Blog

Vegan-Meatloaf-682x1024 This dish will fool any meat eaters you have at your holiday dinner this year! The combination of the quinoa, oats, mushrooms and nuts provide this dish with the perfect "meat" loaf texture. Finish it off with your choice of our Cranberry Glaze recipe from this year's series or a traditional meatloaf glaze. I have teamed up with vegan chef Yvonne Ardestani to bring to all of my readers 13 new recipe for a Vegan and Gluten-free Sweet Eceletic Thanksgiving Celebration! I'm crossing my fingers that a recipe of ours makes it to your list!

Raw Vegan Thanksgiving StuffingSooooooo, this recipe is going to blow your mind. Growing up, my mom never ever made homemade stuffing. In fact, she still doesn't. What she used (and still uses) are Stove Top stuffing in a box that she pretty much just adds water, butter and its spice packet to. Well, this year, I will no stand for this! Over the last 3 years as a vegan, I have tried to influence my family as best I can to turn away from prepackaged, processed foods and ingredients, and to turn to whole food plant based foods/ingredients. My family has made significant progress towards this way of living, but they are still far off from a full blown transition. What I have found as the easiest way to influence them to try out alternatives to their previous habits is by making the dishes myself (veganized, of course). Raw Vegan Thanksgiving Stuffing

quinoa stuffingThis Quinoa Stuffing is perfect for a healthy Thanksgiving Celebration. What this dish reminds me of is a fried rice with a Thanksgiving flare. It is sweet, savory, filling, and easy to make. Feel free to swap in/out any ingredients and play around with this recipe to make it your own!
  • Sweet potatoes can be subbed with butternut squash, acorn squash, maybe even apples, etc.
  • Pecans can be subbed with any nut or seed of choice, so long that it adds a nice crunch to the dish.
  • The quinoa can be subbed with any other variety of quinoa as well as any grain of choice that you have on hand.
  • The cranberries and apricots can be subbed with your favorite dried fruit.
quinoa-stuffing

1Creamy-Mushroom-RiceThe holidays have arrived, so it is time to whip out some hearty dishes! This rice is perfect for your Thanksgiving menu. It is filling, creamy, flavor packed and easy to make. This is not just any cream sauce, this sauce is:
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Oil-free
  • Dairy-free
  • Salt-free
Yes! It is possible to enjoy a decadent dish and still keep to your whole foods plant-based diet. In fact, it is possible to enjoy a WHOLE Vegan and Gluten-free Thanksgiving dinner that is packed with flavor and nutrition. You won't miss the turkey, and you will feel a lot better than you would if you enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving menu.

_GreenBeansWhat's Thanksgiving without some green beans! Yvonne and I were definitely missing some greens on our 2014 Thanksgiving menu, and what a delicious way to fill that void! These green beans are crisp, a little spicy, and full of flavor. Plus they are easy to make! The large pieces of garlic made this dish for me. I LOVE using garlic in my recipes, but I usually finely mince the garlic to a point where it disappears in the mix. This was definitely a great change and something I will use in the future. It adds a great touch and pumps up the garlic flavor that I love! GreenBeans

1SweetPotatoes1Candied sweet potatoes with lots of butter and marshmallows used to be THE DISH at my family Thanksgiving dinners every year, or at least for me it was. I don't know what it was that drew me to it. After going vegan, and becoming more conscious of my diet, this dish was no longer a part of my Thanksgiving menu. I could have swapped the butter with some earth balance and used vegan marshmallows instead, but I wanted a recipe more agreeable with my whole-foods, plant-based diet. When Yvonne and I discussed the concept of this recipe for our 2014 Vegan Gluten-free Sweet Eclectic Thanksgiving Menu, I had nothing but a smile on my face. I was soooo excited to see what the chef in her would whip up and I am pleased to say this recipe was everything I wanted, and more. Plus, it is refined sugar-free with a fat-free option! Date Sweetened Candied SweetPotatoes11