Thanksgiving...vegan style!

Geoff practically begged me to hold off starting the vegan 30 day challenge until after Thanksgiving since we were hosting thanksgiving for the first time ever at our home.  However, I just wasn't willing to wait that long to make healthy changes in our lives, so the compromise was, we would have a turkey, but all the side dishes would be vegan.  So, without further ado, here's a rundown of our meal.  I have noted where we veganized some of the traditional offerings.

Turkey--no possible way to veganize (is that a word??) this bad boy, so my mom cooked the turkey.  I have to say, it made the house smell yummy all day long, but I did not have a single bite, and I didn't even miss it.

Mashed Potatoes--we used Yukon gold potatoes because they impart a buttery taste all their own without the need to add butter during the mashing process.  To make them creamier, we did add about a cup of veggie broth while mashing.  They were just as good as usual.

Noodles--Okay, this probably isn't traditional in your home, but it is in ours.  Being from the south, these dumpling style noodles have been a staple with every homecooked turkey or roast chicken dinner I have ever eaten.  They are made with whole wheat flour, water, salt, and usually eggs.  We omitted the eggs, and they were a little more dense (think somewhere between a noodle and a matzo ball), but still worked well.  Instead of cooking them in a big pot of chicken broth, we used veggie broth and they were just as flavorful.  (Note: leading up to thanksgiving we made several test batches of these, trying every type of whole grain flour we had to see which was best.  I think next time I would use whole wheat PASTRY flour, as those batches turned out the best)

Sweet Potato Casserole--I used a vegan recipe and have never made them before so I am not sure if you traditionally use anything like butter or milk to make these.  Jack loved them.  We mashed them with some orange juice, a little brandy (probably why Jack devoured them and slept so well that night!), cinnamon, allspice, a little bit of sugar.  Then we baked them with pecan pralines (from trader joes) on top.  They were a big hit too!

Stuffing--So  yummy, I've been eating it for days as lunch and sometimes even as breakfast!  We used whole grain bread (cubed), grated zucchini (no one even knew it was in there), mushrooms, celery, onions, coarsely chopped brazil nuts (we forgot to buy water chestnuts, so these added a nice crunch), and veggie broth.  I would make this in smaller batches for dinner with more even more veggies thrown in!

Gravy--Not vegan, but made by my mom from turkey drippings for all those who needed to have gravy on their mashed potatoes.

Green Bean Casserole--not vegan, altho I have a vegan recipe I'd like to try.  I made it because a) people expected it; and b) I had a few cans of cream of mushroom soup in the back of my pantry that I needed to get rid of anyway.

Desserts:
Apple Pie--VEGAN!!!!! (no one knew)  Used ice water instead of pet milk in grandma's secret crust recipe(still as flaky as ever), and used a little earth balance vegan butter spread in with the apples for baking.

Mocha Crunch Cake---Unfortunately not vegan.  It's made by layering angel food cake and coolwhip with mocha crunch bits.  Made with corn syrup, instant coffee, and baking soda.  It foams up and then hardens and can be cracked into crunchy bits.  If you want the recipe, email me and I will get my mom to send it to you.

And last but not least....pumpkin pie....totally vegan.  I got the recipe from this incredible blog http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/11/pumpkin-pie-bites.html  but I did make a few modifications.  I doubled the recipe for the filling because otherwise this recipe was about equal parts crust and filling and that just wasn't acceptable to me.  I have to say I am not crazy about the crust, but I never eat the crust with pumpkin pie and if it were up to me I'd just bake a big pie plate full of filling!  I also did not make the crumbly topping, preferring instead to allow people to top it with cool whip (which turns out is not completely vegan despite the fact that it is called a non-dairy topping--oh well, live and learn!).   I have to say, pumpkin pie is probably my favorite dessert of all time.  I used to just bake the filling regularly to eat as a snack, and I thought this tasted just as good as a "normal" pumpkin pie.  I don't think anyone would have guessed it was vegan without being told.

 One note about cooking with tofu.  I remember this from past use of tofu to bake lowfat cheesecake.  when you bake tofu in a pie or cheesecake-esque format, and let it sit (I like to bake pumpkin a day ahead and serve it chilled from the fridge), it does get a kind of "skin" on the top that I find very unappetizing.  The remedy for this is to peel it off...which I was willing to do as I scarfed the leftovers the past few days, but not sure I would tell guests to do the same.

So all in all....vegan thanksgiving was a big success!  All I need to do now is convince Geoff that next year we should serve a tofurkey.  I've got 12 months, so maybe I can pull it off.... :)