Tag Archives: vegan

My Thanksgiving Menu – VeganMoFo 25

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A good time was had by all, and I may never be hungry again.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I’ll probably be hungry again before midnight!

We had:

Spinach dips with breads (vegan)
Veggie tray with ranch
Relish tray (vegan)
Cranberry relish (vegan)
Crackers and cheese
Deviled eggs (by MIL)
Fruit salad (by MIL)
Vegan dressing
Regular dressing
Tofurkey (vegan)
Turkey
Ham
Homemade egg noodles
Mashed potatoes (vegan)
Gravy (vegan & not)
Broccoli (vegan)
Green beans (vegan)
Rolls (vegan)
Cookies (by BILs)
Cupcakes (from BILs)
Zucchini and pumpkin bread (by BILs)
Brownies (vegan)
Pumpkin pie (not vegan)
Apple pie (not vegan)
Pecan pie (vegan)
Pumpkin pie (vegan)

I think that’s it.  It was a LOT of food!  My fridge is way full, even after leftovers went home with guests.  The vegan food mostly came out good this year.  The dressing needed a little more liquid this time, the pecan pie was ok but not stellar, and the vegan pumpkin pie was a horrifying gelatinous mess that I refused to actually let the guests taste and then threw away.  But, I don’t think anyone went home hungry.  The big winner in the desert category was brownies made from this recipe. I did not make any substitutions, but didn’t add the optional chocolate chips or nuts.  They were quite moist, but not overly heavy.  At least one small guest had three, so I knew they were a keeper!

Hope you all had a lovely day.  If anyone wants a specific recipe, let me know!

L

Pi R Good? – VeganMoFo 24

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So, I made pie today.  I made 2 pies in fact.  One is a pecan pie based on a recipe from the Millennium Cookbook.  That one might be decent, though I’m not feeling very good about the crust.  The other is from the path2prayer.com website and is pumpkin.  That one, I think, is pretty much a disaster.  I followed the recipe religiously (get it?), but instead of getting firm in the oven, it just kept getting looser, and eventually started “blowing up” as well.  At that point, I just took it out and let it cool.  I guess we’ll see tomorrow, but I’m glad I have backup store pies and will be making brownies in a few minutes.

My pie issues aren’t just with filling.  I have a very hard time with crust too.  Seriously, I need your pie crust tips!  Lay them on me!  How do you get a good flaky vegan crust?  How much butter-like product do you cut in per cup of flour?  How wet do you want the dough when you shape and roll it?

Meh.  I should have just stuck with breads and cakes.  Those I can do.  On the other hand, the tofurkey looks super delicious and I made 2 of those so we’ll have plenty of leftovers for sandwiches later!

Vegan Thanksgiving Dressing/Stuffing/Filling – Vegan MoFo 22

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Growing up in southern Indiana, we always had a bread based dish on Thanksgiving that we called “dressing.”  After I became an adult and was exposed to the horror of Stovetop stuffing, I discovered that some people cooked it inside of the bird (eww) and called it stuffing.  Then, I had friends whose families call it filling.  So, in my house, we now call it dressing-stuffing-filling.  Those of us who like it REALLY like it, and will eat it for days after, for any meal or snack.  I made the non-vegan version for years, but after I became vegetarian and then vegan, I came up with this one.  I don’t have any pictures of the finished item, but I suspect you’ve seen dressing enough to figure it out on  your own!

Ingredients

1 large loaf of stale bread ripped into bite sized pieces**
1 large onion, diced small
4 stalks celery, sliced thin
2 cups soy milk
2 cups vegetable broth
4 T vegan butter, softened
2 T white vinegar
4 T flour or starch (soy, potato, chickpea, corn)
3 t sage
2 t thyme
2 t black pepper
1 t salt

Directions

** You can use white, wheat, or a combination of breads.  Bread can be “staled” by either leaving in oven for a day or two prior or baking on a low temp until dry

Place ripped bread in large mixing pan.  Add spices, onions, and celery, and flour and toss gently.  In a separate pan, mix softened butter with soy milk and vinegar.  It should take on the consistency of oily buttermilk (sorry).  Add vegetable broth and stir.  Add liquid to dry ingredients and fold in.  If you like your loaf to be really dense and not have bread pieces still visible, stir more briskly for longer to break up the bread more.  If you prefer the bread bits, fold in gently.  Spoon mix into shallow baking pan, cover with foil, and cook at 350* until warmed through.  If it gets too dry as you cook, add a little more veggie broth.  After thoroughly warm, remove foil and continue cooking until top browns, visible liquid evaporates, and stuffing “sets.”  Time depends on what else you have going in the oven.  I would expect at least 30 minutes covered and another 15-20 uncovered.

Heavy? YEP!  Nutritions? Not so much.  Delicious?  Oh yeah!