Holiday Recipes

Another Thanksgiving…another chance to try out a bunch of delicious holiday recipes!

This was our menu:

Squash, Corn, and Quinoa Chowder (see Greens & Grains on the Deep Blue Sea)

Whole Wheat & Spelt Herb Biscuits (see Vegan Brunch)

Mashed Potatoes (recipe, of sorts, below)

Golden Gravy (see post)

Steamed Green Beans (you know how to do this!)

Date-Glazed Seitan Roast (recipe below, from Planeat)

Crust-less Pumpkin Pie (see post)

The only real indulgence here is the biscuits – containing a tiny amount of non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening and Earth Balance vegan margarine. I normally never cook with processed fat, BUT I do allow myself homemade biscuits one to two times a year.

Once, when I was a starving college student, even though I otherwise lived on bread and hummus and oat bran, I found the resources to make myself a soy latte and vegan sausage biscuits every morning. Good times – of course, I was also about 40 pounds overweight then. These particular biscuits, made with whole grains, a bare minimum of added fat, and rosemary and thyme are so, so good – just keep in mind: they’re best kept an occasional indulgence! 

 Date-Glazed Seitan Roast

(modified from recipe by Chad Sarno for Planeat)

First, make two batches of seitan using this recipe or use a packaged seitan quick mix if you prefer. Form into one large loaf.

Then, for the glaze, combine:

• 1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 1/2 c low sodium vegetable stock (I used 1 cube Rapunzel bouillon and 3 1/2 c water
• 1/2 c date paste (puree 1 cup dates with 1/2 cup water in a food processor)
• 1 c marsala wine (I used generic red cooking wine)
• 1/2 c tomato paste
• 4 cloves garlic fine minced

Whisk all above ingredients well.

For baking: In a baking pan or roast pan place the seitan loaf in the center and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, flip, baste with liquid and continue to bake for 20 more minutes. Continue this process until most of the liquid is thickened up as a ‘glaze’ and the seitan is firm to touch.

Alternatively, you can cook it in a slow cooker if you prefer a more hands-off approach. Just set it on low for about 6 hours or so and turn it up a half hour before serving time to cook down the glaze. The results may not be quite as good as baking, but it’s still pretty damn good.

Allow the roast to sit a bit to firm up before use. Shred, grind, mince or slice for recipes. Surrounding the roast with colorful roasted root vegetables makes a nice presentation for a holiday feast.

Mashed Potatoes

• Yukon Gold or russet potatoes
• unsweetened non-dairy milk
• salt
• herbs, optional
• nutritional yeast, optional

This isn’t really a recipe so much as my half-assed but still totally adequate means of preparing mashed potatoes.

Peel and dice up some Yukon Gold or russet potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Cover them with water in a large pot, and bring to a boil. Boil them until easily pierced with a fork – around 15 minutes or so – check them as they cook.

Drain. Return them to the pot on medium-low heat and mash them up with a potato masher. Add splashes of unsweetened soy or almond milk as you mash til desired creaminess is reached. Salt to taste.

If you like your potatoes light and fluffy rather than kind of chunky you may want to puree them with an immersion blender if you’ve got one.

You can add additional herbs, such as chives or parsley, or nutritional yeast (for cheesiness). If you’re topping with gravy, however, it’s fine to keep it simple.