Fresh raw kale is the base of this lovely salad chock full of lightly caramelized dried fruit and smoked almonds, all glistening from just the right amount of a savory-sweet-tart pomegranate vinaigrette. The most virtuous dish on the Thanksgiving table may just be the tastiest too!
I served this salad last year and, though the whole menu was scrumptious, I typically don’t duplicate. But this dish made the cut and I will be serving it again!
As I noted in the original post of this recipe, it was here that my love affair with the humble parsnip began.
And how nice it is to be able to “whip” up a simple dish for a cooking-intensive holiday!
This season, when thankfulness is at the forefront of our minds, seemed the perfect time to post a mini-review of Bless This Food: Ancient and Contemporary Graces from Around the World (New World Library, August 15, 2013) by Adrian Butash.
This globe-, religion-, culture-, and century-spanning book brings together some 160 mealtime blessings for many reasons, including building a sense of community and connection among those who bow their heads and break bread together and to that for which they give thanks.
Poets, thinkers, and activists join religious figures in articulating our gratitude for daily sustenance, food for the body and soul.
A beautiful book–lovely enough for a special gift–it is also educational, in that background information on the cultural traditions represented is included as context. As with anything, not all of the prayers “spoke” to me, nor embodied my own feelings of gratefulness. But the three that follow did in a profound way.
May we all live with gratitude toward whatever or whomever squares with our beliefs and may we accept and extend the amazing grace bestowed by same.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I begin with the shortest which is, perhaps, the most expansive and my favorite:
Prayer 148
Bless our hearts
to hear in the
breaking of bread
the song of the universe.
— Father John Giuliani (b. 1932)
Prayer 132
For the order and constancy of nature;
For the beauty and bounty of the world;
For day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and
harvest;
For the varied gifts of loveliness and use which every
season brings:
We praise thee.
— John Hunter (1848-1917)
Prayer 96
Eternal Spirit of Justice and Love,
At this time of Thanksgiving we would be aware
of our dependence on the earth and on the
sustaining presence of other human beings
both living and gone before us.
As we partake of bread and wine, may we
remember that there are many for whom
sufficient bread is a luxury, or for whom
wine, when attainable, is only an escape.
Let our thanksgiving for Life’s bounty include a
commitment to changing the world, that
those who are now hungry may be filled and
those without hope may be given courage.
Amen.
— Prayer by the Congregation of Abraxas (1985)
This is the perfect little nibble to stave off I-don’t-think-I -can-wait-any-longer pre-Thanksgiving Feast hunger pains!
I recently created this dip or spread and love serving it as a “shooter” with tiny little spoons a friend brought me back from a trip to India. But any small spoon will do–or mini-spreader with a side of crostini. My serving secret? My “glasses” are actually votive holders!
Food just doesn’t get much more delectably fall-like than this simple spread, so it is perfect for Thanksgiving. You really can taste the contribution of each autumnal ingredient: fresh(!) pumpkin, pecans, white beans and sage. Be sure to cook the pumpkin ahead of time so it’s cooled and ready to go when you are. (See my easy microwave directions below.)
Bind it all together with your favorite vegan creaminess–sour cream, mayo, or unflavored cashew cream–and you have a fabulously flexible shooter, dip for raw veggies or crackers, spread for a bagel, or even a filling for non-traditional quesadillas, stuffed peppers, etc.
(Where’s Minnie? Can anyone spot our female brindle Dane who is never far away when food is out?)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup pecan pieces
Sea salt
1 cup diced onion
2 large cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoon dry rubbed sage
2 cans white beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup diced cooked fresh pumpkin (see super simple microwave directions below)
4 to 5 tablespoons vegan sour cream, mayo, or cashew cream
Accompaniments: raw vegetable strips or slices or crackers
Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high. Add pecans and a pinch of salt, and toast, stirring continually, for a couple of minutes. Add onion and a pinch more salt, and continue sauteing and stirring for 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and sage and continue for another minute. Stir in beans, pumpkin and vegan sour cream or mayo and heat through, stirring continually. Serve warm with the accompaniment of your choice.
How to Microwave a Fresh Pumpkin (The Time-Pressed Woman’s Way)
1-2 pound pumpkin
Wash your pumpkin, pierce several times all-over with a sharp knife, place on a microwave-safe dish, and microwave on high for about 7 -10 minutes. Check for tenderness, by piercing with a knife. It if goes in easily, the pumpkin is ready. Allow to cool, then slip off the skin, ct in half, and remove seeds and pulp. If you prefer, you can halve and deseed the pumpkin first, but I find it puts up more resistance that way.
For my first two “Countdown” posts–Day 7 and, now, Day 6–I decided to address the Thanksgiving main dish, as it can be the trickiest for vegans, it seems. Nothing against “Tofurky” necessarily, but it has never been what I craved to grace the center of our Thanksgiving buffet.
This dish, on the other hand, is, to me, Thanksgiving personified. A rich and creamy–but healthy!–layered amalgamation of many of my favorite flavors of fall, this lasagna is THE BEST I have ever eaten, much less created. Wait, I think it’s the only lasagna I have ever created. I guess I figured I just couldn’t do any better!
This link will take you to my original post which includes a hyperlink to One Green Planet who generously published the recipe. Your soon-to-be favorite lasagna is just two clicks away!
For the next week leading up to my favorite holiday of the year–a feast that embodies the grateful life–I am going to post some of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes, one per day.
My hope is that you might find them to be perfect embodiments of how much we have to be thankful for.
This recipe for acorn squash stuffed with a creamy stovetop rice-and-greens casserole seems to be a favorite of the generous folks on Pinterest, and is so lovely–presented in it’s own edible bowl–that it could easily be the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving meal. But whether your serve it as an entree or one of the many sides that seem to characterize this holiday, it is sure to be a crowd pleaser!
In her blog “What Would Cathy Eat?,” Cathy’s healthy Thanksgiving menu includes The Blooming Platter’s Beet Muhummara!
I am so honored! And what a coincidence after featuring that recipe in yesterday’s global Virtual Vegan Potluck.
Because of the beet spread’s jewel-tone color, I think it is lovely for Christmas and New Year’s too, but it’s so tasty, you don’t need a special occasion.
Cathy is not vegan, but she does promote healthy eating and a bounty of vegetarian and vegan food on her blog, so check it out.
Here’s to the health and happiness of all living creatures!
Welcome to the Virtual Vegan Potluck, an international “progressive” potluck meal, and you are one of our special guests!
To begin at the first “house,” visit Lidia at Vegan Bloggers Unite!
I volunteered to bring an appetizer, and I chose one of everyone’s favorites: Beet Muhummara (backstory and recipe follows).
But there are lots of other appetizers being served. Be sure to visit the “houses” on either side of mine and from there, link by link, you can “progress” right on through all of the courses in one of the tastiest and varied meals ever served.
SENSUAL APPEAL is sure to bring something to the feast to delight your senses. And VEGAN SPARKLES will, no doubt, prove that all that glitters is not gold!
So come on along, dinner is served!…
Do you walk right past the beets in your fall market? If so, my advice is to throw it in reverse and back-up! If you think you are a beet-hater, think again!
This jewel-tone beauty–a favorite in my cookbook–is inspired by muhummara, a Turkish roasted red pepper and walnut spread. And it has single-handedly converted many a beet-haters into a beet lover right before my eyes.
Perfect for festive occasions because of its shimmering color–but simple enough for any day of the week (you can “beet” the clock with this one!)–Beet Muhummara is lovely with warmed pita triangles and olives or rolled up in lettuce leaves for “skinny” beet burritos.
Yield: 4 cups
In a food processor, combine the beets, walnuts, bread crumbs, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, molasses, and lemon juice and pulse to a textured paste.
With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil and process until fairly smooth, but still textured. Scrape the mixture into a serving bowl, garnish with walnuts, if using, and serve.
From The Blooming Platter Cookbook by Betsy DiJulio. Copyright © 2011. Vegan Heritage Press.Used by permission.
I know what you’re thinking…talk to me about ice cream next summer!
But, wait! With red being “the” color of the winter holidays, and with the winter holidays being just around the corner, maybe you should reconsider.
Festive and delicious to boot–my Vegan Red Velvet Ice Cream tastes JUST like the cake–I’ll bet there is an upcoming occasion where this luscious treat would be just the thing to impress guests and delight your family!
Click HERE to read all about the creation of this special recipe. And be sure to visit the Tofutti website for the latest and greatest on their growing collection of vegan products, from dairy substitutes to heat-and-eat treats like vegan pizza, as well as recipes and the Tofutti blog.
