Vegan Thanksgiving Spread!

I'm very excited to share my Thanksgiving with you! I was completely psyched everything turned out so well, and that my family enjoyed it too. I was crazed cooking all day, and the pumpkin pie didn't even get put in the oven until after the meal, but hey, we had tons of great food! I think we have some new traditions on hand...

Sweet Potato & Roasted Carrot Soup

I love soups, especially this time of year, because they are so easy to make, and so warm and hearty. This soup is thick, creamy, full of flavor, and could be easily adapted to keep mixing things up.

Sweet Potato Everything Burgers

I've been traveling for work and it's been crazy busy, so just a quick post... had to try my own version of Happy Healthy Life's sweet potato burgers. I added more veggies and they were completely satisfying, delicious, and a snap to throw together- even for the busy working types!

The Smart Cookie Remake Attempt

Recently I had a cookie made by The Cookie Department - "The Smart Cookie." It is made with sweet potato, cranberries, oatmeal, and molasses, and sprinkled with a little bit of sea salt. It's big, sort of flat, and soooo chewy. It is AMAZING. And they sell it at the coffee bar across the street from me. This could be trouble.

Check it out here.

Oh yeah, and it's vegan.

I decided I had to attempt to make it myself. Anything that good, I wanted in my recipe arsenal.

Nut Butter-Topped Baked Sweet Potato

I like having stuffed baked potatoes as a filling, easy meal, but it never seems very original. I took a cue from a food blogger and tried a new swing on things: baked sweet potato. Topped with cashew nut butter!

Nut butter ingredients:
I used the base from the blueberry vegan tart I made a little while ago (recipe from Vegan Culinary Crusade), slightly edited.

• 1 cup cashews, soaked 2 hours
• 2 medjool dates, pitted & chopped
• 1 fig, chopped
• 1 TBSP agave syrup
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• pinch of salt

 Steps:
After soaking the nuts (I use just enough water to cover them; don't drain off the water when mixing the nuts in), combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. You may need to add a few extra Tbsp of water, depending on desired thickness.

Cook the sweet potato as you would a normal baked potato; wash the skin, and put in oven at 350 for about 45 min, or until a fork comes out easily. To cut baking time in half, pierce the potato with a knife and cook in the microwave on high for about 3-4 minutes, then place in oven until fully tender.

The nut butter is also good as a dip- try with low-fat wheat thins or other nutty cracker. You can vary the sweetness by adding more or less of the figs, dates, and agave syrup.

Polenta Stacks with Black Bean, Sweet Potato, and Greens

Even though my experimental "vegan month" is over, I'm still testing out great new vegan recipes. This one is a KEEPER for many reasons - It's pretty easy to make, not that time consuming, doesn't require a ton of ingredients I don't have, and it's delicious! I FINALLY found something wonderful to do with polenta. Usually when my husband or I have made it in the past, we pan cook it with olive oil, and it always comes out too oily. We never really had great ideas to serve it with, and end up just slapping pasta sauce on it. Boring polenta no more! Enter Gina from Choosing Raw's EXCELLENT POLENTA STACKS!

(Original recipe here)
Ingredients:

• 1 tube organic, prepared polenta
• 2 large yams or sweet potatoes
• 1/2 Tbsp mellow white miso (optional)
  
• 1 Tbsp Earth Balance
  
• ~2 Tbsp almond milk
  
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1/4 tsp cumin
  
• 1/4 tsp coriander
  
• 1/2 tsp agave
  
• 1 head of kale or Swiss chard (or a mix of the two), washed and chopped
  
• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Steps:

1. Peel and quarter the yams. Heat a large pot of water to a boil, and boil the yams until they’re fork tender.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. While the yams cook, spray a pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray. Cut the polenta into 1/2 inch rounds, and line them evenly on the tray and place in oven. Cook for ~10-15 minutes on each side, or until polenta is golden brown.
   
3. Remove yams from water, and drain. Using a potato masher or ricer, mash them with the miso (if you have some & want to add it!), cinnamon, Earth Balance, and almond milk. Use only enough milk to achieve a thick consistency (you can actually omit the milk altogether, as I did, and it comes out just fine! I did add just a tiny bit of agave though). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
4. Place drained beans, 1 minced clove of garlic, cumin, coriander, agave, and salt and pepper to taste in a food processor, and process roughly, so that the beans look a bit like refried beans.
5. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet and add the other small clove of minced garlic. Stir garlic for about 1 minute, then add chopped greens. Cover for two minutes and then sautee until just wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Assemble the stacks: I placed a bed of the greens on the bottom, then the polenta cake, followed by the beans, and finally the yams on top. (Gena's version has the greens in the middle). However you stack them, you just want to eat all the components together- everything pairs so amazingly!
   

Some notes:
-The original recipe calls for double the yams and beans and ingredients to go in them; since I was making dinner for two, I knew that would be way too much. We had plenty for plentiful stacks, plus extra for leftovers. (Side note: I tend to slip and use 'yams' and 'sweet potatoes' interchangeably- I pretty much always mean the darker more orange version!)
-I DID NOT add the following ingredients: milk (whoops! all out of my non-diary milk!), coriander (haven't ever used it!), and the miso (darn! I actually had this one in my fridge and was planning on making use of it, but then forgot). Despite forgetting a few things, the dish tasted amazing and flavorful- sweet from the yams with cinnamon, savory from the polenta (which was cooked perfectly and not at all oily), spices (and protein!) from the bean spread, and even more flavor from the greens. Speaking of which, I used a combo of red Swiss chard (YUM!) and mixed kales (I LOVE you Berkeley Bowl for having such an array of kales- not to mention other veg). I had to remind myself to take it easy on the kale (flashbacks to eating too much raw kale during my coo-coo for kale episode). I am proud to say I did not have an entire head of kale while making this dish ;-) But seriously, chard and kale really complement the other ingredients here.

This dish feels homey and warm but exciting all at the same time. Make it. Eat it. Love it.

What a yum dinner!

And leftovers like this are the cherry on top ;-)


This WILL be a vegan recipe I show off at a dinner party! Thanks to Gena!

Sweet Potato and Parsnip Puree

From: Gourmet Magazine, via Epicurious

Did I mention I love parsnips? This side makes a nice substitute for the much less-healthy but traditional candied yams we always had for Thanksgiving and Christmas growing up. Actually, my husband found this recipe and first made it for Thanksgiving, and when he suggested we nix the candied yams for this dish I was incensed; but, after tasting it, I LOVED it. (So shhh! Don't tell my mom, but for the past 2 years we've been making this dish as a staple side instead of the brown sugar-topped sweet potatoes. But I'll still post the recipe for those later, as they ARE delicious too...) The flavor of the parsnips really comes through in this heavenly whipped dish, making it just a little bit different and exciting.

Serves: 4 (ie, you might as well double it if it's Thanksgiving!)

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  
• 4 parsnips, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup of whole milk
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
  

Steps:

1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and parsnips and boil gently until tender, about 12 min. Drain well and transfer to a food processor.
2. Add butter while the potato/parsnip mix is still hot, and puree until smooth.
   
3. Add milk, brown sugar, and salt, and blend well.
   
4. Season with pepper to taste and serve.

Notes: The pureeing can be a bit of a time-consuming process to get that smooth consistency, but stick with it- it's worth it. You can prepare this early and reheat it, but I think it's best fresh.

Sweet Potato Salad with Apple and Avocado

From Vegetarian Times

Last year I subscribed to Vegetarian Times and was inspired to try lots of new dishes. While I can't say that all (or even most) of the recipes I tried I liked, this was a keeper. (To be fair, I did make a few mistakes, such as using barley when I should have used bulgar, and barley has about twice the cooking time... making for an unpleasantly crunchy dish...)

In any case, here it is, the yummy, filling "salad" that could be used as a side but I've considered more of a main course. It is good the next day as well as lunch!

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1lb sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into bite-sized cubes)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/4 cup unsalted hulled pumpkin seeds or pepitas
• 1 medium red apple, diced (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 small onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 avocado, finely diced (note: the Veg Times recipe calls for 1/2 an avocado, but hey, you might as well use the whole thing, right? I always did and it balances well, especially if you are using it as a main. Plus, avocados are rich in the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids- one of the good kinds of fat!)

Steps:

1. Put sweet potatoes in large pan, and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes.
   
2. Add corn to the pan w/ the potatoes and cook 1-2 minutes more, or until potatoes are tender. Drain in colander and rinse under cold water to cool (and make sure the veggies don't overcook); drain well. Set aside.
   
3. Toast pumpkin seeds or pepitas in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, about 3-4min or until they start to pop. Transfer to a plate to cool.
4. Combine chopped apple, onion, cilantro, and lime juice in a large bowl. Stir in sweet potatoes, corn, and oil, and season with some salt & pepper.
   
5. Just before serving, gently stir in the avocado and pumpkin seeds.

Tips: I may have liked this dish more than my husband, who thought it got too "mushy" - this is a good reminder to make sure you don't overcook the sweet potatoes, and you don't add the avocado too soon (ie, let the potatoes cool first, and don't mix too much!) More than a few times, I've just been lazy and stirred in the last 2 ingredients right after cooking everything, and then stored it in the fridge until dinner (hence the "mushy"). If you want to prep early, just leave the seeds out and store the avocado in a separate container in the fridge until you're ready to mix in, or better yet, cut the avocado just before serving (since it can discolor with time- one way to combat this is to use some lime juice though).

Nutrition information: (per 3/4 cup serving- note that adding the full avocado will increase this slightly): 179 calories, 3g protein, 9g fat (1g saturated fat), 23g carbs, 0mg cholesterol, 4g fiber, 8g sugar.
Here is the link to this recipe on Vegetarian Times.