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!!

Savory Black Olive Seitan

Back in May, when Steven and I visited New York City, we dined at a restaurant called Sacred Chow. This place was so good! I don't see too many people blog about it, but I certainly think anyone visiting or living in the nyc area should give it a chance! When we ate there, we had this awesome sandwich that had black olive seitan on it...something I had never had before! It was so delicious, and it has taken me until now to remember to try and recreate it! So, here is my attempt. It actually came out really well! Very salty and savory,and really easy to make. Again, it uses the steam-in-foil method, but instead of making individual sausage-like links, you make it in one large "roast" shape, and then you can slice or cut it up as you like afterward. I think anyone who who likes olives will love this seitan!Savory Black Olive Seitan,

served with leftover tester corn casserole and sauteed green beans!

Savory Black Olive Seitan (serves 4)

1 cup plus 2 Tbs vital wheat gluten
1 Tbs soy or chickpea flour

1 Tbs nutritional yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 Tbs paprika

1 tsp sage

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small can black olives, chopped

1 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs soy sauce or tamari

1 cup cold water

In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Stir in the minced garlic and chopped black olives. Add in the wet ingredients and mix well. Set a pot of water on the stove to boil. Cut a large piece of aluminum foil, large enough to encompass the dough completely. Place the seitan dough in the middle of the foil sheet, then roll over the dough and twist the ends of the foil to close. Place in a steamer basket set over the boiling water and steam for 1 hour. Remove from the steamer and bake in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes to get a chewy outside. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving! Yum!

For dessert, I picked up a Sweet and Sara's S'more (original flavor) for Steven. I still cannot believe they carry those at our Hy-Vee! How lucky are we?! I personally like the peanut butter flavor WAY better...but I'm a peanut butter gal...and Steven likes the plain jane. They are both great, though, so I guess we all win! :)

The package.

The eating.

On another note, I hope it is snowy and wintery where you are! I love it! I mean, look how darn cute even a little ice-scraping can be! (ain't he cute?!)

Vegan Breakfast "Ham"

Today, the 4th vegan mofo day, was filled with a trip to the farmer's market (thanks to Steve), making BBQ Seitan for Columbia's Roots' n' Blues' n' BBQ festival, and having breakfast for dinner...again!

From Thursday's BFD meal, I had two leftover Apple Cinnamon Waffles (VWAV modification), so I wanted to use those up while they were still fresh. For some protein with our breakfast meal, I wanted to mix it up, so I made a vegan faux Breakfast "Ham." If you are from the Midwest or South or the country, then you have had ham for breakfast. Missing this sweet and salty flavor, I decided to try my hand at a cruelty-free version...it is soooo yum! Very salty, which I am not usually big on, but this is an exception to my rule! And this chewy texture is great!! Perfect with any breakfast for sure!

Local Apple Cinnamon Waffles, Sweet Potato Hashbrowns, and Vegan Breakfast "Ham"

Vegan Breakfast "Ham" (makes 2 servings)
1 block smoked tofu

1 tsp liquid smoke

2 Tbs Bragg's Liquid Aminos

1 pinch black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp sage

1 Tbs agave nectar

1/2 cup water

2 Tbs nooch

Slice the tofu in half widthwise, then each one in half again lengthwise. Then slice each quarter in half down the middle, leaving you with 8 thin slices of tofu. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients, except the tofu. Place the sliced tofu in the liquid and marinate for 1 hour. In a large skillet, heat 1 tsp canola oil over medium flame. Place the tofu in the heated skillet and pour the marinade over it. Simmer the tofu until the liquid has entirely evaporated and the tofu is starting to form chewy edges. Then it's ready to serve to make an awesome breakfast!!

This morning, while I was working making food for the BBQ festival, Steve biked to the farmer's market and picked me up lots of local produce! What a great guy :) I am soooo looking forward to cooking yummy meals this week with this end-of-summer/beginning-of-fall booty!

Here's what he got: a huge pumpkin for pie-making, okra, purple Cherokee heirloom tomatoes, a habanero pepper, a serrano pepper, regular eggplant and Japanese eggplant. The possibilities are endless!