Recipes

Thanksgiving recipes don’t need to be loaded with heavy and highly processed ingredients. The best part of Thanksgiving is that it connects us with not only our friends and family, but brings us back to eating home-cooked meals, even if it is only for one night. I have gathered 22 thanksgiving recipes from the blog-o-sphere that have a healthy twist. Enjoy and eat guilt-free.

The Source: It doesn’t Taste Like Chicken

It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken is a fantastic veg-friendly resource. Sam, blogger, offers a wonderful explanation on how to cook the recipe along the way. Great name too!

Servings: Makes 2 loafs and serves 8

What you need:

• 2 Sheets of Puff Pastry, Thawed (Check to make sure they are vegan, most brands are)
• 1 Cup uncooked Lentils (green, red, or brown)
• 2.5 Cups Vegetable Broth
• ½ Cup Pecans
• ½ Cup Walnuts
• 3 Tablespoons Ground Flax
• ⅓ Cup Warm Water
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 Medium Onion
• 2 Stalks of Celery
• 2 Medium Carrots
• 1- 8 oz. Tub (around 3.5 cups) of Mushrooms
• 4 Cloves of Garlic
• ½ teaspoons Salt (or more to taste)
• Several Grinds of Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
• ¼ teaspoon Cayenne
• ¾ Cup Rolled Oats
• ½ Cup Flour (whatever kind you like, I used whole wheat)
• Couple Tablespoons of Non-Dairy Milk (used to brush on the pastry)

Get to it:

1. Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
2. Rinse the lentils, then add the rinsed lentils to a pot with the vegetable broth, cover, and bring to a simmer and cook for about 35 to 40 minutes until liquid is absorbed and lentils are soft, even mushy.
3. Take an immersion blender or potato masher and mash the lentils until about two thirds of the lentils are mush. This lentil mush makes everything hold together nicely. Yum, mushy!
4. In the meantime, chop the nuts and put them in a dry pan over medium heat. Toast them, keeping an eye on them for about 10 minutes until they are all toasty and fragrant. Remove from the pan and set aside.
5. In a small bowl mix together the flax and warm water and set aside to thicken.
6. Chop up the onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic.
7. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium high heat, then sauté the onions, carrots and celery until they begin to soften up, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté another 5 minutes until the mushrooms have shrunken and become juicy. Add in the garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and cayenne and sauté about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat.
8. In a large bowl, mix everything together. The lentils, toasted nuts, veggies, flax mixture, the oats and the flour.
9. On a lightly floured surface roll out one of the puff pastry sheets until you get a rectangle that is about 10 inches by 14 inches. Transfer the pastry sheet to parchment paper. Now if you want to just roll up your loaf, you can totally do that. Take half of the lentil mixture and form a loaf shape down the middle of the puff pastry, leaving a bit of room at both ends. Use your hands to pat the mixture into a firm log. Wrap up the loaf any way you see fit.
10. OR if you want to be all fancy, do a little weave like I did: Use the back of a knife to make a guide dividing the pastry into three even sections. Then cut angled strips down each side about 1 inch wide. Cut off the top two and bottom two strips so that you have two end flaps. Place half of the lentil mixture down the centre of the dough and using your hands, pat into a firm loaf shape. Now fold up the top flap over the end, then take the top left strip and fold over the loaf. Take the top right strip, and fold that over, making an x. Do this all the way down the crossing alternative strips. Try to keep the strips close together leaving only small gaps. Once you get near the bottom, fold the bottom flap up, then finish braiding the last strips tucking the ends into anywhere they look good.
11. If you really want to be all fancy, you can use the remaining pieces of pastry to cut little leaf shapes, (or whatever shape you like) and tuck them into the weave.
12. Repeat with the remaining pastry and lentil mixture so you have two loaves.
13. Brush the top with non-dairy milk and move to a baking sheet.
14. Bake for about 40 – 45 minutes checking every now and then until it’s all golden brown and gorgeous. Serve with Quick Vegan Onion Gravy or your favourite BBQ sauce heated up.

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