Veggie Sausage Stuffing

Thanksgiving might have come and gone, but that doesn't mean I'm done eating my favorite holiday foods. Lucky for me, all those favorite foods are now on sale at the supermarket!  On a recent shopping trip, Ben noticed that my favorite Thanksgiving food, stuffing, was on sale. I snatched it right up, but I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to eat it. At Ben's family's dinner, they had sausage stuffing, which everyone seemed to love. I was sad that I wasn't able to enjoy my Thanksgiving favorite because it was tainted with meat.  But you all know that my favorite thing to do is take meaty foods and vegetarianize them. There was a brand of veggie sausage, Frieda's, that makes a vegetarian chorizo, called Soyrizo I have been wanting to try, and vegetarian sausage stuffing was born!



What you need:



1 Bag of seasoned stuffing
5 Tablespoons butter
1 Soyrizo sausage
Salt to taste

What to do:
Start by cooking the Soyrizo according to the instructions. IMPORTANT: the casing that the Soyrizo is in is made of plastic, so you need to squeeze the veggie sausage out to cook it.



Cook Soyrizo over high heat until it is brown and crispy, about 10 minutes.
When the Soyrizo is almost done cooking, cook the stuffing according to the package. You can either use salt butter, or sweet butter and add the salt in yourself.
Then just mix the sausage into the stuffing and enjoy!





I ate my sausage stuffing with a side of roasted garlic lemon broccoli.







The Soyrizo had a pretty strong veggie flavor with just the right amount of meatiness and just a hint of tang. It had a tasty Mexican flavor with a little bit of spice. The Soyrizo had a nice, chewy texture, while the stuffing was perfectly fluffy. The stuffing has a great flavor on its own, but it also absorbed the flavors from the sausage, and it all came together really nicely. This is warm, hearty, and filling!

Have you tried to make veggie sausage stuffing? What do you like making with left-over Thanksgiving favorites?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Garlic Roasted Butternut Squash

I love everything about the fall. The weather, the food, and of course the holidays.  While my birthday and Halloween rank supreme, I can't forget about Thanksgiving.  Now, I see how it can be hypocritical for a vegetarian to celebrate Thanksgiving.  The whole day is based around a big, dead, bird. Don't get me wrong, I get filled with rage when people call the holiday "Turkey day", because this day shouldn't be all about the turkey.  To me, its a day I get to spend with family doing what I love; cooking and eating.

On the menu for Thanksgivng dinner this year will be roasted broccoli, stuffing, pumpkin pie, vegetarian meat loaf, apple dumplings, latkes, and garlic roasted butternut squash.  You might be asking "what about your mashed potatoes???" I have made my famous potatoes for Thanksgiving every year, but I opted to make latkes as my potato this year.  Chankukkah falls during Thanksgiving this year, and I thought it would be nice to have a little Chanukkah food for my family's Thanksgiving/Chanukkah hybrid celebration dinner.



Recipe: Oh She Glows

What you need:



3 1/2 pounds of pealed and cubed butternut squash
Fresh, minced parsley
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt & Pepper

What to do:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine squash, parsley, oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
Mix thoroughly, until all the squash is covered in oil.
Bake in an uncovered dish for 50-55 minutes.













YUM! These were incredible. They were crisp on the outside, and soft and creamy inside. Butternut squash has a naturally mild sweet flavor, which tasted great with the opposing salty flavors. I just love sweet and salty together! The garlic gave it a great taste and made this dish unmistakably savory. I can't wait to make one of my favorite fall fruits again for thanksgiving.

Just a word of warning: research how to peel a butternut squash before you go into this.  I just picked up a knife without knowing what I was doing and it took me 45 minutes to peel.  Ben watched a video on peeling butternut squashes when he made his own, and it look him 10 minutes to peel. Or you can be super lazy and buy it pre-peeled!

What are you going to make for Thanksgiving this year?  Will you be making this butternut squash?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie

Happy 12/12/12!

Well everyone, I have finally reached the end of my series of Thanksgiving dinner posts! And what comes after Thanksgiving dinner? Thanksgiving dessert!  Pumpkin Pie is the classic Thanksgiving dessert, and the one two I make every year.  The canned pumpkin and recipe I use makes two whole pies.  I usually keep one, and give the second to Ben.  You can never go wrong with too many pumpkin pies!

I have been making the same pies since I was about 12 years old using the same recipe on the back label of the same canned pumpkin. And not to toot my own horn, one of  the best pumpkin pies I have ever had. Hey, if its not broken, why fix it?

Here's what I used:



Here's what I did:
Like I said, I have been following the recipe on the back of the Libby's canned pumpkin for ten years.  It is a great recipe  that you just can't go wrong with!


source.



Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a small bowl.


Gradually stir in evaporated milk.


Pour into pie shells.





Mmmm two perfect pies!  The perfect end to a great meal (and great set of posts!)  And I just feel fat enough to not was to work this hard, or eat this much, until next year!  I hope everyone enjoyed my Thanksgiving posts, and that you all had a wonderful dinner.  I hope you guys try out some of these recipes, I can speak from experience they all taste amazing!

Will you be trying out this pumpkin pie recipe?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Balsamic Roasted Carrots

Hello everyone!  This post is brought to you from the kitchen of my boyfriend, Ben.  Every year, Ben and I do our best to try and make it to each other's Thanksgiving dinner.  Sadly, in the three and a half years of dating, I have only been able to make it to two of his.  His family gatherings are always difficult for me.  His family are big meat eaters and most of them are strictly meat and potatoes people, so I always have a hard time eating at these events.  On the menu for this year was ham, turkey, mixed veggies, cream of asparagus and crab soup, and chicken broth stuffing. Lets count how many of these foods I can eat...ONE.  So this year I decided that if I was going to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, I was going to have to cook some of it myself.  I made my famous Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes, stuffing with out chicken broth, balsamic roasted carrots, and a pumpkin pie.

Then the stuffing incident happened.  Here is the set up: There are two bowls of stuffing that started out the same, as we both used the store bought-in-the-bag stuffing.  Ben's sister prepared hers using sweet butter, onions, and chicken broth. I prepared mine with salt butter, and water.  We are all sitting down to dinner, and Ben's dad asked us which stuffing was the vegetarian one.  We pointed it out, and right in front of my face he takes a big scoop of the other one. I WAS FUMING! I can't remember the last time I had felt so insulted.  Just because I made my stuffing with water instead of chicken, you would touch it, not even TRY a taste?  Ironically, my stuffing my have been vegetarian, but the non-vegetarian one is the only one that had actual VEGETABLES in it!  How can someone be so closed minded and rude?  Don't get me wrong, I love Ben's family, and his dad has always been very gracious towards me, buying me clothes, dinner, and letting me stay over at his house, and I am thankful for that. But I am still mad about how he acted, and I am still hurt.

Anyway, this post isn't about stuffing, it is about balsamic roasted carrots.  I wanted to make another veggie for the dinner, and since Ben hate broccoli  and loves carrots, I opted to go a different rout than my own Thanksgiving dinner.  I found this recipe, just changed it a smidgen, and decided to give it a go!

Here's what I used (by mistake I deleted the photo of all the ingredients, sorry!):
8 medium carrots

1/4t freshly grated nutmeg
1T balsamic vinegar
1t brown sugar
2T olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Dried parsley flakes

Here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 425.
Peel the carrots, cut them in half, and then slice them down the center lengthwise
Place the carrots in a casserole dish and spread them out
Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg
In a small bowl, stir together balsamic and brown sugar until combined. Add olive oil. Drizzle the whole mixture over carrots. Toss to coat
Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until carrots are crisp-tender and caramelized (cooking times can vary depending on the thickness of your carrots).
Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley. Serve immediately.









I loved these! They had a nice flavor from the vinegar, with just a bit of sweetness.  Definitely different,t but still very good!  They were super easy to make, and that makes them a winner in my book.  These are a great addition to a Thanksgiving dinner, or just an easy meal at home.

Will you be trying out these balsamic roasted carrots?  Have you ever had a situation where someone inadvertently insulted you, your cooking, or vegetarianism?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli

Happy December! I hope you're not getting tired of my Thanksgiving meal posts because I still have lots more! While planning the dinner menu with my dad, I told him I was making three kinds of starches.  Well that was just ridiculous to him, but I was not planning on cutting any of them out of the menu.  Especially since everyone attending NEEDED to have at least one of the three at dinner.  I mean if my dad really didn't want so many starches, why did he make a whole other batch of stuffing?  Two  kinds of stuffing, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes now gives us a total of FOUR starches.  So I guess to combat the evil starch monster, my dad asked me to make two veggies.  I already showed you my corn salad, and my dad and I agreed on broccoli as the second vegetable.  I found this simple recipe online for roasted garlic lemon broccoli and with just a few tweeks, I knew I found the winner.

Here's what I used:


2 heads broccoli, separated into florets
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Look how simple that is! Not too many ingredients, but they work magic when combined.  These are all things you can find right in your kitchen!

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
In a large bowl, toss broccoli florets with the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, pepper and garlic.
Spread the broccoli out in a casserole dish
Bake in the preheated oven until florets are tender enough to pierce the stems with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes





OMG was this broccoli phenomenal! I couldn't believe that such a simple recipe came out as amazing as it did!  Every dish I made that night had so much leftovers, except this one!  Only about four florets left in the dish, I couldn't believe it.  It had the perfect amount of seasoning, and just enough lemon for a bit of a zest. Literally perfect. You must all go out and make this now. RIGHT NOW!

What is your favorite broccoli recipe? Will you be trying this one?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Vegan Corn Salad for Thanksgiving

Hello everyone.  I am continuing my series of Thanksgiving meal posts with some corn salad.  With my new quest in trying veganism, I have been paying more attention to what foods are and aren't vegan.  When most people think of corn, they picture it on the cob and slathered in butter.  I wanted to try something more unique for Thanksgiving.  Last year I made a corn salad, so I brought it back again this year.

Here's what I used



1 Bag of frozen corn
1/4 Cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 Onion, diced
Oregano or Basil to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:
Defrost the frozen corn and put in large bowl
Dice onion and mix add to the bowl



Add oil and vinegar and mix
Mix in the basil or oregano and salt and pepper
Let chill and serve cold





I love how simple but flavorful this dish is!  It is definitely something easy to make for when I am eating vegan, and for those that are vegan all the time.  Even meat eaters will love this dish!

Will you be trying out this simple corn salad recipe?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes from the Heart

Hello veggies!  How was your thanksgiving?  My family ended up celebrating on Wednesday this year, and today I am at my boyfriend, Ben's, house to celebrate with his family.  Thanksgiving is always a cross roads for vegetarians. Most people automatically associate Thanksgiving with turkey.  I mean a whole holiday centered around dead turkey.  Actually, it is one of my favorite holidays.  I love all the seasonal foods, and I love to cook.  I really enjoy looking for new recipes for each year to try to make for my family.  I think it is really sad that people just need to have their turkey on thanksgiving.  Why?  Its tradition? So change tradition!  So many turkeys are mass tortured and killed for a tradition.  But hey, I guess so were the Native Americans.  I digress.

I love to make a verity of "sides" for my family's dinner.  My dad makes the turkey, which I of course opt out of, and I make everything else, which becomes my meal.  When I was about 13 years old I made mashed potatoes for my first time.  Well with just a little help from my dad.  And everyone loved them!  Now my mashed potatoes are a staple of thanksgiving every year.  They are so easy to make and taste amazing, I am always happy to make them.

Sadly, I have been making these so long, just by adding ingredients and tasting, that I don't actually know how much of each ingredient goes into these.  They way my dad taught me to make them was to add a little bit, then taste, add more, and taste.  His piece of advice was "you can always add more, but you can't take the extra away."  So that's what I did.  One day I will figure out the amounts and then I can sell my recipe and win a mashed potato medal.

Here's what I used:


6 large white potatoes
1 clove of garlic
Half and half
Butter
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:
Start by setting a pot of water to boil
Then peal and cube potatoes
Add potatoes to the boiling water until they are soft enough to split them with a knife
Drain the potatoes, and then put them back in the pot



Time to get mashing!

Always start with the butter.  You want the butter to melt so the potatoes need to be hot.  The more cold ingredients (like half and half) and the more you mash, the cooler they will get and it will take longer for the butter to melt.  I believe I put in about 4 tablespoons.
Once the butter is in and melted, add a small pour of half and half and start mashing!
Continue pouring, mashing, and tasting until your potatoes are smooth and creamy.  I like my potatoes to still have some chunks of whole potato so I don't do over board on the mashing.  If you like them smoother, then keep mashing away!
Once you get the creaminess you want, add in once diced clove of garlic and mix
Finally add salt and pepper to taste.  Again my dad made me follow his rule and only let me add just a bit, so I always needed to add more salt to my serving.





The key to these potatoes is to make them from the heart.  Add a little of each ingredient until you know the amount is just right.  In the end, that's what cooking is really all about.

Do you love mashed potatoes as much as I do? Will you be whipping these up at your next family dinner?

My next few posts will highlight some of the other dishes I made for my family's thanksgiving dinner.  It is super easy to enjoy an amazing thanksgiving dinner without the need to eat turkey.  I have been doing it for 12 years and I never feel like I am missing out on anything!

Bye from the Veggie Side!