Thanksgiving Reflections, 2014 Edition

Thanksgiving 2014 was another great one, and I'm still feeling the glow days later. My parents came up for the second year in a row, and we shared a plant-based Thanksgiving feast that I have been planning for weeks.

I shared my menu a few weeks ago, and there were only a few changes since then. In the end it was all vegan, gluten-free (except the rolls), and refined-sugar free (stevia and maple syrup in the pie). Here's how it all turned out:

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Autumn Kale Salad

Fall is my favorite produce season - I love picking up persimmons and pomegranates at the farmer's market. This year my Thanksgiving salad mixes those flavors with other autumn staples like pumpkin seeds and cranberries. The result is a tender, crunchy, sweet and savory salad that will give you plenty to be grateful for.

Kale salad with quinoa, persimmons, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, and a pomegranate vinaigrette

Serves 4-ish

Ingredients

For the salad:
(I didn't measure this part. These are approximate amounts and don't need to be exact, so adjust to your preference and what you have on hand)

• 1 large bunch kale, stems removed and torn into pieces (or a prepared bag - but lose those pesky stems)
• 1/2 small shallot, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup pepitas, lightly toasted
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 ripe fuyu persimmon, peeled and sliced into half-moons
• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
• Pomegranate seeds (optional, but probably perfect)

For the dressing:
(There will be extra, so you can be generous with the dressing, make more salad, or half the ingredients for the dressing if you want to keep it light)

• 1/4 cup 100% pomegranate juice (juice it yourself or buy it - but make sure it is 100% pomegranate juice with no added juices or sugars)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Put kale into large bowl
2. Whisk together salad dressing ingredients and pour a small amount into the kale (use your own judgement/preference here, but enough to moisten all of the leaves).
3. "Massage" the dressing into the kale until it is tender and just wilted. You may want to wear gloves or plastic bags over your hands for this.
4. Add the remaining salad ingredients and toss, adding more dressing if desired (or serve it on the side).

And there you have it. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Throwback Thursday: Last Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is only a week away, and I'm getting so excited! I'm in the final planning and prepping stages for this year, and reflecting a bit on how things went the first time around.

Hollylujah's original incarnation is still out there, and its only two posts were about last year's Thanksgiving. This post explained my crafty pumpkin place cards, and this post was a roundup of how each recipe turned out.

Here are some photos from the day:

Homemade pumpkin spice lattes (vegan, natch)

Craftiness

The setup

Pumpkin candle holders = <3

Kale salad with delicata squash and all kinds of other goodness

Roasted green beans with cranberries and walnuts

It was pretty delicious if I recall.

Chocolate brownie pumpkin pie with crunchy pecan topping and maple coconut whipped cream. Say that 3 times fast.

My parents, ladies and gentlemen.

Good times :)

If you're interested in trying any of those recipes, they were all linked on the old blog. Last year was so wonderful, and one of my favorite memories ever. I can't wait to do it again!

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My Thanksgiving Menu (first draft, anyway!)

Hello! It's been a while. I've missed blogging, but some other things have been taking up my time.

For example, we rescued a bunny in August and she's been the center of my world ever since. She's a sweet, silly, and shy little lop with helicopter ears (one up and one down - the cutest thing ever). We named her Penny Lane, and spoil her rotten. There will probably be some posts about her in the near future, actually. But for now, just look at that cute face!

I've also been really busy chipping away at my last semester of college EVER. Only another 5 weeks or so until I'm a college grad! It's an exciting, slightly terrifying, and definitely busy time.

In between all that and more, I've still been cooking up a storm, and I'll have quite a few new recipes to share soon.

This month, however, my focus is delightfully directed toward Thanksgiving, as once again I am hosting this year! (There will probably be some flashback posts soon about the menu and decor from last year - they were on a different blog.)

I have been pinning and organizing the potential recipes for weeks, and today I may just have finalized the menu. I recently eliminated wheat and refined sugars from my diet, so had to factor that into the planning process, and I managed to create a menu that works! So without further adieu, here is a 100% vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free Thanksgiving menu that I can't wait to bring to life:

Main Course: Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf from FatFree Vegan Kitchen. After 3 blissful years of ordering the Native Foods Wellington (a puff pastry filled with meaty seitan, yams, kale, and stuffing and topped with what is arguably the best mushroom gravy in existence), we decided to go our own way this year (plus, the wellington has tons of wheat). We chose a meatless loaf that doesn't pretend to be meat. It's full of vegan staples - beans, tofu, veggies - delicious thanksgiving herbs and spices, and looks like it will be completely perfect when slathered in mushroom gravy. Speaking of which...

Gravy: Happy Herbivore's Everyday Mushroom Gravy - Quick fangirl moment - Lindsay Shay Nixon is by far my favorite plant-based cookbook author (and idol). She's a pro at creating recipes that are as simple as they are delicious, and her compassionate "progress not perfection" approach to the vegan lifestyle is a refreshing change of pace. Anyway! I'm not sure if this simple gravy recipe is anywhere online, but it can be found in two of Lindsay's books, Everyday Happy Herbivore and Happy Herbivore: Holidays and Gatherings (which is new this year and also the source of another recipe I plan to try - fangirling over!)

Stuffing: Southern Cornbread Stuffing from Food to Glow - When I asked my boyfriend if he had any special requests for Thanksgiving (which also falls on his birthday this year), he suggested cornbread. So when I realized I also had to start looking for a wheat-free stuffing recipe, this was a no-brainer. This recipe was the first to pop up in my search, and it had me at hello - I think it's going to be the home run recipe of the year.

Salad: This is going to be my original recipe, so look for that post in the next few weeks once I get it right. But it will be a kale salad with plenty of autumn accents.

Other side dishes: Garlic/rosemary mashed potatoes, simple roasted green beans, and Happy Herbivore's sweet potato casserole from her new holiday book.

Dessert: GF Maple-Nut Pumpkin Pie. I'm trying a hybrid of this simple pie filling made with cashews and this gluten-free crust made with pecans, and topping it all off with the maple coconut whipped cream that we loved last year. Making some small changes to make the recipes work together, and to work with my current diet, but I'm excited to see how this turns out.

And there you have it! I couldn't be more thrilled to make and eat all of this in a few weeks. What new recipes are you trying this year?

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Hollylujah! Onion Rings

There's a burger spot in our neighborhood with vegan options, and my boyfriend and I like to go there after an active day, or when we're simply feeling indulgent. I love their vegan and portobello burgers, but their onion rings are the BEST, and probably the reason we go about once a month. They're beer-battered and deep fried and probably not even vegan though, so I've been jonesing to come up with a healthier alternative to make at home.

The idea to make them with almonds was always there, in order to lower the carbs and make the fats healthier. But I started off a bit over-zealous, planning to make the almond milk at home and dehydrate the leftover almond crumbles to turn into almond flour and a crunchy coating. This is exactly what I did, but it took forever, so next time I will probably simplify a bit. :) In fact, I have come up with a simple method, so I will share all of your options in this post, depending on where you fall on the zealous-ometer.

Note: I will continue to tweak this recipe and add more photos and an instructional video. But if you can't wait, give it a go!

On to the recipe...

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Healthy Pad Thai? YES.

Hello hello! I am back from a wonderful visit in Los Angeles with friends and family. I was anxious to get back to cooking, so I stopped at the store on my way back into town and stocked up on a bunch of fresh ingredients to fill my week with new recipes. Among them was a spaghetti squash and some powdered low-fat peanut butter, both of which were calling me the next day when I was craving pad thai.

Pad thai is delicious, but never really considered healthy, so I was on a mission to reduce the guilt of this incredible dish as much as possible. Using baked spaghetti squash instead of rice noodles cuts the carbs down by about 30g per serving, and by using powdered peanut butter, the fat is reduced by 85%.

Here's a nutritional comparison for this recipe vs the same exact one prepared with regular peanut butter and rice noodles:

This recipe: 135 calories, 3g fat, 21.1g carbs (full nutrition facts at the end of this post)
Traditional: 430 calories, 16.7g fat, 55.9 carbs

The numbers don't lie. Onward to the recipe!

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Marinated Portobello Burgers Recipe

My adventures in creating recipes from farmer's market finds continue...

There was a mushroom stand on Sunday with baskets of various mushroom varieties, all marked at $5 a basket. There was only one portobello basket left, and it was mine. I knew right away that they would become burgers, so all that was left was to decide on a marinade. Here's what I came up with...

Why I put the lettuce on the bottom, I'll never know.

Onward to the recipe!

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Mediterranean Grilled Veggie Bowl with Tahini Sauce

I was a bit tired last night and trying to come up with a last-minute dinner that could use the leftover zucchini from this pasta, as well as the red pepper and eggplant I got at the farmers market on Sunday. I found this recipe, which I could make with a few substitutions, so I went for it. It is absolutely delicious and I suggest you try it if you enjoy mediterranean flavors. Rather than retype the recipe (maybe I'll update it later, but I don't have time today), here are the substitutions I made:

Mediterranean Grilled Veggie Bowl with Tahini Sauce (Adapted from Chow)

(Click the link if you want the original recipe, these are only the changes I made)

• I didn't have roasted tahini, so I ground up some roasted sesame seeds. It was about 2 2/3 tablespoons to make 2 tablespoons of packed sesame seeds, and I just blended that right into the lemon juice and olive oil for the dressing. I also forgot the garlic, but didn't notice, and it was still fantastic.
• I didn't have a shallot, so I used up 1/3 of a red onion I had leftover from a different recipe.
• I used Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend instead of just couscous, because it's what was in my pantry. It's mostly couscous, but with a orzo, garbanzo beans, and red quinoa mixed in. Upgrade!
• I also grilled up the leftover inside chunks of zucchini from yesterday's pasta adventure.
• I sprayed the vegetables with my misto instead of brushing them, but who knows if this used less oil in the end. I sprinkled them with lemon pepper instead of just salt and pepper. It tasted very lemony (but not overly so) in the end, which I love.
• Grilling took forever because I have a george foreman grill, but hopefully that helped with the oil problem.
• I also didn't have fresh parsley, so I threw in a tablespoon and a half of dried.

The result was so delicious, it was addictive, and I had to fight the urge to eat the rest right out of the pan. It was the perfect end to an exhausting day.

Not a very exciting post for today, but I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow with marinated portobello mushroom burgers! :)

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Zucchini Pasta with Walnut Pesto (low-carb and low-calorie)

I had a pretty great Sunday. It started with my first-ever Zumba class and swimming with my good friend Nena (whose awesome Tech blog you can find here, btw). Afterward, there happened to be a farmer's market in the parking lot, so we got some cash and went produce hunting. I scored on a lot of goodies that will be sure to inspire many new recipes this week. Here's my loot:

GET IN MAH BELLY

Inspired by the unhealthy hummus we found there, we went back to my house and made the hummus that I posted yesterday, and then I started to think about what else I could make this week. I got some extra long zucchini that would make great noodles, and so much basil would have to become pesto. So yesterday afternoon I got to work, determined to make a delicious new pasta dish that would be as healthy as possible.

If you've never made zucchini noodles, you're missing out. Cooked just a little, zucchini closely resembles the texture of pasta, and when you add some sauce you can hardly tell the difference. It makes a great lasagna noodle as well. 

To cut the noodles, a special slicer is ideal. I have a mandoline slicer (this one) that can make julienned strips, but this spiral slicer is officially on my wish list. If you don't have the appropriate slicer or the cash to splurge on one right now, you can use a vegetable peeler to create long, flat, linguine-like shreds. I don't recommend just using a knife for this, though. I tried it once, and the results were not worth the time and effort required.

Whether you peel the zucchini first is up to you - it's really just a question of aesthetics and nutrition. The skin adds a bit more color and fiber, but I'd recommend peeling your zucchini if it isn't organic, to reduce your chemical intake. However you choose to slice your noodles, stop when you get to the seeds. I like to save the insides for other recipes - they're good grilled! :)

If you want more info on the various ways to prepare zucchini noodles, check out this thorough Wikihow article. 

Ummm, hi.

Onward to the recipe!

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Chickpea Salad from Adventuresome Kitchen

Happy 4th of July! I hope you're all enjoying a nice relaxing day off with friends and family.

I'm headed to a potluck today, and found myself without a recipe last night. I texted some friends in a panic and told them I was thinking about a chickpea salad, and my lovely friend Jessica came to my rescue with this link. It was a miracle! I actually had almost everything on hand, and only needed to run to the store for a few things this morning. So this post is dedicated to Jessica, for saving my 4th of July :)

As usual, I made a few modifications (less oil, mostly!) to the recipe, which I'll explain in this post, but you can head over to Adventuresome Kitchen for the original recipe if you like.

Chickpea Salad (adapted from Adventuresome Kitchen)

Ingredients (Serves about 10)

• 4 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans) drained
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into cubes
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 bag, or several bunches of spinach, torn into smaller pieces
• 2 1/2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4-1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
• 3 tbs red wine vinegar
• 1 tbs dried rosemary
• 1 tbs herbes de provence
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Dice the sweet potato and onion. Place in a large bowl with 1/2 tbs oil and stir.
   
   Place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and sprinkle lightly with salt. Cook until softened - about 30 minutes.
   
2. Drain chickpeas and place in a large bowl. Add tomatoes. When the sweet potato onion combo has finished cooking, add to the bowl.

   

   I had a few different brands of chickpeas lying around. Can you see the color difference?

3. Place the torn spinach and 1/4 cup vegetable broth into a large pan and heat over medium heat. Saute until the greens are barely wilted- about 2 minutes, adding more liquid if necessary. Add to the bowl.

   

   Magically shrinking spinach

4. Whisk together the remaining 2 tbs oil, red wine vinegar, and herbs, and pour over salad.
5. Using a large spoon, gently toss all the ingredients together.
   
6. Salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!

We'll be heading to the potluck with this, some blue corn chips and salsa, and a red summer wine. Hope you have a beautiful day!

Nutrition (Per 1 1/4 cup serving)

• Calories: 219
• Total Fat: 6.7 g
• Saturated: 0.5 g
• Polyunsaturated: 0.4 g
• Monounsaturated: 2.5 g
• Trans: 0 g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 430.5 mg
• Potassium: 219 mg
• Carbs: 37.9 g
• Fiber: 12 g
• Sugars: 4.6 g
• Protein: 9.8 g
• Vitamin A: 114.7%
• Vitamin C: 18.8%
• Calcium: 9.5%
• Iron: 41%

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