Vegan Hot Dogs

Making my own vegan hot dogs.

Why, oh why, you might ask? Well, these hot dogs have a chewy consistency, and they are fun. A little like playing with Silly Putty. I will make a few changes next time, I think. This recipe is modified from one I tried on the site baked-in.

Read all the way through, for the connection to muffins.

Here is what I did - to make four large dogs.

I put these ingredients into a blender:
2 1/2 TBS almond meal (I grinded blanched almonds in my coffee grinder for this)
4 1/2 oz. extra firm tofu
1/2 TBS soy sauce
5 TBS water
1 1/2 TBS vegetable oil
1/4 diced smallish onion
1 clove of minced garlic
1/2 TBS smoked paprika (I got this from Penzey's spices a while back - very handy stuff)
3/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cumin (not next time!)
Salt, to taste.
I blended everything for almost two minutes.

Then I added:
1/2 cup plus 1 TBS vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp cornstarch
I mixed this all together, then kneaded it just a little.

Then I cut it into 4 equal pieces, and rolled them into approximate hot dog shapes. I wrapped each dog in wax paper, then in aluminum foil, and twisted the foil ends shut.

I steamed the dogs in their packages, for 45 minutes. Then I let them cool down, uncovered. After that, I unwrapped them, and of course the wax paper was stuck to the dogs. I managed to get almost all of it off without wrecking them. I sauteed the dogs in a TBS of vegetable oil for about 10 minutes. I am not sure what that did to them, if anything. You can see where I cut off a taste before they went in the pan.

So, next time, I will use much less cumin. I might try some coriander instead. I might cut back on the smoked paprika, and add a TBS of regular sweet paprika. Also some ground celery seed.  And it would be nice to get a little more oil into the dogs. Maybe coconut oil. Also, I will first wrap them in parchment paper, not wax paper, which was my own cheapskate variation to begin with.

Anyway, they are good just like this, and are supposed to hold up to grilling, which would be a big plus over most vegan dogs.

OK, now. About those muffins. There is a great idea about corn dog muffins, with a recipe. Check it out here. I won't try to improve upon it. It is from Taste of Home, and the contributor, Lynita Arteberry is from South Dakota, so you know it has got to be tops. Just chop up the dogs, and throw them in.

Make Pizza, Not Muffins!

Turns out my blogs are just about food. I may start with a muffin concept, or an oatmeal concept, but when you get right down to it, they are about food in general.

This is an easy way to make a really quick dinner, without too many guilt pangs.
It starts with a frozen pizza. I usually buy an inexpensive plain cheese variety, and I do check the sodium content. Frozen pizzas are often notoriously high in sodium.

I keep a few of these frozen pizzas around for the evenings when making a meal "from scratch" is not going to happen.


I build a salad, or whatever tickles my fancy, on top of the cheese pizza. In the fridge this evening, I discovered half a box of mushrooms, a small bag of chopped kale I meant to use the other day, but forgot, a half a green pepper, and some cooked bulk Italian sausage. Also some leftover pasta sauce. I decided to slice a half an onion as well.


I cooked the cheese pizza for five minutes at 400º f, to give it a little start on its own, before doctoring it. Usually I pile the items of choice right on top of the cheese pizza. I decided to quickly saute the mushrooms and green pepper, sliced, for this meal. Then I popped it all in the oven for eight more minutes.

The pizza always looks better before it is cooked than after! Of course it tastes better after it is cooked, though. I usually grate a little extra cheese, and bake everything an additional five minutes. The cheese sort of "glues" everything down. My favorite cheese to use is swiss, because it is lower sodium than most cheeses. I only put an ounce or two on, and even people who don't think they like swiss cheese, seem to like the pizza.

It tastes like a pricey specialty pizza! You might be thinking that you don't have leftovers just sitting around to put on top of a pizza. Take a look, though. Many things work on a plain cheese pizza, from ham or cooked chicken and pineapple, to goat cheese and spinach. You can put raw spinach leaves right on top of the pizza, and they will cook up just fine. If you have frozen vegetables such as spinach or broccoli, thaw them in the micro, and squeeze the extra water out before putting them on your pizza. Thinly sliced raw garlic is great. I'll admit, this is not a purist's pizza, but it is fairly healthy and the more vegetables and/or fruit, the healthier. Yum.