Category: thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2011

Posted by miss alix – 27 Nov ’11






I can’t believe our tiny Thanksgiving break is almost over. It flew by in what seemed like a matter of seconds. I suppose that’s what happens when you have lots to do over a few days. We started off our celebrations at Madeleine Bistro for a four course Thanksgiving feast. We’ve been to Madeleine’s for the past few years but this meal topped them all. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a delicious Thanksgiving meal in my life. Everything was exquisite. Next year we plan to have Thanksgiving at our house and I hope we can make something even just a fraction of how good this meal was.

We spent the rest of the weekend with friends and family relaxing and eating lots. I did very little cooking considering. I made this wonderful green bean casserole and an apple pie. Yesterday Shawn was in a short film so I had the day to myself. I spent it watching British period dramas, knitting and sewing. It was pretty nice to not have to worry about work and projects for a whole day.

When I was a kid, after every school break I would make a list of all the cool things I did in my time off filled with movies I’d watched or things I’d made. This year if I made a list, the two biggest things would be finishing the binding on our wedding quilt (which took FOREVER) and hanging up some clothes that have been sitting in our bedroom for about a month. Pretty simple, but a major relief to have finished at the same time.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. What would you put on your list?

Thanksgiving leftover hot pockets

Posted by miss alix – 30 Nov ’10

It may seem like I’m a little obsessed with leftovers. It’s true. But Thanksgiving always leaves you with so many of them. Even though we didn’t cook this year, we still ended up with a few nights worth of holiday food. I wanted to spice things up a little bit, just so we weren’t having exactly the same meal over and over. Hence the creation of the Thanksgiving leftover hot pocket.

thanksgiving leftover hot pockets

All you have to do to make these is make some pastry crust (I used the flakey pie crust recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking) and assemble as if you were making ravioli. You could easily use puff pastry if you didn’t feel like making a crust.

Start by preheating your oven to 425° F. Roll out your crust (or one sheet of  puff pastry) and set aside one half. Put a few tablespoons of stuffing or tofurky or whatever leftover you want in a grid on the dough, leaving about an inch between each filling. The next part is really important, you must drizzle a little bit of gravy over your filling. Make sure the filling isn’t piled too high or your crust may crack.

Carefully lay the other half of the crust over the prepared fillings. Press the spaces between each filling together with your fingers, starting in the center and working your way out. It’s ok if a little bit of gravy or whatever leaks out the side, but try to seal it best you can around the edges. Using a pizza cutter or a pastry cutter, cut the hot pockets into individual pies. Slice a few diagonal slits in the top of each. Transfer to a baking sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

thanksgiving leftover hot pockets

These would also be great with your holiday meal, they’re not just good for leftovers. Let’s face it, everything is better in a pie crust. We had ours with some celebration field roast, more stuffing and some kale.

The bottom line is that pretty much anything is good in these. Get creative. If you want them filled with sweet potatoes and dandies, I’m sure they’d be extra awesome. Feel free to keep them simple or get crazy.

Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck

Posted by miss alix – 29 Nov ’10

Every year there is the question of what to do with all your leftovers from the holidays. Even if you eat through all your Tofurky and potatoes, there is usually some side dish that you’ve got an abundance of. This year, our friends Kim & Ryan had the great idea of having a day after Thanksgiving leftovers potluck with a handful of vegan friends.

thanksgiving potluck-roasted vegetables

While a bunch of people made new dishes, there were definitely a bunch of leftovers involved for sure. I made a ton of mashed potatoes, some carrots, and the fantastic gravy from The Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook. I brought a lot of food since I came with Shawn and both his brother Kyle and sister Amy who in tow.

thanksgiving potluck-stuffing

Surprisingly, without a ton of coordination, everyone seemed to bring different dishes. We had pretty much everything covered (except for tofurky, which was fine by me).

vegan thanksgiving potluck-kale salad

There was quinoa stuffing, green bean casserole, kale salad, bread pudding, various vegetables, sweet potatoes topped with dandies, crescent rolls and more I’m sure I’m forgetting.

vegan thanksgiving potluck-dandies covered sweet potatoes

Everything was fantastic and it was super nice to hang out, talk vegan food, and swap stories about our Thanksgivings and such. It was nice to just relax in a super cozy environment over some delicious food for the afternoon.

vegan thanksgiving potluck-bread pudding

Not to mention, we got to scarf what was left of Kim’s amazing Pumpkin Butterscotch Trifle, which was pretty much to die for. You really can’t go wrong when you have friends that can cook. That is something I learned for sure this weekend.

Hope everyone had an awesome long weekend. I can’t believe December is almost here.

Carrot Souffle

Posted by miss alix – 24 Nov ’10

I was looking for some inspiration for new things to try for Thanksgiving this year, so I asked my friends on twitter for some ideas. There were a few things that peaked my interest, but the one that caught my attention was the suggestion of a carrot souffle.  Not only had I never heard of such a thing, I was instantly determined to make one.

I wasn’t sure a vegan souffle would puff up and have those wonderful qualities that make a souffle what it is, but this sure did. It was a beautiful thing.

The recipe I based this on was a bit sweeter than I was interested in, so I cut down the  sugar a fair amount. While it was lovely this way, you might want to forgo the sugar in the topping altogether and instead use some savory seasonings. I would go as far as to say that one might not even need the crumb top, but it’s also nice to have the crunch.

Also, I should note, that even though this is a recipe with carrots as it’s main ingredient, it isn’t the healthiest thing ever. But who cares? Make some as a side dish for Thanksgiving. Your guests will love it, I’m sure. And yeah, it’s got carrots!

carrot souffle

Vegan Carrot Souffle

adapted from here

Crumb topping

  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tsp Earth Balance, softened

Souffle

  • 1 cup firm tofu
  • 1 lb carrots, cooked until soft (I boiled them)
  • 1/4 cup apple cider
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 3 Tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup melted Earth Balance
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  1. Clean, cut and cook your carrots. They should be soft but don’t need to be mushy.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350°
  3. Combine the bread crumbs, brown sugar and Earth Balance in a bowl using a fork. Set aside.
  4. Crumble your tofu into a food processor and mix until it is fairly smooth, scraping down the sides when necessary.
  5. Add the carrots to the food processor and blend together until the mixture is smooth, light and fluffy.
  6. Add in the remaining ingredients for the souffle and continue to blend until combined.
  7. Pour into souffle dishes, being mindful not to overfill as they will puff up a they bake.
  8. Bake for 40 minutes.
  9. Remove the dishes from the oven and sprinkle with the crumb topping. Bake for 8 minutes, turning on the broiler for the last minute or so to brown.
  10. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Green Bean Casserole

Posted by miss alix – 17 Nov ’10

Last year we attended a mondo Thanksgiving potluck and one of the recipes we left dreaming about was for this fantastic Green Bean Casserole.

I have never particularly had very strong feelings either way about green beans but this dish will make you want to eat them day in and day out. Smothered in a flavorful and slightly cheesy sauce, these green beans will steal your heart (and your belly I suppose).

green bean casserole

Oh and did I mention, they’re topped with those awesome fried onion bits. Yum!

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I wanted to make a few dishes early and stretch out the tastiness. Why only eat Thanksgiving food on one day a year?

That being said, I’ve eaten this dish for 3 meals in the past 2 days. It’s that good.

It’s also incredibly easy to make, almost as easy as it is to eat. I doubled the recipe to make it last even longer and just increased the cooking time a bit and it came out fantastic. Here is the recipe!

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

recipe from here

  • 1/4 cup vegan margarine
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 14 ounce cans French style green beans, well drained
  • 1 3 ounce can French-fried onions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small saucepan, melt the margarine and add the flour. Add the vegetable broth, soy sauce, garlic powder and onion powder, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens. Whisk in the vegetable oil and nutritional yeast.

Toss together the sauce and green beans in a casserole dish. Bake for ten minutes. Remove and sprinkle the French fried onions on top of the casserole. Bake for another ten minutes.

Thanksgiving 2009

Posted by miss alix – 27 Nov ’09

I’m going to keep the chatting to a minimum and just show you a photo tour of our Thanksgiving this year. Enjoy!

It all started with a donut from Madeline Bistro.

The phillet no phish sandwich, Thanksgiving sandwich (which is pretty much all you could ever want from Thanksgiving), mashed potatoes and gravy.

Vanishing meal. Also consumed: biscuits & gravy, crepes filled with fruit. All amazing.

Visiting turkeys from Animal Acres. Luckily these guys will live long happy lives instead of being abused and murdered this Thanksgiving. Yeah, I said that.

Homemade pumpkin soy nog. My mom made this! I think that’s pretty awesome.

When making a pie, it is absolutely necessary to make a mess. It makes it taste better, I promise.

Best way to work up an appetite before Thanksgiving dinner. Okay so it was a rather leisurely ride to the beach. We were rewarded with a gorgeous sunset.

Brussels sprouts with capers. Oh how I love brussels sprouts.

Perfectly fluffy and wonderful mashed potatoes whipped up by Shawn. He also made fabulous gravy to go on top.

There’s that apple pie! All baked up with the infamous crumbly top. This is the last thing I stuffed in my face today.

Happy Thanksgiving! (p.s. Shawn does not like to smile in photos. He really is having a good time, don’t let the serious face fool you.)

Thanksgiving and more

Posted by miss alix – 2 Dec ’08

This Thanksgiving was all about stuffing. Shawn and I made probably about 20 servings worth of stuffing which has lasted us for days. We both spent the whole day in the kitchen with our various projects. Despite the potato peel disaster of 2008 everything turned out really well.

Instead of Tofurky, I made a version of the Seitan Roulade from Vegan Yum Yum. I filled it with apple cranberry stuffing (more stuffing!) that made it taste even better a day later. The fruit flavors seeped into the seitan after being refrigerated. Although it probably would have been prettier cut into smaller pieces, it was kind of fun to eat “caterpillars” for Thanksgiving.

Shawn made a monster batch of mashed potatoes that further tested the abilities of the new mixer. Of course they turned out smooth and delicious. I also made my first apple pie. I made the crust from scratch, which was slightly terrifying. Unfortunately I decided to bake it in our small oven (yes we have two) and ended up with a slightly burnt top crust. It still tasted really good, the filling was the perfect consistency and sweetness, and the bottom crust was not bad at all, but it wasn’t quite photo material. I can’t wait to try another.


I also got a new cupcake courier, and a good deal on it no less. I love this thing. I previously had a smaller carrier that carried 24 cupcakes but was always irritated that half the holders were too shallow and the other half were too deep. The new one holds 36 cupcakes securely for travel. It’s great. So here it is on it’s first delivery filled with red velvet, pumpkin spice and vanilla/chocolate cupcakes (from the top).

Hope everyone else had a great turkey-free Thanksgiving.