Thanksgiving!

I usually make my own seitan, but this year I didn't have time. Instead, I bought a Trader Joe's field roast-type thing, and an old-fashioned Tofurky. In the court of popular opinion, the field roast won, hands down. Tofurky is sadly rubbery and too salty by far.

Both the field roast and Tofurky come with stuffing, which is OK. Tofurky also comes with gravy, but I decided to make my own instead because, again, theirs is too salty. To make gravy, I sauté onions and button mushrooms, then add tamari, vegetable stock, herbs, and a little corn starch. I let it simmer for an hour or more before serving. It keeps well in the fridge for several days afterwards and reheats easily in the microwave.

For sides, we enjoyed:

- Roasted yams and sweet potatoes

- Arugula salad with red onion and kumquats

- Kale salad with raspberries, blueberries and walnuts

- Cranberry sauce

- Wild rice and lentil pilaf

For dessert, I made maple pecan pie from the Post Punk Kitchen. 

http://www.theppk.com/2011/08/maple-pecan-pie/

It was totally delicious, although the filling bubbled over the edges of the crust more than I would have expected, and the whole thing kind of fell apart when I served it. Overall, though, I was happy with the flavors and will probably make it again.

My real triumph, though, was the pumpkin spice ice cream. In the blender, I mixed three parts Trader Joe's vanilla soy ice cream with one part canned pumpkin. Then I added plenty of cinnamon and a little ginger. The whole thing got pretty soft, so I put it back into the freezer to set before serving. The consistency came out really perfectly, and the flavor was much more subtle and appetizing than some of the commercially available seasonal ice cream flavors. This recipe will definitely be making an appearance at future Thanksgivings. 

Pumpkin Spice Muffins 

These muffins are so festive! And people seem to appreciate how moist they are. The recipe was originally adapted from veganbaking.net, which you should definitely check out if you haven't done so already.

3 tbsp water

1 tbsp flax meal

2 tbsp non-dairy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup pumpkin purée

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup canola oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon ginger

½ cup chopped pecans

Mix together the flax meal and water in a cup, set aside. This will make a viscous, egg-like liquid. If you only have whole flax seeds, you can make your own flax meal by blending them in a coffee grinder. Once ground, store the flax meal in the fridge or freezer to keep it fresh. Next, in a separate cup, mix your apple cider vinegar and non-dairy milk, and set that aside to curdle.

Measure the remaining dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix. Next, stir in the pureed pumpkin, then gently add the water/flax mixture and the curdled milk mixture that you made earlier. When the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, the batter should have a fairly thick consistency. Now add half a cup of pecans. I like to use pecan pieces, but you could use whole one and break them up by hand before stirring them in. 

Divide the batter into 12, and bake in a greased muffin pan at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for one hour.