Holiday Dinner

Level of Difficulty: Moderate... Hardest part is time management
Pots/Pans Used: just.... a lot...ish

Ingredients

Gravy
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3-6 cloves of garlic, squashed and minced very well
2-3 slices of yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose white flour
4 teaspoons nutritional yeast
4 tablespoons low- or reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 or 6 white mushrooms, sliced (optional
extra flour or cornstarch (optional)

Lentil Loaf

2 cups lentils
3 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth
2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups pre-cooked rice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup ketchup or barbecue sauce
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Mashed Potatoes
1 bag frozen microwavable poatatoes
Earth Balance
warm soy milk
garlic
chives, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Butternut Squash
1 butternut squash, diced
maple syrup
1 orange, juiced
sage leaves
salt & pepper
cinnamon

Well, I first made this dinner as a mini pre-Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the post up in time for tofurkey day, so I decided to wait and post around Christmas. Of course, you can make this dinner for any holiday or special occasion. It's very satisfying and full of all the traditional flavors you're used to on the holidays.
Gravy:

Measure the vegetable oil into a small saucepan. Cook the garlic and onion in it for about two minutes on medium or medium-low heat, until the onion is a bit tender and translucent.

Add the flour, yeast, and soy sauce to make a paste. Add the water gradually, stirring constantly. Bring the gravy to a boil on medium to medium-high heat, stirring constantly -- the gravy has to boil for it to thicken. (Grandma always told me to cook gravy for a full five minutes at a boil to make sure you kill the bugs in the flour, but I don't always bother.) Add pepper. Stir in the sliced mushrooms, if desired. Add salt, if desired.

Lentil Loaf:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.


In a large soup or stock pot, simmer the lentils in water or vegetable broth until cooked, about 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly then mash the lentils until they are half mashed.

Sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until soft.

Combine the onions, garlic and olive oil with the mashed lentils and add the rice, salt, ketchup or barbecue sauce, sage, and Italian seasoning.

Gently press the mixture into a lightly greased loaf pan. Drizzle a bit of extra ketchup on top if desired.

Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool slightly before serving, as this will help the lentil loaf to firm up.

Mashed Potatoes:

follow the instructions on how to prepare the potatoes. Then add earth balance to your liking, and warm milk until the potatoes are the consistency you like. Then salt and pepper to taste and top with the chives.

Butternut Squash:

It's been awhile since I made this recipe so Im going to do my best to remember the measurements....

First, Mix the butternut squash with orange juice, a few leaves of chopped sage, 3 TBL maple syrup and a dash of salt and pepper in a large bowl. Transfer the squash to a baking sheet and spread out evenly. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top. Bake for about 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees or until it begins to turn golden.

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Black Bean & Coconut Soup

Level of Difficulty: SO EAAASSYYY!

Pots/Pans Used: just one big ol' pot

Ingredients

2 TBL vegetable oil

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup carrots, chopped into little coins

1/2 cup red bell peppers, chopped

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp cumin

pepper to taste

1/2 tsp salt

1 can black beans, undrained

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 TBL soy sauce

1 can coconut milk

(diced red pepper for garnish)

This soup started out as a recipe from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook until I found myself saying "whoops" after I put in almost every ingredient. Turns out, I just wasn't great at following directions and screwed up most of the measurements. Luckily, they were very happy accidents indeed and the soup I ended up with was surprisingly delicious. Let my accidents be your gain.... try this "whoops" soup!

Heat the oil in a large stock pot. Let the onions cook until translucent. Add the carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the celery and cook an additional few minutes. Next, add the red pepper, thyme, cumin, black beans, tomatoes, salt and soy sauce. Stir well. Cover and let cook for 5 minutes. Let it simmer uncovered for another five minutes. Take it off the heat and stir in the coconut milk. Serve up in bowl and garnish the top with the diced red pepper. go back for seconds and thirds :)

Note: if you prefer a hardier soup, I recommend adding more beans and veggies.

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VP Merch!

I meant to post about this a while ago, but I just wanted to show all you VP readers this awesome gift my friend Scott got me from Zazzle.com. I really wish I could get them for all the followers :^D

FYI, I have been super busy in the kitchen lately so get ready for a bunch of new posts

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Farfalle & Spinach in a Creamy Roasted Garlic Sauce

Level of Difficulty: Simple
Pots/pans Used: 1 plus a blender

Ingredients

1 pkg Farfalle pasta

2 heads of garlic

1 pkg silken tofu

1-2 handfuls of fresh spinach

1/4 cup olive oil

nutritional yeast

panko bread crumbs

Italian herbs

salt & pepper

Warning: If you don't love garlic, don't bother attempting this recipe. On the other hand, if you love garlic, you HAVE to give this recipe a try. I found this recipe online and made a few minor adjustments. It's really really really really easy! I think its a great dish to bring to a pot luck or if you're having a lot of people over.... even though my boyfriend and I did eat the entire thing in one night.... On second thought, you may want to double the recipe if you're serving a crowd. It's that good.

Preheat oven to 400. Start by roasting the garlic because it will take some time. Peel the garlic cloves of the two heads of garlic. Then put them on a sheet of aluminum foil and put them in the oven for 30 minutes. Meanwhile you can start cooking the Farfalle and washing the spinach. Just give the spinach a very rough chop. Once the garlic is nice and golden, put the garlic, tofu, olive oil and salt & pepper into a blander. Blend until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the Farfalle and spinach together and pour the garlic sauce over it. Stir it up so everything is evenly coated. Transfer the pasta to a casserole dish and top with Italian herbs, panko and nutritional yeast. Bake it in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Let it cool and dig in.

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Beer Brats

Level of Difficulty: Easy
Pots/Pans Used: 2!

Ingredients
1 pkg Tofurkey Beer Brats
1/2 onion, diced
1 bottle beer (brand of your choice)
water
buns

Sorry, I know it's been kind of a while since my last post, but with the holidays, final exams and lack of groceries I haven't had the time. But I'm back!
I was recently at a friend's house when they decided to make traditional wisconsin beer brats. It seemed like a pretty simple recipe to veganize so when I got home I made my own version. It's a really great hardy meal that doesn't take much time to whip up.
In a large stock pot, place the brats inside and pour the entire bottle of beer on top of them on medium-high heat. Then add water until they are covered completely and drop in the onion. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Let it simmer until you feel the brats are heated through and the onions begin to caramelize. This may take about 15 minutes. Next, either on a grill or grill pan (I used a grill pan), grill the brats on all sides. Keep the sauce simmering, so that it begins to thicken. Once the brats are grilled, place them back in the pot to coat with the sauce. Let them sit in the sauce for a few minutes. Finally, just pop them in a toasted bun and top with the caramelized onions and your favorite condiments!

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