Pre-Thanksgiving ~ Ham Pie Sandwiches

16 November 2012

Pre-Thanksgiving

Um. You guys? It's just under a week until Thanksgiving, and I for one have not really prepared.

We're having our 3rd vegan Thanksgiving running with our friend Chrissy. Yay! You know there will be Boggle, if nothing else. But otherwise...

A few standards come to mind. We'll have a pan of some mix of root vegetables, winter squash, and/or brussels sprouts tossed in dijon vinaigrette and roasted with stalks of rosemary. We'll make a big bowl of olive oil mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. We'll definitely have wine.

The main course is kind of up for grabs, however. We've had both a field roast and a tofurky before, and while both were pretty good, I could be convinced to forego them in favor of some large beany something-or-other. I really like our black bean and sweet potato soup, but a soup as a main course is a slightly iffy proposition. Maybe some sort of pan-fried white bean concoction, done with the hugest dried white beans we can possibly find? Or if we want to expend more effort, we might make some befenneled seitan sausage, to be used in a mess of white beany stew.

Cranberry sauce is not high on the list. I, for one, hate it--and I grew up with sauce made from actual cranberries. Still, something cranberry has to happen. I'm thinking about making a batch of Spabettie's spiked cran-raspberry granita. My friend Cookie has also mentioned splitting a batch of her cranberry-orange relish, so that may happen too. WE'LL SEE.

Greens of some sort have to happen. I really have no idea what I want on this one. I mean, a standard garlic-sauteed kale or cabbage braised in red wine would be good. A dark green or mesclun mix salad would work well too. Salad seems reasonable and easy, right?

Making an outstanding vegan pumpkin pie is a real challenge. This year I'm planning to try Gena's vegan pumpkin pie with coconut oil crust and cashew-creamy filling, which looks amazing. I'm not going to test it in advance--we can't possibly eat an entire pumpkin pie a week before Thanksgiving--but I have high hopes.

And now I must clean out the refrigerator in preparation for the most food-centric holiday of the year.

What are you guys planning for your holiday feasts?

9 comments:

Ana said...

How about a butternut squash lasagna with tofu ricotta and daiya mozzarella?

Caz said...

Sounds like you have some great ideas for your thanksgiving feast, especially the pumpkin pie. It looks amazing!

Joanne said...

I love that you're having a vegan Thanksgiving!! I'm making a vegan entree also - a roasted carrot and quinoa salad with all sorts of middle eastern spices. I think I'm going to throw in some chickpeas also. :)

Catherine Weber said...

I've made bean & stuffing stuffed squashes for vegan thanksgiving entree before -- worked very well!

Also, I've made this tofu pumpkin pie a million times, and it turns out spectacularly. (I like it better than ordinary pumpkin pie, as it's more pumpkin-y and less heavy and rich!)

http://vegweb.com/recipes/tofu-pumpkin-pie

Have fun!

Kristina @ spabettie said...

eeeeek! I cannot believe it's this week. This. Week.

I have some things in mind, but I really have not started preparing. I suppose in the next couple of days I'll have to! we're going to my moms, they will have turkey, but I always bring plenty of options for me and other non bird eaters?

and I hope you do make the granitas - they are SO very good and I think you'd enjoy them, very celebratory holiday feel.

cheers!

Michelle said...

If you toss some cranberries in with your roasted roots, you could easily pick them out so you don't have to suffer, but the rest of the cranberry eaters would get their cranberry fix!

Maybe a lentil loaf of some kind would be good smothered under that mushroom gravy!

Kat said...

Vegan Thanksgiving sounds like a wonderful culinary challenge that I would love to tackle someday. At Thanksgivings that I've been at, people manage to sneak in meat into pretty much every dish except perhaps cranberry sauce. I think that a choice of stand-alone vegan dishes would benefit most Thanksgiving tables. Let us know what you decide on for the main dish!

Eileen said...

Yay! Glad to see everyone so excited! Our menu is finalized, and we're going with black bean sweet potato soup as the main dish after all. We know it's delicious, and it's super harvest-y and appropriate. It's all good. :)

Kristina, I haven't been able to find any raspberries, so granita may have to wait--boo! And Michelle, cranberries in with the roasted veg is a Very interesting idea--I don't hate cranberries themselves, just the sauce, so I doubt I'd even pick them out. Hmm...

Alicia said...

Yum! I'm not hosting this year so I will make mushroom gravy and veggie stuffing the next day to enjoy for leftovers... Your menu sounds awesome!