Chorizo Vengeance

In addition to the coolest girlfriends, I have the coolest coworkers. Ever.

Laura M. recently initiated Fun Lunch Day(R) at the office, where every two weeks, one of us brings in a lunch to share with the group. We all had the opportunity to opt-out of the program, but that would mean sitting at your desk, banished to eating your unfortunate, single-serving lunch alone, while the rest of the staff carried on very loudly in the conference room. I'm certain that the loud carrying-on would only be amplified on the opting-out person's behalf because hey, we're unforgiving like that. One colleague, Trish, did in fact, choose not to participate. She's new to the office. She'll learn. Besides, I have a feeling that we'll be forcing her to the table ;)

We all know Kelly - this blog's subtitle should read, "Now making Kelly feel famous on a semi-regular basis!" She's not only a great friend, but also a coworker. Her Veg*n Loveliness was first on the list for bringing in a Fun Lunch(R), and wouldn't you know that she received a copy of Vegan with a Vengeance for her recent birthday? High five!

The feature presentation of her meal was VwaV's Breakfast Veggie Chorizo (pg. 20), stuffed into cabbage and collard greens leaves. Woah, I know... it was freaking awesome! The meal inspired me to make the chorizo over the weekend. I just served it on an organic whole wheat tortilla, though :)

My favorite part of the recipe was collecting the ingredients from the kitchen, especially all of the spices, as one can see from the top photograph. The spices include sugar, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, coriander, cumin, fennel, chile powder, oregano and black pepper. Because I had tasted the meal before, I felt comfortable doubling it so that we would have some leftovers.

I decided to halve the sugar, which I'll continue to do when I make it again. However, substituting chipolte powder for the called-for ancho chile powder was not such a good idea. Luckily, brunch was for just Jason and me because it would've been too spicy for Avery. Ancho chile powder is made from the very mild poblano pepper; knowing this, I should've halved the quantity of the chipolte powder. Eh, live and learn, right?

Overall, the chorizo came out great and has continued to serve us well for lunches, heated up with a side of quinoa or kept cold on top of a green salad.