This came about as a good way to use up the surplus bread dressing and roasted squash we had left after a big Thanksgiving dinner at our house. This year I roasted the stuffed squash directly in the pan with extra dressing along side it. Although I covered it tightly in foil, the result was a bit dry. In the past I’ve made this with the intention of transporting to a potluck and therefore wrapped the stuffed squash in many layers of tinfoil. It really seems like this also helped to retain a lot of moisture as well as making it easy to travel with!

Squash & Dressing in Roasting Pan

I make a great Savory Kale Bread Pudding that’s a huge favorite of ours and it seemed like a a logical step to take with the leftover dressing. I also used some red curly kale we had in the house along with some of the leftover roast squash. It made for a very full pan, but I didn’t need to modify the recipe any further.

The result was incredibly tasty and we think we’ve found the new way to use up the leftover dressing in the future! It was so good with the little bits of chestnut and Field Roast sausage here and there. I roasted some red and yellow beets that we enjoyed with the bread pudding.

Hurrah for Leftovers

The flash photo doesn’t do justice to the loveliness of the bread pudding, but it gives some idea!

When you’re vegan complete strangers often feel the need to interrogate you about what you eat and how you could possibly celebrate holidays without animal products. I’ve been asked so many times how I could possibly get enough calcium, protein, B12, etc. that I’ve honestly lost track of the conversations. Likewise, just about every big holiday comes with the shocked question, “But how can you have a proper {insert name of holiday} without {insert animal product}?!”

Thanksgiving is a biggie because traditionally the meal all revolves around a gigantic roast turkey. Growing up we always had a turkey for Thanksgiving, filled with bread dressing, and accompanied by mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, celery stuffed with cheese, rolls, olives, cranberry sauce (quite usually the canned, jelly kind), a carrot/orange Jello salad, and always lots of pie for dessert. In my mid-20s I hosted this extensive meal for several years, having many guests over. When I became vegan I saw no reason that this holiday should be anything less than a feast that showcased the harvest.

The big one I’m asked about all the time is the turkey. How could we possibly replace the turkey? The answer is incredibly obvious to me; we serve a very large roast winter squash filled with bread dressing. It makes a great presentation piece and is delicious! I usually use a Hubbard style since these tend to be rather large as well as a very nice texture and taste.

Blue Ballet Hubbard Squash

The dressing is one of my favorite parts of the meal and I found it very easy to make a vegan one. I use things like Field Roast sausage (apple/sage), celery, onion, fresh parsley, chopped apple, and nuts along with artisan bread. This year I’ve fallen in love with freshly roasted chestnuts and they went into the dressing.

Ready to peel!

Christie has taken upon herself to perfect mashed potatoes. She makes a lemon and cashew creme sauce which is then mixed into the hand-mashed, Russet potatoes. We serve my miso shallot gravy along with the potatoes and it is divine!

I’ve also played around with making a green bean casserole, but this honestly was never a big hit for me as it often involved cream of mushroom soup. When I’ve tired it I’ve used some potato leek soup, but still wasn’t that impressed. This year a friend brought green beans cooked with pearl onions & almonds and I enjoyed this a lot more. Other friends brought over some fried and braised Brussels sprouts and I loved those!

Cheese spread, usually stuffed into celery, was always a part of big holiday meals in my family. I loved this stuff as a kid, particularly the port wine style. I’ve enjoyed the vegan ones people have brought over in the past and this year I tried my hand at making my own. They turned out great, so I will be coming up with recipes for these.

Although I don’t hate the jellied cranberry sauce in a can, it isn’t my favorite. For Christie the canned stuff is an integral part of her Thanksgiving experience, so we have it in addition to a freshly made cranberry relish.

This year we served a new Celebration Roast from Field Roast. A cranberry hazelnut roast wrapped in puff pastry (en croute)! It was beautiful and incredibly tasty. We look forward to serving one for the open house & games day we’ll be hosting on Christmas Day.

In addition to all that amazing food, we also include the delicious pumpkin pies and squishy yeast rolls from Sweetpea Baking Company. We’ve not figured out a great pumpkin pie ourselves and the ones made by the bakery are fantastic. The rolls cannot be beat and I swear I manage to eat a half dozen of them every Thanksgiving!

Another Squash Picture - So Lovely

My job to prepare for Thanksgiving meals as a child involved stuffing sticks of celery with cheese spreads. I was partial to the port wine and smoked flavors. I had a couple of years where cheese was the last hold out to my becoming a vegan, but I’m generally good without it. As a vegan I honestly don’t miss cheese the way I thought I would.

A friend of mine, Dave (who has posted several recipes here), has for a few years now been making cheeze balls or dips to bring to parties. In honor of my Thanksgiving heritage of stuffing the celery sticks, I decided to give them a try myself this year. The results were pretty darn tasty and attractive!

The base for both flavors involved soaked cashews, silken tofu, blanched almonds, and a pile of nutritional yeast. I also used some white miso, fresh lemon juice, and mustard powder to provide some saltiness and the sharper bite. Everything was processed very thoroughly in the food processor to make a smooth paste. I did end up drizzling in a little bit of olive oil during the processing when things got a little too sticky.

The smoky cheese ball relied upon a generous amount of sweet smoked paprika and a little bit of Hawaiian sea salt. These things gave it a slightly salty, very smoky flavor and a rich orange hue.

Smoky Cheeze Ball

The herbed cheese ball had more white miso for the saltiness and some fresh parsley added in while processing. This gave the cheese a hue similar to hummus, but with a faintly green cast from the tiny speckles of parsley mixed in.

Herbed Cheeze Ball

Both cheese spreads were put into the fridge to chill. I even stashed them in the freezer for an hour before attempting to make balls. This way the paste would be extra cold while I tried to form into balls with my warm hands. This worked really well and I was able to make very even shapes. The smoky one was rolled into toasted walnuts and the herbed one was rolled through some toasted almonds.

They went great with crackers and looked nice in a serving dish from my childhood! The smoky one was a real hit and most of it was eaten. The herbed one was good, but I think I’d like to play around with the flavors even more.

Crackers & Cheeze!

I had leftover spread that I did put into some celery sticks making my trip down memory lane, Thanksgiving Edition, complete!

Celery Stuffed with Cheeze!