Three Bean Cassoulet

First let me apologize for my picture- my camera is not cooperating lately.

Tonight I made Three Bean Cassoulet page 257. Cassoulet was a dish my mother made often and one that I loved. I have been planning on making a vegan version for some time now. So when I saw this version, I knew I had to make it.

I followed the recipe with two exceptions-I left out the celery because as far as I'm concerned celery is of the devil, and not in a good way. I also used dried parsley instead of fresh and cut the amount in half. I followed the suggestion of adding vegan sausage. I wanted to add Field Roast sausages, but my local health food store was out of those so I used Tofurkey Kielbasa. My mom put kielbasa in cassoulet. It would have been better with the Field Roast sausages because the Tofurkey ones are a bit bland.

This dish was really easy to put together- something I like. It takes a while to cook but that was okay because I used the time to make dessert. It uses savory-a seasoning I haven't used before and one I find I really like. I was a bit heavy handed with the pepper, which suits me fine but might be a bit much for more delicate tastebuds. I find a lot of casseroles are not that tasty the first night-not so with this one. I ate two plate fulls and am really looking forward to the leftovers.

Since this was a childhood favorite, I am definitely making it again. Next time I will be using Field Roast sausages and adding seitan. My mom's version had both sausage and meat in it and I believe seitan seasoned correctly will mimic the flavor and texture perfectly.

--vegankitty