Thanksgiving!

There's lots to be thankful for this year. I could go on a rant of gratitude here, but I've already done so other places and I can sum it up here: Friends, Family, and Food!

I've been invited to a friend's house for dinner, so I only had to make a few dishes to bring over. Saved me the trouble of making something with potatoes and/or gravy, and I had it all done in a reasonable amount of time... and ahead of time.

Menu:

Tofu-Almond Loaf with Agave Glaze

Orange-Cranberry Sauce

Crumb Cauliflower

Cheesecake (NOT vegan, but eggless)

Tofu-Almond Loaf with Agave Glaze

1 cup almond meal, toasted
2 TB vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
2 celery ribs, diced
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
2 cups mashed, pressed firm tofu
1 cup uncooked oat bran
1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed
1/2 cup uncooked Cream of Wheat
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
2 TB nutritional yeast flakes
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 T. soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

Toast the almond meal in a skillet over medium heat till lightly browned. Be careful, it's very easy to burn once you get to the browning stage! Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté vegetables in the oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more oat bran or cream of wheat as needed if the loaf seems too wet. Mix the glaze ingredients in a separate bowl.

Press loaf mixture into the prepared pan and cover the top evenly with glaze, then bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

Orange-Cranberry Sauce

1 lb. fresh cranberries (4 cups)
1 cup water
1-1/2 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice

Rinse cranberries and pick out any icky stuff. In large saucepan over med heat, heat water, juice and sugar until boiling, stirring occasionally. Continue boiling 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved, then add cranberries. Heat to boiling again over medium heat, stirring now and then, about 10 minutes or when the cranberries have sufficiently popped and thickened. (Keep in mind that will be much thicker chilled than when it's still boiling.) Remove from heat, give it a good stir and let stand for about 20 minutes to cool. Pour into bowl and cool completely before refrigerating.

Crumb Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1/4 cup margarine

1 tube ritz crackers. crushed

Steam cauliflower till soft and put in a serving bowl. Then smash up the crackers and brown them in butter, pour over cauliflower and serve.

Cheesecake

1 graham crust

3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. vanilla

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla
1 pt. sour cream

Crust:

1 pack graham crackers (8 long crackers)

1/2 stick butter, melted

2 T brown sugar

Grind crackers into fine crumbs, add melted butter and sugar, mix well and press into 9 inch spring pan. Bake crust separately for 5 minutes at 350 degrees while mixing the filling.

Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, cornstarch, and 1 tablespoons vanilla. Pour into shell and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Increase oven heat to 400 degrees.

Mix 1/2 cup sugar, sour cream, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour over cheese mixture and bake 10 minutes, cool. Store in refrigerator.

Kiwi Jam

Mom brought me a copy of the Vegetarian Times while I was in the hospital, and it was chock-full of really amazing recipes. I got the idea for this pretty speckled green jam out of that magazine, but scaled it down and skipped the canning process. Because of this, I recommend storing it in the fridge or freezer. I don't know how long it keeps, but since the recipe yields a bit less than two cups, it should go quickly... use it as a topping for ice cream, between cake layers, on toast, pancakes or even on a good ol' PBJ. You can even stir a spoonful into your favorite salsa and eat on tortilla chips. But you don't need me to tell you what to do with jam, do you? Eat it hot right out of the pan, I won't tell.

Kiwi Jam

5-6 ripe kiwifruit, peeled and halved
1 cup sugar
1 tsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Mash kiwi until smooth. In a saucepan, stir kiwi, sugar and lemon juice together and bring to a boil. Simmer 15 minutes or until thickened. (It will set up a bit thicker when chilled.) Pour into a clean container (I like to use an empty margarine tub, gets more mileage out of that plastic!) and stick it in the fridge.

Banana Cake

Moist, sweet and dense, this cake is easy to make and so tasty... like little spiced banana brownies. It holds up really well and has a creamy, almost custard-like texture on top after a day or so. I want to try making this with cocoa powder sometime and see if it's as good as it sounds!

Banana Cake

2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 T pumpkin pie spice
1 cup very ripe bananas, mashed (about 3)
3/4 cup soy milk with 1 T apple cider vinegar mixed in (let sit a minute or two before adding to batter)
2/3 cup vegetable shortening (can reduce to 1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla

Grease and lightly flour a 9x13" baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, cut sugar into shortening until fluffy. Add remaining wet ingredients and blend with a mixer or whisk until smooth.
Slowly stir in the dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer, again, until the batter is smooth. Pour into the floured 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool thoroughly on a rack before serving.

Banana Bread

I just kinda whipped this up today because I had a lot of very brown bananas that needed to be used, and it turned out pretty good. It's dense and moist, not too sweet, but sweet enough, and would have been great with walnuts or chocolate chips, or both. (If you want to try it that way, just add a cup of each to the batter!)

Banana Bread

4 large or 5 medium bananas, very ripe
1 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 c. turbinado sugar
1/2 c. water
2 T. molasses
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 c. whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl, then add applesauce, sugar, water, molasses, vanilla, and oil and stir. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, then add to the wet mixture and stir until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, but avoid over-mixing. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting (I cut the sheet lengthwise in half, then make thick slices across). Makes many servings, tasty plain or spread with a little Earth Balance margarine.