I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day yesterday! My mom wasn't able to visit, so it was just me, my husband and my daughter this year. It was also the first time I have ever been responsible for the entire meal, all by myself. I was a little bit nervous, but luckily I was able to veganize my mom's fantastic sweet potato casserole recipe, I made our old favorite Mac N Nooch recipe, along with some homemade bread, and I found some great packaged items to fill in the gaps. I completely forgot to roast the fresh organic corn I had bought, but oh well...
My pictures aren't too great, but you can get the idea. I took them in haste while my hungry family looked on with desperation in their eyes. They were all, "C'mon! Let's eat!" while I snapped away. I'm so mean.
MOM'S SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
This stuff will change your life, I kid you not!
CASSEROLE
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, boiled, mashed and slightly cooled
1/4 cup vegan butter*
1/2 cup agave nectar (or brown sugar)
1/4 cup vegan creamer (I used Silk Hazelnut)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
TOPPING
3/4 cup date sugar (or brown sugar)
1/3 cup vegan butter, melted
2 cups walnuts, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put all casserole ingredients together in a large bowl and stir until mixture is creamy. *If your potatoes have cooled completely, you may need to pre-melt or soften your butter. But if your potatoes are still warm the butter will melt nicely as you stir.
- Stir topping ingredients together in a separate bowl until all walnuts are coated.
- Place the casserole mixture into a deep 8 or 10-inch circular casserole dish.
- Spread topping evenly across casserole.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
- Makes about 8 big servings.
- Enjoy!
Calories: 316.1 / Total Fat: 22.3g (Saturated Fat: 4.2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 12.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4.7g) / Cholesterol: 0mg / Sodium: 102.3mg / Potassium: 179.4mg / Total Carbohydrates: 28.2g (Dietary Fiber: 2.8g, Sugar: 15.3g) / Protein: 3.8g
OUTRAGEOUSLY EASY BIG BREAD
This is my go-to bread recipe. I've been making it for years. It's so fluffy and delicious, and requires very little (if any) kneading. And if you have a Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook, it's even easier!
Go HERE for the recipe.
CREAMY MAC AND 'NOOCH' CASSEROLE
Fantastic, creamy mac and "cheese" with a crunchy topping you can't resist.
Go HERE for the recipe.
HERB STUFFING WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE
I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Savory Herb Stuffing. I prepared it as directed on the bag, but it came out a bit dry, so I added a quarter cup of melted butter. Once I poured some gravy on top, it was perfect!I also lightly browned some of Tofurkey's fantastic Italian sausages and tossed them into the stuffing. It made a great "meat" entree for our table.
These mashed potatoes were so easy and really tasty! I purchased them at a health food store for only two dollars a box. Nice!
DESSERTS
I purchased three delicious pre-made pies from Sprouts Farmer's Market. We didn't go with the traditional pumpkin and sweet potato pies because I was doing this whole shindig all by myself (next year I'm going to look into pre-making and freezing homemade pies), but the cherry, strawberry with rhubarb, and dutch apple pies I snagged at just $3.99 each were totally vegan and absolutely delicious.
Well, I hope this gives you some inspiration for your next big holiday feast. See you at Christmas!
5 comments:
That bread is so fluffy and beautiful! I can't wait to make it. Your meal looks wonderful, you did a great job cooking it all by yourself.
Looks delicious!! FYI though.. that chicken gravy has milk in it. Their dark version is vegan though.
Does it really? I looked at the ingredients and didn't see any milk stuff. Here's the ingredient list:
Corn Starch, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Natural Flavors (Soy, Wheat), Cane Juice Powder, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Salt, Rice Flour, Spices, Malt Extract, Spice Extractives, Extractives of Turmeric, less than 2% [Safflower Oil (Adds A Negligible Amount of Fat) Anti-caking Agent].
Does one of the weirder-sounding ingredients come from a dairy source?
Perhaps your area has different ingredients. Here it has milk as the natural flavorings and even says contains milk and wheat at the end.
I think I've solved this mystery! You are correct, Kristin. The current version of this product does indeed have milk. The older version, the one that I had, did not have milk in it. I bought my packets at the salvage store (at 3 for a dollar - woot!) and Lord only knows how old it was... A lot of the stuff they sell there is long expired. So, yes, this gravy does have milk. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm going to remove it from the post.
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