Kat’s Hot Talk

All of the sudden it’s mid-November and the holiday season is literally right around the corner. This tends to be the time of year t we let our guard, and our convictions down, giving way to the American spirit of stuffing ourselves silly in the name of whatever holiday it is we happen to be celebrating. Much of our holiday traditions revolve around food: the meal, the snacks, the treats.

When I first became a vegetarian, people would exclaim in surprise when I told them I didn’t eat meat, “even on Thanksgiving?!” Yes, even on Thanksgiving, I am a strict vegan. But that doesn’t mean I don’t allow myself to eat a little bit more than I normally would at a meal. Or that I don’t heap my plate with piles of delicious comfort foods.

Thanks to my beautiful and understanding mother, we have worked together over the years to cultivate satisfying sweet and savory dishes that even leave the meat-eating men in our family stuffed.

She and I have spent countless hours reading recipe after recipe, changing them to suit our tastes and available ingredients, thus honing a delicious, cholesterol-free Thanksgiving menu.

In the first years of my veganism, we would make two batches of everything: one vegan and one with butter, cheese and chicken stock. Now, my family generally tends to make almost all the side dishes vegan while I make a main dish for the vegetarians. The result is everyone is left feeling stuffed, happy and ready for football. No one feels alienated or that they’ve been forced to sacrifice their beliefs, their health or their traditions to partake in Thanksgiving festivities.

So, whether you’re trying to shift to veganism, or just eat a little healthier this holiday season, I’m going to supply several recipes for you to bring to your Thanksgiving fete. Maybe you can encourage family members to use olive oil instead of butter, leave the cheese on the side or use vegetable stock in the stuffing.

That part is up to you; what I’m going to do is supply the tools, the encouragement and the recipes to help you stick to your plant-powered guns.
After all, this is Thanksgiving, not Turkey Day, and what greater gift do we have to be thankful for than our health?

Easy Baked Mashed Potatoes
1 pound potatoes
½ cup Vegenaise or other vegan mayonnaise
1½ Tbs. Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread (or olive oil)
½ cup nutritional yeast
4 cloves garlic
Sea salt (about ½ tsp. to taste)
Dried onion
Black pepper (about ¾ tsp. or to taste)
Dried parsley
Splash of unsweetened almond milk
Corn Flakes or homemade bread crumbs

Rinse potatoes. Place in a pot and cover with water. Boil for about 10 minutes or until easily poked with a fork. Drain water and allow potatoes to cool. Once cool, cut into 1-inch pieces and place in food processor. Add everything except bread crumbs. Run food processor until everything is just combined, stopping a couple times to scrape the sides of the bowl. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a rubber spatula, transfer potatoes to a covered casserole dish. Cover potatoes with bread crumbs and more nutritional yeast, place lid on casserole dish and bake for about 30 minutes or until there is a golden crust on the potatoes.

Acorn Squash Pie

2 cups well baked and mashed acorn squash
¾ cup silken tofu
½ cup maple syrup
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. orange zest
2 tsp. dried tarragon
9-inch vegan pie crust**

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
Pour into a 9-inch pie crust and bake 40 to 45 minutes.
*You can use any kind of squash.. For traditional pumpkin pie, omit the tarragon and orange zest. Instead, add a ¼ tsp. ground ginger.
**If you’re making pie crust from scratch (which I strongly advise), then sub organic palm oil shortening for traditional shortening and whole wheat flour for white flour in your favorite crust recipe.
Remember to always use organic sugar as white sugar is not vegetarian.

Carnival Squash with Wild Rice and Millet Stuffing
4 carnival or acorn squash
½ cup wild rice
¼ cup millet
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 heaping cup red onion
2 cloves garlic minced
2½ cups firmly packed torn Ezekiel Bread (found in the freezer section)
1 Tbs. sesame seeds
½ tsp. each: dried sage, dried thyme
1 tsp. sea salt
1 cup fresh orange juice

Halve the squashes and scoop out seeds and fibers. (Save seeds to bake later for a snack.) Place squash cut side up in shallow baking dishes and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes at 375 degrees or until easily pierced with a knife but still firm.
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the wild rice and millet, reduce to a simmer, then cover and cook until the water is absorbed, about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and garlic and saute until golden. In a mixing bowl, combine the cooked wild rice with the sauteed onion and the remaining ingredients.
Once squash is cool, scoop out the pulp, leaving the shells intact. Combine pulp with millet and rice mixture, fill shells again and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Top with mushroom gravy.

Mushroom Gravy with Walnut Grounds
I medium yellow onion
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
About 2 cups vegetable stock
1 Tbs. grapeseed oil
¼ cup whole wheat flour (can substitute buckwheat or rice flour for a gluten-free version)
2 Tbs. soy sauce
¼ cup vegan Worcestershire
1 tsp. liquid smoke
1½ Tbs. fresh sage, finely chopped
1 tsp. fresh thyme, crushed with fingers
Sea salt
Black pepper
Heat a sauce pan over medium heat. Warm the grapeseed oil. Next, add the onion.
Sautee until it starts to become translucent, add the mushrooms then walnuts and garlic, the soy sauce, vegan Worcestershire and liquid smoke. When the mushrooms start to become tender, add half the flour (2 Tbs.), about a ½ cup of the vegetable stock and stir well. Add the sage, thyme, remaining flour and stir.
Gradually add remaining vegetable stock.
Bring mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer about 5 minutes until you have nice gravy. Add more stock if necessary.