Giving Thanks without Turkey?

Photo source: Eco-officegals

Thanksgiving, a time for giving thanks and being grateful for all we have, is (as well all know) celebrated around a big meal with family and friends. For many vegans, including myself, thanksgiving dinner can be a frustrating meal especially when you are sharing it with those close to you, most of which who are not vegan.

In past years I would bring a couple side dishes, usually plant-based or maybe a rice dish, but it was never the same as enjoying everything available at the dinner table.   However, I do believe one can still enjoy and celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with loved ones without having to sacrifice a turkey or any other animal product for that matter.

To help give me a few ideas of what I could make this year in contribution to Thanksgiving dinner I did some research on-line and found a few very delicious recipes, most of which come from one of my all-time favourite food blogs: Fat Free Vegan.

So if turkey is not on the menu for you this year, why not try Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf instead or Mushroom, Lentil, and Wild Rice Timbales (this, I just might have to make). Other "traditional" Thanksgiving dish alternatives include Green Onion Mashed potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Vegan Bread Stuffing, Cranberry Kale Salad, and finally, we can't forget, the pie.  In this case, a Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake.

I personally have never been a fan of pumpkin pie but this year, I think I might try making this one. Yum!

The Thing About Vegan Burgers is ...

Vegan burgers don't generally hold together very well while eating them.  Especially since there is no egg, which works well as a binding agent, it can be tough to find or make a good vegan burger that doesn't crumble when you eat it!  My black bean burger were a good exception, I had finally found a recipe that makes tasty burgers that don't completely fall apart.

Normally I like to try and make my own vegan burgers but in cases when I can not, I like to eat Yves Garden Vegetable Patties., which are not only delicious but don't fall apart.

Another vegan burger eating solution: eat them in pieces and not in a bread bun. I cut the burger into quarters and enjoyed it with dragon sauce over a salad of greens, red cabbage and carrots on top of steamed jasmine rice.

Vegetables on top of Noodles with a Side of Delicious

Rice Noodles with Pepper and Mushrooms

For the bowl:

- 1-2 cups of cooked white & black Soba Rice noodles

- 6-7 large mushrooms, chopped

- 1/2 orange pepper (any pepper will do), chopped

- 3-4 stalks of green onion

For the Dressing:
- About 3 tbsp (each bowl) of Dragon sauce

1. Sauté your vegetables how you like it in a non-stick cooking pan or use a touch of coconut oil.

2. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble:

1. Start with the cooked rice noodles (cook as directed on package), as your base for the dish.

2. Top off with your vegetables.

3. Drizzle a few spoonfuls of the Dragon sauce on top and ...

Bon Appetite!

Red Curry Tempeh & Spinach Rice Noodles

Some nights you just need to take some time out for yourself to relax and enjoy the evening. To not run off to the gym right after work or hit the trails, etc. Time to just do what's needed at home, for yourself, like whipping up a wicked dinner for you and your boyfriend.

I couldn't come up with a clever name for this one but it was delicious nonetheless.

Red Curry Tempeh with Spinach Rice Noodles

For the noodles:

* 1.5 - 2 cups of cooked rice noodles

* 1.5 cup of freshly chopped spinach

* 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

* 1-2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Mix ingredients together in a bowl Tip: add a bit of olive oil to the noodles before adding the rest of the ingredients so that they won't stick..

For the noodle sauce:

* 3 tbsp nutritional yeast

* 2-3 tbsp sesame oil

* 2 tbsp filtered water

* 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

* 1/2 tsp dried dill

* 1/2 tsp dried oregano

* Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together well.

For the Tempah:

* 1 package of organic plain tempah, sauteed on medium-low heat, in water for about 10 minutes

* 2 tbsp filtered water

* 2 tbsp tamari sauce

* 2 tbsp sesame oil

* 1/2-1 tbsp red curry paste (add as much as you prefer depending on your level of spicy)

* 2 tbsp organic soy milk

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Mix the water, tamari, sesame oil, red curry paste, and soy milk together in a small bowl very, very well.

3. Cut the tempeh into about 8-10 squares or rectangles.

4. In a separate bowl, add the panko crumbs. Coat each piece of tempeh in the sauce then transfer to the panko crumbs to cover completely.

5. Lay your tempeh pieces to an oven safe, sesame oil coated baking dish. Bake for about 16-20 minutes.

Serve on top of Spinach noodles.

Experiment! Enjoy!

Another Farmer's Market, A Different City

My dad, looking very serious as usual.

I went to the Brantford Farmer's Market with my father this weekend to see what I could find.  I fortunately found some great stuff, for one thing, I was able to get all organic veggies which I needed for the dinner I made my family.  That was a bonus!

I also bought most of it from these lovely ladies.  Laura Lucas (on the right) runs the shop here and she's also a grower and speaker on behalf of healthy living.

 They had some other fantastic food items like these Live organic, raw vegetable crackers which we enjoyed with my homemade bean dip.

No plants today, other then the tomato and onion plants my father gave me.  Hope the garden at home is surviving and thriving.

Happy Long Weekend Canada!

What More Could a Girl Can Ask For

But a wonderful, amazing and loving boyfriend who surprises you with a nice dinner!  Full-time work plus part-time school has been keeping me super busy these days so it's always lovely to come home to a nice home cooked meal not made by me.

On the menu...

Mixed greens with strawberries and toasted sunflower seeds (and yes, he actually toasted them himself) with dressing.

Brown rice with broccoli and stuffed mushrooms (all vegan) and delicious!

A close up of the stuffed mushroom, can't quite explain what was in it, tasted good, it did have some TVP (textured vegetable protein) and bread crumbs, a bunch of stuff that even he didn't know lol ...

It was a fantastic dinner surprise, which included some nice white wine.  It was especially nice of him because he hates mushrooms, so to work with and cook them for me was a big deal.

 

♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥  ♥

Grand Bend Weekend Bliss

 

Friday night Mike and I drove up to Grand Bend to stay for the weekend and what a beautiful, peaceful and enjoyable weekend it was.

After our Saturday morning beach walk we spent the rest of our morning and day at London's Covent Garden Market - my favourite thing to do on a Saturday morning - and visiting friends.

We enjoyed some good treats at the market but also brought some home to make dinner that night. 

First time taste of a Spinach Burek (Börek) pastry - we just had to try one after watching the guy make them, very interesting method that involved a lot of tossing around this flaky dough and using an entire table to spread it out.

For dinner I tried to make something from my 500 Vegan Recipes cook book but ended up improvising most of the recipe since I was missing a few ingredients.  Sadly, at this point, my digital camera's battery also died, which meant I was relying on a disposal camera that I bought and clearly forgot how to use (oh the age of digital cameras have broken us) and none of my food photos came out.

Either way this was on the menu ...

Roasted peppers stuffed with brown rice, broccoli, green apple, tomato, natural peanut butter, a bit of olive oil, and spices including curry, basil, salt and cayenne pepper accompanied by some green salad and Farmer's Market bread - delish!

 

The camera wasn't total loss, we enjoyed a wonderful evening on the beach ...

 

Playing with Scarlet on the beach - the sand and twigs she loved, the water, not so much!

Sweetness - that is, until Scarlet trampled all over it lol!

The next morning we made brunch for the Londoners ...

Banana Fritters, from 500 Vegan Recipes, although I don't think my turned quite as good as they were suppose but everyone was very sweet and said they liked them; vegan "buttermilk" pancakes, sweet fruit platter that included strawberries, grapes and oranges, a cheese and crackers platter and of course, some bacon and eggs - for the boys.

It was a perfect weekend in a gorgeous home, near the beach with great weather,  good food with good friends, and a lovely time spent with best boyfriend ever! ♥

Thanks for giving Cranberries

This  past Thanksgiving weekend I made a few dishes to contribute to my family's dinner - most of which included cranberry as a main ingredient.  The above photo is a Cranberry Chili I made from my book, 500 Vegan Recipes, and it was awesome, spicy with a hint of sweet.  It's hard to see the cranberries but I swear they are in there! :)

 

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup cranberry juice
• 1 cup organic granulated sugar
• 1 ( 340g) package of fresh or frozen cranberries 
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1. In a medium saucepan, heat water, cranberry juice and sugar until all sugar is dissolved.
2. Bring to a boil and add the cranberries, stirring occasionally.
3. Cook for about 5 minutes and reduce heat to let simmer.  Stir in lemon juice just before covering.
4. Let simmer for about 12-15 minutes or until juice has thickened and cranberries have shrunk.

Cranberry Breakfast Pockets 

- 2 packages of Pillsbury crescent dough  
- Left over cranberry sauce from dinner

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Open and unroll crescent dough as directed on package.  I used two triangles for each pocket.

2. Scoop about 1/2 tablespoon of cranberry sauce (less sauce more berries) onto one of the laid out dough triangles.  Place another dough triangle on top of the first and gently press down all along the sides (I used a fork to to press them together).


3. When finished lay then on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 12-14 minutes or until golden.


Hmmmm .... breakfast!



Why eating cranberries is so good for you?

• helps prevent and treat urinary tract infections
• helps promote gastrointestinal and oral health
• helps prevent the formation of kidney stones
• can lower LDL and raise HDL (good) cholesterol
• help prevent against cancer
• aid in recovery from stroke

To learn more about the health benefits of cranberries follow the link in the above title.


Have a recipe in mind you'd like to see me make? Let me know! Please email me
Cheers!

Raw Dinner Delights!

Made this fabulous dinner for friend and myself last weekend - we both loved it! Still can't believe the whole thing is raw and it tastes amazing.  Thank goodness for almond butter!

Raw Pad Thai with Almond Sauce
(Original recipe from The Raw Gourment by Nomi Shannon)

Serves 8 to 10 (I made about half the recipe and it still lasted me for 3 days!)

Noodles
- 4 large zucchini
- 2 large carrots
- 1/2 cup coarsley chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/2 cup fresh bean sprouts

Peel the zucchini, then shave the flesh into thick strips with a vegetable peeler.  Cut the carrots into thin matchsticks with either a mandoline or a sharp knife.  Combine the zucchini, carrots, cilantro, and bean sprouts in a bowl and toss together gently.

Pad Thai Almond Sauce
- 2 cups raw almond butter
- 2 oranges, juiced
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 pitted soft dates
- 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp crushed dried chiles (optional)

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. If necessary, add small amounts of water to facilitate blending.  The sauce should be thick.  Add the sauce to the noodle salad and mix well.

Garnish
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 4 tbsp chopped thai basil leaves
- 10 to 12 wedges of fresh lime
- 8 raw almonds, chopped

Sprinkle the green onions, basil, lime wedges, and almonds over the salad just before serving.

Note: When I put my salad together I kind of just placed everything together, scooped some of the sauce to each place and let the person mix it together for themselves.

Enjoy!

Raw Strawberry Pie
(Original recipe from The Raw Gourment by Nomi Shannon)

Basic Almond-Maple Crust
- 1-2 cups almonds, soaked 8-12 hours
- 3-4 tsp maple syrup (I actually used agave nectar)

After draining the almonds, dry them for 30-60 minutes in the sun or simply with a clean towel.  In a food processor, chop the almonds until they are uniformly very fine.  Gradually add the syrup, using just enough for the almond meal to hold together.  Sprinkle the mixture into a 8- or 9-inch pie pan and then gently press it into the bottom and up the sides.  Makes 1 pie.

Strawberry Filling

- 4 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Binder
- 6 pitted dates, soaked 4-8 hours (reserve soak water (I actually used 10 dried dates, soaked)
- 2 cups quartered strawberries
- Maple syrup or agave nectar to taste (optional)
- 4 tsp psyllium (I didn't this ingredient, now thinking I really should have!)

In a blender, comine the strawberries with the dates and enough of the date soak water to achieve a thck purée.  Taste and add sweetner, if required.  While the blender is still running, gradually add the psyllium.  When the mixture is very thick and smooth, immediately pour it over the strawberries in the crust, being sure to cover all areas of the pie.  Using a spatula, smooth the binder around and into the berries.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

I added fresh strawberry slices to the top of my pie for a decorative touch.

mmm ... strawberry pie!