Your Vegan Mom

Totally Sick of Thanksgiving? Make Taquitos.

Take a couple cups of leftover roasted vegetables.  Ours were an amalgam of onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, delicata squash, and kale from several roasts I made in the days and weeks approaching Thanksgiving.  I had 8 roasts and their surrounding vegetables in my fridge and freezer at one point.  Toss your vegetables in the food processor with a few slices of your leftover untofurkey, a teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of chipotle powder (or smoked paprika if you're hoping children will eat this), and a teaspoon of oregano.  Process until chunky smooth.  Cover a small skillet with a slick of canola oil.  Wrap a dozen corn tortillas in a wet dish cloth, and heat in the microwave for a 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, until the tortillas are soft and pliant.  Spoon a generous tablespoon of leftovers into each tortilla, tightly roll, and pan fry seam side down, flip, fry some more, and serve with gaucamole or if it's really all leftovers all the time, then in tapatillo-spiked cranberry sauce. (Yeah, that's the level we've sunk to in this house.  Man, am I done with Thanksgiving.)    

Roasted Kale and How to Dress Your Seitan

To recap, for Thanksgiving 2011, so far we have made a 2-pound hunk of seitan that will become your Thanksgiving roast and, more importantly, the protein bit in your post-Thanksgiving sandwich.  At the same time, we made about 6 cups of tasty broth to use in your stuffing and gravy.  We made the gravy - cashew mushroom to be precise, and it's delicious.  Now, with Thanksgiving just two days away, it's time to talk about how you're going to serve the seitan.  

Just like a tofurky from the store, you can surround it with any vegetables that you like roasted for an hour.  The roots are classics here.  You could not go wrong with a combination of potatoes, onions, parsnips, and carrots.  But if you're having mashed potatoes as well (and you are, aren't you?), well then this classic combo might feel a bit redundant.  

I wanted something green and bright, but that could withstand all that cooking.  

I turned to my old pal, kale, and he did not let me down.

Gravy

Let's start with the gravy.  Last week, we browned aromatic vegetables in olive oil, deglazed the pan with a swill of white wine, stirred in some pungent miso and broth and then turned that fragrant pot into the seitan dough that would become our Vegan Thanksgiving Roast.  We coated the dough in seasoned flour, browned the whole thing in olive oil to create a crust, added more vegetables and herbs to the pot and covered them with water to create a flavorful broth all while the seitan simmered.

Your Big Hunk of Protein

Dudes, that was an epic potluck - one for the ages.  There was homemade sweet potato gnocchi and tamales and jerk tofu and biscuits and plenty of beer and wine.  Thank you all so much for coming.  Chosen at random, comment # 22 (!) wins the pie.  Amanda, please email me your mailing address so I can get it to you.

Now, let's talk turkey.  Obviously, we're not serving one.  And have you read Dav Pilkey's 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving?  Holy crap, I wonder how many omnivorous families unwittingly take that one home from the library.  Here is a popular, main stream children's book author writing about a field trip to the farm that turns unexpectedly educational when the children ask what the ax is for.  The kids hide the turkeys under their shirts and take them home to be guests at the table on Thanksgiving where they eat veggies and jelly and toast.

Apart from veggies and jelly and toast, there are so many options for the Thanksgiving table - as you recently illustrated - that it seems silly to have that old hashed out vegan-replacement-for-turkey discussion, so let's focus on the sandwiches.

Pie: A Giveaway

The Wholly Wholesome people sent us pie.  Have you tried their vegan pumpkin number?  You can get it in the freezer section at Whole Foods.  

We brought one home last week.  The hardest part was letting it cool.  After waiting the minimum length of time we all had a slice and weren't crazy impressed.  I mean it was super rad that this product existed, but it was a bit too sweet, not quite spicy enough, and I wished the filling were creamier.  But then, pushed to the back of the fridge, I unearthed it for an afternoon snack a few days later and it was delicious.  Much like homemade vegan pumpkin pie, the overnight chilling seems to be essential to both the texture and the balance of flavor. 

So, if you're looking for the super easy solution to your Thanksgiving dessert, this is the way to go.  And I saved a coupon for you.  Just leave a comment for a chance to win, but let's make it festive.  It's time for a virtual vegan Thanksgiving potluck.  I'm bringing the brussels sprouts gratin I made last year - it's so creamy good.  What are you bringing?

Let's do this quick so that you can get your pie before next Thursday.  From those that bring a virtual vegan dish (links are awesome), I'll pick a comment at random this Thursday, November 17.  With such a short contest, your odds of free pie are awfully good!