Last weekend I promised to share our vegan BBQ menu and then I got so busy with Disneyland, work, and my trip home I completely forgot about it.
We didn’t actually determine what we were having for dinner until we got to the Farmer’s Market. So the menu was based entirely on what was fresh that day.
Let’s start with the green beans.
After washing them and cutting off the ends, I steamed them until they were nice and soft.
Then I let them cool in an ice bath. They stayed in the cold water in the fridge until dinner time.
Just before dinner I drained them and threw in chopped cherry tomatoes.
While this simple salad would be perfect on it’s own, I decided to add a simple dressing.
Simple being the operative word.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil with White Truffle (if you use a sprayer, you can get away with using less and still getting maximal flavor coating the entire salad)
- Balsamic Vinegar (don’t skimp, the pricier ones are noticeably better)
- Himalayan sea salt
As for the BBQ portion of the meal, we had vegan sausages, bell peppers skewers, and avocado on the menu.
I had only previously tried one other Field Roast Grain Meat Co. product (the wild mushroom loaf), but I thought it was really good. And since Kyle has nearly nixed his meat consumption when we eat in, we figured we may as well both eat the same thing…which is why we ended up giving some non-meat sausages a try.
I’m what the food industry calls a “box turner” – meaning I flip products over and read the ingredients. When I shop, I look for transparent labeling…none of this “spices” business. I want specifics. If a product says “flavoring” I want to know WHAT the flavoring is and what it’s made of. When a package says vegan, it’s somewhat reassuring because then I know the source is at the very least not animal-derived. But why I chose Field Roast Grain Meat Co. is due to the clean ingredients listed. For a packaged product, the sausages’ stats are relatively impressive: non-sulfured dried apples, yukon gold potatoes, etc.
Obviously the casing isn’t that of a typical sausage (pig intestines) which made them a bit fragile as compared to normal sausages. But as long as they are handled with care as they are placed on the BBQ, they will hold up just fine.
Check out those grill marks! Yum.
The other notable difference is the cook time. They were hot and ready in minutes.
Flavor and texture wise these were the BEST faux meat product I’ve ever had. I don’t even like sausage and I was mmmm-ing after each bite (as was Kyle). I’m happy to say these are a perfect gate-way option for new vegans weaning themselves off meat AS WELL AS veg-lovers who just don’t like meat. Seriously. And with a non-freaky ingredients list, you don’t even have to feel like you’re eating fake food because they are made from real ingredients.
Next up were the avocados. I know people thought this was an odd choice, but I read it in a magazine a month ago and the idea stuck with me. All I did was coat them in lime juice and sea salt.
They took just as long short to cook as the sausages.
And because we still had a few colors of the rainbow not represented, we made bell pepper skewers, too.
Again, the white truffle oil spray came in handy.
These took the longest on the grill, but it was still a relatively short amount of time.
My BBQ-master husband grilled them to perfection.
See?
All together now…
A perfect summer vegan BBQ for two 🙂
We each went back for seconds, but I still had leftovers for lunch the next day. There’s really nothing better than maximizing a perfect meal into a second perfect meal.
I simply threw the last of the sausage, tomatoes and bell peppers over a bed of lettuce, added some red quinoa, and called it a day.
By the way I am LOVING hearing how many salads everyone thinks they eat in a year. So interesting. For those who missed that post, don’t worry, there’s still time to enter the giveaway.
Grilled avocado seems pretty genius to me!
Yum! I love the grill marks on the avocado.
Where did you get truffle oil spray? It looks amazing!
i got it in a foodie gift basket thing. i bet you can get them in whole foods or some specialty foods store though
I really want to try grilled avocado now!
Looks absolutely delicious. I love the farmers market but I always find it hard to plan my meals based on whats fresh. So I usually look up whats in season online and then I base that. If the farmers market doesn’t have all that I need, I tend to buy the rest at the grocery store. Even if it is in the organic section I get really iffy. :/
i love field roast! they dont carry it at my local grocery store but i love the wild mushroom slices. i like to make wraps with it.
now those are some very impressive grill marks!!!
I love BBQing food, shame we don’t have a garden at the moment, and all the local parks don’t allow them 🙁
P.S. Grilled avocado sounds amazing!
Hi Elise,
I’ve been a long-time reader and love your blog! I’m also a ‘box turner’ (of course marketing experts must have had invented a word for that by now…)! Out of curiosity, I have a question for you: When I read the ingredients on your sausages, I stumbled over ‘naturally flavoured yeast extract’. That sounds pretty harmless, but I’ve learned that yeast extract has the same chemical structure as glutamat and thus basically acts as a flavour enhancer (with all the side effects) – in Germany there are discussions going on about that the food industry should therefore be forced to declare it as a flavour enhancer. So taking that as a starting point, I was wondering if you have gotten into that whole subject of artificial and natural flavourings and flavour enhancers and if so, what you think about it, given that your so conscious about what you it? Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to question any of your choices, it’s just that I really value your opinion and have found great inspirations on your blog in the past and would like to know your view on the subject, if you care about it, as at the moment I myself am trying to get my head around it. Would love to hear your view on that.
I keep meaning to try grilled avocado, thanks for the reminder!! Your dinner looks amazingly colorful, delicious, and nutritious. I love summer when so much great produce is in season!
hi anna! thank you so much for reading. i really appreciate your commenting because i had NO IDEA that natural yeast extract was anything but nutritional yeast. i guess i assumed thats what they meant but now that ive looked into it (after reading your comment) i see that this is a common mis-leading ingredient. i am heartbroken. amy’s foods have also been brought under the microscope for the same thing. glutamate is a hideous thing and i feel angry as a consumer for (1) trusting the company, (2) not doing due diligence as a “box tuner”, (3) eating what is essentially msg, and (4) telling all you readers about this fabulous product that i was blind sighted by. thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! now that you’ve read my response, im sure you can imagine how i feel about msg and any derivatives. i may have to write to the company.
I absolutely LOVE vegandogs!
Oh wow! Everything looks delicious! And grilled avocado? I can only imagine the mouth-watering delight! I’ll have to try that! The field roast looks amazing! I’m a total “box turner” too…if I can’t pronounce it, or it looks kinda sketchy (ie, “spices”), it goes back on the shelf…unless it’s one of those rare “I gotta have it” exceptions like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream! Haha
Those faux sausages are the best! I always get that brand when we go car camping. Yum!
Hey Elise, thanks for your reply! It really is a scandal that health food producers take adavantage of trusting consumers who don’t know what yeast extract is. And if even health conscious people like you, me (until very recently) and other ‘healthy living’ bloggers (Daily Garnish raved about the same sausages yesterday without mentioning the issue – couldn’t restrain myself from leaving the same comment 🙂 ) haven’t been aware of it, how is a non-box turner, who might just watch out for the label ‘No MSG’ or the like, ever to know?
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