Vegan Month of Food

November is the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo as it is fondly called) this year. Since I have been a horrible blogger and have been absent for 2 weeks, I have decided to take up the challenge and hopefully post some vegan food every day. It will be a feat if I accomplish this daily task, but I will try! For November 1st, I have a pantry challenge recipe that Matt and I deemed to be quite delicious. A pantry challenge recipe is a dish I make up using only ingredients I have on hand. I don't plan for these meals, and they are a really fun experiment

for me. It is also a lovely dish for a chilly fall day.

Butternut Squash Risotto with spicy vegan "sausage" - serves 4

2 cups cubed butternut squash (1 small squash works perfectly)

3/4 cup chopped leeks (or onion if that is what you have)

1/4 teas onion powder

1 teas garlic granules

1/2 teas Cajun seasoning (optional - I used it to compliment the spicy sausage, but if you are using a mild sausage, I would omit this spice)

1 teas dried rosemary

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups vegetable broth

1 Field Roast Grain Meat Co. Sausage (Mexican Chipotle flavor) sliced and halved

2 Tbs Nutritional Yeast

drizzle of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan boil the butternut squash in water until tender. Meanwhile bring 4 cups of water to boil and dissolve 2 bouillon cubes. In a large saucepan or soup pot saute leeks in a bit of water until translucent. Stir in your spices and the rice and add some of the hot broth. Continue to add broth and stir as the rice absorbs the liquid. Be careful to not let the rice stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

Once the squash is tender, drain and add it to the rice along with the rest of the broth.

Continue to stir the rice. While you are watching the rice, saute sausage slices in a bit of olive oil. Once hot, add them to the rice as well. Continue to stir until all the broth is absorbed. If your rice is still a bit crunchy just add water as needed and stir until it is soft.

Once it is cooked through add the nutritional yeast, olive oil, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Enjoy!
Hope you like this delicious Fall dish. I am really looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!

Since I haven't posted in so long here are some highlights of the past couple weeks.

* The wedding was lovely! Congratulations again Em and Aaron!

* Celebrated my good friends birthday and watched the documentary Babies.

*Spent the weekend with my parents and gathered up my childhood belongings.

*Reminiscing over said belongings.

*Antiquing with my mom.

* The amazing pyrex bowls shown above. I've been searching for that 1958 Chip Dip set for a while now, and happened to stumble across the pair! I was pretty elated with the find.

*Being back with Matt after the long weekend away (He was out of town as well).

What are some of your past week highlights? I would love to hear from you!