A sweet and savory seitan sausage is the best friend to any pancake. Basically, they are the breakfast equivalent of Laverne and Shirley. Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Indeed!

Makes 4 sausages

1/2 cup cannellini beans, mashed

1 cup vegetable stock

4 tsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp maple syrup

1/4 cup peeled and diced apple (Gold Rush, Granny Smith or other firm tart apple)

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 Tbsp dried, rubbed sage

1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten

Set up whatever you use for steaming. I have a steamer that fits in my 4 quart saucepan that works perfectly for this but any steamer will work. Get the water boiling so the steamer will be ready. 

Tear off 4 sheets of foil that are squares equal to the width of the role. Set these aside.

In a large bowl mash the beans really well.

Add the vegetable stock, lBragg's Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce), olive oil and maple syrup to the beans and mix well.

Add the apples to the wet ingredients.

In a small bowl add the vital wheat gluten, fennel seeds and sage and mix to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.

Knead the seitan for about a minute.

Divide the dough into 4 even parts. Place one quarter of the dough into the middle of one of the pieces of your prepared foil. Do your best to shape it into a log about 5 inches long. Don't worry if it looks a mess, the sausage will tidy up as it cooks. Now fold the foil over the dough and roll it up tightly. Finally twist each end of the foil to seal it making it look like a giant piece of mystery candy. Repeat this for your remaining 3 parts of your dough.

Place the tightly wrapped sausages into the steamer. Cover and steam for 40 minutes.

Carefully remove the sausages when they are done. You can eat them just like this or, depending on what your final intentions are, you can cut and fry them a bit to give them a nice bit of crispy texture on the outside. 

Nutritional information: Per sausage 226 cal., 8 g fat, 29 g protein