillet until they start to brown a little on the edges. i don't use oil or butter as i try to keep things healthy when i can, but that might speed up the browning process if you don't care about that stuff.
add everything else to the skillet and continue to cook - about 5-10 minutes until everything starts to get crispy. in this picture, i used tastefully simple's bacon bacon... but i've also grown quite fond of j&d's hickory bacon salt (be careful - the original and natural flavours aren't vegan). it's 0 calories - woot!

kraut spring rolls

i have a confession. i have an unnatural obsession with sauerkraut. i didn't actually try it until about two years ago, and i've been scarfing it down in massive quantities ever since. maybe i'm making up for lost kraut time, but i could (and often do) put it on everything.

• 3/4 cup julienne carrots
• 3/4 cup julienne zucchini
• 1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms
  
• 1 cup sauerkraut
• 2 8½-inch spring roll wrappers

place one spring roll wrapper on a flat plate and run warm water for about 10 seconds over each side (until it feels flexible enough to roll). if it softens too much it will tear easily, so make sure it retains a little bit of its starchiness. on the same plate, place half of the ingredients near one side rice paper and make a small fold over them. fold in the sides, and then finish tightly rolling up the rest of the roll. it's sort of a burrito style roll, if you know what i mean (i always forget to take pictures of the process). repeat with the other wrapper and remaining ingredients.

for the sauce, i prefer 1 part rice vinegar to 1 part nama shoyu/soy.