Vegan Stuffing

There are a lot of things I love about Thanksgiving meals – the mashed potatoes, the roasted Brussels sprouts, the apple pie. But there are a few dishes I normally would rather pass on to the next person at the table. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I finally met a stuffing I actually liked and even wanted to try to replicate myself. Most vegetarian and vegan stuffing dishes I have tasted have been too dry, over-spiced and generally just have tasted like they have been an afterthought to the meal. Granted, there are a lot of people who love the same stuffing that I dislike, so no offense to them.

But I bet there are quite a few of you out there who claim you’ll never like stuffing. Maybe you won’t, but before you throw in the towel completely and say you’re done trying a bite of it at every holiday meal just to be nice, try this stuffing. It’s rich, the spices are prominent yet balanced, and the vegan meat gives it a heartiness that make this become an instant star of all the side dishes. Plus there’s a little bit of sweet added in by way of cranberries and apples. Did I mention I also don’t like cranberries? In this recipe, I like cranberries.

Vegan Stuffing
This lovely recipe came to me from a friend who veganized this recipe for us, her only guests who had vegan diets. Thank you N!
Serves 4-6

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat bread, cubed
• 3 3/4 cups white bread, cubed
• 1 pound vegetarian/vegan sausage, cut into pieces (frozen is fine) (I used one package of Tofurky Kielbasa)
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 3/4 cup celery, chopped
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
• 1 1/4 teaspoons dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 6 tablespoons melted vegan butter
• 1 apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup minced parsley
• 1-2 cups vegetable stock

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut your bread into cubes, and put them on baking sheets on a single layer. Bake in the oven for about five to seven minutes.

Note: You do not have to use two different breads. I used only a few slices of a sourdough loaf, which yielded about six cups of cubed bread.

Cutting bread into cubes

Gather the ingredients which you will be frying: the vegetarian or vegan sausage, onions, celery, sage, rosemary and thyme.

I chose to cut the Tofurky Kielbasa in half lengthwise, then the two pieces into half lengthwise again, then I chopped them into small pieces.

Preparing the Tofurky Kielbasa

Chop your onions and celery into smallish pieces.

Onions, celery and spices

Fry the vegetarian or vegan sausage and onions in two tablespoons of butter over medium heat till evenly browned, occasionally stirring. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme, and cook for about two minutes, stirring to blend. Remove from heat.

Yum.

Chop your apples and parsley, and measure out your cranberries. Make sure the cranberries are not clumped together. You want them to mix evenly throughout the stuffing.

Chopping apples and parsley

I would recommend that you chop your apples into smaller pieces than I did – this will help the sweet flavor to more evenly distribute.

Place the toasted bread cubes in a large mixing bowl, then pour the vegetarian or vegan sausage mixture on top of the bread. Pour six tablespoons of melted vegan butter over the mixture, then add the apples, cranberries and parsley. Mix well.

The stuffing is coming together

Drizzle with about one cup of the broth until thoroughly moist but not soggy. Mix again. Transfer to a baking dish and allow to bake for about 20 minutes.

If you have added more bread cubes than the recipe calls for you may need to add a little more broth to the baking stuffing, however if you have followed the recipe exactly, I would recommend not adding more broth. I did this and wound up with soggy bread on the bottom of the dish.

Adding vegetable broth to the stuffing mixture

This is a great stuffing and one I would heartily recommend for your vegetarian or vegan – or even omnivorous – Thanksgiving. And in case you prefer a more traditional stuffing, I’ve got you covered. Check out my post on vegan sausage stuffing with mushroom gravy. It’s still pretty good, but if I were you, I’d go with this one instead.

This vegan stuffing has made me a convert!

Do you enjoy stuffing? If not, what is your preferred dish to have at Thanksgiving?

Learn more about Vegan MoFo.

Winter Squash and Bean Stew

Every Sunday I usually like to make a big pot of beans or soup for us to have for lunches during at least the first half of the week. It makes meals infinitely easier, and allows me to not have to think about what I’m going to eat while I’m in the middle of work. Because I do this fairly consistently, I do like to try new recipes and mix things up a bit.

When I found this recipe for stew, I knew I had to try it. For one thing, I don’t make stews very often, but I do really enjoy them. Another reason was because I still had a lot of my hubbard squash leftover, and I needed to use it. The final thing that drew me in? Chipotle. I love chipotle, mostly for its smoky flavor, but for its extraordinary heat as well. I was excited to try this combo of flavors.

Note: One nice thing about this recipe is that it does not require the use of a slow-cooker if you do not have one, although I am sure this would also cook nicely in one.

Winter Squash and Bean Stew
This recipe is taken from the Hubbard Squash and Pinto Bean Stew found on MyRecipes.com

• 3 cups dried pinto beans
• 4 cups water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium-sized onions, chopped
• 4 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled hubbard squash or fresh pumpkin
• 1 cup peeled and sliced carrot, about two medium-sized carrots
• 1 tablespoon chipotle chile in adobo sauce, chopped (for a gluten-free recipe, you can substitute about 1 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh or 2 teaspoons dried sage
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, undrained
• 3/4 teaspoon  salt
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin-seed kernels, toasted (optional)

Sort and wash pinto beans. Check out my post on how to cook dry beans to learn how to sort and wash beans, although you do not need to follow the remaining steps for this stew recipe.

I love the smell of beans cooking wafting through the house

Place the beans in a large pot, and cover with water to about two inches above the beans. Boil them for two minutes, turn off the heat and then allow them to sit for about two hours.

Cooking dry beans

Drain and rinse the pinto beans, then combine them and four cups of water in a large pan, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Cover and simmer an additional 30 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, prep your squash, carrots and onions. Take care while chopping your squash – refer to my post on hubbard squash risotto to see how I recommend cutting open the squash as well as chopping the actual squash meat.

Chopped squash, carrots and onions

Cut up about two chipotle peppers from your can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

Important: If you are following a gluten-free diet, I discovered that this can of chipotle peppers is not gluten-free. It contains flour, likely to thicken the sauce. I do not know if there is a gluten-free version of this product out on the market, but I imagine that you can use chipotle pepper powder as a substitute.

Chipotle peppers = smoky and spicy!

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, squash, carrot, and chipotle peppers. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Sautéing squash, onions, carrots and chipotle peppers

Add to bean mixture, then stir in sage, thyme, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until squash is tender. Stir in salt.

Finishing up the bean stew

Ladle the stew into individual bowls, then sprinkle with pumpkinseed kernels (if using) – and serve.

A hearty squash and bean stew

This was such a hearty stew, and perfect to eat throughout the week. The only thing that I might add next time is some textured vegetable protein (TVP) or some Tofurky Kielbasa or Tofurky Italian Sausage to bulk it up more. Otherwise, it’s a great stew and perfect to serve to your favorite omnivores.

What is your favorite kind of stew or soup?

Learn more about Vegan MoFo.

Our community supported agriculture (CSA) season ended just this last week, and we received both turnips and rutabagas for the first (and last) time. Since rutabagas are similar to turnips I also used them this time around. I think turnips tend to have a little bit more of a kick, though, so normally I would use only turnips. The mashed potatoes still turned out lovely and I really have no complaints.

This is a recipe that has become less of a recipe, so the following is more of an approximation of what I did.

Mashed Potatoes with Turnips/Rutabagas

• 5 – 7 large potatoes of your choosing, peeled and quartered
• 2 – 3 turnips and/or rutabagas, peeled and quartered
• 1/2 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 5 large cloves of garlic, peeled
• Salt
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 3 – 5 Tbsp. mayonnaise or Vegenaise
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 – 1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Place the potatoes and turnips/rutabagas into a large pot and cover with water. After they have been boiling for a few minutes (5 – 10 minutes) add the onion and garlic cloves. Boil until the turnips are tender (note that you may want to start boiling the turnips first and then add the potatoes later as the turnips will take longer to soften).

Drain the potatoes, turnips, onions, and garlic cloves and pour into a large bowl (or back into the pan). Add salt (this will be to taste), butter, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. Either mash the ingredients together with a potato masher (more lumps) or get out a hand mixer and mix until it is at the consistency you prefer. Taste it to see if it has a good flavor and adjust the seasonings until it is how you want it.

Vegan Gravy
Taken from AllRecipes.com and originally called Vegetarian Gravy

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I did not use 1/2 cup – more like 1/4 cup)
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 4 tsp. nutritional yeast
• 4 Tbsp. light soy sauce (I used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos)
• 2 cups vegetable broth (I used 2 cups of water with 1 heaping Tbsp. McKay’s Chicken Seasoning)
• 1/2 tsp. dried sage (I didn’t use this because I don’t think I had any on hand.)
• 1/2 tsp. salt (I didn’t use this because the chicken seasoning and the liquid aminos were already providing enough sodium)
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce to form a smooth paste. Gradually whisk in the broth. Season with sage, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened.

The recipe said that once you reduce the heat you should stir it for another 8-10 minutes. My gravy did not take that long to thicken at all, so I would actually shorten that time to 2-3 minutes.

Both the mashed potatoes and the gravy turned out really well. When I was seasoning the potatoes and trying to achieve the perfect flavor I realized that I was trying to get it to taste more like potato salad. It didn’t taste exactly like potato salad, but even if it had I would have still loved it.

There are still some turnips and rutabagas sitting in my kitchen, so I am sure to make this recipe again in the very near future.

More Thanksgiving recipes to come in the next few days!