Linguini with Eggplant, Tomato and Vegan Sausage

Ever on the lookout for soy free meat replacements, I was happy to stumble upon Field Roast Grain Meat Company's products in Whole Foods.  Field Roast takes Seitan and seasons it with European style flavors to make sausages, meatloaf, roasts, cutlets and other meat-style products, all vegan and soy free!

I picked up two flavors of the sausage on my latest shopping trip - the Italian flavor and the Smoked Apple Sage flavor. For tonight's concoction, I decided to cut two Italian sausages into half round slices.  I sauteed the sausage pieces in olive oil until they were browned, then set them aside.  Then, in the same pan, I sauteed shallots and cubed eggplant in more olive oil, then added fresh garlic, two cubed fresh tomatoes and a handful of halved grape tomatoes, freshly ground pepper and two large handfuls of fresh baby spinach.  While the sauce was still coming together, I stirred in linguine to finish.

The fiance was willing to try vegan sausage after smelling it cooking, but he drew the line at vegan cheese.  So, I topped mine with mozzarella daiya, and he topped his with freshly grated parmesan.