Thanksgiving 2017

I love to cook for hours. It’s true. Give me time, space, and the radio and I’ll happily create numerous dishes from scratch with loving care. This Thanksgiving my goal was to use a lot of the ton of pumpkin puree I have. So I started with using it in the stuffing. Modifying this recipe, I came up with below.  And the results were fantastic. 
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups shitake mushrooms, chopped
1 large onion, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
2 Tablespoons rosemary, minced
1 Tablespoon minced sage
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 cups vegetable stock
1 loaf ciabatta bread, diced (about 8 cups)
1/4 cup goji berries
2 Tablespoons pumpkin seeds
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish.
2. In a large sauté pan on medium heat, preheat olive oil. Add mushrooms and cook until they are lightly browned. Add the onions and celery to the mushrooms cook 10 minutes, until soft and translucent.
3. Add the rosemary and sage to the pan and cook 2 minutes until aromatic. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Lower the heat to medium-low. Add the pumpkin and chicken stock to the vegetables and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. In a large bowl, combine bread and pumpkin vegetable mixture. Add the goji berries and pumpkin seeds and mix well. Pour the stuffing into the prepared pan and flatten into an even layer.
6. Place the stuffing into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the top is browned slightly.

The ciabatta bread, which I had never used for stuffing, was perfect. The crusty parts and the porous, airy bread texture helps the stuffing not be too heavy.

Brussels sprouts require salt, pepper, oil, and some time to roast. I don’t like to fiddle with them too much as they are so delicious with that simple handling. 

I made some twice-baked sweet potatoes covered in marshmallow. The recipe was straight from the horse’s mouth: Dandies. These are basically two of my things from opposite ends of the food world: starchy vegetable and marshmallow. And what a hit they were!  I’m going to repost Dandies’ recipe here (with my slight ingredient changes) so I may have easy access. 

6 medium sweet potatoes
5 tablespoons vegan margarine
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1 and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Dandies® Mini Vanilla Marshmallows

1. Preheat oven to 400℉.
2. Poke potatoes with a knife in several places and place directly on oven rack with a baking sheet below to catch drips. Bake until completely tender, about 1 hour.
3. Cut a slit lengthwise in each potato and scoop out all but 1/2″ of potato. In a medium bowl mash sweet potato until smooth.
4. In a small skillet, melt margarine over medium heat. Add rosemary and cook 1 minute or until fragrant.
5. Stir margarine into sweet potato along with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Divide mixture between sweet potato shells and top with Dandies®. Place on baking sheet and bake until browned on top, 15-20 minutes.

Two double-batch pumpkin cakes, one layer cake and one bundt, used a lot of my puree. This is that same amazing recipe from VCTOTW.

More pumpkin? Hell yeah. This time, with the the leftover pasta dough that had been in the freezer since I made the lasagna in the summer. I made apple sage sausage filling from some Field Roast that had been in the freezer since the days at the cabana. But I added pumpkin, some greens, and a bit of tamarind sauce from my Indian leftovers. I love me some pantry turnover!

And this was also the last of the sauce I made for that lasagna too. 

My mom bought me some treats from Vegan Divas. ❤

And then. This is what you do after the gluttony of Thanksgiving. A few days of this ridiculously and confusingly satisfying salad… shredded raw beet (with skin on), minced raw greens and raw cashews with your choice of vegan dressing (I went for Brianna’s Real French Vinaigarette). This gives your digestive system a rest as veggies are A.B.C. kinda.  

Happy Eating! And Happy Thanksgiving!