Your Daily Vegan

I do it to myself every single year.  Every single Thanksgiving I tell myself that I “like” cooking a huge homemade meal, that it’s “fun,” or something.  I convince myself too, because I like to cook.  But every year, I end up spending the week prior to Thanksgiving cleaning and grocery shopping (Nothing compares to a woman who needs to get the “last” thing on her long-ass grocery list.  She’s cranky, she’s fed up, she’ll rip your arm off if you touch the last can of cranberry sauce, trust me.  In other words, grocery shopping blows during the holidays).  Then on the actual holiday, I spend the entire day cooking up the food.  And after an hour long dinner, I start cleaning up from the holiday meal.  So this year it’s going to be better.  This year my goal is to spend more time enjoying my friends and family.

So, in the spirit of the holiday, I thought it would be nice if I helped you to do the same.  Okay, the countdown to Thanksgiving is winding down, so there’s only four days left.  I present to you: YDV’s Very Vegan Thanksgiving Help Guide 2009 Extravaganza!  Alternately titled, “The stuff I found on the internet about having a vegan Thanksgiving that I didn’t even write but collected for you here because I’m awesome, plus tips and a recipe from me.”

Here’s the plan.  The Very Vegan Thanksgiving Series will be in four parts.  I will post one part per day, into categories.  The four categories are Starters, Mains, Sides, and Ends.  I hope that you’ll all get involved and share your tips and tricks for staying sane for the holidays, or even a great vegan recipe.

In my house, the desserts always take center stage.  That’s why I thought we’d start with them.  Turning any dessert vegan is pretty easy these days.  There are vegan egg replacers for just about every single application that you can think of.  The Post Punk Kitchen :: Vegan Baking gives you a great breakdown of what is available and how to use it.  Looking for a replacement for butter?  Earth Balance is a vegan butter that is fairly easy to find.

There’s vegan chocolate chips, vegan carob chips, or even vegan white chocolate chips for baking all kinds of treats and sweets.

Looking to make a jello mold?  Hell yes you are!  Look, here’s Vegan Jel that you can flavor any way you want (I have found it in several different flavors at the stores).

I’ve even found Vegan Fudge, perfect for setting out on pretty trays.

Are you the kind of family that loves to pile whipped cream on top of your pies?  Then you’re my kind of family!  Sounds like a box of SoyaToo Soy Whip Topping is in order.  Tastes great and leaves out all the nasty animal ingredients.  I could/can eat an entire box of Soyatoo.  It’s shameful I know, but it’s also quite yummy.  And don’t fret if you are a pudding lover, we didn’t forget you.  These Simple Organics Pudding Mixes will surely hit the spot.

Maybe you’re just going to make cookies.  That’s good for me, I love cookies.  I mean, LOVE cookies.  You could use Chez Bettay’s Sugar Cookie recipe and vegan sprinkles to make some cute cookies for the cookie jars.  Or how about these Anise Rum Sugar Cookies?  Awesome.  Myself, I’m making these Russian Tea Ball cookies.  Quick, easy, and delicious.  Mmmm.

If you are a more traditional kind of family, that’s okay too.  There’s all kinds of great recipes out there for animal free pies.  How about this one for a Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake?  Or, this one for a Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake?  I’ve made this Vegan Pumpkin Pie and it was awesome.  My Dad loves apple pie, and this Vegan Apple Pie always gets devoured.  Especially if you top it with a big scoop of So Delicious Vanilla Soy Ice Cream.

And if you just aren’t that interested in making a big deal out of dessert (although, I don’t understand it!) you could make my very own Apple Pie Pops.  I’ve showed you these before, but now you can make them.  These are quick, easy, low-fat, and taste exactly like apple pie.

Here’s a recipe that is just so easy, it’s silly!

YDV Apple Pie Pops

• 1 lb tart apples of choice (I have used Fuji, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smith)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup apple cider (with no sugar added)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder or 1/4 tsp freshly ground
• 1/2 cup seedless raisins (I used red flame)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 package of frozen puff pastry (I used Pepperidge Farm shells)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Wash, peel, and dice the apples.  Dump apples and remaining ingredients into a pot on the stove.  Let cook on medium low until soft, gooey and mushy.  This happens within 15-20 minutes.  I let mine cook down quite a bit, almost like apple sauce.  It just fits in the pastry shells better that way.

You’ll notice that I didn’t add sugar to my apples.  The apples are sweet enough for me without sugar.  However, if you want added sweetness (don’t forget that the raisins will add sweetness – check for taste prior to adding additional sweetners) you can add a touch of agave or maple syrup.

Once the apples are almost done, put the puff pastry in the oven (just follow the package directions) and bake.  When they are done, pull them out to cool (remove them from the hot cookie sheet to cool).  Once cool to the touch, fill with apple mixture (they’ll be done by now).  I sometimes dust mine with a bit of cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar, but it’s not necessary.  These are perfect little bites goodness, you’ll just have to trust me on that.  I would also serve these close to the time that they were made.  I’m a greedy guts kind of girl and wouldn’t mind a cold Apple Pie Pop, but the best flavor is when the apples are still warm and the pastry is crispy.  Enjoy!