Vegan Thanksgiving Round-Up

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving, regardless of what you were doing or who you were with. My family was giving me a hard time about taking the foodie pictures so I had to snap a couple of pics very quickly on the sly and they didn't always turn out well. So, I apologize in advance for some of the pictures. Here was my Vegan Thanksgiving...

First, I made bread

Two main courses:
Seitan en Croute with Madeira Sauce

and Vegan Dad's Maple Apple Cider Tofu with Stuffing (although I just used my cranberry sauce as a topping instead of his chutney which looks delish).

I have to say, this was absolutely amazing. I will definitely be making it again!

Cranberry Sauce

Sweet Potatoes (which were made by my mom) with Glazed Pecans that I jarred.

And for Dessert...

My famous apple pie. Quite frankly, the pictures don't do it justice. I'm just sayin.

and Pumpkin Bread

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I ate as much as I enjoyed eating it. My family ate everything except my main course. My weight watchers devotee mamma made some grilled asparagus that was vegan but I don't have any pix.  Hey, it's a start!

Thanksgiving Part 5: Sides

Traditional Thanksgiving sides are really easy to make vegan.

Substitutes:

Butter == Earth Balance
Chicken stock == Vegetable stock OR there are vegetarian bouillon cubes that are meant to taste like chicken stock
Sausage == vegetarian sausage such as Lightlife Smart Sausage
Sour Cream == Tofutti Sour Cream (I use this for dip)
Marshmallows == Dandies (taste like store bought marshmallows) or Sweet and Sara marshmallows (taste more like homemade marshmallows)
    *I will be putting glazed pecans on my sweet potatoes instead of
      marshmallows. They're incredibly easy to make.

If there's anything that I left off the list, please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to get back to you with a veg*n substitute.

Here's a recipe for a delicious cranberry sauce that I made yesterday for my family's Thanksgiving.

APPLE CIDER CRANBERRY SAUCE

12 oz Cranberries
1 cup of Vegan Granulated Sugar
1 cup of Apple Cider
Clementine zest and approximately 1-2 tbsp Clementine juice


In a sauce pot over medium heat, combine a dash of clementine zest and juice, cider, and sugar. When the sugar is dissolved stir in the cranberries. You will know the sauce is done when all of the cranberries pop. It usually takes 10-12 minutes.

Really I just wanted to do something a little more exciting than the traditional sugar/water/cranberries - cranberry sauce. I <3 apple cider and thought it would be a good combination. A lot of people will use orange juice instead of water so it occurred to me that a bit of clementine would be a nice touch.

Stay tuned for my Thanksgiving round-up after the dinner.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Part 3: Desserts

Desserts are my favorite part of Thanksgiving! Shocker, I know. I'm not much of a cook but I'm a terrific baker if I do say so myself. Sure I've experimented with a recipe or two that hasn't turned out well and then didn't have the time to make something new so I served it anyway :) Some of you may have been fortunate enough to be the recipient of those dishes. But I digress.

For a number of years now I have been in charge of Thanksgiving dessert at my house and everyone happily gobbles up my vegan treats. Apple pie and apple cake are traditions at our holiday meal but I usually try to add something else to the mix. I have been debating, for a while now, what my new dessert will be this Thanksgiving and I think I've found it.

Yesterday I went to Michaels to see if I could come up with something I wanted to package cookies in for holiday host(ess) gifts...and then I ended up buying half the store. Isn't that the way every trip to Michaels goes? This trip I ventured into a section of the store that I avoid like the plague at this time of the year, the Seasonal section. *queue the horror movie music*   I guess they're already looking to get rid of the Thanksgiving gear!? Probably because Christmas prep starts in September now. I found a super sweet fall red ceramic pie dish and almost wanted to die. Then I came across the cutest 5"x3" ceramic loaf dishes in fall colors. They were $1. Yes, $1. There's nothing that I like better than a good bargain. So I bought three of them, one brown, one yellow, and one green. I would imagine there were other colors but this is what was left at my store. I decided that I would use them to make mini loaves of bread instead of rolls. THEN I decided that I would also use them to make a dessert, Pumpkin Bread!

I came home and found a recipe for the bread so I decided to do a little test run. I cut the recipe by 4, which actually turned out to be too much for the loaf dish, I should have cut it by 5. After I made it I thought this would be a great option for people who don't like their desserts too sweet.

And for those that do like their desserts sweet, a simple sugar glaze on top will do. You can use a small amount of tofutti cream cheese or margarine and soy milk, and lots of powdered sugar.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP!

Stay tuned for Desserts Part Deux....

Thanksgiving Part 2: Better Than Turkey

It is incredibly easy to make all of the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes vegan. My mom has been doing it for years and many of the dishes were already vegan. For many, if not most, veg*ns (vegetarians and vegans) there is no way we're going to take part in eating a poor little tortured turkey. Ok guilt trip over. So what's a veg*n to do on Thanksgiving?  Here are some main course dishes that will please any vegan. I was careful to pick not only some of the most popular dishes but only those whose recipes are available for free. Also, I don't have the rights to post any of these pictures (sorry) so you're going to have to click on the links to see them.

First up is the Tofurkey Holdiay products. This is pre-made and available in most supermarkets. It travels very well and is quite possibly the easiest thing to make, ever. It's been a few years since I've made a Tofurkey so it may have changed but it comes in the shape of a little football. You put the roast on a tray, pop it in the oven, bake and remove. That's it. The stuffing is inside and it comes with gravy. If you are hopeless in the kitchen or are traveling, this might be your best way to go.

Next up are the store bought roasts such as the Field Roast brand Celebration Roast (click the link on the left, 2nd one down labeled Celebration Roast) and the Match® Premium Vegan Stuffed Holiday Roast. You can do anything you want with these roasts. You can shape them, stuff them, bread them, or just serve with gravy.

Here are two favorite "from scratch" recipes. PPK chickpea cutlets and Whole Foods Market's Celebration Lentil Loaf. Both are at a moderate level of difficulty. If you are a decent cook then you can make these. I don't know how the Whole Foods Lentil Loaf tastes but the chickpea cutlets seem to be loved by all.

Finally, if you're feeling ambitious or are already a good cook, here's something for you to try. Last year vegan.com featured Robin Robertson's Thanksgiving menu. His main course was Seitan en Croute with Madeira Sauce. There are many Seitan en Croute recipes out there, all you have to do is a search to find them.

I'm leaning towards either Robin's Seitan en Croute or the PPK chickpea cutlets for my Thanksgiving menu. I will post pictures after Thanksgiving.