Recommended Vegan Thanksgiving Menu

[tammy]

This is our recommended Vegan Thanksgiving Menu. Please feel free to comment or share your favorites.

1) Tofurky roast
2) Mashed potatoes and Gravy
3) "Stuffing"
4) Yams with Cranberries and apples (optional)
5) Pumpkin Pie

The Tofurky roast is easy - that can be purchased at most natural food stores, and sometimes the larger Safeway stores even carry them. Optionally, you could choose to use a simple baked squash as a centerpiece instead of a Tofurky roast.

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
from The Peaceful Palate by Jennifer Raymond

4 lg potatoes, peeled & diced
1 1/2 c water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c soymilk
1 tbsp margarine

2 tbsp margarine
1/2 c chopped onion
1 c sliced mushrooms
2 tbsp flour
2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper

Place potatoes in kettle with water and 1/4 tsp salt. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and reserve liquid. Mash the potatoes, then add salt, soymilk, and margarine. Cover and set aside.

In a large skillet, saute onions and mushrooms until onions are soft and transparent. Stir in flour; the mixture will be quite dry. Whisk in cooking liquid from potateos, then add soy sauce and pepper. Cook over medium-low heat until thickened.

Serve over mashed potatoes. Serves 6.

For stuffing, I find this veggie pate recipe has all the seasonings associated with Thanksgiving and tastes alot like stuffing.

"Stuffing" or Veggie Pate

This recipe from Vegetarian Tastes of Toronto by Toronto Vegetarian Assoc. is called "Veggie Pate" but it reminds us more of stuffing! Yum.

1.5 cups sunflower seeds
.5 cup whole wheat flour
.5 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 raw potato, grated
small red onion, diced or 4 green onions, sliced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, grated
2 tbsp oil
1.5 cups warm water
seasoned with: thyme, basil, sage, salt & pepper (start with 1 tsp each, then to taste)

Unless you have a food processor, you'll get a workout! Dice/grate the ingredients as needed, grind sunflower seeds, then mix with remaining liquids, flour, and seasonings. For the herbs, we like 2 tsp sage, 1 tsp ea. thyme & basil, and salt/pepper to taste.

Bake at 350F for 1 hour until golden brown. Let cool.

Pumpkin Pie
Another recipe from Peaceful Palate, one of our favorite vegan cookbooks

1 1/2 cups soymilk
4 tbsp cornstarch OR 3 tbsp agar flakes
1/2 cups cooked pumpkin
1/2 cup turbinado sugar or other sweetener
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves

We usually use cornstarch but this can also be done with agar flakes. Here's the instructions:

Preheat oven to 375

If using cornstarch: In a large bowl, whisk together soymilk and cornstarch until smooth, then blend in remaining ingredients.

If using agar: Combine soymilk and agar in a saucepan and let stand 5 minutes. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and ook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in remaining ingredients and blend well.

Then, pour into an unbaked 9-inch pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

We usually use a premade crust, like Keebler crusts or if we're at a natural food store, we'll buy a more wholesome crust.

Yams with Cranberries and Applies
from The Peaceful Palate My friends who love cranberries and yams love this dish.

4 lg yams, peeled
1 lg green apple, peeled & diced
1 c raw cranberries
1/2 c raisins
2 tbsp turbinado sugar or other sweetener
1-2 tbsp margarine
1/2 c orange juice

Cut peeled yams into 1-inch chunks and place in a large baking dish. Top with diced apple, cranberries, and raisins. Sprinkle with sugar or other sweetener, dot with margarine, then pour orange juice over all. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until yams are tender when pierced with a fork. Serves 6 to 8.

[Guest]

Having been vegan for nearly 7 years and also very inspired by the raw food movement, which I feel is the next step beyond veganism, I had a couple wonderful raw thanksgivings.
I made a raw *turkey* stuffing....made with celery as the base, with poultry seasonings and walnuts....it came out very tasty!
I made raw *mashed potatoes* out of cauliflower, garlic and the right spices and olive oil.
Raw Cranberry sauce made from actual raw cranberries blended with a couple dates, or a sweeter fruit.......much more delicious than the cooked version!~
I also made a delicious raw pumpkin pie with a macadamia/date/raisin crust, and filled it with the raw pumpkin (put through a champion juicer with the blank slate to come out like mashy pulp) and added lots of dried unsweetened coconut, a couple bananas, a vanilla bean, dates, etc....
Ive also made yummy raw vegan *sushi* rolls with a raw almond hummus made similarly to the pumpkin pie...through the juicer....with added garlic, spices, meyer lemon juice, and stuffed with avocado, cucumber, and pickled ginger.
Ive made other stuff too but those are just some ideas for those of you that are into raw, or integrate it into your lifestyle!
Check it out sometime..its awesome! Im not eating as much raw as Id like to right now...but I know when I do the food is delicious, I feel much healthier....and am living more like our brethren animals..that in nature only eat raw!
SHalom Namaste
Brother John aka Shekinah Love