I haven't eaten turkey at Thanksgiving since I was 11.
I went vegetarian very young, and even though I've wavered between vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian over the years, I've never once been tempted by the smell of turkey on Thanksgiving, despite the fact that I loved it at age 10 and still won't disagree that it smells good.
The last several years, Kevin and I have substituted our protein source on Thanksgiving with a
Field Roast Celebration Roast, an herbed seitan loaf stuffed with mushrooms, butternut squash and granny smith apples. (Kevin eats it year round; he loves it.) This year, however, while trying to figure out some health concerns, I've been looking into gluten-free eating. I am by no means gluten-free (yet?) but I wanted to make a healthy meal while honoring both vegan and gluten-free restrictions.
Since it was just the two of this year (plus the cat, of course), I opted for more simplicity. I focused on roasting vegetables, made a homemade meatless loaf with mushroom gravy, gluten-free corn bread, and a slow cooker apple crisp.
Thanks to
Susan V. at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, I made a
meatless gluten-free Thanksgiving loaf, topped with her mushroom gravy. As she describes in her post, this did not taste like meat, it did not have the texture of meat, and it did not pretend to be meat, but it was a delicious. Kevin, whom I love dearly, is so incredibly picky (and especially texture-sensitive), took one slow bite before his eyes widened and deemed it a winner. That works for me!
I also used
Susan V.'s mushroom gravy recipe (using the arrowroot substitution instead of flour). The only difference was I used our
hand-picked chanterelles that we still had leftover in the freezer from last year. Even though they'd been frozen, once defrosted, they gave our mushroom gravy that unbeatable chanterelle flavor.
For the roasted vegetables, I was inspired by
Brittany (nice name!) at
I Love Vegan. She came up with her
Roasted Vegan Thanksgiving Bowls, which I loved for 1.) the ratio of vegetable to everything else and 2. it was so darn easy.
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| ilovevegan.com |
I didn't make the mashed potatoes (both Kevin and I don't seem to think mashed potatoes are necessary for Thanksgiving, but we're probably the only ones in the United States who feel this way) and I substituted the acorn squash for sweet potatoes.
As for the gluten-free corn bread, I kind of cheated and used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Cornbread mix, but I really like Bob's Gluten-Free line (have you tried the Gluten-Free chocolate cake mix!?! Sooooo tasty!)
Finally, for the slow cooker apple crisp, I made a recipe my mom gave me. It's so simple, but takes four hours to cook in the slow cooker, so this was the first thing I started before getting the rest of my dishes prepped.
Slow Cooker Apple Crisp
Serves 8.
Ingredients:
2 lbs gala apples, peeled (if preferred) and sliced
2/3 c old-fashioned oats*
2/3 c flour*
2/3 c packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 c Earth Balance vegan butter
*For a gluten-free variation, look for oats labeled as gluten-free.
As for the flour, I substituted oat flour.
Peel if desired (I am strange and love the apple skins in my crisps and cobblers) and slice.
Add sliced apples to the slower cooker.
Combine oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a medium mixing bowl.
Cut in softened butter until mixture in crumbly.
Sprinkle over apples. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.
Unfortunately, I ate it all before I got a picture of the result...it was THAT good.
Hope everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving!
I am thankful that my dad got to spend the holiday with my mom, who teaches in a very rural native Alaskan village nine months out of the year; that he arrived safely despite bad weather, and that they'll get to spend the next few days together.
I'm also thankful that since we moved to a new state almost six months ago, not knowing anyone, we've found jobs to support us and are slowly beginning to build our lives in Oregon. We love it here!
