Challenge: the holidays are coming: what will you serve the vegetarians and vegans at your

[hedgehog]

table beside eggplant parmesan?

Don't forget desert!

[Callalily]

1. Here's a downloadable link

to Vegan Food Magazine. This issue was put out some time ago.

http://www.veganfoodmagazine.com/issue-1/

Here's another issue

http://www.vegan-magazine.com

You can always go to the library (or upload) and get vegan cookbooks. And of course do a search for recipes too. I had a vegan Thanksgiving a few years back and dessert was the most difficult until I discovered that flax seeds can be used as an egg substitute.

To replace one egg:
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3 tablespoons water (or other liquid)

Stir together until thick and gelatinous

Happy cooking.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. As a matter of fact, I just picked up a couple of bags of cranberries

So that I can try out several recipes in advance - a cranberry ketchup, a 'harvest chutney', and 'tart cranberry butter'. There's a similarity in processing the recipes, with the main difference being flavouring ingredients/spices.

From the 'Taste of Home' canning and preserving edition

Cranberry Ketchup

Tools
large saucepan
stirring spatula/spoon
double layer of cheesecloth
measuring cup(s), teaspoon
chopping knife/board
food processor/blender
stovetop
canning jars

Ingredients
12 oz package cranberries (fresh or frozen, thawed)
1 large red onion, diced/chopped
2 c water
0.75 c sugar
0.5 c cider vinegar
1.5 tsp salt
1 3inch cinnamon stick
4 whole allspice
0.5 tsp mustard seed
0.5 tsp whole peppercorns

1. Add onion, water, cranberries to large saucepan over medium heat for about 15 minutes, until berries 'pop' (break open.)
2. Use food processor (or blender) to blend this mix smooth, then return to pan and heat to a boil. Return heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 20 minutes to reduce and thicken, stirring frequently. Ideally, total volume should be reduced to 2 cups at this point.
3. Stir in vinegar, sugar, salt. Place cinnamon, allspice, mustard seed and peppercorns onto a double thickness of cheesecloth, fold corners up to form a bag and tie off with string. Add bag to mix, cook and stir for 25-30 minutes until thickened.
4. Discard spice bag, ladle/spoon ketchup into canning jars or other airtight container, cool, and store in refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Makes 1.5 cups.

I prefer recipes that I can can and store for up to a year myself, at room temps, but I plan to give this a try. I'm also looking to find out how to replace the regular sugar with either agave syrup or maple sugar or syrup without altering the texture.

This next recipe is more of a canning basis, making a larger batch at once, since the creator gave it out as gifts for use on sandwiches or ice cream.

Tart Cranberry Butter

Tools
measuring cups, teaspoon
large saucepan
stirring spoon/spatula
blender/food processor
large bowl
canning jars/airtight containers
stovetop

Ingredients
10 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
0.67 cups apple juice
0.5 to 0.75 c sugar
1 c maple syrup
0.5c honey
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Add cranberries, juice, and sugar to large saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Cook for around 15 minutes (until berries have all popped.) stirring occasionally.
2. Remove from heat, allow to cool a bit, pour into large bowl. Process mix in batches in a food processor or blender until smooth, putting processed batches back into saucepan.
3. Add remaining ingredients to mix in saucepan, bring to boil again over medium heat.
4. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or so until thickened.
5. Spoon/ladle into canning jars or other airtight containers and refrigerate.

makes 5 cups.

Harvest Chutney

Tools
measuring cups, teaspoon
large saucepan
stovetop
stirring spoon/spatula
canning jars/airtight containers

Ingredients
2 c fresh or frozen cranberries
4 med apples, peeled, cored and chopped
5 shallots, chopped
0.33 c sugar
0.33 c packed brown sugar
0.25 c water
0.25c cider vinegar
0.25c cranberry juice
0.25c orange juice
0.5c chopped pecans, toasted
4 tsp grated orange peel
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp white pepper
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
0.25 tsp ground ginger
0.125 tsp ground cloves

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Stir in everything else except pecans and return to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally until desired thickness is reached.
4. Stir in pecans, ladle/spoon into jars and store in refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

makes 3.5 cups.

I may add my nuts sooner, and even substitute out, pecans aren't a species that grows around here, so the 'harvest' in my part of the country would more likely be something like walnuts.

As you can see, none of these are processed in a long term storage way, and all have to be kept refrigerated, so they're a 'use soon' sorta thing, but that does make for less work in the kitchen, too.

[spinbaby]

3. We don't have any of those

But if our family weren't so carnivorous, I'd serve a baked pumpkin stuffed with a dressing that was heavy on nuts, mushroom gravy, roasted vegetables, cranberry sauce, and black-bean brownies for dessert.

[eissa]

4. I've served quite a few

Well, vegetarian, not vegan. Some favorites:

Leek souffle
Pissaladiere (French tart consisting of cherry tomatoes, capers and onions)
Spinach Pesto lasagna with besciamella sauce
Veggie egg rolls
Pumpkin stuffed with burghul and veggies (this was a huge hit)

[Luminous Animal]

5. About half the people that I invite to Thanksgiving are vegetarians or vegans.

And, even though I don't eat meat, my husband and daughter do so I will cook a turkey.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and my favorite holiday meal to cook. I want everyone to enjoy the feast so I've come up with some amazing flavorful vegan and vegetarian dishes. The nut loaves are also a favorite with my meat eating friends so, after the first year of serving it and it disappearing faster than the turkey, I now make extra to serve and a couple more to put in the freezer.

My variation of The Greens Cookbook's nut loaf for vegetarians. For vegans, I swap out the cheese and eggs and substitute flax seed and oats as a binder and nutritional yeast for a boost of flavor.

Both of them are served with a tomato duxelles sauce.

For the mashed potatoes, I use Earth Balance and rice milk and serve with a wild mushroom gravy.

Before I add eggs and butter to the stuffing I reserve a portion and substitute the eggs and butter with olive oil and vegetable stock and cook in the toaster oven separate from the turkey.

Desert is Joy of Cooking's mincemeat pie (substituting Earth Balance for the butter) served with coconut cream and vanilla Rice Dream "ice cream."

The nut loaves, mushroom gravy, tomato duxelles sauce, and the mincemeat filling can be made a week ahead of time and everything else on the menu (other than the turkey, the turkey gravy, and the pumpkin pie) is already vegan friendly.

Here is the nut loaf recipe for 1 loaf:

1 1/2 cups cooked brown or Wahani rice
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1/2 cup cashews
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoon oil
Salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 piece of kombu (roughly 1" x 4&quot
2 oz reconstituted dried shitake or porcini mushrooms or a mixture of both (reserve the liquid for the gravy)
2/3 cup finely-chopped mushrooms (I like portabello for their firm texture)
2 tablespoons parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
Red wine or sherry
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup cottage cheese
9-12 oz grated cheese:, combination of Gruyere, cheddars, fontina, muenster, jack... whatever you have on hand that goes well together
Salt and pepper

Use a 9" loaf pan
.
Preheat the oven to 350

Start the rice.

Sauté the onions dry (no oil) on medium low with a pinch of salt in a small covered fry pan. Sweat the onions until they are nearly dry but not sticking to the pan. While the onions are going through their dry sauté phase, Roast the nuts on a baking sheet for 5-7 minutes remove from the oven and set aside. When the onions are dry, uncover the pan and add some oil to coat, and continue cooking, uncovered, and stirring frequently until the onions are caramel in color. Add the dried herbs and sauté briefly to release their oils and aroma. Deglaze the pan with red wine or sherry and turn off the heat.

While the onions are caramelizing, squeeze the liquid out of the reconstituted dried mushrooms (reserve liquid for gravy) and in a sauté pan, on high heat, add the rest of the oil, the chopped fresh mushrooms, and dried mushrooms and lightly salt and pepper. Let the mushroom sizzle on high and untouched for 1 minute, stir an let cook 1 minute more then turn down the heat to medium- medium high, stir and add the garlic and kombu. Transfer the onions to the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are tender and the liquid reduced.

While the mushrooms are cooking, chop or pulsate the roasted nuts in a food processor.

Adjust the oven to 375

Butter or oil a 9-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper or wax paper.

In a large bowl, toss the rice and nuts together. In a separate bowl beat the eggs with the cottage cheese with salt and pepper. Add the egg mixture to the rice/nut mixture, then stir in the cooled mushrooms, grated cheese and parsley. Mix well. Taste for seasoning and adjust.

Fill the loaf pan with the mixture, rap a few times on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles and smooth the top with a spatula. Decorate if you want with slices of mushrooms, slices of bell pepper, whole walnuts... Place loaf pan on a baking tray.

Bake for about 1-1 1/4 hour, until the top is golden and rounded. The loaf should be firm when you give the pan a shake. Remove from the oven. Rest on a cooling rack for ten minutes, then lift the loaf from the pan using the excess parchment paper. Peel off the parchment and transfer to a serving plate garnished with a tomato duxelles sauce and fresh herbs.

[grasswire]

6. spanikopita and Emeril's savory bread pudding

I have served both of those for holiiday dinners alongside the usual fare, and they each served the vegetarians and were yummy side dishes as well.

Emeril's spinach and cheese bread pudding is just delicious.

[Warpy]

7. I used to start with a wild mushroom pate

decorated with vegetable roses. After that, it could be anything because vegan Thanksgiving roasts in the freezer were only a dream. Most of the time it was twice baked winter squash, stuffed with a rice and lentil and cubed squash filling. It ended with fruit, nuts and cheese for people who'd eat it. Keeping dessert light on Thanksgiving helped us survive it.

[blackcrowflies]

8. I can't speak for vegans

But for a vegetarian, mostly everything on the Thanksgiving table, for example, except the turkey, gravy, and stuffing based on meat is vegetarian. I feel for hosts who think they have to go to trouble for us, when I'm perfectly happy eating all that good other stuff.

[hedgehog]

9. Thank you all for some tasty ideas! My vegetarians should be happy

this holiday season.

[SheilaT]

10. A while back, three years in a row,

I hosted Thanksgiving at my house for about twenty people. It was giant fun and I loved doing it. If any of my guests were vegetarian or vegan, they didn't bother to tell me. I hope they just grazed from the many food offerings.

Which is how I would do it now, were I to host a holiday dinner. I'll make the main stuff, guests bring what they want, there's lots of wine, and if you can't manage with what's offered, too bad. Stay home. Make your own meal.

Vegetarians and vegans need to get over expecting everyone else to cater to them.