Something with bbq sauce was on the list of meals to make this week.  I didn’t know exactly what I was going to make, but I knew I wanted tangy, sweet, and spicy bbq sauce.

We didn’t have any store-bought bbq sauce in the house and I had never made it myself, but I figured I would give it a shot since I had all the necessary ingredients.

It was much easier to make than I expected!  I cobbled together a bunch of recipes from the internet, but the combination I used was: organic ketchup, molasses, vinegar, brown sugar, honey, hot sauce, black pepper, cayenne, garlic, and oregano.  It just needed to simmer for 20 minutes and it was thick and sticky.  It was exactly what I was going for.

With the sauce done, I needed something to put it on.  Since Mex and I are going to San Francisco for the weekend for Foodbuzz Fest (sooo excited!), we wanted to use up some of the perishables in the fridge.  I had tofu leftover from making the Basic Scrambled Tofu the other morning, some homemade seitan (from the vegan cookbook bible, Veganomicon, which I love and which you should own), and 1/2 a sweet onion.  Sounds like vegan kabobs to me!

I cut the tofu into cubes and marinated it in bottled italian dressing for about 30 minutes.  I cubed the seitan and chopped the onion into large pieces.

I threaded all of the ingredients onto wooden skewers, (which I soaked in water for about 1 hour so they wouldn’t burn) alternating between the tofu and seitan with sliced onion in between.  I basted them with the bbq sauce and then Mex grilled them until there were char marks, or about 5 min on each side.

I served the kabobs with brown rice and some Vegan Broccoli-Cranberry Salad.  This is my rip off of a picnic classic, broccoli-raisin salad.  Your mom or grandma probably makes it.  It’s broccoli florets mixed with a combination of mayo, vinegar, sugar, and raisins.  The traditional recipe is terribly bad for you- 1 cup of sugar stirred into 1 cup of mayo?  Ew?

So my vegan version used just a few teaspoons of Veganaise, a splash of white vinegar, and a pinch of brown sugar.  I seasoned it with some black pepper and garlic powder and let it chill for a few hours in the fridge.  The vinegar in the dressing helps the broccoli soften a bit.  I added dried cranberries at the last minute.

Slices of buttery avocado rounded out the meal and added a bit of texture. The best bites were a bit of seitan, onion, and cool avocado with extra bbq sauce on top.

Drool.

These might be my new favorite way to have vegan bbq.  I’ll definitely make them again.

I kinda wish we had leftovers, actually.

I talked Philip into having a pre-4th of July BBQ at his house on Friday I wanted to get a few friends together for some fun, but mostly I just wanted to cook for people!

Here was my part of the menu (there were burgers and dogs for those that eat that sort of thing):

Crack Salsa aka Cowboy Caviar w. Baked Scoop Chips

Crack Salsa!

I posted the recipe here. Gone in a flash.  Everyone loves this stuff.  Make it for a party and everyone will come.

Marinated Vegetable Skewers (red and green bell pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, red onion marinated in balsamic vinaigrette, skewered, and grilled)

Vegetable Skewers

Veggie Burgers (Store-bought, thrown on the grill and topped with mustard, ketchup and relish.  Not fancy or even remotely homemade, but really tasty anyway)

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (cleaned portobellos, grilled gill-side down, then flipped and topped with a combo of cream cheese, tiny bit of blue cheese, lots of fresh spinach, and sliced artichoke hearts) This was AWESOME! I’m definitely going to make a vegan version w/ Tofutti cream cheese and maybe olives in the place of the blue cheese.

Festive Phyllo Shells with Custard and Berries (Store-bought phyllo cups, filled with a yogurt-custard and topped with sliced strawberries and blueberries) These were gone in minutes!

Bellini Champagne Punch (peach juice, ginger ale, raspberry ginger ale, triple sec, cheap sparkling wine, sliced peaches) Big hit- even with the guys!

Bellini Champagne Punch