Try choosing chicken over turkey, or even cooking up a meat-less vegan dish.
Thanksgiving can be a big headache for many people. Some of us may actually be looking forward to cooking up a big meal that is fit for an entire army; while others might be planning to celebrate in a smaller group because they can’t make the trip home this year. In both cases, some will have the more difficult task of pleasing the vegan member of their gathering. If chopping up a turkey on a butcher block isn’t your cup of tea, here are some tips to help you through your next Thanksgiving dinner party.
Serve chicken instead of turkey:
Turkey is big bird. If you’re planning to have just a small dinner with few friends, it might not be the fowl of choice to cook for your meal. You could always cook a turkey breast, or, you could choose to cook a chicken instead. Now, chicken doesn’t have to be plain if you follow these steps:
1.Rinse your chicken and squeeze a fresh lemon into its cavity
2.Stuff it with half a bulb of garlic, some thyme and rosemary.
3.Make a mixture of two tablespoons of unsalted butter with your leftover thyme and rosemary along with some parsley and sage and spread it evenly under the skin of the bird.
Make sure you save some of the mixture for basting.
4.You're almost done preparing! All that’s left to do now is sprinkle it with salt and pepper and place it in a roasting pan.
5.Baste the chicken with what’s left of the herb butter mixture, some olive oil and a little more salt and pepper.
6.Turn up the heat of your oven to 425 degrees, baste one last time, and let everything cook for 15 minutes.
Having some strictly vegan guests or relatives over for Thanksgiving dinner? No problem, here’s a vegan and gluten free Thanksgiving menu item that will also please the meat lovers at your table.
Cranberry and orange tofu casserole
There are plenty of meat substitutes available on the market, some of them are even designed to replace turkey, but if you truly want to make your recipe your own, it’s best to choose tofu as your meat replacement. Tofu will take on the flavour of your spices and sauces of your choosing, since it doesn’t really have a flavour of its own to begin with. You can season your tofu with anything you like, but if there’s no turkey at Thanksgiving, there should be at least some cranberries!
1.Mix together 6 pureed garlic cloves, some raw cranberries, orange juice and apple cider vinegar.
2.Add some salt, black pepper and a seasonal spice of your choosing.
3.Slice up 2 blocks of firm tofu on your cutting board and let them soak in the marinade. Prepare 1 cup of brown rice. Once the rice has been cooked, sauté it with safflower oil, tamari, mushrooms, celery, carrots, 1 chopped onion and some parsley.
4.Make a nest with the rice inside a baking dish, top with the tofu slices and pour the rest of the marinade on the top.
5.Garnish with cranberries and bake at 400 degrees until the top begins to brown.
Who knows, this new twist to Thanksgiving might become a tradition in your household . Happy thanksgiving to all of you!
http://www.mint.com/blog/saving/thanksgiving-recipes-11172010/
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