I celebrated Thanksgiving early yesterday with my family and boyfriend since I will be in Europe during Thanksgiving this year =D. Going to Spain, Portugal, and France next week!
Everything at our Thanksgiving was vegan which made me very happy. My parents aren't vegan but they both eat more plant based now, and I like to think I helped influence that. My dad loves almond milk now, he makes smoothies everyday. And my mom loves pressed juice. As a treat my boyfriend brought my mom 8 juices from pressed juice yesterday. It was so sweet. Just makes me very happy and thankful to see my parents and boyfriend all trying to be healthy and increase their intake of fruits and vegetates, and we all help & encourage each other to stay healthy.
Vegan Thanksgiving Bowl Ingredients: Keep in mind this was dinner for 4 people.
1 bag of regular potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
1 bunch Brussels sprouts
1 bunch cauliflower
1 bunch broccoli or asparagus
earth balance vegan butter
1 can coconut milk
1 bag of pecans
1 can of cranberry sauce
cinnamon
salt
pepper
garlic powder
3-4 baking trays
Vegan Mashed Potatoes
6-8 potatoes boiled, leave skin on
1/4-1/2 cup of vegan earth balance butter depending on how rich you want them 1/2 can of coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
First boil for potatoes in water until they are soft and drain them. Don't peel them. The peel doesn't ruin the recipe, and it has a lot of nutrients and fiber. The secret to good vegan mashed potatoes is lots of vegan butter and a little coconut milk. Other plant milks just aren't rich enough.
Vegan Roasted Veggies for Thanksgiving
So the secret to good vegan roasted veggies for Thanksgiving is separating them among 3-4 different baking trays so all the veggies can lie flat and have space in between to cook properly. The other secret is going heavier than normal on the avocado oil for roasting them so they taste extra savory for the holiday.
Roast all of these for either 20 mins at 420. Or 45 mins at 350.
Roasted Cinnamon Sweet Potato
2 sweet potato sliced into squares
3 tablespoons of cooking oil
2 tablespoon of maple syrup
season with cinnamon power and a little salt. The cinnamon is the secret ingredient. It smells amazing baked on the sweet potatoes.
Roasted Maple Brussels Sprouts
1 bunch of Brussels sprouts, each cut in half
3 tablespoons of cooking oil
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste
Roasted Cauliflower and Asparagus
Can substitute broccoli for asparagus to make it more fall theme. We just happened to have asparagus at home that needed to be used, but asparagus is more a spring vegetable😃.
Keep cauliflower and asparagus separated on the baking sheet, don't mix them together.
3 tablespoons of oil on the cauliflower
1 tablespoon for the asparagus, I find it doesn't need much oil to roast.
Add garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
I find cauliflower roasts better with a lot of garlic powder on it. Garlic masks that unpleasant cauliflower smell it can sometimes have.
Assemble your Vegan Thanksgiving Bowls.
First have mashed potato as your bowl base, Then add the different veggies layers separating them by color. Keep a space in the bowl to put a spoon of cranberry sauce, and top with some pecans.
Happy Early Thanksgiving everyone! This was my best Thanksgiving yet being a vegan. I hope you all also have happy Thanksgiving celebrations with your friends and family in a few weeks. If you try out any of these recipes at your Thanksgiving please let me know how you liked them. Please comment here below, or tag me on Instagram or Facebook.
<3
