A Very Veggie Thanksgiving Dinner courtesy of the VegHead
A 100% completely vegetarian Thanksgiving meal you can cook at home, and an on-site cooking class for those who want to learn how to.
Thanksgiving must be a tough time for vegetarians, no turkey, turkey gravy, stuffing with broth, limits your dinner quite a bit not to mention all the other lovely sides that contain meat or meat broth. A Thanksgiving plate of cranberry sauce and plain potatoes doesn’t sound like much fun at all. We knew we needed a full Thanksgiving dinner menu that was 100% vegetarian to have a truly comprehensive Thanksgiving article. Where would you find such a menu? The Veg Head were else!
Owner Mark Metcalf was already in motion to create just such a dinner for his on site cooking classes in November. Naturally we were all over it. In fact Mark prepared a dinner plate just for us and we can tell you one thing... fellow veg heads will delight in the robust quality of this dinner. It’s fairly easy and affordable but the best part is if you get stumped on how to go about the whole process you can sign up for the Veg Head’s cooking class and watch it all come together first hand (you get to eat it all as well). You can either join the class, take it on yourself or both. Either way here are the complete recipes for the entire dinner!
Soy Tempe Strips
Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
1 oz.. Packages of soy Tempe
Seasoned salt
Garlic powder
Black pepper
Directions:
Sauté or grill the whole tempe until browned.
Season as desired and slice into 1/4” thick strips and set aside.
Apple Brandy Gravy
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 21 oz. can apple pie filling
2 oz. brandy
Organic vegetable broth
2 1/2 teaspoons to 16 oz. water vegetarian base (bouillon)
Cornstarch mix (4 tablespoons cornstarch to 3/4 cup water mixed well)
Directions:
Mix pie filling, brandy and broth,
Bring to a boil, add 1/2 of the cornstarch mixture and thicken. Add more cornstarch mixture if needed to achieve desired consistency. Simmer for 10-15 minutes keep covered.
Wild Rice & Cranberry Stuffing
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
4 oz. wild rice
3/4 cup dried cranberries
16 oz. loaf wheat bread diced
1/2 rib of celery diced
1/2 small onion diced
1 cup vegetable broth (see recipe)
4 eggs beaten
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Substitute veggie broth in place of water and cook rice (as per rice package directions). Mix bread, rice, celery, onion, cranberries. Add eggs to bread mix, toss gently mixing. Pour mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes.
Curry Sweet Potatoes
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
2-23 oz. cans of sweet potatoes (yams)
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup brown sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Drain canned yams and reserve juice. Add curry powder, sugar and 1/4 cup of the almonds and mix well, add yam juice, mix until smooth. Place in a greased baking dish and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Sprinkle remaining almonds over top half way through baking.
Spring Mix Salad & Orange Tofu Vinaigrette.
Serves 1-2
Salad:
5.5 oz. package fresh spring mix
.66 oz. package fresh mint and basil
1 small tomato diced
1/2 small onion diced
2-3 medium mushrooms
Orange Tofu Vinaigrette
2 oz. orange juice
10 oz. Italian dressing (your choice)
2-3 oz. tofu crumbled
Directions:
Mix washed salad ingredients, chill in bowl.
Mix all vinaigrette ingredients, chill. Toss salad and dressing serve immediately.
Apple Pear Crumble
8 servings
We added this dessert to the veggie menu. It’s good as is or served warm over ice cream.
Ingredients:
* 4 medium pears, cored and thinly sliced
* 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and
thinly sliced
* 2 tablespoons natural granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup finely chopped almonds
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
* 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
* 1/2 cup wheat germ
* 2 tablespoons natural granulated sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons safflower oil
* Nondairy vanilla frozen dessert or organic
vanilla frozen yogurt, (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, combine the fruit and the next 5 ingredients and stir until evenly coated. Pour into a lightly oiled 9- by 13” baking pan. In a small bowl, combine the first 4 topping ingredients and toss to coat. Drizzle in the oil and stir until evenly coated. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the fruit mixture. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the fruits are soft and the topping is golden. If desired, serve warm in bowls over frozen dessert.
If you can’t wait until Thanksgiving day to try this vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner the Veg Head will be serving this as a Thanksgiving special from Nov. 10-15 for $9.95, stop in and try one for lunch or get a few to go for the family and see what it’s all about up close and personal. Don’t forget about the cooking classes on Nov 16th at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Please register in advance, spaces are filling fast.
The Veg Head 920 B Loveland Madeira Rd. 697-7090 (across from McD’s)
