Vegan Sausage

I've been reading a lot lately about making one's own vegan sausage rather than going to the store and buying the premade stuff.  This way, you can spice it up to your own liking/recipes.

My plan is to take Iowa Girl Eat's recipe for Red Beans and Rice (http://iowagirleats.com/2012/02/21/not-so-fat-tuesday-lighter-red-beans-rice-crock-pot-recipe/) and sub Bistro Katie's vegan sausage (http://bistrokatie.com/2011/03/vegan-andouille-sausage/) in place.
While perusing Trader Joe's a few months back, they were serving up their lighter mac and cheese served with some special smoked spices.  I had to ask three times to make sure it was veggie mac and cheese because it tasted sooo smoked meaty!  I'm thinking a trip back there is going to make the spices in the sausages delightful.

Cookbook Club v.3.0 was a success on Sunday night and we've been eating off those leftovers for awhile.  The cookbook was Comfort Food, but I can't for the life of me find it listed online anywhere.  I'll keep looking and update with more info as I find it.

  We've got my Risi e Bisi Risotto dish fist, then Erin's whole wheat and potato gnocci, then Gretchen's Mushroom pot pie and some of Julia's salad toppings in the back (the salad bowl was so huge, it left the table after everyone had dished up)

  Anna's Moroccan Vegetable Stew there and somewhere was the minty couscous to go along with.  This was amazing and the first thing to disappear from my leftovers!

  And our resident dessert chef, Kelly, provided us with this pineapple ginger upside-down tart (delicious in its own right) and this AMAZING ice cream.  Sheeder Cloverleaf Dairy has milk in the general grocery stores around here which I honestly can't tell the difference (skim milk tastes like watery milk no matter who you get it from?) but this ice cream.  Oh was it good!!  Great creamyness without being too fatty coating the spoon and mouth and the vanilla flavor.  Please can I eat this everyday of my life?  

We did venture out to Sbrocco before heading to the Civic Center to see Arianna Huffinton last night, but I didn't take any pictures.  We all went with the small plates and there wasn't much vegetarian there.  Boston's mom got the spicy ratatouille, which was awesome and her friend got the truffled mac and cheese.  But neither are traditional tapas style, you know?  You expect crostinis, etc. easy sharing and eating foods.  Not foods that require silverware.  It was a bit bizarre, but hey, I'm not in Spain anymore, so can't expect too much!

I think I've got some pictures waiting to be edited from restaurant visits in January, just got to get those ready and then a few more actual vegetarian dining out in Des Moines posts will be ready!