This will be my first Thanksgiving as a vegan.  I have spent the last few years of holidays as a vegetarian but this one will be a bit more challenging.  I am already getting the, “well what will you be eating?!” This will actually also be my first Thanksgiving with my family in over 5 years.  Normally Tom and I would celebrate this holiday with his parents but since they have both passed away and his brother lives in Denmark, we will be making the trip back to my home town.  My family always celebrates at my cousin Lisa’s house, it has been so long since I have seen a lot of my family so it will be such a great time!

So being the only person who will be at Thanksgiving that will not eat meat, dairy or eggs I need to bring a couple of things so I can actually eat haha.  I LOVE to cook and try new things so I picked out a few different recipes I plan on making and bringing with me.  Thought I would share my ideas and see if any other vegans out there have any fun recipes to share as well!

I just love Pinterest so of course this was the first place I checked out for some fun ideas and recipes.  I don’t want to go over board because they will think I am such a fatty haha.  But I also feel like if I make big portions, others will eat some as well so I am going to try it out and see what happens.

Here are the essentials that I feel like making this Thanksgiving:

Mashed Potatoes.  I cannot have a Thanksgiving without this yummy dish.  I know my cousin’s recipe will have butter and milk in them so I am going to make my vegan friendly one.  I am not worried about them going to waste (I have made this recipe before and you cannot tell the difference!)

I found this recipe here from the Minimalist Baker (who has a bunch of great recipes!)

• 6-8 medium yukon gold potatoes
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 5-6 cloves roasted garlic (or sub minced garlic sautéed for 3 minutes in olive oil)*
• 3-4 Tbsp vegan butter (such as Earth Balance), melted/softened
• 1/4 cup fresh chives for topping

and in addition to this recipe I sometimes (depending on the consistency) will add some almond milk or any non dairy milk will do

You can click the link for the full recipe and instructions.  Trust me, this can be subbed out for the normal butter and milk mashed potatoes and no one will be able to tell the difference!

You can’t have mashed potatoes without gravy.

Here is a mushroom gravy recipe that I have made once before and it was such a huge hit that I was passing out the recipe to everyone at the dinner.

• 1/2 small onion ( I like to use sweet onions)
• 12-15 oz. mushrooms ( I used a mix of Portabellas and Shiitake before but any variety would be good)
• 1-2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup white wine (find a vegan friendly brand!)
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1/8 tsp. salt (I use pink Himalayan)
• 2 Tbsp. flour + 3 Tbsp. water
• 2 Tbsp. butter (I use Earth Balance)-I sometimes add more in but do a taste test first
• 2 1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• pepper to taste
  
  Directions
  1.Dice up the onion, mince the garlic and and thinly slice the mushrooms.
  2. In a skillet over medium heat, saute the onion in olive oil for 1 minute then add the garlic and saute another minute.
  3.Add mushrooms, salt, and herbs. Saute for 8-10 minutes.
  4.Add white wine and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.
  5.Add broth and nutritional yeast, bring to a boil, and cook for 10 minutes.
  6.In a small bowl, whisk together flour and water and add to skillet
  7.Return to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened.  You can add in some more flour if you feel like the consistency is not think enough
  8.Turn off heat and stir in butter until melted. Salt/pepper to taste if needed.

This meal also is not complete without stuffing!

My mother in law, Birgit, used to make this amazing stuffing and over the years we kind of adapted it to be vegetarian friendly by using veggie broth instead of chicken.  She would make 2 different kinds.  One with sausage and apples and the other with dried cherries, apples and nuts.  I want to keep some of those traditions alive so I came up with this recipe based off of my mother in laws. I do not have measurements for any of these.  They are recipes I have in my memory so bare with me haha.

• 1 or 2 loafs of crusty bread chopped up small (I like sourdough)
• veggie stock (I normally use 2/3 cartons) depends on how much bread you use
• dried cherries or craisins
• diced apples
• walnuts
• celery-diced up
• carrots-diced up
• garlic-minced
• onion-diced
• dried sage
• dried thyme
• dried rosemary
• earth balance butter
• salt and pepper

1. Toast and cube the bread or leave out overnight to harden a bit.
2. Saute over medium heat in butter the onion, celery and carrots
3. Stir all veggies til onion is softened then add in the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper.  cook for about 5 minutes
4. Pour in the vegetable stock and stir
5. I sometimes would add more butter at this point
6. Add in bread and then transfer to a greased baking dish
7. bake covered with foil at 375 degree for 45 minutes
8. remove foil and back for another 15 or so minutes

The last item that I most certainly have to make is a dessert!!! I have not yet baked anything vegan yet so I am super excited about this! I found the perfect recipes to try.

Fall/Thanksgiving is never complete without lot and lots of pumpkin and apples!

Both of these recipes seems rather simple and soo delicious:

 Vegan Pumpkin cake with pumpkin spice buttercream

Salted caramel apple pie bars

I will have to see when I get closer which one I will plan on making

Do you have any fun vegan recipes to share??

xoLauren