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Getting ready for the Big Thanksgiving Feast!

Posted on November 18, 2012 | 2 comments

Somehow, Thanksgiving has snuck up on me this year!! I’m sorry I haven’t shared more recipes with you, but I did provide some links below to some of the things I will be making and more!

We are having a family feast for 21 this year on Thanksgiving day at my mom’s, so I decided to pitch in and bring a few things to help out! Plus, since many others at the feast are not vegan, it’s fun to bring a few dishes to show everyone that vegan cooking is incredibly delicious! It just so happens I have a 3-pot crock-pot cooker, so I chose dishes that would work with that. Another great thing about using a crock pot is that I won’t need to use the busy oven at my mom’s for reheating anything – I can easily heat things up just by plugging it in and stirring every now and then! You can’t beat that!

So, here’s what I’m bringing to share…

1) my vegan pumpkin pie
2) vegan macaroni and cheese (my moms mac-n-cheese recipe, veganized)
3) maple pecan sweet potatoes (from the cookbook ‘Vegan Holiday Kitchen’ by Nava Atlas)
4) and something I like to call “Green beans a’la Terry” (a recipe from my friend and old co-worker, Terry, who works at the Grit, my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Athens, GA)

Sorry – I haven’t put any of those recipes listed above on my blog (except for the pumpkin pie)! But don’t sweat it – there are TONS of recipes online that have been making me drool! Here are some recipes that I thought looked awesome from some other sites that I wanted to share!

The Post Punk Kitchen has an awesome looking maple pecan pie I am planning on making if I can squeeze it in… and there are many more holiday dishes to peruse here! Check out the Thanksgiving page.

Mmmm. We just made these scalloped potatoes tonight. We made them (minus the fennel) and they were spectacular! Definitely making these again!

Also, this page on Inhabitots has links to some fun eco-friendly kid Thanksgiving crafts and also several recipes like these easy miniature apple pies!

The Gluten-free Goddess always has an amazing list of holiday friendly foods. Check out her list vegan and vegetarian foods here!

And don’t forget about Vegan Dad. He makes some amazing food! I have a “must-try” list accumulated from his blog site!

Another good site to explore is Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Life website. Full of good recipes and other veggie news!

If you are new to my blog, you may have missed some previous veggie side dishes that are great for the holidays, such as my lemon maple sweet potatoes, cauliflower mashed potatoes , butternut squash soup, green bean casserole, maple roasted parsnips, agave glazed carrots,… and these pot roast veggies cook up beautifully and easily with a tofu-turkey roast.

You definitely don’t need a turkey to have a delicious holiday meal, but if you need or crave that “meaty” centerpiece, I recommend the Tofurkey roast (available at most supermarkets) or a Field Roast. Or you can make your own homemade tofu roast (which is a bit more complicated but worth the effort). The Post Punk Kitchen makes a yummy looking seitan roast on their Thanksgiving page (see link above). Regardless of what foods you choose to make, remember the purpose of the holiday is to relax and enjoy the company of those around you!

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Posted in dinner, fall, holidays, Vegan, vegetables, winter

Tagged healthy cooking, thanksgiving, Vegan, vegan holiday foods, vegan thanksgiving, vegan thanksgiving dishes, vegetables, vegetarian, vegetarian thanksgiving

Be Thankful for Pumpkin Pie

Posted on November 15, 2011 | 5 comments

Ahhh… it’s that time of year again when we are getting ready to give thanks (which lets face it, should be a daily goal for all of us). I am considering a new name for this holiday of feasting – ThanksLiving Day. The name makes sense to me since really what the day is about giving thanks to ALL living things 🙂

I stumbled across this awesome little coloring zine on another blog and I just have to share. You should totally order one (they are only $5) if you have kids, especially if they are vegetarian or vegan (it has a veggie theme). It is simple & cute (and will help keep the kids busy will you’re busy cooking)! It also poses the questions what can we do to peacefully live together and give thanks for our world, & makes the idea of growing, cooking & eating vegetables exciting and fun! You can get your own at www.thorathinks.com

I cant wait to cook a meatless vegan feast for my family this year. My Thanksliving feast is usually pretty traditional .. turkey (I make my own homemade tofu “turkey”, though I also enjoy Tofurkey’s boxed Tofurky), stuffing, 2-3 vegetable dishes and of coarse some kind of delicious pie. I always try to make everything homemade for the best quality.

This year I am making a pumpkin pie to bring to my mothers for our yearly family feast. I have concocted a new recipe to meet all my family’s food-needs, so this pie will be vegan, and also soy & gluten-free. Most vegan pumpkin pies use tofu (regular pumpkin pies contains eggs) but it is really easy to make one without tofu. I am going the easy route for the gluten-free crust (in order to avoid having to buy 5 different kinds of flour) and am planning on using a gluten-free pie crust mix (though I will have to veganize some of the add-ins, like replacing the eggs & butter with Egg-replacer and a special kind of Earth Balance margarine that is soy-free & dairy free).

I am not going to lie – the crust shown in the pictures is not gluten-free, however, there should be no problems in replacing the crust for a gluten-free one. The pie crust pictured is a ready-made frozen brand called WhollyWholesome. Its very good and vegan, but not gluten-free.

(Gluten & Soy-free) Vegan Pumpkin Pie

* cheesecloth required

First you have to roast 2 large pie pumpkins… Cut them in half, scrape them out and place them face down on a pan. (Dont forget to save the seeds for roasting later!)

These 2 pie pumpkins ended up being small and I learned (the hard way) that it is best to use 3 small or two large pie pumpkins!

Cook for about an hour at 400 F. Let them cool and then scrape the pulp out of the shells. Plop the pumpkin pulp in the center of a piece of cheesecloth (a mesh like fabric), gather the cloth around them and twist tie the tops. Next you want squeeze out all the liquid you can! This may take a couple of minutes. I was surprised by how much water I was getting out! After squeezing them as much as you can (without squirting pumpkin all through the mesh!), you ideally want to end up with about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups of pumpkin. (If you can’t get large pie pumpkins, roast three small ones. I actually used two small ones the last time I made this pie and I fell short on pumpkin after squeezing the water out – so I opened up a can of pumpkin, but the consistency was so much different than the pumpkins that I had roasted myself, I went ahead and roasted another entire pumpkin to ensure that it would all be the same.)

This is BEFORE squeezing the water out... as mentioned before, I ended up having to roast another pumpkin to get the amount I needed!

Next puree the pumpkin with the following ingredients.

2/3 cups packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup (original) coconut milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 cup arrowroot flour

Pour into a gluten-free crust (use a gluten-free pie crust mix or make your own – there were several recipes I saw on about.com and other gluten-free websites).