Holiday Recipes

Get excited!!  All those delicious looking dishes that I posted pics of the other day?  Well, I’m finally going to give you my recipes! 

I made all of these for Thanksgiving, but they’re relatively healthy compared to their cream and butter-filled counterparts.  I’ve been eating the leftovers everyday for work, and these would be delicious sides for any meal!

I decided not to share the recipe for the lentil loaf or the cranberry sauce, because I felt they still needed some extra tweaking, but here are some fantastic recipes for quinoa stuffing, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole!

Quinoa Stuffing

Ingredients

• 2 cups quinoa
• 2 leeks, sliced thinly
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 2 cups veggie broth
• 1/4 t dried sage (or 1/2 t fresh)
• 1/2 t fresh rosemary
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1 T olive oil

Directions

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cook quinoa as usual.  In the meantime, sautee leeks and celery in the olive oil.

2.  Mix the sauteed veggies with the quinoa in a baking pan.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. 

3.  Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for about 45 minutes.  At that time, remove the foil, and let bake another 15 minutes. 

So simple, but my boyfriend declared this stuffing his favorite part of the meal!  And this is coming from the person who usually groans everytime I mention the word “quinoa”!

Green Bean Casserole

Green bean casserole has always been one of my favorite holiday dishes.  This year, I knew I had to find a recipe to replace my old stand-by with the cream of mushroom soup and the other atery-clogging junk.  I definitely thought this was a great replacement (and my favorite dish of Thanksgiving this year!)

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs fresh or frozen chopped green beans
• pinch of sea salt
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms
• 3/4 cup veggie broth
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• black pepper, to taste
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1 T corn starch
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T ground flax seeds
• 1 T walnuts, crushed
• 1 T nutritional yeast

Directions

1.  Place beans in boiling water, and allow to cook for about six minutes.  Drain and set to the side.

2.  In a skillet, saute mushrooms and garlic in 1 T olive oil.  Season with black pepper. 

3.  Once the mushrooms have cooked down, add veggie broth, corn starch, and almond milk, and cook on low for about 5 minutes, or until heated. 

4.  Using a ladle, transfer half of the mixture to a food processor.  Puree the sauce, then add back to the rest of the mushrooms, and stir in the green beans.

5.  In a small skillet, sautee onion in cooking spray until lightly brown.  Add the onions to a food processor, along with  flax seeds, olive oil, walnuts, and nutritional yeast.  Pulse until a crumbly consistency in achieved. 

6.  Spray a baking dish with cooking spray, and pour in the bean and sauce mixture.  Spread the onion mixture over the top evenly.

7.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the top becomes brown and crispy.

Sooo good!  This was actually the first dish from Thanksgiving that we ran out of!. I think I migh thave to run out and get the ingredients to make more!

Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients

• 6 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 T cinnamon
• 1 t nutmeg
• 1 T maple syrup
• 1 T Earth Balance
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 cup pecans
• 2 T honey (use maple syrup to make truly vegan)
• black pepper to taste
• sea salt to taste

Directions

1.  Add sweet potatoes to a large pot, and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, and allow to simmer until potatoes are easily pierced witha fork, about 15 minutes. 

2.  Drain the  sweet potatoes, and place back in the pot.  Add in the maple syrup, Earth Balance, almond milk, nutmeg, and 1 T of cinnamon. 

3.  Mash the potatoes until the desired consistency is reached.  Season with sea salt and pepper.

4.  In a small bowl, mix the pecans, honey, and remaining cinnamon, until the pecans are completely covered. 

5.  Scoop the sweet potatoes into a baking dish and smooth out the top.  Add the honey-cinnamon coated pecans to the top.

6.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

This makes a great dessert or side dish, depending on your preference!

Sorry to those of you who are disappointed that I didn’t put up the other recipes!  I plan on working on the a bit more until I get them just right.  I’m really excited to try to work on the lentil loaf a bit more, because I could see it easily becoming a staple in our household!

What were your favorites this Thanksgiving?

I hope you enjoy the recipes, and that you have an amazing day!

<3 Lindsay