The 2015 Tuesday-Before-Thanksgiving edition of #VeggieDag Thursday.

VeggieDag Thursday is an occasional Thursday post
on an animal-free diet and ecological issues.

Here it is: this year's Tuesday-before-Thanksgiving edition of VeggieDag Thursday.

Mom's Cranberry Relish

***my version***

• INGREDIENTS
  • 12 ounces cranberries: cleaned and washed.
  • 1 large unwaxed orange: washed, do not peel.
  • 1 large tart apple: washed, cored, and peeled.
  • 1 seeded pomegranate
  • 1 TBSP Grand Marnier, or other orange liqueur (my 'secret sauce').
  • 1 to 2 TBSP sugar, more or less, to taste (me: agave syrup, to taste)
  
  
• PROCEDURE
  Chop cranberries, orange, and apple in a food processor. Leave chunky; do NOT over-pulse. Add pomegranate seeds, orange liqueur, and sugar. Mix. Cover and let sit a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

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More recipes, from around the web

• Food 52 suggests cooking with cider.

  Because it shares so many characteristics with wine—from its bright fruitiness and slight sweetness to its balance of tannins and acidity—it follows that cider would make an excellent cooking liquid, and it does, in just about every application you can think of.

  
  
• At Global Vegan Kitchen, Robin Robertson proffers recipes for a complete Vegan Thanksgiving, with beautiful photos.


• Joe Yonan, food editor of the Washington Post, shares his "Vegetarian dishes for a Thanksgiving table that welcomes everyone."


• From Doron Petersan at Sticky Fingers Sweets & Eats in Washington, D.C.: Vegan Bourbon Pecan Pie (as excerpted by the Washington Post from Petersan's book: Sticky Fingers' Vegan Sweets).


• Vegetarian and vegan Thanksgiving meals, via Lindsay S. Nixon, aka The Happy Herbivore, at Forks Over Knives and at her own eponymous blog.


• Nana's Lithuanian Kugel, 'veganized.'


• Chestnut stuffing, from Martha Stewart. Vegan, if you sub for the butter and chicken stock.


• From her cookbook, Dinner in The Beer Garden, Lucy Saunders suggests Corn & Beet Salad with Walnut Dressing for Thanksgiving

  because it pairs well with sour brown ales that also happen to go well with other Thanksgiving favorites. Substitute 2 cups corn kernels, oven roasted for 15 minutes, for the corn on the cob, if out of season.

  
  
• Isa Chandra Moskowitz at Post Punk Kitchen has the recipe for a vegan Thanksgiving centerpiece: Seitan Roast Stuffed With Shiitakes And Leeks. (Serve that with my Stout Mushroom Gravy, below.)

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Stout Mushroom Gravy

• INGREDIENTS
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 TBSP kudzu powder (or arrowroot)
  • 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 2 TBSP, finely chopped fresh sage
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • a few grinds of black pepper
  • 6 ounces stout (such as Guinness or 'craft' versions) *
  • 1 tsp marmite **
  • 1 tsp soy sauce **
  • 1/4 cup dried nutritional yeast
  
  * I've used Peg Leg Stout from Heavy Seas Beer and Storm King from Victory Brewing. The hoppiness of the latter added another layer of piquancy. In either case, only six ounces are needed, leaving the chef six ounces for personal refreshment. If you're vegan, you would want to avoid Guinness which uses fish-derived isinglass for clarification, even though the brewery has announced its intention to change that procedure.
  
  ** Soy sauce and Marmite already contain hefty amounts of sodium —as does commercial vegetable stock— so no additional salt needed.
  
  
• PROCEDURE
  • It always begins with the onions and garlic. Chop, and then, in a large pan, sautée the garlic in extra virgin olive oil over medium heat for a minute. Add onions and sautée until soft and translucent.
  • Add chopped cremini mushrooms and fresh sage.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk powdered kudzu into the stout. Add to pan with Marmite, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, and vegetable stock. Fold all together. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
  • Remove 3/4 of gravy. Process in blender or processor until 'creamy.' Return to pan.
  • Gently stir together, and serve.

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What to drink?

At the Thanksgiving trough, should there be wine or beer? The former, says Chain Bridge Cellars, a northern Virginia wine shop. The latter, say I.

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A Thanksgiving prayer

This Thanksgiving, Americans are expected to consume forty-nine million turkeys. Maybe just this once, this Thanksgiving 2015, at least consider this proposition: kill the vegetables but spare the animals. In the 21st century, must we continue to slaughter God's creatures not for real need but merely for choice?

Enjoy a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

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