Plant-Based Thanksgiving Substitutions

We've been "plant based" for almost 5 months now and we are really enjoying it.  I've seen a lot of benefits - mainly the elimination of my acid reflux, heartburn and other unpleasant GI symptoms of my past, and an overall happy conscience knowing that no animals were harmed in the making of my delicious meals.  :)

With our 5 month "plant-based anniversary" comes Thanksgiving and the beginning of the wonderful holiday season.  This may present somewhat of a challenge, but I'm up for it!

Our family gatherings have always been heavily centered around food, every holiday has a very festive time-honored menu and an over-abundance of delicious food.  My Mom and I really love to cook - I think we both have the "live to eat" mentality.  I'm pretty sure one of the first questions my Mom asked when we transitioned to this lifestyle was, "What are we going to do about Thanksgiving if you guys are still eating like this?"  So, we agreed to have a "Thanksgiving Test Run."

We have a couple picky/particular members of our family and I wanted to please them all with our non-dairy substitutions and of course, not offend my Mom or disrespect any of our family recipes by tweaking some of the ingredients.

I'm proud to say that our Test Run of Thanksgiving was a HUGE success.  We tested out a couple different substitutions for each recipe and I've posted the winners below.  Hope you and your family have a wonderful plant-based Thanksgiving holiday!  

Even if you don't choose to make our recipes, I hope the substitution suggestions will be helpful to you in modifying your traditional family recipes.

Mashed Potatoes

The mashed potatoes turned out creamy and amazing.  We used Organic Yukon Gold potatoes. Just peel, rinse and cube the potatoes.  Bring them to a boil in a large pot with a teaspoon of salt - boil for about 12 minutes or until cooked through.  Drain, put in the mixer and add earth balance and soy creamer until they reach desired consistency.  Salt and enjoy!  Super Easy!  Here are the substitutions we made:

Dairy Ingredient Plant-Based Substitute Butter/Margarine Earth Balance Soy Free Spread Milk Organic Valley Plain Soy Creamer

 

Amazing Gravy!!!

I found this Vegan gravy recipe online a few months ago and made it yesterday for our Thanksgiving Test Run.  It was a hit with EVERYONE in our family, even the ones that swear by giblet gravy.

Here's the recipe and link:
http://www.theppk.com/2010/10/savory-mushroom-gravy/

4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
2 Tablespoons olive oil
16 oz cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoons salt
Several dashes fresh black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine (I actually used a red - Merlot)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

In a small bowl, mix the flour with about 2 cups of vegetable broth until well dissolved. Once dissolved, add the remaining broth and mix. Set aside.

Preheat a 2 quart pot over medium heat. Saute the onion in oil for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add mushrooms, garlic, thyme, sage, salt and pepper and saute for about 5 more minutes.

Add wine and turn heat up to bring to a boil. Let wine reduce for about 3 minutes. Add the broth/flour mix and the nutritional yeast, if using. Lower heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often.

Taste for salt and pepper and serve.

Sweet Potato Casserole

 

Here's my Mom's Sweet Potato Casserole recipe and the substitutions:

Dairy Ingredient	Plant-Based Substitute
Butter/Margarine	Earth Balance Soy Free Spread
Milk	Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk whisked with 1tbs. cornstarch
Eggs	Egg Replacer

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked sweet potatoes (in a pinch you can used canned yams just rinse them first)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted earth balance
2 eggs (well beaten)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk whisked with 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine above ingredients in order in a mixer.  Once blended thoroughly, pour into a baking dish and top with pecan topping.

Yummy Crispy Topping:
1 cup Chopped Pecans
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup earth balance
1/2 cup brown sugar
Combine all ingredients well and top sweet potato mixture.

Bake for 35 minutes and enjoy!

We actually compromised a little here and bought some local farm fresh organic eggs for the casserole, so our version wasn't entirely plant-based.  The idea of Egg replacer kind of weirds me out a little - I'd prefer not to use any processed ingredients - just real food.