I wonder what I cooked in Lauren’s Vegetable Kitchen for Thanksgiving. Well, I came up with something very special this year. In my humble opinion, it was the best Thanksgiving dinner I’ve ever had. I roasted the tofu with a special vegan juice. I made a side of mashed potatoes with a special garlic butter sauce. And I made a side of the stuffing from the recipe on one of my favorite food blogs. My whole family raved about this dinner. It’s like a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but better. And there is no meat.
Best Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dinner Components of All Time
Vegan gravy tofu
Tofu: A pack of Super Farm or Extra Farm tofu.
Oil: I used 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. You could probably use canola or olive oil. Anything you have on hand.
Flour or Cornstarch: Add flour or cornstarch to thicken the gravy. I used 3 tablespoons of flour.
Spices and Herbs: Black pepper, rosemary, thyme.
Soy Sauce: Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce to darken the gravy.
Vegetable Soup: I used two tablespoons of vegetable soup and had very thick gravy. If you want to thin it a little, you can make 2 or 3 or 3 cups.
Vegan gravy tofu
Open the tofu pack, rinse and slice into 6 slices. Place each slice on a baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk the oil and flour or cornstarch along with a fork. (If you’re using a Green Pan Sauce Pan or another non-stick saucepan like me, you can first place these items in a bowl and then add them to the bread.)
Heat the oil and flour over medium heat.
Add soy sauce, vegetable soup and spices, stir with a spatula for about 15 minutes, adjusting the heat if necessary.
Spoon 1 tablespoon of tofu juice and spread it with a knife.
Roast the tofu in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the tofu from the oven, turn it over with a spatula, coat the other side with gravy and roast for another 15 minutes.
Garlic butter sauce and mashed potatoes
Potatoes: I used about half of a 3 lb bag, so I used about 1.5 pounds of russet potatoes.
Oil: I used a combination of olive oil and vegetable oil. I used 4 tablespoons, 1 tablespoon and 1 tablespoon before roasting the outside of the potatoes, peeled and chopped a little before drizzling them for roasting.
Salt butter or margarine: I used 8 tablespoons of margarine in Smart Balance, melting in the base of the garlic butter sauce.
Garlic: Six cloves of fresh garlic, chopped.
Herbs: Dried sage, rosemary, dill really adds something to the sauce. I used 4 teaspoons each and it was amazing.
Garlic butter sauce and mashed potatoes
Rinse, scrub, and then dry the potatoes.
Place the potatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon of oil on each, and rub the oil on top of each potato.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and roast the whole potato for 20 minutes.
While the potatoes roast, start mince the garlic cloves in the garlic butter sauce. Rinse with a colander after mincing.
Melt the salted butter in a pot over medium heat.
Add the garlic cloves, sage, rosemary and dill and stir heat for about 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat and set the pot aside. If necessary, transfer sauce into a small container for storage.
Once the potatoes are finished, remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 15 minutes.
Use a hand or spoon to peel the skin from the potatoes. Throw away the skin.
Chop the potatoes with a knife or fork, pour 1 tablespoon of oil over the top and roast for another 20 minutes.
Once the potatoes are finished, remove them from the oven and start mashing them with a fork.
Approximately 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes, serve with 1-2 tablespoons of garlic butter sauce.
Best stuffing ever
For the filling, I followed this wonderful recipe of love and lemon. It’s very good. Seriously, my dad says it’s the best stuffing he’s ever had and I believe him. It has the most amazing assortment of healthy and healthy ingredients and fresh herbs, and tastes very fresh!
Best Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dinner of All Time – Dessert
What is the dessert? This year we made a special pumpkin spice cupcake with marshmallow whipped cream topping. This year I tried out new topping techniques. Not only did I mix the whole mini marshmallows into the whipped cream, but I also heated five jumbo marshmallows in the microwave for 10 seconds each to melt them, then stirred into the whipped cream. I discovered this tip from a Kitchn article. We’ve explained how to use this hack to stabilize whipped cream. I think it worked, but I think it would have been even easier to use marshmallow fluff instead of melted marshmallows. Anyway, if you’re interested, it’s a great whipped cream hack.
