Planning the "Big Meal"

I just reviewed my Thanksgiving menu plan from previous years to see if I could swing making it a local meal. As a vegan who really craves the traditional foods during this American holiday, I am reluctant to discard anything from my carefully crafted menu. It took me a number of years to collect and develop healthy vegan versions of the dishes I enjoyed growing up. Re-creating these tastes goes far beyond simply eating a good meal; it conjures up warm and pleasant memories of family gatherings when I had far fewer responsibilities and worries.

My menu plan:


Turkey-flavored "Chicken" strips
Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes & Turkeyless Gravy
Yams with Orange Marmalade
Smoky Green Beans
Cranberry Sauce
Fresh Lemonade
Spiced Apple Cider
Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Topping
As you might imagine, the centerpiece for the meal is always the greatest challenge for those who prefer vegan dishes. I had originally planned to do without this year, but I changed my mind. Ordinarily we avoid the meat analogs as they are so highly processed that they are not a particularly healthy option. This is a feast day, so I will make an exception. I'm allergic to tofu, so a Tofurkey is out of the question. We've purchased the grain and vegetable Celebration Roast for the past few years but neither of us really care for the sausage stuffing. Last year I tried making my own gluten roast but the texture came out rubbery and unsatisfactory. We ate the emergency back-up Celebration Roast.

This year, I plan to change fake chick'n strips into fake turkey strips. It's simply a matter of cooking up the strips and then soaking them in an appropriately-flavored broth. I successfully did this for my sweetie's birthday, creating faux shredded pork for vegan tamales. For anyone interested in getting their hands on some great recipes for vegan meaty-flavored broths, check out the monastery cookbook, Simply Heavenly!

The cornbread stuffing is as close as I can come to my mom's cornbread stuffing without using turkey drippings and a ton of eggs. It starts with a fatfree vegan cornbread recipe from my McDougalling friend, Jan. I've linked to her quickbread recipe file before. Once cooked and allowed to dry out overnight, it is combined with a veggie broth, chopped onions and celery, and herbs for a delicious stuffing. I'll let you in on a little vegan secret. Adding some nutritional yeast gives it that full-bodied taste that normally comes from the eggs.

My mashed potatoes are wonderful. The secret is in using Yukon Gold potatoes for their naturally rich buttery flavor. Unfortunately, we didn't get any from our CSA farmer this week so I will be substituting his red-skinned potatoes. The dish won't be as rich but it will be drenched in gravy anyway. My gravy is a rich vegetable broth with extra seasonings as per the monastery cookbook, thickened with toasted flour and soymilk. It is indeed finger-lickin' good!

Yams did make an appearance at the CSA so I'm all set for that dish. The challenge will be trying to find some ripe local sour oranges or kumquats, harvest them, and make some quick marmalade for the recipe. I'm just not sure if my schedule will allow for that wrinkle. If not, I'll pick up some organic orange marmalade at the store. I actually prefer the sweet yams with marshmellow and pecan topping, but nobody else in the family likes it. Plus no-one sells vegan marshmallows locally so I've given up on recreating that traditional dish, although Ricemellow Creme worked pretty well as a topping one year.

Green beans are so tasty by themselves that I forego the effort to make homemade vegan "cream of mushroom soup" for the Campbell's traditional Thanksgiving dish. We also normally avoid fried foods so there is no way to really replicate the crunchy fried onion topping. Rather than make something that does not live up to the memory of the original dish, I simply flavor fresh green beans with a little sugar, salt, and Liquid Smoke. This year, I may try using smoked salt instead of Liquid Smoke. And my CSA green beans will be frozen rather than fresh.

Cranberry sauce is my downfall. I have never tasted a homemade cranberry sauce that I liked. It is totally pathetic, but I actually like the highly-processed jellied cranberry sauce. It is the only food I buy that contains corn syrup, something I usually avoid like the plague. Again, my only excuse is that this is a feast day that comes but once a year. While I still have the option to do so, I will put aside my ecotarian principles and buy a can off the shelf quickly hoping that nobody recognizes me in the store.

For beverages, I usually purchase a bottle or two of Sparkling Pear Cider. These sparkling fruit juices are a cut above the competition, most likely because they are made by an award-winning wine maker. The pear cider pairs beautifully with the Thanksgiving dishes. I may still pick up one bottle since it comes from just one state away, but I thought I'd try a few more local beverages as well. Can't get much closer than my neighbor's lemon tree for fresh lemonade. And the apple cider comes from a farm just an hour's drive from home.

It took me years to come up with a satisfying pumpkin pie. I didn't want to use margarine, even the vegan Earth Balance option, in the crust so I was thrilled when Mary McDougall came up with a great pie crust recipe using cashews. (And yes, she is the good doctor's wife.) Chef Deb at Vegsource offers up several pumpkin pie recipes, including some with no tofu. A decade ago, it was hard to find tofu-free vegan custard pie recipes that would set up properly. Her recipes work!

The final dilemma was replicating Dream Whip. Yes, I grew up in the age of Dream Whip, Jell-o salads, and tuna casseroles. As a child, I thought these foods were heaven. As an adult, I avoid them but it doesn't mean I don't occasionally want something that reminds me of childhood comfort foods. During a vegan cooking demonstation at Tucson's only vegan restaurant, I learned that there is a vegan whipping cream available. It's another highly-processed food product that I purchase only once a year. Once thawed, this stuff whips up just like whipping cream. Uh oh...I just remembered that I just sold my electric handmixer in my ongoing quest to convert my kitchen to manual tools only. Oops. Well, it should be interesting to see if I have the stamina to create a whipped topping with my little rotary eggbeater!

So, that does it for my meal plan. The non-local ingredients include most of the seasonings, the "chick'n" strips, cranberry sauce, pear cider (if I buy it), cashews, RichWhip, and only three of the vegetables needed for the broth (carrots, celery, parsley). With better garden planning, those vegetables could come from our yard. In future, tougher times, I know I will probably have to forego the fake turkey, cranberry sauce, pear cider, and crust and topping for the pie. I think I can live with that, but this year, let me live in denial for just one day.

Hapy Thanksgiving!