Vegetarian Sausage

there is a new company in town getting a lot of press - called BEYOND MEAT.  

http://beyondmeat.com/products

They are backed by very wealthy investors and Mark Bittman, a foodie former columnist for the Times.  They use pea protein as the main ingredient to produce a mock chicken, ground meat, etc.

My first try at veggie sausage with vital wheat gluten - shown above. 
"Vital Wheat Gluten is made from the natural protein found in the endosperm of the wheat berry"
"vitamins and minerals include phosphorous, iron, selenium.  vital wheat gluten is a low fat protein source."
.............................from livestrong.

Homemade

INGREDIENTS- 1 cup cold vegetable broth, 1 tablespoon olive oil,  2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten spices include: tumeric, 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, 2 cloves garlic, minced,  fennel seed,  red pepper flakes, sweet and smoked paprika, dried oregano, black pepperI'll tweak the recipe to make it taste more like the kind I purchase in the store. I might add Miso Paste...............they are from.  Mix together ingredients and shape with foil or parchment to form sausage - steam for 30 min and cut into pieces as shown when it is cool enough to handle.


The following are store bought - I've only tried the first item from Lightlife.

 LIGHTLIFE Italian Sausage

iNGREDIENTS: Water, Soy Protein Isolate, Soybean Oil, Egg White Powder, Dried Vegetables (Onion Garlic, Tomato, Red and Green Bell Peppers), Less than 2% of Potato Starch, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Tapioca Starch, Natural Flavor (from Vegetable Sources), Canola Oil, Sunflower Oil, Wheat Gluten, Cellulose Gum, Evaporated Cane Juice, Spices, Sea Salt, Barley Malt Extract, Salt.

BEYOND MEAT "Italian Meatballs"

Ingredients:Water, Pea Protein Isolate, Expeller-pressed Canola Oil*, Palm Oil†, Carrageenan, Yeast Extract, Calcium Sulfate, Methylcellulose, Garlic Powder, Maltodextrin, Potassium Bicarbonate, Spices, Potassium Chloride, Sorbitol, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Caramel Color‡, Tapioca Starch, Salt, Natural Flavoring, Sunflower Oil, Sugar§.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE
Ingredients: Filtered water, vital wheat gluten, expeller pressed safflower oil, eggplant, onions, naturally flavored yeast extract, red wine (red wine, salt), garlic, barley malt, onion powder, dried red bell pepper, fennel seed, granulated garlic, sea salt and spices.

"Concentrate powders usually contain at least 70 percent protein, but isolate powders contain up to 95 percent protein."  Although these products taste good - the downside is their list of ingredients is not the most simple whole food - and the prices are usually higher than what you can make at home.