Thanksgiving 2012: BYOFM (bring your own faux meat)

torque · **Posted:** Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:43 pm

@freetahtah- last year i did the roast. it was a bit hard on the outside, but not ridiculously so. I think if i did it again I would keep it covered with foil or something.

My thanksgiving was all vegan, and everyone brought a non-vegan dish. The roast was the vegan main, and Mr T made the bird. I was amazed that the roast was almost totally demolished, people really liked it (added bonus- my stuffing was inside it, and it was frigging awesome).

someone's asked me to help her cook for her family on Thanx, but seeing as it's hotter than balls here on the holiday, i don't really know if i want to participate (also- cooking for someone else's family=not much fun). We used to do Thanksgiving here when its cold but between moving/etc we didn't get around to it.

Freetahtah · **Posted:** Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:53 pm

Hmmm, I'm not sure if it's my contrary nature speaking, but now I'm thinking I might make the Bryanna Clark Grogan tofu/seitan turkey. Everyone on the internet kept saying how amazing it was and I happened upon a long-lost copy of the recipe. I'm actually looking forward to trying to hunt down the yuba at the Asian grocery store, but if I can't find it, no biggie, I'm sure it'll be just fine without.

Oh, I also think I'm going to make Terry's Cornbread Scallion Pecan Stuffing from her blog instead of the one from 500 VR because it sounds more like something the Mr. would like. I'm just going to leave out the pecans (the Mr. hates nuts in stuff) and maybe add some wild mushrooms instead for an earthy flavor, adjusting liquid as needed. Since I won't need to make separate stuffing for the seitan anymore, I don't mind making a more complicated recipe.

vijita · **Posted:** Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:08 am

I work from 9 am until midnight on Canadian Thanksgiving (stat pay double shift in the name of paying off student loans), so a coworker and my boyfriend and I are having a midnight orphan Thanksgiving feast. Meaning, reheated Chinese food and some wine.

My boyfriend was born in Los Angeles, so I often celebrate US Thanksgiving for funsies, so I'll make the more traditional meal then. All I know I'll be making for sure is roasted Brussels sprouts (a given), hard cider mashed yams, and my favourite porcini-marmite gravy. I think I might do a simpler protein this year (I usually do a seitan roulade or something similar)...marinated and broiled tofu? Or we might go completely untraditional and I'll cook Indian food.

I love holidays that are for eating.

GraciaKai · **Posted:** Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:24 am

I might make the pumpkin baked ziti from Vcon for my main dish this year. I think I can use brown rice noodles for that and it should come out ok.

Cornelie · **Posted:** Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:33 am

Tzippy wrote:

bookwormbethie wrote:

what are these chickpea cutlets that a couple of y'all mentioned above? are they like falafel patties??

is this recipe in VWaV?

It's in Veganomicon. They are more like seitan (it's a mix of chickpeas, breadcrumbs, and vital wheat gluten).

It's also on the website: http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/doublebat ... a-cutlets/

And they help you make thanksgiving in one hour: http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-in-an-hour/

I love chickpea cutlets!

Cornelie · **Posted:** Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:51 am

Freetahtah wrote:

Hmm, so Mr. has specifically requested no seitan because he is severely averse to the seitan sausages that I've fed him in the past. He's also theoretically against "large hunks of tofu", so I'm thinking a marinated tofu dish is also probably not a good idea. I want something centerpiece-y. Stuffed acorn squash might be an option, too.

Now for the main course, I'm thinking the caramelized onion tart with sweet potato sage crust from 500 Vegan Recipes, but I'm not sure. I think it'd still be good with gravy and all that, but I'm not sure it's the show stopper I'm looking for. I was also considering this Homemade Tofurkey with Brown Rice Stuffing, but it seems like it might be a bit bland and I'm not sure if blending the tofu (5 packages!) with seasonings and then pressing it back into a shape would solve the "big hunks of tofu" problem.

What say ye, PPK? Stuffed acorn squash, caramelized onion tart, or adventurous and very Vegan-foodie homemade tofu tofurkey? Or Door Number 3???

Stuffed portobello's?

bookwormbethie · **Posted:** Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:58 am

Cornelie wrote:

Tzippy wrote:

bookwormbethie wrote:

what are these chickpea cutlets that a couple of y'all mentioned above? are they like falafel patties??

is this recipe in VWaV?

It's in Veganomicon. They are more like seitan (it's a mix of chickpeas, breadcrumbs, and vital wheat gluten).

It's also on the website: http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/doublebat ... a-cutlets/

And they help you make thanksgiving in one hour: http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-in-an-hour/

I love chickpea cutlets!

thanks for the extra info!

finnophile · **Posted:** Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:16 pm

It's my first Thanksgiving away from home. To top it off I'm in Canada (so the holiday is a different day). Anyways, some friends are having a Thanksgiving pot luck and I have no idea what to make. I'm the only vegan in the group so I will probably make a dish and a dessert.

Chicki · **Joined:** Thu Nov 11, 2010 10:53 pm **Posts:** 1714

Freetahtah wrote:

Oh, I also think I'm going to make Terry's Cornbread Scallion Pecan Stuffing from her blog instead of the one from 500 VR because it sounds more like something the Mr. would like. I'm just going to leave out the pecans (the Mr. hates nuts in stuff) and maybe add some wild mushrooms instead for an earthy flavor, adjusting liquid as needed. Since I won't need to make separate stuffing for the seitan anymore, I don't mind making a more complicated recipe.

Do you have a link to that cornbread stuffing? that sounds pretty good. My partner loves cornbread and pecans...that would be right up his alley.

Freetahtah · **Posted:** Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:47 pm

Chicki wrote:

Freetahtah wrote:

Oh, I also think I'm going to make Terry's Cornbread Scallion Pecan Stuffing from her blog instead of the one from 500 VR because it sounds more like something the Mr. would like. I'm just going to leave out the pecans (the Mr. hates nuts in stuff) and maybe add some wild mushrooms instead for an earthy flavor, adjusting liquid as needed. Since I won't need to make separate stuffing for the seitan anymore, I don't mind making a more complicated recipe.

Do you have a link to that cornbread stuffing? that sounds pretty good. My partner loves cornbread and pecans...that would be right up his alley.

Sure thing! Here's the recipe.

Chicki · **Joined:** Thu Nov 11, 2010 10:53 pm **Posts:** 1714

Thanks! I was having a hard time navigating that site for some reason.

I am toats going to try that. It looks really good.

GymClassZero · **Posted:** Wed Oct 03, 2012 3:18 pm

I think I'm going to attempt the stuffed seitan on here. For stuffing, I'm gonna just use one of those dried up ones. I love those, and I can throw in all the veggies I want.

I was thinking that mac and cheeze might be good to make, too (dream meal: mac and cheeze with biscuits).

Chicki · **Joined:** Thu Nov 11, 2010 10:53 pm **Posts:** 1714

I have made this one a couple of times with good results. My omni partner liked it a lot.

http://thriftyliving.net/2009/01/01/sei ... -stuffing/

I didn't make the fake 'skin' on it.

Freetahtah · **Posted:** Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:18 am

Well, I went to the Asian grocery store this afternoon and found something in the freezer section called "soybean sheets" by the company Wei Chuan. I assumed these were yuba, but I'm not entirely sure. There was nothing else in the store that even seemed similar, so I decided to give it a shot. I guess we'll see when it comes time to making the roast! Haha.

Chicki · **Joined:** Thu Nov 11, 2010 10:53 pm **Posts:** 1714

Freetahtah wrote:

Well, I went to the Asian grocery store this afternoon and found something in the freezer section called "soybean sheets" by the company Wei Chuan. I assumed these were yuba, but I'm not entirely sure. There was nothing else in the store that even seemed similar, so I decided to give it a shot. I guess we'll see when it comes time to making the roast! Haha.

Yeah, those sheets are what give some recipes (like the one I linked to) the 'skin' on the roast.

An asian store...I need to check that out! I have some amazing asian stores locally.

elizabee · **Posted:** Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:43 pm

Some years ago, my (also vegan) sister got lazy and layered mashed potatoes over a traditional sage stuffing recipe, then baked it like a casserole - this has ended up being everyone's (omnis included) Thanksgiving dish. Thinking of those of you going to non-veg dinners where you don't want to show up with 98 side dishes - it's kind of an all-in-one Thanksgiving experience in a pan.

I tend to make WAY too much food for holidays (based on my enormous, starving Irish Catholic family of origin - I'm cooking for my husband's family who are fewer in number and far less gluttonous) and nobody has fridge space for all the leftovers so I've been forgoing the homemade main dish for Field Roast or Gardein for the last few years. Maybe this year I'll figure out how to scale a recipe down though.

Freetahtah · **Posted:** Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:38 pm

At my local Sprouts they were wanting $26 for the frozen Tofurky thanksgiving meal. I was shocked! Not sure if this is comparable to what a place like Whole Foods wants for it, but it definitely made me feel a lot better about making my own main dish. I'm pretty sure that the cost of my roast is going to be between $5 and $10, even including ingredients that I didn't have to buy because they were already in my pantry.

Chicki · **Joined:** Thu Nov 11, 2010 10:53 pm **Posts:** 1714

Freetahtah wrote:

At my local Sprouts they were wanting $26 for the frozen Tofurky thanksgiving meal. I was shocked! Not sure if this is comparable to what a place like Whole Foods wants for it, but it definitely made me feel a lot better about making my own main dish. I'm pretty sure that the cost of my roast is going to be between $5 and $10, even including ingredients that I didn't have to buy because they were already in my pantry.

That's about the same as whole foods...but WF sells it pretty expensive all year round. Stores like Sprout's jack up the price during the fall/holiday season

Keep an eye out at Sprouts...after the holidays are over, those meals go for like $7! or $5 for just the roast. I bought 5 of them at $5 each a couple years back. I couldn't fit anymore in my freezer or I would have bought more.

I actually like tofurkey a lot, but during the holidays when I have time, I try to make my own. They are surprisingly easy to make, and super cheap (well comparitively)

Freetahtah · **Posted:** Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:58 am

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the Canadians out there!

Since I didn't get any of my pre-cooking done this weekend (except for cornbread for stuffing) because of drama with the Mr. being stranded in the forest, I'll be doing a cook-a-thon today! Hopefully I can get everything done and timed fairly well so that we're not eating dinner at 10pm.

I'm thinking that I'll mix up the dough for the seitan first since it has to rest for an hour, then make the cheesecake, and hopefully soon after that the seitan can go in the oven, since it's going to be there for 4.5 hrs total (jeez!).

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