Mofo #18..Thanksgiving planning...

The time has come to finalize my plans for Thanksgiving...I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow and will likely be picking up ingredients for the week.
We will be driving 4 hours to my parents' house. Previously we had made do with side dishes...(requesting a couple of potatoes to be left aside to mash with earth balance, buying our own salad dressing and gravy, etc)

BUT NOT THIS YEAR!

I want to make a feast that makes the rest of my skeptical family envious!

MAIN COURSE
I toyed with the idea of an autumnal Shepard's pie but ultimately I think I'm going with something I have made before and is mostly turkey-ish: Bryanna Clark Grogan's turkey style seitan. It's my go-to recipe and it can be seasoned very similarly to turkey. Plus I know that it reheats well so I can make it ahead of time! YES!



The recipe doesn't seem to be on her website anymore...however she does have a whole page of Thanksgiving recipes(including slow cooker and low-fat) that look great!!


SIDE DISHES
-Definitely need a green bean dish and rather than the boring old green bean casserole, I will probably do something like this:
http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2010/07/green-beans-with-bacon-balsamic.html
But obviously tempeh bacon or maybe even bacon bits in place of the actual bacon...

-As for the potatoes...I may actually just do with plain ol' mashers and maybe some roasted garlic and chives thrown in

-With the potatoes we will definitely have gravy. My favorite is mushroom gravy but my partner DETESTS MUSHROOMS.
I've made this one from Vegan Vittles before and upped the poultry spices and soy sauce...it was pretty good. And its really only pantry ingredients so that's a plus for travelling and my wallet.



-Probably some greenage...sauteed kale most likely.

-Stuffing is actually something I usually make from a pre-mix...horrible I know. But it's so convenient! This year I want to try making my own. This might require a test run though...
This one from Terry Hope Romero looks pretty dang good

This one looks alright too as long as I use a different gravy

IF ANYBODY HAS A KICK ASS STUFFING RECIPE LET ME KNOW!

-And we'll have cranberry sauce of course...cranberries, sugar, spices...Boil it up and DONE


DESSERT
I'm probably going to make FFV's pumpkin cheesecake...although I've never made it before..it doesn't look too tough, right?!



Probably whip up an tofu-spinach-onion dip and do some spiced olives for appetizers but here's hoping it goes well!

MOFO the 14th

Making diner a little early tonight as I'm off to work soon... I opted for the Leek and Bean Cassoulet from Veganomicon as it's perfect cheap winter food.



I can never seem to follow a recipe exactly as written...Here I modified a few things. I used whole wheat pastry flour (and added nooch) for the biscuits instead of AP. I also added cabbage, squash and extra garlic to the stew part.
I garnished it with the cute flower that my garlic chive plant made...thanks plant!



Overflow....


Also, since I had a little leftover pumpkin and an old baguette I thought I'd throw together a quick bread pudding. (I'm scrambling to take the photo here cause I'm also trying to put the cassoulet biscuits together so sorry that it looks crappy, haha)


I do plan to make a cream of sorts and a caramel topping for this later tonight but I couldn't wait to try it right away!!! I scooped some out piping hot and added a few chocolate chips to melt into it...pretty good for an on the fly/leftovers recipe.
Bread puddings are awesome for that, you can make endless variations.

Mofo 12- BRUNCH!

OMELETS! I make the Vegan Brunch recipe at least 3 times a month, they are so good! I don't find them difficult or time-consuming at all. I throw my potatoes in the oven to roast and start flipping! I even cook the filling usually in the same pan. Here's a cooking action shot!


And here is my BF's finished brekkie plate:

He nearly always wants the same mexi-style omelet. This one has seitan, red peppers, onion, daiya, salsa, sour cream and jalapenos.



For me, omelets mean mushrooms! My BF absolutely HATES mushrooms (heathen!!!!)for some odd reason, so I always make us seperate omelet fillings.
Here's mine, it has mushrooms, onion, kale and since there was only enough Daiya for his omelet, I went with some horseradish dijon mustard...and it was good!!! I also put the last few potatoes inside cause I ate most of them while waiting for my omelet to cook.

Come to mama....mmmm...the carnage!

This stuff is amazing!


Now for coffee and digestion.(Yes I ate brunch at 2 in the afternoon...what?!)

Mofo Day 11

Tonight's dinner: it started with a roasted butternut squash...



I then decided to make the requisite vegan squash risotto. I sort of followed this recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/champagne-risotto-recipe/index.html

Except mine had champagne*, leeks, nutritional yeast and sage.


I also roasted some brussel sprouts and chickpeas...


Dinner was on the table in less than an hour...whoohoo!


*not really champagne, but cheap sparkling wine from the Chevron....yay America!

...and after he was full, my darling life partner made me this:


*SIGH*

Mofo numbah 9!

For the longest time when I was first vegan I tried to make a cream sauce with soy/rice/almond milk and thicken it after flavoring...then I discovered nut based sauces..OH YEAH. Way better.

This is a cashew cream with nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon, salt,olive oil, pepper and basil served over rotini noodles and mixed veggies (broccoli, white onion, kale, spinach, leeks, peas, crimini mushrooms) and topped with kalamata olives.







MMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Mofo day 7...

Quick post as I'm off to work in literally one minute. I made pizza for my BF to eat when he came home!

Vegan Mofo!!

Alright, in an effort to make me cook and post more, I've joined up for Vegan Mofo! It's the Vegan Month o' Food ...all November long! I noticed some folks are choosing themes, but I think my theme should be "cook and post as much as I can!".

I'm already straying from that... I had not much time before work for cooking, so I walked down the street to Wayne's Chicago Red Hots. (a hotdog place here in PDX that has an two awesome vegan dogs.)

I got myself a "Treehugger" dog with Chicago-Style toppings and fries. I eat them all the time and they are still amazing.


I know some people are saying, hey I could make that at home, but I think this is one of those examples where the sum is greater than the parts. The steamed bun and all those toppings really make it.



Aaaaaand I got some fries...all potatoey and sprinkled with Kosher Salt. Aw yeah.




Stay tuned for a few boring meals, then payday, then grocery shopping! I'll tell you how I shop twice a month and on a budget. Oh and Thanksgiving menu ideas too!