Really, I do. Independence rules because there is an entire day for it and you DON’T have to go to work but you DO get to barbecue, drink and possibly even set things on fire. With your friends! See also: why I love Memorial Day and Labor Day.
This is actually the 3rd annual Fort Jane 4th of July BBQ, as Rob and I have had our friends over on the 4th each summer that we’ve lived here. This is what we ate this year:

Julie Hasson’s Spicy Vegetarian Italian Sausages

Now, if you’ve ever read a vegan blog you’ve seen Julie’s recipe from Everyday Dish in action. You may have made it, you may have been intimidated by it, but I promise you, it is easy and delicious and you will love it. This recipe is supposed to make 8 sausages, but somehow I always end up with 9. I’m not complaining.

You will need:
2 & 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup chickpea flour
2 tbsp Bills Best Chik’Nish Seasoning (if using another brand which is salty, or saltier than Bill’s Best, you’ll want to greatly reduce the amount you use) (note: I don’t even know what this is, but did a Google search for “chicken-style seasoning mixes” and found some good stuff)
2 tbsp granulated onion
1 to 2 tbsp fennel seed, optional
2 tsp coarsely ground pepper, preferably freshly ground
2 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp dried chili flakes, optional
1 tsp ground smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground allspice
2 & 1/4 cups cool water
6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce

1. In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. Whisk together the water, garlic, olive oil and soy sauce and using a fork, gently stir into the dry ingredients. Stir just until ingredients are mixed. If dough mixture is too dry, you can add another tablespoon of water or as needed.
2. Scoop 1/2 cup dough mixture at a time and shape into logs. Place logs on piece of aluminum foil and roll up, twisting ends. Place sausages in steamer and steam for 30 minutes. Once sausages have cooled, remove from foil and refrigerate until ready to eat. After cooling, the sausages may feel a bit dry on the outside. Don’t worry, as they will soften and firm up considerably after chilling.

Or! You could go here and watch Julie make it herself.

This is what the dry ingredients look like:

This is what your dough will look like:

See how the one in the back isn’t tightly twisted?

Yeah, this is what happens:

This is my bamboo steamer on my ancient stove. There is the lid, carelessly tossed onto another burner:

Why am I showing you all this? I’m not sure. Here are the sausages:

They are good. They are so, so good. Stick them in the fridge for a bit to congeal, and toss them on the hot grill for a few minutes on each side. They are equally good with sautéed onions and peppers in tomato sauce as they are with spicy mustard. A few days later, I sliced one up and sautéed it with squash and zucchini and made a sandwich. These will not let you down.

And because no BBQ is complete without it, I made:

Vegan Potato Salad

You will need:
3 pounds little red potatoes, halved if they are big
1/2 red onion, diced
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 block of extra firm tofu, diced (in place of hard boiled eggs)
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2/3 cup Vegenaise. You could also use Nayonaise, but Vegenaise is what they carry at our Whole Foods.
2 TBS Dijon mustard

Boil the potatoes until soft but still holding their shape, about 15-20-ish minutes? I immediately drained them and stuck the whole strainer in the fridge so the potatoes would cool and firm up a little. You can do this the night before, which is always nice. When you are ready to make the salad, just take the potatoes out and cut them into little chunks. Mix the potatoes, onion, celery, tofu, relish, salt and pepper in a big bowl. Evenly distribute the relish. In a smaller bowl, mix together the ‘naise and mustard and pour that over the top. Toss everything well (but gently!) to coat evenly. Cover this and put it in the fridge for as long as possible. The more time everything has to sit together, the better it will be.

See? Independence rules.

Except when you get attacked by snakes aaaaah!

Oh whew, they are just garlic scapes. You were scared. I am so lame. Anyway, my friend Carrie got a bunch of these in her CSA that week and gave me a few. Here they are, to scale. Remember that my hands are giant (and my kitchen floor is filthy.)

Anyway, I love garlic, so these guys, which are essentially the shoots that grow out of the ground from the garlic bulb, are like my idea of heaven…if only I could figure out what to do with them. A quick google search found this delicious dip, which I think is originally from the NY Times:

White Bean and Garlic Scape Dip

You will need:
1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, more to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling.

In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to a rough purée.

With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tablespoons water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice, if desired.

Spread out dip on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with more salt.

It turned out this really pretty light green color. The dip was very garlicky but because the scapes don’t have that hot bite that raw garlic cloves do, it’s really pleasant.

I served it with homemade pita chips (Cut a whole wheat pita into triangles like you’re cutting a pizza, put them on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle liberally with salt and bake at 350 for, I dunno, 10 minutes? Keep an eye on them, they burn fast.)

Bitchin! I also made tofu-and-pepper kebabs with a vegan basil aioli sauce for dippin’, but I didn’t take any pictures because I was hungry. Definitely not because I’d been drinking all day. I’ll make them again soon and blog them.
In conclusion, Independence Day is awesome, and I will probably continue to live in America. Thanks for not wanting to pay your taxes, early Americans. Sorry about your luck, Native Americans. Smallpox sucks. Anyway.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Holiday Editions, Vegan, Vegetarian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.