Many years ago, Delia Smith’s cookery books became our bible and a particular family favourite was and remains her vegetarian Cheesy Herb Sausages. My husband makes them every week. Our daughter-in-law was introduced to them when she joined our family and now makes a personal request for them when she comes to visit.
Since becoming vegan and gluten-free, however, I’ve had to forego this pleasure and usually have a bought alternative (I like Dee’s Wholefoods) when family come to stay and choose something else when it’s just us.
When I was still vegetarian, but had to become gluten-free, my husband offered several times to make an alternative with gluten-free bread, but commercial g/f bread has an aftertaste that dominates whatever you use it in and I never wanted to use up the homemade bread for this as it is time-consuming for him to make (I can’t do it because of my back injury) and I also didn’t want him to have to make two lots of different sausages.
Now that I am vegan and he has also given up eggs (but not cheese yet, we are getting there slowly), and we are more used to vegan cooking, we decided to try making some Delia-lite sausages using a chia egg and nutritional yeast. It was surprisingly easy and came together quickly. Chia egg is quite a miracle worker when it comes to needing a binding agent to replace real eggs in burgers and sausages.
I chose leek rather than onion for several reasons: I find onion difficult to digest; onion, unless you grate it, often doesn’t cook properly in homemade sausages while leek doesn’t dominate and also blends with the mixture better, it holds together well.
These are our first attempt and we were very pleased with them. They are firm, tasty and satisfying.
Watch out for our second version: Vegan Leek, Carrot and Ginger Sausages, even better!
Makes about 8 depending on size.
Vegan, Gluten-free and Organic where possible.
Ingredients
2.5 oz / A third of a Cup Almonds, soaked, rinsed and patted dry, then roughly grind with:
2 Heaped Tbsps Nutritional Yeast
1 Tsp Dry Mustard
1 Tsp Thyme
1 Tsp Sage
Add together in a processor with:
5 oz/ Gluten-free Breadcrumbs*
Pink Himalayan Salt & Black Pepper to taste
1 Small Leek, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
A Splash of Tamari
1 Chia Egg (1 Tbsp Chia Seeds soaked in 3 Tbsps Water to form a gel)
Process all the ingredients for a few seconds until the mixture will stick together but still has some texture, squeeze into sausage shapes.
Refrigerate for a while until needed.
Lightly cook in coconut oil, turning frequently (the sausages, that is, but you can do a twirl now and then if you like while you’re waiting!).
We put some uncooked ones in the freezer for another day.
*Vegan Gluten-Free Tiger Nut Loaf/Bread Mk III
Copyright: Chris McGowan
As often happens, this came about as my alternative to a meal my husband was having which had potatoes and tomato sauce in (his favourite items to cook with). I avoid nightshade foods* because they are reputed to increase inflammation in people who have auto-immune conditions like psoriasis or arthritis.
Add the remainder of the ingredients (except the pine kernels) to the sauce, replace the lid and cook until just done but not mushy.
I saw these on Instagram and had to try them! Before I became vegan and gluten-free, the only cake I really liked was carrot cake. This raw version from 
We don’t like to throw away our almond milk pulp and didn’t really want another batch of bliss balls, despite the impending visit of the little grandchildren at the weekend (there were other treats awaiting them), so we made burgers as there were none left in the freezer. (You can substitute the almond pulp, see below)
Using small handfuls, gently press and shape into rounds in the palm of your hands and then flatten on a board.
Anyone who is gluten-free for whatever reason will know how difficult it is to find a commercial gluten-free loaf that doesn’t look and taste like cardboard and is, if you’re lucky, only ‘good’ for toasting. It lasts a day and then breaks up. It has no flavour other than of additives, and no texture – and if you look at the list of ingredients, you may as well be reading a chemistry experiment!
pearsnotparsnipsdotcom 
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