Thanksgiving/Holiday Guide Part II

My original intention was to add photos of the cooked food photographed in my prior blog entry along with recipes.  Between work, daily obligations and so forth-I haven’t been able to get around to it.   Better late than never…so I have the photos for most of the  items.  Instead of adding specific recipes for each, I will simply address some keypoints/highlights for making this a successful dish.

The Pumpkin pie (dairy free, made with organic pumpkin) was not photographed.  It was attacked before we took any photos.  Hopefully I will make another one soon.  It’s fairly simple to make and tastes delicious.  The ‘overflow’ of the filling that I made turned into pumpkin brulee.

So in the spirit of “it’s better to blog at some level than not to blog at all (and have the blog be totally outdated)”-here are some holiday pointers:

Stuffing:

Completely made from scratch.  I baked a dill bread (added fresh chopped dill to the dough).  Cube the bread and bake it on low heat (275) for a while (maybe 45 minutes) the day before Thanksgiving.  Then the next day make the stuffing.  There are many fresh stuffing recipes out there.  The main points are to sauté and season the vegetables (with Earth Balance soy butter).  Then in a very large bowl, mix the vegetables with the cubed bread.  Pour some organic broth over it to moisten.  I also add 2-3 beaten eggs.  This mixture is then baked for about 45 minutes on 350 (covered).  For the last 15 minutes I add some of the drippings from the turkey to improve the flavor and bake for another 15 minutes uncovered.

The stuffing is delicious.  We also used it for a tofu casserole. 

Turkey:

Once you brine you never go back….so I used Alton Brown’s Turkey brining recipe.  I also use his recipe for roasting the turkey.  Pointers such as put the turkey in for ½ hour at very high heat to get crispy skin are handy.  I also like the turkey armor he makes with foil for preventing burns. 

This method makes for such tender and tasty turkey.  The drumsticks are not fibery or chewy at all.  The breast meat is moist and yet cooked.

Traditional Sweet Potato Dish:

I refuse to use that Princella (or whatever it’s called) canned sweet potato.  Instead, I use my Cuisinart food processor to thinly slice real sweet potatoes.  I have refined a recipe for baking (brown sugar, a little Kahlua,  soy milk,  cinnamon, nutmeg, soy butter).  For the last 10-15 minutes add the marshmallows.  This year I used the mini ones. 

Tofu Stuffing & Vegetable Casserole:

I can’t claim credit for this dish.  It’s delicious.  The main steps are sautéing some vegetables, seasoning them as you also make a great thickened sauce (roux).  Separately  fry tofu cubes.  Layer just right, bake and sprinkle the top with Daiya cheese and breadcrumbs.  This is Shanti’s signature dish.

Green Beans Dijonaise:

Another classis dish for us.  No processed / canned green beans.  Instead everything is fresh.  The sauce consists of soy butter/dill/Dijon mustard. 

Traditional mashed potatoes and gravy:

Again, all from scratch.  Gravy is very simple to make…as the Vegan Black Metal Chef dramatically states: “Gravy is broth and fat.”   I use the turkey drippings with organic free range chicken broth to make it. 

Dessert:

Played around with the cupcakes as well as made a pumpkin pie (non dairy from organic pumpkin).  I don’t have a photo of the pie.  We were too impatient and forgot to take one.

The day after:

Turkey Soup:

Fresh soup made from the turkey carcass…delicious.  Although it looks ‘fatty’ in this photo, I scrape the fat off.  I served it with Hungarian vermicelli noodles and it was delicious.

Turkey Tetrazzini

I used to make this dish, but then stopped because we don’t consume dairy.  This year I was able to make a delicious non-dairy version.  Practically the same steps as the dairy version.  Jordan had two servings (not typical).  I need to make this again.

While cooking:  Caviar and Alaskan Wild Sockeye Salmon

This was a treat for waiting. Quick snack-toffuti cream cheese on homemade bread, fresh dill.  The paper plates-the dinner was going to generate a lot of dishes...and my dishwasher was broken.

Now it’s time to think about the Christmas meal.  I bought the free natural (no antibiotics, vegetarian fed duck) today.  The rest is yet to be figured out. Traditionally, in Budapest we had an elaborate dinner on Christmas Eve and then also more special meals on Christmas Day.  

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Thanksgiving / Holiday Guide – Part I

First shopping trip - Whole Foods

As the holidays are approaching, there are certain ‘staples’ that I need to have a tasty yet healthy and allergen free Thanksgiving.  Certain ingredients need to be acquired from Whole Foods and a few others.  So today I shopped at Whole Foods for the fundamental ingredients:  the turkey and some baking ingredients:

The turkey-I need a turkey that has no additives, no ‘pre basting’ – not stuffed with antibiotics, hormones…and it would be nice if the turkey was somewhat ethically treated:

Christmas I usually make duck (my son LOVES it)-again don't want an over processed duck that doesn't even taste like duck.  Again, it is pricier than the cheaper frozen duck you find in typical grocery stores....

Since I'm at Whole Foods, I may as well pick up some uncured bacon and bratwurst (my son loves both-and I don't have to feel guilty about all the nitrites I'm feeding him):

My mother used to make great goose...I have yet to do this-but I need to make sure I master this technique before I make it - this goose is $100

Since I'm here I may as well pick up some drumsticks for oven baking (my son loves this)

When roasting turkey, chicken broth needs to be under the turkey rack...this is a reliable allergen free broth.  Some may say why bother with free range?  It turns out what's good for the animal is also good for your diet.  Free range chickens eat a healthier diet, which ultimately affects the nutrients in the the chicken that humans consume.

How I spend 50% of my time in the grocery store-found a new product...read the ingredient list to make sure I see no dairy derivates (or shellfish, nuts and peanuts)-no casein, no whey, no lactic acid starter culture from dairy. I also have to read the allergen information on what type of facility the product is made to assess the risk of cross contamination. 

In the "dairy section" - some great soy based butter (I can make the best desserts with this...no butter needed).  The Tofutti cream cheese is dairy free and is great on bagels or as a base to wild salmon.

 Free range organic eggs are more nutritious than the ones from the tortured chickens (again, being ethical has health benefits). They are higher in Omega 3s because of the diet of the chicken.

Regular Olive Oil has a lower frying temperature than this one.  So this is an expeller pressed (less processed) canola oil.  

I don't even like cranberries but these are good....

 Reread ingredients EACH time...just in case they changed something

The 365 Organic Ketchup was rated the highest in a taste test conducted by Chicago Tribune.  My son agrees...he no longer likes Heinz (which also is not composed of  the best ingredients)-he now eats food just so he can have this ketchup with it.

This is the shortening I use for frosting and other baking...(combine with Earth Balance shortening for cookies though).  NO crisco

What would Thanksgiving be without a pumpkin pie?  Yes, one can have a dairy free creamy pumpkin pie....this is one of the ingredients.

Sometimes it's nice to have some ready made cookies though.  Jovial cookies are delicious.  They are made in Italy and are made with an old world flour.  But mostly, they are delicious.  Usually quite pricey, but today they are on sale....time to stock up.

Creamy sauces...need a thick milk substitute.  This is one of my favorite ingredients for making cream sauces.  Clearly dairy free, but also soy free (many are allergic to soy)

We also make some Tofu dishes...this is a fairly new discovery.  I like it because: 1. it doesn't need draining and it's already firm, 2. I can use just part of it and put the rest back, 3. is higher in protein than the usual tofu.

And for a treat....caviar and wild salmon.  This will make a great appetizer.

Now I still need to plan the menu...acquire the vegetables...and start cooking...brine the turkey, make bread for stuffing (best stuffing is 'made from scratch') and dig through my recipes-most likely pumpkin pie, mocha cake - all free of dairy.




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