For the last few years, my husband and I have prepared a vegan Thanksgiving meal. We eat vegetarian everyday, but on Thanksgiving we have eliminated all animal products as a way of saying thanks to the animals who have provided dairy and eggs to us.
One year we had the Tofurkey from a box. It was disgusting and very meat-like, too much so. We both nibbled at it, but it went into the garbage. Last year we tried making our own tofu-turkey dish and while it was okay, it mostly tasted like tofu topped with soy sauce. The best part with the stuffing we put into it.
This year we decided our meal would not be strictly vegan, but instead we would use eggs since we now have our own happy hens. Many of our dishes were vegan, but we did use eggs in a few places where we have used egg replacer, such as flax or Ener-G egg replacer in the past.
Here is this year’s menu:
Cranberry Julep Cocktail
Cranberry Mandarin Almond salad
Tofurky with cornbread stuffing and smoky rub
Cornbread stuffing
Baked pineapple
Sweet potato casserole
Mashed potatoes
From Scratch green bean casserole
Creamed spinach
Roasted Brussels sprouts with mustard balsamic glaze, craisins and slivered almonds
Butterhorn rolls
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin pie squares
I’ll share the recipes in a series of posts, but wanted to get started with the cocktail recipe. Click here for the recipe from Good Housekeeping magazine. This made a very tasty cocktail, but was a bit heavy on the bourbon. (I cannot believe I just said that!) I will be making this cocktail again for another holiday gathering this month and plan to use half bourbon, half club soda. The original recipe tasted very little of cranberry, largely of bourbon. That is not a bad thing, but wasn’t a good thing for a before-dinner drink.
And here’s the recipe for Cranberry Mandarin Almond Salad. This recipe originally came from my friend Tamie and did not include Craisins. I love this salad and commented at Thanksgiving that I would gladly overlook the remaining dishes just to eat more of this salad. It’s delicious.
Sweet Sour Dressing
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 T. sugar
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 T. snipped parsley
1/2 t. salt
dash pepper
dash of red pepper sauce
Shake all ingredients in tightly covered jar. Refrigerate, best if overnight.
Salad
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 T. plus 1 t. sugar
mixed greens of your choice (equivalent to two heads of lettuce)
2 medium stalks celery, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 bunch green onions with tops, thinly sliced
1-11 ounce can mandarin orange segments, drained
1/2 cup Craisins
Cook almonds and sugar over low heat in a skillet, stirring constantly, until sugar is melted and almonds are coated. Cool on parchment or wax paper. Break apart. Store at room temperature. (This can be done up to a week in advance.)
Tear greens into bite size pieces. Add celery, onions, oranges and Craisins. Pour dressing over salad, toss. Sprinkle almonds over top and serve.
In the next post, I’ll share a couple more recipes!
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