Sunday, December 30 Bierdocks (Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day!) and Salad Rating: 4.25

Santa (aka Seth) got me a copy of Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! and I was excited to try it out. I decided to be ambitious and make stuffed sandwiches with fresh beer bread, called Bierdocks. The only thing I would say is a negative about how the recipe is written is that the instructions for making the bread are at the end, rather than the beginning and you really need to start it first because of the rising times needed. I guess if you’re one of those people who reads recipes all the way through before starting them instead of just skimming them like I do, it’s not a big deal. It wasn’t the end of the world for me either, I just didn’t let it rise for quite as long. Anyway, my other flub was that I thought I had sauerkraut in the fridge, but I didn’t. Long story. The filling is tempeh based and uses cabbage and onions sauerkraut and yumminess. My tempeh marinated for a good, long time while the bread was rising so it was extra tasty. The bread is easy to make and came together in my KitchenAid in no time flat. I needed to add a little more liquid to it, but just a splash. Stuffing these little cuties is easy, too.  I didn’t do the best job closing them up on all of them, but no one sees the bottom anyway. Unless you cut one in half and post the photo on the internet. Sigh. The one on my plate wasn’t so lopsided. If you have this book, try these sandwiches. They do take a fair amount of time, but most of it is inactive – rising, marinating – so it’s not like you’ll be slaving away in the kitchen for hours and hours. Plus, they’re super cute and people will be impressed with your skills. I stuck the leftovers in the freezer and hope they’ll reheat well without getting soggy. We had a bunch left since the recipe makes 8 and they’re pretty filling, especially with a nice salad.