January 19, 2023
"The Scottsboro Boys" in the West End: As Important to See As Ever, And As Greatby Randi / November 25, 2014
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Even though my last name rhymes with Pilgrim, Thanksgiving was never my favorite holiday. I hate how people focus on the actual turkey, on all the death and suffering masquerading as the central food and important ‘tradition’, rather than making it just about being with people you love. (Or despise.) But I loved being with my family and playing games and laughing a lot. And of course sneaking vegan sides and desserts into the mix! This year, I’m not with my family. I’m not even in America for chrissakes! But we’re still celebrating Thanksgiving. I miss not having lots of people around, but I do get to have my first entirely vegan Thanksgiving dinner! Yay!!
Even though my last name rhymes with Pilgrim, Thanksgiving was never my favorite holiday. I hate how people focus on the actual turkey, on all the death and suffering masquerading as the central food and important ‘tradition’, rather than making it just about being with people you love. (Or despise.) But I loved being with my family and playing games and laughing a lot. And of course sneaking vegan sides and desserts into the mix! This year, I’m not with my family. I’m not even in America for chrissakes! But we’re still celebrating Thanksgiving. I miss not having lots of people around, but I do get to have my first entirely vegan Thanksgiving dinner! Yay!!
Apparently the Brits are willing to make me smile today, because not only are the Thanksgiving episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” playing on TV, but the commercials they just ran during them showed Philly City Hall AND the American show “Paternity Court”! The caption said “You’re the father” and the guy just FAINTED flat out! It was the best thing.
Anyway, I made tons of food over the past few days, mostly things I’ve never made before. Thanksgiving is about tradition and making the same stuff every year? F that! This is your chance to be a vegan chef all-star and show off. Okay you can do that with the same old favorites I guess. I’m sorry, ‘favourites’.
First, the most important thing to decide is what you’ll be having for dessert. Then work up the rest of the meal from there! It’s like how people choose their shoes first and then plan the rest of their outfit. (Does anybody actually do that?) You’ll have to make it to the end of this post to see our treasure treats.
Anyway, I made tons of food over the past few days, mostly things I’ve never made before. Thanksgiving is about tradition and making the same stuff every year? F that! This is your chance to be a vegan chef all-star and show off. Okay you can do that with the same old favorites I guess. I’m sorry, ‘favourites’.
First, the most important thing to decide is what you’ll be having for dessert. Then work up the rest of the meal from there! It’s like how people choose their shoes first and then plan the rest of their outfit. (Does anybody actually do that?) You’ll have to make it to the end of this post to see our treasure treats.
Or I guess I’ll just share the picture now.
Next, you want to check off the important sides. Do you want mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing? All three? I would have made all three if it wasn’t going to just be my husband and me for dinner. I decided on mashed potatoes, garlicked.
Do you want to eat greens this year? I did, so I roasted some Brussels sprouts in olive oil and pink salt. The best is that there were literally 8 sprouts in the package I bought. It’s like the most paltry showing of vegetables at any meal ever.
Good evening, TWO Brussels sprouts
Which gravy will you make? Is it a mushroom-based gravy? Is it from a recipe or something you wing? For me, it’s the Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from “Vegan with a Vengeance”, with extra soy and nooch, and with butterbeans because the chickpeas in England DO NOT MASH. I tried mashing chickpeas here and the little f-ers evaded the pressure Every. Single. Time. Then I tried just squeezing them to death with my hands and they POPPED OUT ACROSS THE ROOM. And I am pretty strong. I just…the chickpeas here are possessed.
More sides more sides! If I had my druthers I would probably say druthers more and then have made some kind of kale thing. But luckily, Husband requested the green bean casserole of his younger days. Now, I realize that so many of you have had green bean casserole at every single Thanksgiving dinner with your families. It’s like a huge thing right? I never even heard of it until Isa posted a recipe on the PPK a few years ago. I know! But Husband’s family always had it so I had to make it even though green beans roasted in mushroom soup sounds revolting. I planned on using Isa’s recipe but couldn’t find vegan mushroom soup for the life of me, so my friend Elli (who is too cool for blogging) helped me out. Recipe below!! And guess what….it’s freaking AMAZING. Convert over here.
Then, what’s your main?! Will you make the famous chickpea cutlets? (Yes.) Or did you buy a Tofurky roast in America where it costs like $8 and not like here where the high street Whole Foods sells them for THIRTY FREAKING POUNDS?? (That is about $100 dollars.) Even if you gave me the money for that, I could not stomach buying it for that price. Even if Donald Trump himself was like, I’m kind of an ass, but here’s a million dollars; you must spend it on overpriced Tofurky. Okay maybe then I would. Unless the money smelled like cheese.
And then make cranberry sauce. No one eats it, right, but if it’s not there it pisses off Santa or something. Also, making it from scratch makes all your pots and stirrer majiggies a beautiful deep pink through the next few uses.
OH OH and biscuits!! You can make pumpkin biscuits if you want. I guess that would make sense. But this year I veganized Alton Brown’s perfect regular southern biscuit recipe and they are delicious. Recipe below!
So if you followed my instructions? guidelines? stream-of-consciousness blogging style that we all have learned to love/deal with? you now have a killer menu that would impress even the pickiest omnivore on this oh so special American day! This was my menu. I made all of it from scratch!! So proud!
- Perfect Southern biscuits (recipe below!)
- Roasted Brussels sprouts
- Cranberry sauce (recipe below!)
- Punk Rock chickpea gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance
- Isa’s chickpea seitan cutlets
- Traditional green bean casserole (recipe below!)
- Mashed potatoes (recipe below!)
- Pumpkin cheesecake from Vegan Pie In The Sky
- Brownie bottom peanut butter fudge pie (I’ll share a recipe another day if people ask for it)
GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
I had no idea about this so-called traditional Thanks day dish until after I went vegan! Crazy! I was going to make the PPK version, but I couldn’t find vegan cream of mushroom soup. So my vegan food guru Elli (@catsxdogs on instagram) told me how to make a delicious version without store-bought soup! Yay!
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
- 400g green beans (That’s just what it said on the package! I don’t even know what 400g translates to in America talk! I’ve been here too long already! Okay I googled it and it’s like 14 oz. That doesn’t help me at all. Use like a pound.)
- olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound basic white mushrooms, sliced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- fresh ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup white flour
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 2 very strong bouillon cubes (I used one liquidy pot kind and one organic powdery kind. Diversity!)
- 2 cups plain unsweetened almond milk
- 2 cups crispy fried onions (storebought, don’t make these yourself you crazy animal)
Directions:
- Clean, trim, and chop your green beans.
- Boil them in salted water for 7 minutes. Drain and leave in colander for some minutes.
- In a large saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil for about 6 minutes over medium heat.
- Add the mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and cook down. Stir to avoid burning.
- Add the flour and butter and cook for another minute.
- Add the bouillon cubes and plain almond milk and stir stir stir!
- Cook, stirring, until thickened.
- Remove from heat and mix in green beans.
- Mix one cup of your fried onions into the whole shebang.
- *NB: If you are making this ahead of time, stop here, cover with tin foil, and refrigerate until ready to bake.
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Spread the whole mix into a casserole pan at least 1 inch deep.
- Spread the rest of your fried onions over the top of the casserole.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Cover lightly with tin foil if you fear your onions will burn.
- Say ta dah!
MASHED POTATOES
Not so much a recipe as a reminder. You prob know what to do but here’s what I did!
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds small potatoes (not like ‘hey that’s just small potatoes’, but actual small potatoes.)
- 1/3 cup vegan butter (you may say that’s a lot but I’m a dreamer/it’s Thanksgiving!)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened plain soy milk
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules
Directions:
- Boil the potatoes in a big pot of salted water. I let them go for about 20 minutes just to be sure.
- Drain but keep the potatoes in the pot.
- Add the rest of the ingredients.
- Mash it with a masher until desired consistency. I used a masher for the first time today and it was SO fun. Much better than using an immersion blender.
- Say ta dah!
CRANBERRY SAUCE
so fancy
I could only find frozen cranberries, so if you are using fresh, you probably have to add a bit more water to adjust for the ice melt. Or, if you are in America, your cranberry bag probably has a/this recipe!
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
- 1 pound cranberries
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup water
Directions:
- Mix the water and sugar in a big pot.
- Add the cranberries.
- Boil!
- Boil and stir!
- Are the cranberries popping open?
- Keep stirring as it boils!
- Is it getting thick?
- Do this for like 10 minutes then let it sit for 15 or till cool.
PERFECT SOUTHERN BISCUITS
Biscuits, man! Ughhh so good!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup vegan butter (boy I wish they sold Earth Balance here)
- 1 cup unsweetened plain soy milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Add the milk and vinegar in a measuring cup. Put it in the fridge!
- Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Add the butter with your fingers or a pastry cutter. I have a pastry cutter and I thought it was the bee’s knees but lately I’ve been using my fingers. Weird.
- Get the curdly milk out from the fridge and pour it in the bowl.
- Mix ever so gently, super gently, to get all the flour mixed in.
- Don’t overwork the dough. The Alton directions say to knead and roll out and cut into circles, but this was the stickiest dough I’ve ever come across, so I made drop biscuits.
- Drop ½ cup size spoonfuls on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 16 minutes.
- Say ta dah!
Finish it off with at least one pie per person and you are a golden vegan!
Definitely make the Pumpkin Cheesecake. It’s so good, especially with a Speculoos cookie crust! Here is the recipe. I never do the pecan topping because who needs it? Also, I like seeing the swirl!
Definitely make the Pumpkin Cheesecake. It’s so good, especially with a Speculoos cookie crust! Here is the recipe. I never do the pecan topping because who needs it? Also, I like seeing the swirl!
I also made a Brownie Bottom Peanut Butter Fudge pie!
I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful! It’s so nice to have a completely vegan holiday. I can’t wait until the next one! I guess that’s Christmas. I guess I have to make two pies per person for that one. Because of Jesus.
We barely made a dent, haha. Come over for leftovers! Also husband got me flowers! So nice!
Related Posts
Crazy Mother Hubbard: What To Do With The World’s Largest Squash, Part 2 – Low-Sugar Squash Muffins
Oh this old thing? Just some Blue Hubbard squash I had lying around. No big deal.
Nah, as we learned last time, it’s TOTALLY a big deal. This is the coolest/scariest/punkest/most intimidating squash I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. After using heaps of it in the bean stew, I still had a craptonne leftover, and there’s only so much squash I can eat plain. So we’re making muffins! I thought I hated muffins, but I like the ones I make. I think I just don’t like buying other people’s because…they’re muffins. You shouldn’t have to spend money on such things. So here. Make your own. Even if you don’t have a crazy old mother hubbard, just use pumpkin. Or any squash. But you wouldn’t have as much fun.
Nah, as we learned last time, it’s TOTALLY a big deal. This is the coolest/scariest/punkest/most intimidating squash I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. After using heaps of it in the bean stew, I still had a craptonne leftover, and there’s only so much squash I can eat plain. So we’re making muffins! I thought I hated muffins, but I like the ones I make. I think I just don’t like buying other people’s because…they’re muffins. You shouldn’t have to spend money on such things. So here. Make your own. Even if you don’t have a crazy old mother hubbard, just use pumpkin. Or any squash. But you wouldn’t have as much fun.
These muffins are low in sugar, at least in my estimation. (At least compared to cupcakes?) And you can’t argue with the fact that they are low in sugar compared to candy. They also have flax seed in them, so they are automatically healthier than the last muffins you made, the ones with white flour and sugar and frosting (*cough* cupcakes *cough*). These are good! That’s all the matters. And they have oats in them, so you can get away with having them for breakfast in America. (I feel like only Americans have very strict rules about what counts as breakfast food. In Italy, they eat, like, deli meat. In Israel I had hummus and salad for breakfast. But in America I would be shamed for that. Why is that? Is it because all other aspects of American life are anarchic? Discuss.)
BLUE HUBBARD SQUASH MUFFINS
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Ingredients:
Directions:
Enjoy! I was very pleased with these muffins; I hope you will be as well. We only have a little bit of the monster squash left now – stay tuned as to its fate… |
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Three Count ’em THREE Fantastic Dessert Recipes & A Big Hello There!
Look I used a fancy pants flower muffin pan
Man alive, I haven’t posted in a while! And I haven’t posted about food in a longer while! My deepest apologies to all of you who have been sitting at the computer hitting refresh…refresh…refresh for the past month. I hope you took bathroom breaks.
I’ve been so busy because I have been planning a wedding! We have compressed the expected 10-12 month process into about 2 months, so I have been hella distracted. But there’s always time to bake because I read that the appropriate wedding diet is baked goods. So here are three (3!) recipes to make amends for the computer silence lately. From here on out, we should be posting regularly because I hired someone to yell at me every day until I write. (That part is true except for the hiring and paying.)
All three of these recipes were made out of NECESSITY. First, I found a sick sale on Dandies vegan marshmallows at Mom’s Organic Market, so you know I bought the entire shelf. That led to recipe #1. Then, I needed to use up browning bananas. Hence recipe #2. Finally, I found an old can of pumpkin pie mix in the back of my cupboard, and while it wasn’t necessarily going to go bad anytime soon, I sensed how wrong it was to have Thanksgiving food around in the summer. I felt the ghost of Squanto standing in the corner of my kitchen with his hands on his hips, arching his left eyebrow, and mouthing ‘For. Shame’. So that’s recipe #3.
Oh also all three of these recipes have chocolate chips. You can obviously omit or exchange them if you want but then wtf would be wrong with you?
CHOCOLATE CHIP MARSHMALLOW COOKIES
Dudes, before you say anything, I do realize that if I added pecans or almonds or some such, these would be properly called rocky road cookies, but as you well know, sometimes you feel like a nut
BUT SOMETIMES YOU DON’T.
Dudes, before you say anything, I do realize that if I added pecans or almonds or some such, these would be properly called rocky road cookies, but as you well know, sometimes you feel like a nut
BUT SOMETIMES YOU DON’T.
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Ingredients:
**Note: When I used Earth Balance, it produced more of a biscuit-y cookie. The oil made a chewier cookie that I greatly preferred, but some test subjects liked the biscuitness. Your call! Directions:
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The biscuity buttery batch
This is how it looks when it is mixed. Ta daaa
This is what the inside of an oven looks like.
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SOFT BANANA CAKE WITH SPECULOOS AND PEANUT BUTTER RIBBONS
That shit sounds goooood. This was definitely more like cake than regular banana bread. I think because I didn’t use wheat flour or flaxseed, which is usually in my banana bread. Or, it could be because I ate it straight from the oven…
That shit sounds goooood. This was definitely more like cake than regular banana bread. I think because I didn’t use wheat flour or flaxseed, which is usually in my banana bread. Or, it could be because I ate it straight from the oven…
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Ingredients:
For the ribbons:
Directions:
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VEGAN PSA THIS IS WHAT BANANAS LOOK LIKE
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PUMPKIN PIE MUFFINS
What’s better than pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins! So yummy and it shouldn’t just be relegated to November.
What’s better than pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins! So yummy and it shouldn’t just be relegated to November.
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Ingredients:
Directions:
Before. Raw food.
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VEGAN PSA THIS IS WHAT PUMPKIN FROM A CAN LOOKS LIKE
This is what milk on top of canned pumpkin looks like.
Seriously this flower muffin pan makes everything special.
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Ta daaaa! Enjoy! I hope you make all of these right now! They all use the same oven temperature and chocolate chips so it’s not that big of a deal. I’ll be back with lots more stuff soon! Yebop!
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