Tried and Tested: Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes

Sorry for the uber late Thanksgiving post. But, hopefully some of these recipes and ideas can at least benefit someone for next year’s Thanksgiving:

I’m honestly not sure if I took any photos over Thanksgiving, which is a shame, because I have a ton of great recipes to recommend. Either way, I feel it’s necessary to share all of the great (and easily convertible) vegan recipes we made over Thanksgiving dinner.

1. Vegan Pumpkin Pie

I searched for days to find a delicious and simple recipe for vegan pumpkin pie. Last year at Thanksgiving my vegan (and gluten free) pumpkin pie recipe was a failure, however, this year things turned out much better. I found this recipe on a blog called So Good and Tasty. I didn’t use the recipe for the crust (although it looked delicious), because it seemed too time consuming, however the important part- the pumpkin center- was all that really mattered to me.

I love this recipe because it uses coconut milk, which just seems like a stroke of genius. I made the pie on Wednesday evening after returning home from school. Once I arrived home my Mother gave me a list of demands to accomplish, (all baking oriented of course) and I got to work. The first thing on my list was this pie. It was also the last thing I put in the oven, so it ended up a little overcooked. (However it was still fantastic!)

2. Cornbread

I can’t remember the last time I ate my Mom’s cornbread. Its the most delicious treat, and made even better by the fact that I can pour syrup all over it without an ounce of guilt. I used a recipe from an old cookbook that my Mom always uses, and made it vegan. Thankfully, it was quite simple to convert.

3. Cranberry and Orange Muffins

I’m not really sure how this is a traditional Thanksgiving food, but it was on the list of things my Mom wanted me to make once I returned home. I pulled the recipe out of my Mother’s Betty Crocker cookbook, and made it vegan. Also quite a simple conversion. Unfortunately, I can’t say how good these were because I still have yet to try one! However, they did disappear quite quickly…

4. Veggie Loaf

This recipe was all my Mother’s doing. She’d emailed me about this delicious vegetable loaf she’d eaten a few months ago and said that she would make it for me for Thanksgiving dinner. Good to her word, the loaf was actually quite good, however I’m not sure it really suited my tastebuds well. It tasted a little too much like stuffing, which I’ve never been a fan of. However, I have to recommend this recipe to anyone who might just love it!

5. Pumpkin Spice Cookies

When I came home I found a bag of these sitting on the counter with my name on it. Literally, a dream come true. A bag full of delicious, homemade cookies, just for me! Apparently these cookies freeze well, because my Mom said she baked them over a month ago and simply stuck them in the freezer for the next time I came home. I would never have guessed, because they tasted delicious and freshly baked.

6. Zucchini Banana Bread Pancakes

Again, I have no idea how this relates to Thanksgiving, but my Mother made them for breakfast on the big day, and they were just as delicious as usual.

7. Pumpkin Bread

Again, my Mom is taking on vegan baking on her own time. She made loaves of pumpkin bread to give everyone on Christmas (freezing them again), and I got to taste one of the fresh baked loaves. Delicious, and highly recommended.

8. Mashed Potatoes

These are super easy to veganize. Just peel and boil the potatoes, mash them, add a bit of vegan butter and soymilk, and keep mixing until desired consistency is reached. Vegan mashed potatoes don’t typically come out as creamy as “regular” mashed potatoes, however I’ve never heard any complaints about them, and I think they taste just as delicious!

Non-Traditional Halloween Cookies

Tomorrow is Halloween, and if I don’t celebrate in any other way, I will (of course) bake something delicious to celebrate the holiday. In the spirit of the Halloweekend, I baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to celebrate.

I found this recipe on Food Gawker (once again). I only had to change one ingredient to make it vegan.

The Recipe:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg replacer egg
2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix together pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg replacer in medium bowl. In separate bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips as desired. Bake for 10-15 minutes. (I found that 10 minutes gives a softer, moister consistency.)

My Review:
These cookies are delicious! They taste remarkably like regular chocolate chip cookies, but with slightly more spice. I have to take them into work tomorrow to share with my co-workers. This is good, because I’ve found that it always helps to have other people taste my baked goods. I think I’ve eaten so many different varieties of cookies that my taste buds are biased to find everything surprisingly bland.

Pumpkin Banana Pancakes

I’ve finally gotten the chance to attempt my new pancake recipe for the week. Since I went home this weekend for the Barry-Roubaix, an insanely fun and challenging gravel road race, I had to forgo avocado pancakes (which I had planned to make) for something a little less “strange.” (My Mom and Step-Dad aren’t too excited by my weird pancake recipes.)

They turned out very well, I particularly loved the fact that I could taste the banana, and got several banana chunks in each bite. They were so soft and delicious, I highly recommend them.

Because we have a house guest this weekend, a writer from Cycle Dirt magazine, who, according to my Mother, eats a ton, I made a double batch, which cooked up about 13 small/medium pancakes. Lets hope that was enough!

2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp canola oil
2 egg replacer eggs (I used Ener G)
2 cups soymilk
2 bananas, mashed
2/3 cup pumpkin

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl, mix well. Combine all wet ingredients in one bowl, mix well. Combine and stir until completely mixed.

My Review:
YUM! My Step-Dad actually complimented my pancakes. He said that all of the pancakes I’ve made, aside from my Questionable Vegan Pancakes, have been very good. These were no different. I think the pumpkin helped to soften the pancakes. You couldn’t really taste the pumpkin, but the spices went well with the banana and pumpkin, and the color was fantastic. They even smelled like pumpkin pie.