Pass the Tofurky?

Recipe: Vegetarian Thanksgiving Menu

Ok. I have to be honest. I probably will have a little turkey on Thanksgiving. In fact I will probably be the one cooking it. But, my plate will be about 10% turkey and 90% delicious veggies and vegetarian. Honest! I have been doing a lot of thinking about what dishes I can cook for my family that doesn't involve meat. I know Thanksgiving is all about gluttony (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and that eating a ton of meat is what American gluttony is all about, but I think I can convince them that there is happiness to be found in veggies too.

The New York Time's Well Blog has a great article on Vegetarian Thanksgivings. They will be adding new recipes every day until Thanksgiving, and they have beautiful photographs. Using that site as inspiration, I have a few menu ideas of my own to bring to the table (so to speak). I have a lot of links and recipes in this post, s

o I'll keep my thoughts short and let the food speak for its self.

The Menu

Snacks:

Curried Cashews

1 pound unsalted raw cashews

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Mix spices together. Heat canola oil in a small skillet. Add spices to pan and toast for one to two minutes until fragrant.

3. Toss spice mixture over cashews. Spread evenly on a sheet pan and toast nuts in oven for ten to fifteen minutes until nuts are golden brown.

Spiced Walnuts

Salads and Sides:

Fall Beet Salad

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Parker House Rolls

Simple Mixed Green Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette

1 bag spring mix

1 red onion, julienned

3 ripe bosc pears, thinly sliced

1/2 pound blue cheese, crumbled

For Vinaigrette:

1/2 gallon apple cider, reduced to 1 cup

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

2 tablespoons honey

3 cups olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Whisk reduced cider, vinegar, honey, and mustard together. Slowly whisk in oil. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Toss salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Dress salad with 1/4 cup vinaigrette just before serving. Reserve the rest of the vinaigrette for later.

Green Beans with Almonds and Lemon (VEGAN)

2 pounds green beans

1 cup almonds, lightly toasted

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch green beans for 6-7 minutes until just tender. Drain and shock beans in ice water.

2. Heat oil in a large saute pan. Add garlic and saute one to two minutes. Add green beans almonds. Finish with a good squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Main Dishes:

Vegetarian Shepard's Pie

Goat Cheese Macaroni Gratin

1 pound macaroni

5 cups whole milk

5 oz flour

5 oz butter

1 cup creamy goat cheese (try Capriole's Fresh or if you're in the Chicago area Prairie Fruits Farm has some great goat cheeses)

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons cayenne

1/2 baguette, small diced and toasted

1 bunch parsley, minced

1/2 cup parmesan

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook macaroni until al dente about 7-8 minutes. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Bring milk to a boil. In the meantime, melt butter in a large pot. Add flour to make a roux and cook for three to four minutes stirring constantly. Carefully whisk in hot milk. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Add nutmeg and cayenne and cook for twenty minutes stirring occasionally. When stirring, be sure to get the sides and the bottoms of the pot, as this sauce is prone to burning.

3. Whisk in goat cheese and season sauce with salt and pepper. Add noodles to sauce and put in a large casserole dish.

4. Mix together baguette toast bits, parsley, and parmesan. Sprinkle on top

of macaroni mixture and bake in oven for 30 - 40 minutes until dish is golden on top.

Desserts:

Vegan Apple Pie

Classic Pumpkin Pie

What the *%#@! Should I Buy: How to Shop Vegetarian

Recipe: Fall Beet Salad

When I first decided to try out a vegetarian diet, the hardest part was grocery shopping. Previously, I would start at the meat counter and pick up whatever my belly craved. Then I would pick a few fruits and veggies (mainly apples and baby carrots) to nibble on in between the times I wasn't eating meat. Sometimes the meat would mingle with veggies in whatever recipe I made at the time (tomatoes in the chili, onions in the chicken noodle soup), but meat was always the star of the show.

So on the first day at the grocery store after I decided to eat little to no meat, I was a little confused and I kind of went crazy. I picked out a random assortment of vegetables, leafy greens, nuts, and grains and filled my fridge with produce that I didn't look at, let alone use, again. I was so lost without a protein to plan my meal around, that I lost focus, wasted money, and bought things that were more or less unappetizing to me. I almost lost it and went to KFC that week, that's how bad it was.

Now I'm a little more seasoned in my meatless shopping and while I still have a little vegetable ADD, I've created a few rules for myself that help keep my shopping focused and the meals I make taste good!

1. Buy seasonal. The flavors usually mesh well and the produce is going to be the most affordable and the best quality. And while you're doing that:

2. Go to the farmer's market as much as possible. You'll find some really interesting products there. I love the beautiful colors and varieties of produce that I am familiar with and I always find some new vegetable I've never worked with before. Try out new things to keep your diet exciting!

3. Buy a variety of textures, colors, and flavors. Don't just go for potatoes and sunchokes.... All your meals will taste mushy and bland. Pick out crunchy greens, fragrant cloves of garlic, bright and beautiful squashes.... It will add variety to the meal!

4. Avoid processed foods. One of the main reasons I am avoiding meat is for health reasons: I wanted to add more vegetables to my diet. If all you buy are chips, ice cream, and frozen meals then you haven't added much nutrients to the diet. Shop produce as much as possible and avoid other aisles.

Shopping seasonal is how I came up with this Fall Beet Salad. I came home from the store with some beautiful red and yellow beets, swiss chard, and more Brussels sprouts (I could eat those all day long). You'll find a variety of textures, flavors, and colors in this dish. Paired with a delicious lemon vinaigrette, this dish can be eaten hot or cold.

Fall Beet Salad

4-5 red and yellow Beets

1 cup white wine

2 cloves garlic, smashed

water

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

1 bunch swiss chard, chopped

oil for roasting and cooking

1 onion, julienned

1 shallot minced

1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons dried thyme

1 cup champagne vinegar

3 cups olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

If eaten hot served with: 1/2 cup cooked brown rice

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Wash beets and place in a roasting pan with wine, garlic, and enough water to come halfway up the beets. Cover with foil and roast in oven for 45 minutes to an hour depending on size of beets.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Par cook Brussels sprouts for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and shock in ice water and drain. Season with salt and pepper, toss in a good amount of oil and roast in oven with the beets until tender and caramelized about 20 minutes.

3. Caramelize onions over medium high heat until a golden brown color. Add chopped chard and sauté until greens are wilted, about 4 -5 minutes. Remove from heat.

4. Once beets are done cooking, remove from oven and pan. Let cool for 10 minutes and peel the skin off the beets. This should be easy to do, you can use a clean kitchen towel to help you along. Cut into 1 inch cubes.

5. Mix minced shallots, lemon juice, champagne vinegar, thyme and honey together. While briskly whisking, slowly drizzle olive oil into vinegar mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Mix beets, Brussels sprouts, chard and onions, and vinaigrette together. Adjust seasonings and eat hot with cooked brown rice or cold.

Everyone's Favorite Food: Brussels Sprouts

Recipes: Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Olive Oil and Garlic

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Sunchokes and Citrus Brown Butter with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Yesterday at work I had to clean around 20 pounds of Brussels sprouts. (Side note: I love how "Brussels spouts" is written out. What other vegetable conjures up images of old world Europe, just in it's name? Nerd alert....) Cleaning 20 pounds of Brussels sprouts took about an hour, which gave me plenty of time to contemplate why people hate them so much. How exactly did Brussels sprouts get such a bad rap?

I first had a Brussels sprout was last year. Yes, I had made it through twenty-something years of life before a Brussels sprout had grazed past my lips. The real hater in my life is my fifty-something year old mother, who had such a bad experience with the sprouts when she was younger that she forever banned them from her adult life. Now her mother, my grandmother, was a notoriously bad cook. She botched every dish that touched her stove, allegedly. So its no wonder that her Brussels sprouts dishes were poorly executed. But, how bad could it be? Well, my mom gets a little queasy even at the thought of Brussels sprouts.

So, what a surprise when I liked my first Brussels sprout. No I didn't just like it. I LOVED it. I couldn't believe that all the bad things my mom had said about them were true. Not even my mom, but most of popular culture had given the Brussels sprout a bad name. They were crunchy and flavorful, fresh and nutty, and I loved how they look like mini cabbages. When I came home to visit shortly afterwords, I was armed with a bag full of Brussels sprouts aimed at changing my mom's opinion on the whole issue. She responded to my plea with a slightly green face and a firm shake of the head "no." Her fear of this inoffensive vegetable ran too deep.

There are a ton of cool things about Brussels sprouts. Here is a list I made:

1. They look like MINI CABBAGES. No way could you fit a whole regular sized cabbage in your mouth, but you can do it now.

2. They are delicious with bacon. (Wait did I say that? Wait is this blog called "Bacon NO MORE?" well shit.) They are delicious with organic, free range, grass-fed, farmer killed bacon, then.

3. They reduce the risk of cancer! Also, they have a high amount of vitamin K, C and lots of A, potassium (that that Bananas!), and some other vitamins and minerals that I don't really know what they are, but sound healthy.

4. They are filling. Its sort of like the Willy Wonka version of a vegetable. Because its a mini cabbage, its like a full meal packed in a bite-sized package. Kind of.

I think the reason that so many people have had such bad experiences with Brussels sprouts is that whoever cooked them (namely mothers everywhere) didn't do it properly. Brussels sprouts can be really bad if they are bland, undercooked, or both. The best way to extract flavor is by roasting or caramelizing the sprouts. This will bring out the nutty flavor. Just blanching the sprouts alone leaves you with a bland boring dish, but roasting will crisp the outside and give you better texture and flavor.

Here are two different ways of preparing Brussels sprouts (without bacon, wah wah). The first recipe can be used as a side dish to other entrees, and the second is meant as a complete meal.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Olive Oil and Garlic

1 pound Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and halved

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

Salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. Blanch Brussel sprouts in pot of water for 2 to 3 minutes or until par cooked. Remove and shock in ice water.

3. Toss Brussels sprouts in olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Spread evenly on a sheet pan and roast in oven for 8 to 10 minutes more until edges have browned and the Brussels sprouts are cooked fully. They should be tender yet with a little bite.

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Sunchokes and Citrus Brown Butter with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

1 pound Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and halved

1 pound sunchokes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces (stored in acidulated water until ready to cook)

1 onion, julienned

1/2 stick of butter, cut into pieces

1 lemon

2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

For Mashed Sweet Potatoes:

2 sweet potatoes

1/4 cup of skim milk

1 tablespoon butter

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

Salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the Brussels sprouts next for another 2 minutes, remove and shock in ice water. Place sunchokes in preheated oven and roast for 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked fully.

2. Caramelize onions over medium-high heat. Remove from pan and caramelize Brussels Sprouts in same pan. Turn off heat and add onions and cooked sunchokes to pan.

3. To make sauce, brown butter in a frying pan over medium high heat. Once the milk solids have browned and the butter has a nutty aroma remove from heat and strain. Squeeze fresh lemon juice into butter and season with a little salt and pepper. Toss sauce over Brussels sprout mixture. Add parsley and adjust seasoning.

For the sweet potatoes:

1. Cook sweet potatoes whole in 400 oven until fork tender.

2. While the potatoes are cooking bring butter, milk, cayenne and ginger to a boil.

3. Remove potatoes from the oven and peel. Mash with a fork and mix with milk mixture. Season with salt and pepper.