A Very Vegan Thanksgiving

While I understand and respect the various objections to Thanksgiving, for me it is an excuse to cook and to eat particular kinds of foods, always with copious amounts of gravy.  This year, I had a nice, quiet day at home with my Tofurky.  I was so pleased with how everything turned out that I decided to post it here, after my long hiatus from blogging.

Here is what I had:
Tofurky roast with homemade gravy
Quinoa with mushrooms
Braised Brussels sprouts with maple walnuts
Five seed bread (like this bread, but with chia instead of bulgur wheat)
Apple custard crumb pie with vanilla Rice Dream


I'll do my best to reproduce the recipes here, but keep in mind that I made them up as I went along, and so amounts are my best guesses.

Tofurky

This is for the small Tofurky roast (not the whole dinner package).  Remove the Tofurky from its plastic wrapping and place it in a casserole pan with a lid with large pieces of veggies (some combination of carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms).  Mix 1 cup of veggie broth (I use Better than Bouillon) with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons chopped garlic (and/or the liquid from chopped garlic in a jar).  Pour this mixture over the roast and veggies.  Bake in 350-degree oven for 1-1/4 hours.  Remove from oven, rotate roast 180 degrees and stir veggies, and return to oven for 10-15 more minutes.  

Use the liquid to make a gravy.  Melt 1/2-1 tablespoon Earth Balance in a small saucepan and add a tablespoon or two of flour to mix.  Add the basting liquid (and some blended veggies if you wish) to the pan, stir, and bring to a boil.  Stir in a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast.  Simmer to desired consistency and/or add a tablespoon or two of cornstarch-cold-water mixture to thicken.

Quinoa with mushrooms

1 tablespoon olive oil

Chopped garlic to taste

6-10 ounces Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced

1 cup dry quinoa

1 cup broth

Additional water as needed

Pinch of sage

Pinch of cumin

Dash of cayenne pepper

Salt and black pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, brown garlic in olive oil and add mushrooms.  Cook on medium-high until mushrooms are tender, stirring constantly.  Add quinoa and stir for one minute.  

Add broth and stir.  Reduce heat and cover.  Check every five minutes, adding water if necessary, until quinoa is fully cooked.  I added about a half cup of hot water about three times.  Add spices to taste.  Can be made a day ahead.

Braised Brussels sprouts with maple walnuts 


1 tablespoon Earth Balance
1 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon maple syrup (I used Grade B)
1/2 pound Brussels sprouts, 1/4-inch slices
pinch of sea salt
1/4 or so cup white wine




Melt Earth Balance in frying pan or wok and add walnuts; stir over medium-high heat until browned.  Add Brussels sprouts, sprinkle salt over all, and stir fry over high heat for a few minutes, until browned.  Add white wine and cover for 30 seconds.  Then lift cover and stir until liquid evaporates.  Serve immediately.

Apple custard crumb pie

Pie crust (I just buy a vegan whole wheat frozen crust)

4-5 apples

Custard

Crumb topping

"Custard:"

2-4 tablespoons oat flour (or finely ground oats)

1/3-1/2 cup soy flour

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

1/2 cup oat milk (or other nondairy milk?)

1/2-1 cup soy milk

1-2 tablespoons agave syrup

1-2 tsp vanilla

Blend all of this together until it forms a very thick liquid.

Crumb topping:

1/4 cup Earth Balance

2 tablespoons raw sugar or brown sugar

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup oats

Mix together with pastry blender, two butter knives, or (my preference) your hands, until it's a coarse crumble.

Mix apples with "custard" and fill pie crust with this mixture.  Add crumb topping and bake at 350 F for one hour or so, until crust and topping are golden brown.  Best served warm with vanilla frozen dessert (here shown with Rice Dream).