A Christmas Preview Meal!

This past Saturday, at my weekly vegan brunch at my place, I decided to spread a little holiday cheer and make a pre-Christmas dinner for everybody! It was fabulous, and I think it did the trick to get everyone in the Christmas-y mood!

It was very similar to my Thanksgiving meal, actually, but with a few changes...
Homemade Seitan Roast with Apple-Sage Stuffing
Agave-Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Golden Onion Gravy
Candied Ginger Cranberry Sauce

It was truly a feast! And a celebration of local foods...the sweet potatoes, apples, and garlic were all locally-grown! And btdubs, I have been meaning to post my recipe for the Homemade Seitan Roast, but I lost the paper I wrote it on! Bummer! I'll keep looking for it and give it out as soon as I find it! Wish me luck :)The true stars were, of course, the pies for dessert!
We had Pecan Pie, recipe from the Vegan Feast Kitchen blog! With local pecans! Yeah! And Pumpkin Pie, using my recipe from the Thanksgiving post a while ago. Pumpkin Pie just screams holidays to me! And I used local pumpkins, that I pureed myself and everything. Oh, a you already probably know that is all homemade crust. Duh.

Just typing about this is getting me pumped for my real Christmas dinner coming up in two days!! Woo hoo!

Thanxgiving Part 1: The Spread!

I love, love, love Thanksgiving! Some of my favorite foods are served at this feast and it is always so much fun to cook for hours and hours and see everyone's delighted faces at your hard work! This year, I went all out and made eeeeeverything from scratch...even the faux turkey! Over the next few days, I'll be posting some of the recipes, so as to not overwhelm in one post, so keep an eye out for all my Thanksgiving recipes!!

The Spread: Homemade Seitan Faux Turkey with Savory Onion Gravy, stuffed with Apple-Sage Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes with Chives (my grandma made these vegan for me! with chives from her own garden!), and Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts...

The garlic, bread for the stuffing, apples, chives, and brussels sprouts were all local!The Seitan Faux Turkey RoastI also made Candied Ginger Cranberry Sauce!! I'll give you my recipe below.

Candied Ginger-Cranberry Sauce
3- 12 oz. bags fresh cranberries Juice and zest of 2 lemons Juice and zest of 1 orange 1/2 cup crystallized ginger, chopped 3 cups water 1/2 cup sugar 2 Tbs brown sugar or molasses 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/8 tsp cloves 1 cinnamon stick 1/2 tsp salt

In a large saucepan, combine all of the ingredients except the ginger and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add the chopped ginger and let simmer for 15 more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Remember to remove cinnamon stick before serving. Serve warm or chilled. Best made the day ahead of time to let thicken and enhance the flavors!

My grandma made vegan Mashed Potatoes with Chives for me! Thanks, granny! You're awesome!Local Garlic-Roasted Brussels SproutsSavory Onion Gravy! I love gravy boats!!And because Thanksgiving is just another word for pie: Pies!!!

First is a Pecan Pie, made with locally-grown pecans!! Check out that homemade crust, ya'll!! It was superb, if I do say so myself :) The recipe for the pie filling came from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Vegan Feast Kitchen, because it's amazing! The pie crust is my own creation. And then there was Pumpkin Pie! The recipe will be coming tomorrow, along with a step-by-step on doing the pumpkin puree from scratch! The pumpkin is local, from the farmers' market, and the pie crust is the same as the pecan pie above. This is even better with a big dollop of vegan whipped cream, of course!!

Home For the Holidays, Part 1

It can be pretty tough going home for holidays to a non-vegan household. Not only do you have the anxiety of "what will I eat" but you also often have to to deal with the odd looks, comments, questions, etc. from inquisitive (yet loving) relatives. And you thought it was bad answering questions about whom you are dating!! But it doesn't have to be as difficult as it may seem...at least for the food problem! There's a few simple things you can look for in your family's pantry that they already have, which you can throw together and eat!!

For example, we had a family Christmas this weekend, and I was able to make this Holiday Quinoa Salad without getting anything special from the store! Holiday flavors and good nutrition are a combination that's hard to beat! While your parents may not be stocked with quinoa, you could easily substitute rice or any grain for the same tasty creation!This is simply quinoa my mom had, and I added a holiday-spiced teabag to the boiling water to cook with the quinoa. This really added a nice, mild flavor to the quinoa!! When the quinoa cooled, I tossed it with canned mandarin oranges, parsley, toasted almonds, spinach, red onion, and dried cranberries. I made a simple dressing to put on it of dijon mustard, olive oil, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and some spices, including chili powder and cinnamon! It was really good and easy, too! I just dug through the cupboards and put random things together that seemed like they would taste good!

There are some easy rules/things to look for when at a family member's house who is non-veg, and you want to whip up some grub to please your tastebuds and possibly even impress your family!
1. Canned fruits and veggies....maybe not your ideal choice at home, but work really well when away! Canned tomatoes are seriously soooo versatile!! Fresh produce is obviously even better, if you can find them, but don't hold your breath :)
2. Dried or canned beans...a staple in kitchens, even of the non-veg variety! Rice and beans, anyone?
3. Dried fruit...essential for snacking, salads, etc. Always at your family member's house who is "trying to eat healthier." When are they just going to go vegan already???!! ha.
4. Nuts or seeds...protein is key for keeping up energy during the stress of the family holiday gatherings! Look for them in peanut butter, too!! Best eaten by the spoonful, of course!
5. Oatmeal....the perfect breakfast in a non-veg house: no cereal labels to stress over, no soy/rice/hemp milk required, easy and quick to make, warm and delish!! Try drizzling with some maple syrup and cinnamon, which pretty much everyone has! mmmm....

See, you too can not starve or stress when you are away from home, in a country bumpkin town, with a bunch of carnivores! hooray!

Here's the whole dinner my veg mom and I made (yes, I am really lucky my mom is veg and goes out of her way to buy me vegan stuff and wants me to cook for her when I come home! she is awesome!!!) The Holiday Quinoa salad from above, Tofurkey roast with stuffing, and Steamed Green Beans with Caramelized Onions. So good!!! God bless Tofurkey, seriously.
I even made a pie for dessert! Pecan Pie (Bryanna's recipe from the Vegan Feast Kitchen). Pecan Pie is the best pie fyi. Best when topped with some Soyatoo whipped topping and a big mug of hot coffee. This is Christmas in a crust.Before I left, my mom requested her favorite breakfast: scrambled tofu! She even went out and bought all the veggies for it! Bonus! This is probably the best scram-fu I've ever made!! It is onion, garlic, red and green bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach, yellow and zucchini squashes, seasoned with Bragg's, hot sauce, turmeric, and salt 'n pepper. Served with whole wheat toast...and black coffee, of course!! I'm glad she requested this, because it was amazing!
For my first night back to my real house in Columbia, I wasn't much in the mood for cooking after having to try and be creative for a few days, so I made an old favorite: Soba Noodles with Veggies, Baked Tofu, and Homemade Peanut Sauce! This dish NEVER fails! perf.

More holiday posts to come!! oh joy! Also, Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating!! :)

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving...I thank you for saving a turkey, and probably lots of other creatures, too! :) My holiday was wonderful! What's not to love?! Lots of food, friends and family, no school, playing board games, and even more food! That's my kind of break!

For breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, I made Pumpkin-Cranberry Scones from Veganomicon:

They were a little softer and cakier than I typically like my scones (just like the book said they would be!), but they were delicious! I love that it calls for fresh instead of dried cranberries...it just adds that little extra zing that I love! Plus I got to use some of the local farmer's market pumpkin that I pureed myself! DIY bonus!

Meal one, for lunch, was at my family's house, where I made all of the food for Steve, my mom, and myself (everyone else had to fend for themselves!! vegan power). I made the following:
--Tofurkey Roast with Mushroom Gravy
--Chili-Maple Glazed Sweet Potaotes and Chestnuts
--Garlic-Roasted Brussel Sprouts
--Double Cranberry Chutney (from Veg Times)
--Uprise Bakery Cranberry Pecan Rolls with my homemade Apple Butter
Yeah, we were STUFFED! I think Tofurkey roasts are my favorite thing about this holiday!!

And I made two desserts:

Pumpkin "Cheezecake" (again with my own pumpkin puree!)

Pecan Pie...with a homemade crust! Both from the Vegan Feast Kitchen Blog!

Thanksgiving two was for dinner at Steven's family's house....

We just did leftovers for the side dishes, but had a Celebration Roast by Field Roast...since we demolished the Tofurkey Roast at lunch! This was our first time trying the Celebration Roast, and I must say that it was great! I liked the butternut squash in the roast, and the spices were tasty. However, I must give my honest opinion that Tofurkey's is better overall...especially in texuture, but I for sure like the wild rice stuffing and the general flavors better, too. But both are delicious and WAAAAY better than cruelty turkeys!!

All in all, a wonderful day! I ate too much and had a bad cold....but I had a lot of fun, too!!