stuffing (our faces)

It's a veryveryvery vegan Thanksgiving! This year, we stayed home and had a our Thanksgiving as our family of 5.  We missed our friends who were traveling, but we'll get together over the Christmas Break.

Appetizer
 Creamy tomato soup

Slightly modified:
 24oz organic strained tomatoes (Bionaturae Organic brand)
 1 1/2 cup organic veggie broth
 1 cup organic raw cashews
 1 tablespoon onion powder
 2 tablespoons organic dried basil
 2 teaspoons dried minced garlic
 1 - 2 organic bay leaf

Put everything but the cashews and 1/2 cup of the broth in a pan.  Stir and heat.  But the cashews and the 1/2 cup of the broth in the blender.  Blend until smooth.  Add to the soup after it's cooked for about 10-15 minutes.

Note: You can re-blend the soup (pull out the bay leaf before you do!) if you want the garlic to not be chunky or if your cashew cream clumps when you add it.

You can kind of see the soup in the picture below.


Green salad
Romaine
Tomato
Cucumber 

Dressing of olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, balsamic vinegar, garlic.  We never measure. 

 




Home made Tofu-Turkey

We made our own turkey! I found that recipe and it sounded interesting. (Tia totally wanted to make a home made Tofu-Turkey or have some sort of "turkey.")

It totally broke--like people discussed in the comments on that other site. (And I almost dropped it when I was pulling it out of the oven, but I caught it! It was a precarious few seconds that felt like minutes.)  Oh, well.  It was very (veryvery) tasty!
Note, make 2xs the marinade.

We only used 4 tubs of tofus... (we got sprouted, and I was worried, but it came out okay.) We followed the directions on that other site. It was worth making and I'd make it again, but I might think about the way I put it together... A square pan?  I don't know... Maybe I'll try it again as the recipe suggests.  I'll let you know.


Tofu turkey on left, dressing on right.

Stuffing

3 baguettes diced into cubes the night before then toasted in the oven for a few moments (well, some were toasted longer 'cause we forgot they were in the oven and we preheated the oven for pies--oops.  All is well that ends well. The glass container they were stored in didn't break, and thank goodness they weren't in something plastic!)

1 cup (use more next year--1.5-2 cups) celery
1 medium onion (again, use more)
2 teaspoons (?) sage
1/2 bag (4 ounces) dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecans broken up
4-5 cups of broth

(I didn't measure, and I liked the way it came out. Hopefully, I can recreate it.)

Brussel Sprouts
I found this recipe and since I've been on a Sriracha kick lately, I knew I had to make it!  (Everything about this recipe is the same as the original site.  I just put it here in case the web site goes away or something. They get full credit!)

1½ pounds brussels sprouts
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup rice-wine vinegar
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons Sriracha, or more to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Trim the base away from the brussels sprouts and discard. Cut the sprouts in half.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil with the vinegar, honey and Sriracha to combine. Add the brussels sprouts and toss until they are fully coated. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Spread the brussels sprouts on a baking sheet, cut sides down. Pour any extra olive-oil mixture onto the pan and tilt the pan around to distribute it.
4. Roast until the sprouts are crispy on the outside and golden and caramelized on the cut sides, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Mashed Potatoes

(From Forks over Knives, see link above for a picture on our site and then a link to their site.)

Gravy

• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• ¼ cup garbanzo bean flour
• freshly ground black pepper

The gravy went well with the tofu turkey and dressing!  

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

• 2 large Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 bag of cauliflower
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup of cashew cream
• dash of unsweetened, unflavored plant milk
• freshly ground pepper
• Dash of sea salt

Pumpkin Pie 

I made my usual pie.


2 packages of 3/4 pound silken (soft) tofu
2  15 ounce cans pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2/3s - 1 cup brown sugar (we always go less sweet) (could be maple syrup)

This makes enough for 2 pies.  We always do one with crust and one with just chocolate chips (in the red silicone pan).  Soy whipped cream on top for the vegans!

The girls were awesome helpers and even took the lead cooking.  Kira made the soup and salad dressing, they all cut brussel sprouts, Tia made the salad and had the idea that we make a homemade "turkey," Natalie made the gravy, and best of all they helped in whatever way I asked! I couldn't have done it without them!  Nick was super helpful, too.  He helped keep things running smoothly and the kitchen clean!

(I have no idea why my pictures of the food are so fuzzy looking, but I'm guessing I had something on the lens of the camera. I wiped it off before I took the pictures of the pies so they are more clear.)