Another Serving of Those Thanksgiving Sides (Vegan)

What Thanksgiving celebration would be complete without mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberries… you know, all the good stuff.  Well, all these holiday favorites can easily be veganized with a few minor substitutions.  How?  Substitute the dairy milk with soy, almond, coconut milk, etc. (Just make sure it’s unsweetened for savory dishes.).  Non-dairy margarine for the butter (Earth Balance will do the trick).  Cornstarch, arrowroot powder, soy flour & water, or one of the many other substitutes for the eggs. (For egg substitutes see About Food for some ideas)  No Chicken Broth, Not Chick'n Bouillon Cubes, etc. in gravy.

Thanksgiving Feast  (vegan)  from top clockwise.
Tofurkey with Cranberry & Pecan Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes with Homestyle Gravy,
Sweet Corn,  Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Pineapple & Apple Cranberries,
Green Bean Casserole, Mac & Cheeze

You can use your favorite ole’ family recipes and give’ em the vegan ingredient upgrades.  Or if you want, try one of these recipes. 

Vegan Green Bean Casserole Recipe

* I sauted chopped mushrooms and cooked the in unsweetened soy milk instead of the vegetable broth. This gives it a creamy mushroom vibe. 

The Best Vegan Stuffing Recipe
* I cut the recipe in half and still made lots.  I added cranberries & pecans to the mix.

Cranberry Relish Recipe

* I omitted the lemon juice & brandy and added a small amount of sugar just to take away the tartness. Use unrefined sugar – refined white sugar is not vegan.

Homestyle Vegan Gravy Recipe

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potato Recipe

Mashed Sweet Potato Recipe

And for the sweet potatoes… I pressure cook them (but you can boil them).  Then drain and peel the sweet potatoes.  Place sweet potatoes in a bowl and mash with a fork.  Add Earth Balance (non-dairy margarine), brown sugar and / or maple syrup. Easy as pie. 

One more thing… it’s not Thanksgiving without one of my old time favorites, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”.  Now, you can sit back and enjoy.  Happy Thanksgiving!  

Thanksgiving Vegan Style

Thanksgiving is almost here.  Time for mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, and pumpkin pie… or how about corn bread, succotash, butternut squash soup, pecan pie… the list just goes on and on.   So many choices and all can be vegan.  

Wait, what about the main dish?  You could try a mushroom wellington, “meatloaf” with gravy, veggie pot pie, or the standard Tofurkey.  To be honest with you, my favorites have always been the sides.

 

Over the years, I’ve collected some really great holiday recipes.  Check out my Pinterest board for some yummy ideas.  I made a few tweeks to some of the recipes, but overall I stay pretty true to them.  Why mess with a winner?

I'll also be shooting you a few of my own recipes within the next few days.  Stay tuned!

Decadent Pralines & Cream French Toast & Butterscotch Sauce (Vegan)

So, what can you make when you have leftover silken tofu?  Well, my go-to is French toast.  We can go extreme with this one and serve French toast with vanilla soy ice cream, topped with butterscotch sauce & pecans... make it pralines & cream French toast.  

Decadent Pralines & Cream French Toast

Usually French toast is made with eggs & milk.  Make it vegan… easy.  Substitute the eggs for tofu and milk for soy milk. 

Sheepherder's Bread, Silken Tofu, & Soy Milk

I used my leftover silken tofu and puree it in a food processor.  Then added non-dairy milk to the tofu puree and thinned it out a little.  Add a little salt to the mixture. 

Pureed Silken Tofu with Soy Milk

Slice bread, day old works best.  I used sheepherder’s bread and cut the thick.  

Dip Bread into Tofu Mixture

Dip the bread into tofu-mixture, flip the bread, and dip the other side.

Flip dipped bread over to coat opposite side

Place well-oiled skillet over medium heat.  I used extra-virgin coconut oil.  It’s super healthy and I’m okay with the flavor.  If you’re not into the flavor, stick with a more traditional oil (sunflower should work well). 

Place mixture soaked bread into heated skillet.  Turn over when browned.  Cook other side.  Remove from heat when finished. 

French Toast

I turned my French toast into a praline topped goodness with pecans and a butterscotch sauce I made the day before.   

Pralines topped French Toast

If you want to get really decadent, add a scoop of vanilla soy ice cream and the praline topping.  Completely epicurean pralines & cream French toast. 

Butterscotch Sauce for Pralines & Cream

I remember indulging in pralines and cream ice cream when I was a kid.  It was one of my favorites.  You can use this recipe and top some vanilla soy ice cream with it.  Don’t forget to top with chopped pecans.  Craig had his without the pecans and thought it reminded him of McDonald’s butterscotch sundae.

Butterscotch Sauce Recipe

2 Tbsp.  Earth Balance or any other non-dairy margarine

¼ c  non-dairy creamer (I used Silk vanilla)

¼ c  brown sugar

¼ tsp. salt

Place Earth Balance  in a small saucepan and heat on medium.  Add creamer, brown sugar, and salt to the melted Earth Balance.  Cook until mixture is thoroughly blended together.  It should thicken a little and should only take a few minutes to cook.

Pour over a scoop of soy ice cream and top with pecans for pralines & cream ice cream.  

Try using the leftover sauce for banana splits, flavored waffles, cake or cookie glaze, etc... whatever your heart desires.