Vegan Thanksgiving tips

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Cooking for vegans and vegetarians is easy and nobody leaves the table feeling unsatisfied Vancouver Sun Fretting over what to serve your vegetarians and vegans this Thanksgiving? Denman Island chef Bryanna Clark Grogan to the rescue: She's written a book on the subject, The (Almost) No-Fat Holiday Cookbook, in addition to seven other popular vegan cookbooks. The Vancouver Sun asked her for a few tips and recipes to make this year's Thanksgiving a special one for everyone. For staples such as mashed potatoes, Grogan suggests a few simple substitutions. In place of butter, use Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, which not only tastes good, she says, but is non-GMO (non-genetically modified), non-hydrogenated, and contains no trans fats. In place of milk, soy milk, rice milk, or almond milk can be used, and no one will

know the difference. All of these products can be found in most Vancouver natural foods stores and many conventional grocery stores. For desserts, there are lots of delicious vegan "ice creams" on the market, such as Soy Dream, Soy Delicious and Tofutti. "With these as an accompaniment, even a simple fruit tart is special," Grogan says. For broths, use something like McCormick's vegetarian bouillon cubes, available in any supermarket. And for special holiday coffees, Grogan suggests Silk Soy Creamer. Preparing a meal suitable for a vegetarian is simple, says Grogan, Especially if you make the main recipe, such as her seitan (meat substitute) "turkey" recipe, several days ahead of time. "The pumpkin pies are also better if made one day ahead . . . and even the gravy can be made a few days before. So, you just have to make a salad, mashed potatoes, and perhaps another side dish on the day." To speed

things up, Grogan suggests buying things like cranberry sauce and bakery rolls (check the ingredients) rather than preparing your own. "Make an easy salad with organic bagged baby greens, your favourite natural salad dressing (maybe a raspberry one), topped with some sliced oranges, raw fennel, and canned baby beets, and top it off with roasted nuts." Meat-eaters will find plenty eat at the vegetarian table. "Believe me, omnivores never leave my Thanksgiving table complaining.You can have all the traditional stuff -- mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and stuffing, even if you don't serve a vegan 'turkey.'And you won't feel like you're dying after eating a big meal." For more on vegetarian entertaining at Thanksgiving, visit Grogan's Vegan Feast at http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/ BRYANNA'S RICH BROWN YEAST (FAT-FREE) GRAVY

21/2 cups water (or use 2 cups water and 1/2 cup dry sherry, port, Madeira, or Marsala) 1/3 cup unbleached white flour 1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon salt OPTIONAL: a few shakes of gravy browner, such as Kitchen Bouquet. Add sauteed mushrooms to the gravy, if you like. In a heavy saucepan over high heat, whisk the yeast and flour together until it smells toasty. Off the heat, whisk in the water, soy sauce, salt and Kitchen Bouquet, if using. Stir constantly over high heat until it thickens and comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2-5 minutes. This can be made ahead and reheated. Makes about 21/2 cups Not CanWest kitchen tested BRYANNA'S TRADITIONAL-STYLE VEGAN BREAD STUFFING 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, chopped

1 cup celery and tops, chopped 3/4 pound bread cubes or corn bread cubes 11/2 cup vegetarian broth 1/2 teaspoon each of sage, thyme and savory or to taste Asian sesame oil Saute the onion and celery in a large lightly-oiled frying pan until softened, adding a little broth if necessary to keep from sticking. Remove from heat and add the remaining stuffing ingredients. The bread should be moist. Mix well. Grease cooking dish with Asian sesame oil. Pack in the stuffing. Brush with more sesame oil. Cover with foil. Bake at 325-375F for about 1 hour. Makes about 7 cups Not CanWest kitchen tested Bryanna's Soy and Seitan 'Turkey' This recipe makes outstanding sandwich material. Seitan should be cooled first, then reheated -- this firms it up. It's a good idea to make it a day or more before serving. Can be frozen. Dry Mix: 2

cups pure gluten powder (instant gluten flour; vital wheat gluten) 1/2 cup full-fat soy flour or chickpea flour 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes 2 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon garlic granules 1/4 teaspoon white pepper Wet Mix: 12 ounces firm regular (not silken) tofu 11/2 cups water 3 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon olive oil Basting Broth: 2 cups hot water 1/3 cup "chicken-style" vegetarian broth powder 2 tablespoons olive oil 4 cloves garlic, crushed For the wet mix, in a blender, blend all the ingredients until very smooth. Mix the dry mix ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer with dough hook attachment, or place them in the bread machine in the order given. Add the wet mix and knead for about 10 minutes. (If your bread machine has a dough cycle, do two

kneads with a long rest in between-use cycle. Otherwise, run it through the kneading part and then unplug it and let it rest in the container, then plug it in again for another knead, then remove it,). Let rest for about 1 hour, covered. Prepare cooking broth. Knead dough for 10 more minutes. (NOTE: You can knead by hand, too, but it's tougher than bread dough. You may want to let the seitan dough sit for a while to soak up the liquid more thoroughly before you starting hand-kneading.) The dough should be quite shiny and smooth. Avoid breaking it up when you take it out of the bowl. (I like to line the pan with cooking parchment to avoid sticking and tearing.) Flatten the dough out into a long piece. Form the dough into one large loaf. Place into a oval greased clay cooker or claypot that has been soaked for 15 minutes in cold water (bottom and cover), and lined with cooking parchment. Do not preheat oven. (If you

don't have a clay cooker, you can use an ordinary oval meat or turkey roaster, medium size, with a cover. In this instance, preheat the oven.) Pour the broth over the roast, and cover. Place in oven and turn to 325 degrees. F. Bake for 31/2 hours, turning the roast over twice . The loaf should almost completely soak up the broth by the end of the cooking time. Cook until it does. Remove from the pan and serve, or let cool. (Visit Grogan's website at www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/ for a different baking option) Serves 12 Not CanWest kitchen tested Bryanna's Traditional-style Vegan Bread Stuffing 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 cup celery and tops, chopped 3/4 pound bread cubes or corn bread cubes 11/2 cup vegetarian broth 1/2 teaspoon each of sage, thyme and savory or to taste Asian sesame

oil Saute the onion and celery in a large lightly-oiled frying pan until softened, adding a little broth if necessary to keep from sticking. Remove from heat and add the remaining stuffing ingredients. The bread should be moist. Mix well. Grease cooking dish with Asian sesame oil. Pack in the stuffing. Brush with more sesame oil. Cover with foil. Bake at 325-375F for about 1 hour. Makes about 7 cups Not CanWest kitchen tested BRYANNA'S RICH BROWN (FAT-FREE) YEAST GRAVY 21/2 cups water (or use 2 cups water and 1/2 cup dry sherry, port, Madeira, or Marsala) 1/3 cup unbleached white flour 1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon salt OPTIONAL: a few shakes of gravy browner, such as Kitchen Bouquet. Add sauteed mushrooms to the gravy, if you like. In a heavy saucepan over high heat, whisk the yeast and

flour together until it smells toasty. Off the heat, whisk in the water, soy sauce, salt and Kitchen Bouquet, if using. Stir constantly over high heat until it thickens and comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2-5 minutes. This can be made ahead and reheated. Makes about 21/2 cups Not CanWest kitchen tested For the wet mix, in a blender, blend all the ingredients until very smooth. Mix the dry mix ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer with dough hook attachment, or place them in the bread machine in the order given. Add the wet mix and knead for about 10 minutes. (If your bread machine has a dough cycle, do two kneads with a long rest in between-use cycle. Otherwise, run it through the kneading part and then unplug it and let it rest in the container, then plug it in again for another knead, then remove it). Let rest for about 1 hour, covered. Prepare cooking broth. Knead dough for

10 more minutes. (NOTE: You can knead by hand, too, but it's tougher than bread dough. You may want to let the seitan dough sit for a while to soak up the liquid more thoroughly before you starting hand-kneading.) The dough should be quite shiny and smooth. Avoid breaking it up when you take it out of the bowl. (I like to line the pan with cooking parchment to avoid sticking and tearing.) Flatten the dough out into a long piece. Form the dough into one large loaf. Place into a oval greased clay cooker or claypot that has been soaked for 15 minutes in cold water (bottom and cover), and lined with cooking parchment. Do not preheat oven. (If you don't have a clay cooker, you can use an ordinary oval meat or turkey roaster, medium size, with a cover. In this instance, preheat the oven.) Pour the broth over the roast, and cover. Place in oven and turn to 325 degrees. F. Bake for 31/2 hours, turning the roast over twice . The loaf should almost completely soak up the broth by the end of the cooking time. Cook until it does. Remove from the pan and serve, or let cool and reheat before serving. (Visit Grogan's website at www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/ for a different baking option) Serves 12 Not CanWest kitchen testedPeter H

 

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