Tonight I did a trial run of the vegan stuffing I'll bring to Christmas Eve Dinner. I may have mentioned that at thanksgiving I overhead some family members discussing how dry the veggie stuffing was. Then I heard this shocking statement "I guess you just can't have good vegetarian stuffing." WhA!?? The gauntlet had been thrown down!
5 or 6 years ago, when I first started being vegan, some people in my family were apprehensive of my pumpkin pie. Nowadays, I make every dessert for every family function and there is never anything but oohs and ahhs. So, I feel determined to make some darn good vegan stuffing!!
I've never been much of a stuffing person, so I had to learn a bit. I asked lots of people what they liked about stuffing... referenced a stuffing recipe that I got from Squirrel's Vegan Kitchen (which now I can't find), and also the Joy of Cooking recipe. I'm happy to report that the stuffing turned out GREAT! YUm yum. I really loved it.
With the stuffing we had mashed potatoes, super tasty collard greens, and Punk Rock Chick Pea Gravy from VwaV. It was my first time making this gravy, and I thought it was pretty good. I didn't love it quite as much as I wished I would... but it's obviously good. Also... DANG! That's a LOT of gravy!!! Who does Isa think we are?? Gravy monsters!!??
:)
Stuffing recipe PLEASE!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the chick pea gravy. I really wanted to love it - and it's good. It just didn't quite do it for me. My favorite gravy is the mighty miso gravy in how it all vegan. YUM!!!
Hi VivV!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about the Mighty Miso Gravy. I will try it.
I don't have an exact recipe... but I did this:
about 3/4 lb bread
2-4 T Earth Balance
1 onion, chopped
4-5 stalks celery, chopped
1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 T fresh sage chopped
1 T fresh thyme chopped
1/2 c fresh parsley
1/4 tsp pepper
2 c veg broth ** not sure of amount, I was just eyeballing it. I used mushroom broth for a strong flavor, and it was great.
Heat oven to 250 and toast the bread slices 10 min on both sides (20 min total). I did this earlier in the day, which saved a little time in the evening. chop your bread into 1/2 inch cubes.
Now, raise the oven temp to 350 and lightly "butter" a casserole dish with a lid.
Melt earth balance in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the onions and celery and heat until onions are soft & clear. Add all the herbs, parsely, and pepper and stir it up.
Lower heat to low. Add in the bread cubes and stir around. Start adding in the broth, a bit at a time... Keep adding broth until it looks like all the bread chunks have soaked up some broth (it will depend how moist you like your stuffing... but it's easy to eyeball it - I promise). Transfer it all to the "buttered" casserole dish. I threw in a couple extra teaspoons of broth for good measure.
Cover and cook 30 min. Remove cover and cook another 5-10 min.
enjoy!!
Ooops!
ReplyDeleteThat was actually me, I didn't realize that blogger was logged into my boyfriend's account! :)
Enjoy the stuffing!
Well, I think the only good stuffing is vegan stuffing. In fact, an omnivore brought vegan stuffing to our holiday party this year and it rocked my world. This looks fabulous.
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays!
The stuffing looks great! Sometimes I like to put apples and walnuts in mine.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks delicious! The stuffing with fresh herbs just has to be good. I'm with you on the chickpea gravy. We liked it okay but thought it would be better with more traditional (and stronger) seasonings. And it does make a ton!
ReplyDeleteHi Amey... I tried to send you e-mail but it got bounced back. Maybe I'll give it another shot...
ReplyDeleteHi UV,
ReplyDeleteyes, I think you're right! The only good stuffing IS vegan stuffing!! :) Good point!
Hi Chris,
Yeah, I was really wanting to put walnuts in, and my mom talked me out of it - but I think I will try apples and walnuts today for our big dinner! Thanks for such a good idea. Apples sounds like a really great combination!
Hi Susan,
Isn't it amazing what a difference fresh herbs can make? This is probably especially true in my case, since I don't throw out all my spices every 6 months like one is "supposed to." Ha ha! Also, glad to hear that I'm not the only weird who didn't love the gravy. I think I'll try the one that VivV recommended next.
Hi Chris,
thanks for the email, I'm glad it finally got through!
:)
I can't wait to try this stuffing (I could eat it all in one sitting). Actually it's funny because I just copied and pasted this to a word document and was going to save it and didn't know what category to put it in and chose entree because stuffing is totally my kind of entree!!! YUM YUM!! All of those fresh herbs sound delicious. I'm actually going to try to start a little indoor herb garden since all of my herbs outside died.
ReplyDelete