A New October Tradition?

It's Halloween on a baking sheet when you roast together sweet potatoes and Peruvian purple potatoes. The latter are dark enough to appear black.

After roasting the potatoes and sweet potatoes we pan-fried them quickly with vegetarian chorizo, onions and yellow bell peppers for an autumnal hash.

A lunch of leftovers including our Potato and Chorizo Hash, Guacamole, Chipotle Cabbage Slaw and the last of the garden's Honey Drop tomatoes.

VEGETARIAN CHORIZO

This chorizo recipe is made from TVP, a somewhat controversial soy product  in the vegetarian/vegan community. Consisting of de-fatted soy flour, TVP, or Texturized Vegetable Protein, is a highly processed food, much like white flour. We buy a Non-GMO variety at our local natural foods store and use it sparingly although TVP is still a far healthier (and kinder) alternative to hormone-treated animal products. The texture is undoubtedly the closest to actual meat of any other soy product or seitan.

In a mixing bowl stir together 1 cup TVP granules, 1 t. salt, 2 T. red wine or apple cider vinegar, 1-2 T. tomato paste, 1 t. ground cumin, 1 t. dried oregano, 1 t. chipotle pepper powder OR 1 t. smoked paprika + a large pinch of cayenne pepper, 1/2 t. garlic powder, a large pinch of sugar and about 3 T. finely minced onion. Pour 1 cup boiling water over the mixture, stir again and let sit for 15 minutes. All of the water, or most anyway, should have been absorbed.

Heat 1 T. olive oil in a non-stick skillet over a medium-high flame. Add the TVP mixture and fry, stirring often, for two minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. You can now enjoy the chorizo by itself or incorporate into a multitude of dishes, ranging from burritos and enchiladas to omelets and wraps and stuffed peppers!