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 4: Desserts (part deux)

I mentioned in my last post that I make apple pie every Thanksgiving. You'd have to kill me to get my apple pie recipe. However, I can give you some tips on pie crusts that you can use on any pie and tips on making apple pies. You can use the crust for pecan pie, pumpkin pie, or any other pie that you'd like to make this holiday.

A few quick tips on apple pie. First, use more tart apples. I know, it's counter intuitive but sweet apples are just not as good in pies as tart apples are. Second, and this is probably a matter of personal preference, slice your apples thin. If your recipe calls for an apple cut into 1/8ths, cut them into 1/16ths. If you're using an apple corer you can slice through once, hold the apple together with your hand and then shift the corer to split the slices in half (but move your hand before you press down on the corer again). My final tip for apple pie is that crumb top pies always seem to be much more loved than the traditional pies. Use Earth Balance for your crumb top instead of butter. I will admit it takes a bit longer but it's worth it to keep the pie vegan.

On pie crusts... pie crusts always have 3 or 4 basic ingredients so there's nothing super special that you can put in them to make them more awesome than the next crust. So why do some taste so much better than others? It's all in the technique. First, keep the water and the margarine ice cold. Second, when mixing the dough don't mix thoroughly. Keep chunks of margarine something along the size of a walnut. Third, once you've mixed the dough (not thoroughly), wrap it up and refrigerate it for about 30-45 minutes to let it settle. My final tip is that if you're new to making pie crusts from scratch you should look for a step by step instructional video online. I'm sure there are a zillion out there.

Stay tuned, post-Thanksgiving you'll see pictures of my apple pie in my fancy new pie dish.

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.

Thanksgiving Part 1: Rise Up!

Irresistible Bread

Not having a laptop for a week means that I have a few recipes built up to share. I've put them all aside seeing as Thanksgiving preparations in my house are about to start. While holidays mean elaborate recipes and tons of food, sometimes you can get away with an easy to make dish that wows the crowd. This week I hope to bring you some recipes for the holidays that are either easy recipes or take a bit more effort but can be made by anyone. Hopefully this week we'll find a way to reinvent Thanksgiving to spare as many turkeys as possible.


This recipe has been a favorite of mine for many years. It was posted on vegweb which is pretty much where I got my recipe collection start. I altered the recipe a bit but not much. It is hard to mess this up and it is a crowd pleaser for sure.  Sometimes I even add some herbs like rosemary or tomato & basil to this recipe to make some savory rolls. This bread recipe can be used to make rolls and loaves of bread. It's a great all-purpose, base bread recipe. It's so simple, anyone can do it.

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 Tbsp warm water (warm! not hot. hot water will kill the yeast)


1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 Tbsp salt
1 cup of hot water

1 cup of whole wheat flour (you can replace this with all-purpose or bread flour if you like)
2 cups of all-purpose or bread flour
2 1/2 Tbsp olive or canola oil

In a small bowl, mix the yeast and warm water. Set aside until it looks foamy.

In your large mixing bowl mix the sugar, salt, and hot water. Once the yeast is foamy and the sugar and salt have started to dissolve you can pour the yeast mixture into the large mixing bowl. Mix it up a little bit.

Mix in the whole wheat flour until well combined. Add the oil and combine again. Add the remaining flour and knead for a couple of minutes.

Place the dough back in the large bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel or saran wrap. Set aside for 1-2 hours (or longer, no rush). The dough should rise noticeably.

Once the dough has risen, knead for a minute.

-If you are making rolls: tear off the dough into pieces a little smaller than the size you would like your rolls to be. Place the rolls on a very lightly greased cookie sheet. A cooking spray will work nicely here.
-If you are making bread: split the dough in half and place each half in it's own average size bread pan.

Cover the cookie sheet or bread pan and let the dough rise again for at least an hour.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Baking time will depend on your oven and whether you chose to make rolls or loaves of bread. It takes me about 10 minutes to bake rolls and 30-45 minutes for a loaf of bread.

TIP: I believe it is always best to set your timer for about 20% less time than any recipe calls for and just keep watch on it for the last bit of time necessary. It's easier to add cooking time to your dish than to try and un-burn it, if that's even possible.

It looks like a lot of instruction but it is really incredibly easy. It takes almost no prep time but leave lots of extra time to let the dough rise.

Bake and Enjoy!

MiniBon

Mini Cinnamon Buns

Once every 2 years or so I get a craving for a cinnamon bun and recently I had one. But, as we know, I cannot afford to eat an entire giant cinnamon bun. So I decided to attempt a mini cinnamon bun.

Since I have little experience making cinnamon buns I used the recipe from Love Like a Vegan but quartered the recipe. I rolled the dough out much thinner than the recipe calls for and it made 10 delightful mini buns. You have to read through the post to get to the best part at the end...

1/2 tsp heaping instant yeast
2 Tbsp unbleached sugar
1/4 cup lite original silk (or your choice of non-dairy milk)
1/2 egg worth of egg replacer OR 1/2 T ground flaxseeds whisked together with 6 T hot water
1 1/2 Tbsp Earth Balance margarine, melted
1 cup + 2 tbsp unbleached flour
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 Tbsp Earth Balance margarine, melted

Frosting
3/4 oz of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1 Tbsp Earth Balance margarine, softened
6 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp soy milk

Instructions:
Mix yeast, sugar, and heated soymilk in a large mixing bowl and let stand until foamy.

Add egg replacer, melted margarine, flour, and salt. Mix well and knead for 5-10 minutes (um, I did it for like a minute). The dough should be firm and smooth, not sticky. Set the dough aside in a covered bowl and let double in size.

After the dough has doubled-ish, turn it out onto a floured work surface, cover, and let rest for 10 more minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll dough into approximately 16×21 inch rectangle or possibly smaller. Spread dough with margarine and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 10 sections with a sharp knife.

Place rolls on a lightly greased 9×13 inch cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together Tofutti, margarine, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Lazy? Short on time? The funniest recipe I ever found on vegweb was for a lazy-man's cinnamon bun. Someone posted a recipe that basically stated you need to cut the crust off a piece of bread, flatten the bread, spread margarine on it, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the margarine, roll it up and microwave the little bun. I did it and it's actually not bad! It's not a cinnamon bun but you get the same flavors. It's a quick and fun treat.

Kids, Don't Try This at Home

So my HP computer crapped out for the zillionth time and I have been sans-computer for the past few days. (P.S. don't buy an HP computer, ever).  The point being that I have to make this post quick and I can't upload any photos.

This Thanksgiving Turkey Cake (non-vegan) has been making it's way around the vegan world. I mean I don't even know what to say about this thing. There are just so many things wrong with it. SO MANY. But the shockingly odd photos have caused enough vegans to not be able to look away that there are people who are trying to veganize it. Why? I don't know. All I know is that I can't wait to see the results!