Plant-Based Chestnut Stuffing!

Happy "Turkey" Day!

Here's what we've got on tap for our plant-based Thanksgiving Day meal: 

 

• Mashed Potatoes
• Savory Mushroom Gravy
• Roasted Asparagus
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Green Bean Casserole
• Chestnut Stuffing
• Vegan Chicken Fried Tofu (from Whole Foods)  
• Mulled Wine

And my favorite part, our desserts, will be:

• Pecan Pie (Non-GMO recipe) 
• Vegan Baklava
• Pumpkin Pie
• Mom's Delicious Pumpkin Bread 

I'll try to post some pictures of our meal on Friday! And for the items that don't have recipes linked, I'll get them up as soon as I get them from the awesome family members that are making them.

Hope you and yours have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Roasted Veggie & Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

Vegan Pie Crust

My first experiment with making a Vegan pie crust was a complete disaster - barely edible.  I found these pre-made crusts in the freezer section at Whole Foods today and they're Vegan and contain no hydrogenated ingredients.  SCORE!  We tested one tonight and it was great, a drastic improvement from my attempt at homemade vegan pie crust.

Radmila's Yugoslavian Stuffed Peppers

We were really looking forward to making this recipe, it comes from a very close friend's Mother!  The potato filling was such a fun twist on stuffed peppers, much more exciting than rice or quinoa. Delicious!

Turkey-Free Thanksgiving!

After reading the recent news headlines about animal abuse at the North Carolina Butterball plants, I am deeply saddened.  No living creature should have to endure the pain and fear that those turkeys have suffered.  This year, I am so proud that we're having a turkey-free Thanksgiving!  Last year, we bought an organic turkey and I felt a little better about that, until I took him out of the packaging and his leg was broken and he had several bruises on his body.

Collard Roll-ups

I came across a recipe on Pinterest for Collard Rolls and checked out the recipe.  The reviews averaged 2 stars - not good!  Confident I could improve on the idea, I put together this recipe.  I made it tonight and it was scrumptious!  I served them with beans on the side, but next time I'll try adding the beans to the filling.

JASON - Aloe Vera Shampoo & Conditioner

You may recall my blog from a few months back about phthalates and other potentially harmful ingredients in our health and beauty products.  I've had the opportunity to test several different brands of shampoos and conditioners and let's just say that they're all not created equal.  Most of them left my hair feeling dry, brittle and much frizzier than normal.  I finally found one that I really like, that moisturizes really well, so I thought I'd share it on the blog.

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mousse? Yes, please!

I made this mousse this weekend for my Mom.  I was pretty skeptical of using tofu in a dessert recipe but I gave it a shot.  The verdict - it was AMAZING.  Mom, who hasn't eliminated dairy products, really enjoyed it too. 

I scoped out a few different online recipes and here's what I ended up doing:

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mousse 

Got Milk?

Got Milk?

Craving Indian food? Tofu Tikka Masala Soup to the rescue!

I've been craving Indian food for the last couple weeks so I was really excited to make this soup.  It is truly delicious.  Josh couldn't wait until tomorrow to have some, so he served himself up a big bowl as an afternoon snack.  He LOVED it!   I used hot curry powder, so our soup had a little kick ... YUM!

Portobella Pizzas

We tried this recipe that I found on Pinterest. They were good - not super filling, a nice light meal.  The highlight of this recipe for me was the Vegan Cashew Basil Cheese Sauce.  I could have just eaten the sauce all night with a spoon.  I've been dreaming of other ways to use the cashew sauce, so be on the lookout for future posts that feature it. 

Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 10-12 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 8 Portabella mushrooms

• 2 cups pizza sauce

Cuban Style Garbanzos

This recipe originated from Josh's Cuban family.  This is hands-down the best method to prepare Chickpeas/Garbanzos EVER.  Seriously, if we could bottle it and sell it - we would be rich. ;)

Josh’s Cuban Garbanzos:
15 oz. can garbanzos (Do NOT drain)
½ yellow onion, diced

Eat your veggies!

Our dinner menu for this evening included grilled tofu, a baked potato and a vegetable.  As I strolled the produce section of Whole Foods, trying to decide what vegetable to make tonight, I passed by all of my go-to veggies ~ the asparagus, the zucchini, the kale...  Then, I spotted the brussels sprouts - one of my childhood favorites - I know, odd for a kid to like them, but my Mom made great brussels sprouts.  She used a combination of lemon, butter and salt and pepper and sauteed them in a frying pan.