My First Thanksgiving

Not only was it my first time cooking a Thanksgiving meal today, but it was also my first time cooking a vegan and sugarless Thanksgiving meal. There were misses. I've learned some lessons. But overall, I think it was a successful practice run for next year. The menu:




Chickpea cutlets
Baked sliced potatoes
Cornbread dressing
Onion-mushroom gravy
Braised cabbage
Steamed corn
Spinach and arugula salad with dried cranberries, candied maple pecans, and pear with oil and vinegar
Whole wheat cloverleaf rolls
Apple crisp

I was reminded today how much I love one-pot meals. It is a major challenge getting everything to the table hot at the same time.

The misses: the cornbread dressing tasted right but the texture was all wrong--due to the bad cornbread recipe I started with. I veganized my grandmother's roll recipe with egg replacer and I substituted honey for the sugar--which would have been fine, I think, but I screwed it up by replacing too much whole wheat flour for the white flour. They were edible--barely. I rolled out the remaining dough and made cinnamon-raisin rolls--which turned out softer than the cloverleaf rolls.

What else? Oh, my turkey. I've made Veganomicon's chickpea cutlets before with fab results, but today I made them too thick and they didn't cook all the way and they were too chewy. But don't let that scare you off from trying them.

The salad was deliciously sweet. Ashton has been talking about the candied pecans all day. They were easy to make and sweetened with maple syrup--recipe is in Veganomicon.

Other snafus: my tofu whipped cream bombed, and I forgot to put water in my steamer for the corn and they tasted smoky. One-pot meals, I tell you, I love 'em!

Many thanks to Natalie for helping in the kitchen today!

An absolute hit: Vegan with a Vengeance Pumpkin Muffins. I used refined sugar but reduced the amount. Next time I will try a substitute. We added dried cranberries and they were delicious! A perfect breakfast this morning with hot cocoa and fruit.

You? How was your T-day???

Pumpkin Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 ginger
1/4 allspice
1/8 t cloves
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 T molasses

Sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl whish together the wet ingredients; then combine with the dry. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 400 degrees.

****I used half unbleached all-purpose flour and half whole wheat pastry flour. I decreased the sugar by one-third, and I used rice milk instead.

Vegan Sugarless Hot Cocoa

1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
dash salt
1/3 cup rice milk
4 cups rice milk
3/4 t vanilla

Mix nectar, cocoa, salt and 1/3 cup rice milk in sauce pan over medium heat until it boils. Stir in remaining milk and heat. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

****I adapted recipe from the hot cocoa recipe on the side of Hershey's cocoa. I did use unsweetened almond chocolate milk for one-third cup of the milk. I also added 3 tablespoons of decaf instant coffee at the end for a cafe mocha type drink. Peppermint extract would also be yummy for the holidays.