What I Made for Thanksgiving Dinner

This year, I am sharing everything I made for Thanksgiving, both cooked and raw. This is such a stressful time for the person cooking. I bought all the ingredients the day before on Wednesday. I literally didn't know what I was making until that day.

Everyone who reads this blog is on different continuum scale on his/her raw journey. This is for those who want cooked vegan holiday recipes as well as raw, and for those who do Internet searches for vegan Thanksgiving recipes.

I didn't feel like I had the chops to do an all-raw Thanksgiving. I am working my way toward it, however. Here is everything I made:

Apple Crisp

Vegan Apple Crisp
--adapted and veganized from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
Kick butt cobbler. The best in the world.
5 cups peeled and sliced apples
1/3 cup of water
¾ cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 stick margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut up apples and put them in a 1 ½ quart baking dish ( I use a square 8 inch baking pan), and sprinkle the water on top. Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl, and rub the margarine in with your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs. Spread evenly over the apples. Bake about 30-35 minutes or until crust is browned.

Macaroni and Cheese

Vegan Macaroni and Cheese
Adapted from Soul Vegetarian. I changed the amount of noodles to use.

1 box macaroni elbows
1 1/8 cup nutritional yeast (or more to taste)
1 heaping tablespoon Spike seasoning
3 cups soymilk
1 large clove garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
paprika (optional)

-preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Cook the macaroni elbows according to package directions
-Rinse in cold water in a colander when they are finished cooking
-Place all other ingredients (except canola oil and paprika) in a blender
-Slowly pour oil in blender while it's running
-The "cheese sauce" should be creamy
-Put the macaroni noodles in a 9x12 baking pan, making sure they are level
-Pour "cheese sauce" evenly over macaroni
-(Optional) Sprinkle paprika over the macaroni and cheese
-Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown on edges or top
-Take out, serve, and amaze your family!

I've had more than one person think I used real cheese! It's a wonderful dish. I always make this for guests, and get requests for it all the time. This is the one you make for omnivores.

Kale Salad

Kale Salad
Adapted from The Joy of Living Live by Zakhah
The winner of winners. Your salad will disappear at every potluck.

1 bunch of kale greens
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons liquid aminos or 4 tablespoons soy sauce (not raw)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Wash the greens. Put them in a tupperware bowl that has a top. Sprinkle the nutritional yeast on top the kale first. Add the garlic cloves, aminos or soy sauce, lemon juice squeezed straight from the lemon (watch those seeds), and olive oil. Put the top on your tupperware bowl. Shake like crazy. The success of this dish comes in all of the kale being coated evenly. Sometimes the yeast gets gloopy. So shake, do not stir or mix. Shake. Adjust the seasonings to your liking.

Cashew Garden Burgers and Instead of Mashed Potatoes

Cashew Garden Burgers
--from Fresh by Sergei and Vayla Boutenko
2 cups cashews
1 cup dried tomatoes – soaked for 10 minutes
¼ bunch cilantro
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon sea salt

Blend in a food processor. Add soaked tomato water if needed. In the book, they call for dehydration for 10-12 hours at 110 degrees. Flip and dry another 5-8 hours. I do not dehydrate this any longer. It's a great pate. I put it in a collard green leaf. I brushed the leaf with olive oil, then put it a warm oven (already turned off) and left the door open for 2 minutes to soften the leaf. Then I added the pate, tomatoes, and lettuce. It was delicious.


Instead of Mashed Potatoes
--from Fresh by Sergei and Vayla Boutenko
2 large avocados
½ head cauliflower
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup sweet onion powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
Blend everything in a food processor until smooth.

This was just okay. I started to make the pecan gravy from the book to go along with it, but I was on a budget. I already had the Divine Cashew Gravy, but I should have made the pecan gravy. I will do that next time.

Apple Cobbler

Vegan Apple Cobbler
--adapted and veganized from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
The crust is WONDERFUL. This is ridiculously good. This is more involved than the apple crisp. But it is worth it.

First, I use gelled flax seed instead of the 1 egg the original recipe calls for. To make this, you can purchase loose flax seeds and grind them in your blender, dry. No water, no nothing. Just grind them. Or you can purchase milled flax seed or flax seed meal. Add equal parts ground flax seed and water into a blender. Blend until the mixture looks like Jello or thick pudding. Make more than you need. One and one half tablespoons of the gelled flax equals one egg in any baked recipe. Flax seed doesn't change the taste, and has worked wonderfully in all my baked recipes. You may have to bake something longer than the original recipe calls for.

12 tablespoons margarine, melted (Melt 4 tablespoons and 8 tablespoons separately)
3 cups peeled and diced apples
½ teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup soy, rice, or almond milk
1 ½ tablespoons gelled flax seed
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pour 4 tablespoons margarine into an 8x8 square pan. Arrange the apples evenly over it. Mix ¼ teaspoon of salt with ¼ cup of sugar and sprinkle evenly over apples. Set aside. Pour remaining 8 tablespoons of the margarine into a bowl, add the milk and flax seed and beat with a whisk. Mix the flour, baking powder, the remaining 6 tablespoons of brown sugar, and the remaining ¼ teaspoon of sea salt into another bowl. Stir in the milk mixture and beat until smooth. Plop the mixture by the tablespoon full on top of the apples. Bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Turk'y Roast and Divine Mushroom Cashew Gravy

Quorn Turk'y Roast
This was a compromise between me and my husband. He asked me if I wanted to roast a turkey. I said "no." I know how, but I have no interest in ever cooking an animal product again in life. I have never made a raw/faux “meat” centerpiece for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I didn't think today was the day to experiment. I will practice on a recipe I do have between now and Christmas.

We were going to get a Tofurky but the Internet comments about it were horrible. The Quorn comments were better, so we got this one. It worked out fine. Both he and my oldest son liked it. If you do get this, roast it in a roasting bag and baste it with olive oil and spices, according to the directions on the box. It did taste like turkey. If we didn't tell someone, they'd probably think it was a turkey breast.


Divine Mushroom Cashew Gravy
--from Incredibly Delicious, the singlehandedly, absolute best vegan cookbook on the planet. Mostly cooked stuff, but has a lovely raw section too. I tell anyone who listens to purchase this. Everything in the book is, well....incredibly delicious. :-)

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 small onions, diced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 cups water
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
3 ½ tablespoons cashew butter
(this is expensive. To make your own, blend cashews and olive oil in a food processor until the mixture is smooth.)
2 tablespoons tamari
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder

Saute the garlic and onions in a little bit of oil, about 2 tablespoons. Add mushrooms and simmer until veggies are soft. Blend the other remaining ingredients in a blender. Pour this mixture into the pot with the veggies. Stir often until the arrowroot thickens the gravy. Do not boil.

This gravy was spectacular. This was only the second time I've made gravy from scratch. It delivered, big time.

So except for the raw mashed potatoes, everything turned out great. I am still working my way toward an all-raw holiday, so if anyone has tried and true alive and raw holiday recipes, please pass them my way.

Love,
Althea ◦

What I Made for Thanksgiving Dinner