Everyone prizes their helping of meat on Thanksgiving, so I tried to come up with some special veggie substite that would prevent my plate or palate from feeling left out of the festivities. My mother doesn't touch soy and I wanted something everyone could eat, so I decided to start from scratch, and improvise some "beet balls"...
I started by soaking a bunch of raw cashews overnight, and boiling 6 beets until soft and cooked. The next morning, I sauteed an onion and a half, all of the beet stems and leafs, a pack of crimini mushrooms, some garlic, and a left over vegan field roast sausage (soy free) in some olive oil and spiced it with sea salt, pepper, cayenne, cinnamon and curry.
I drained and pressed all of the sauteed veggies with paper towels to pull out any remaining moisture, and put everything in the food processor. I pureed it all until it was well blended (with all of the big chunks gone.)
I added some cumin and more curry...
It was too soft and wet, so I added a cup or two of rolled oats. I also added some agave and chili powder...
When I was satisfied with the flavoring, I chopped up a carton of whole wheat graham crackers and a cup of raw almonds in the food processor, and made a crust for my beet balls to make them crunchy. I formed small balls and dipped them each in a dish of hemp milk and egg, and rolled them generously in my graham almond crust mix to get a good coating.
I packed them up uncooked and took them to Santa Cruz.
Once we were half an hour before eating time, I heated a few spoonfuls of organic coconut oil until melted and extremely hot, and lightly fried each of my beet balls until brownish/black and crunchy on the outside.
I let them cool on a paper toll to soak up the oil, and served them warm.
AHHHHHH- these were amazing! I'm kinda obsessed. Everyone was both highly amused and blown away with them. Its a good thing too, because we were eating leftover beet balls for three days!
I also wanted to get some greens in there, so I decided to recreate a pear and kale dish I had made only a week or two before. I rinsed my fresh organic kale and steamed it until soft. I drained this and packed it up for the trip down to Santa Cruz...
I always stare at special mushroom selections at the local market, but rarely indulge in them because of the higher price. If there is any occasion to go big, this was certainly one of them, so I purchased this lovely bundle of organic brown beech mushrooms.
I sauteed an onion, my mushrooms, chopped garlic, four sliced anjou pears, and fresh rosemary and sage from my sister's garden in some olive oil. I spiced with some salt and lemon. I simmered all of this until soft, well cooked and juicy.
I added the kale, warmed it all up, and added agave, cinnamon, more lemon, and cayenne. Kale in perfection.
My sister made a vegan candied ginger yam mash...
...Rosemary and garlic mashed potatoes (that Annie whipped up!) in both a creamy and buttery version for the family, and a rice milk and earth balance version especially for me...
And our family's Tday staple of cranberry salad jello mold with a side of mayo (yep, I said it).
Alia's friend Ginger made a potato yam cranberry medley that was heavenly...
And this vegan corn bread stuffing that I couldn't stop inhaling...
Alia got an all organic, locally raised turkey that she named Eda. As in Eda-ble. Clever. So clever, in fact that I had my first bite in Turkey in years!
This was only my first plate full...
Val and Annie getting ready...
Mom and Dad...
And of course, the pinata. What Thanksgiving is complete without a donkey pinata filled with organic skin product samples? No one I care to be at, that's for sure....
After stuffing ourselves to the brim with helping after helping, (not to mention the several bottles of wine that seemed to disappear) the brave souls still standing ventured on to dessert. My sister made an amazing vegan pumpkin ginger pie that I somehow didn't get a picture of, and I made the above Spicy Apple Carrot cake. I will feature that in my next post as I think this one has had enough to digest already!
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