Fresh Thanksgiving Ideas

It may seem like fall just started, but believe it or not, it's already time to think about Thanksgiving dinner. It's only one week away! A lot of people have their core Thanksgiving recipes established from previous years, but if you're looking for new ways to spice up your autumn feast or going gluten-free for the first time, check out these ideas for an organic Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving is a great time to indulge and load up on all the heavy carbs, meats and sweets that you may skip at other times. But if there's only rib-sticking stuffing and heavy gravy on the table, you can indulge so much that you fall asleep and miss the real point of the holiday -- getting together with friends and family to enjoy each other's company and express gratitude. This Thanksgiving, try to make sure your vegetables are on the table too -- and not just those of the potato variety.

If you're tired of the more traditional brussels sprouts, why not bring a Kale Salad to the meal? Add cranberries to the kale salad and you'll really be feeling festive. Speaking of salads, you could also try an Apple Fennel Salad or even just stick with your basic green salad and get it into the spirit by adding a Cranberry Vinaigrette. Or go with a warm salad and serve this Roasted Beet and Carrot Salad, which is sure to fit in on the Thanksgiving table.

Just about everyone has plenty of go-to recipes for Thanksgiving gratins, casseroles and stuffings. But what about soup? A light starter round of a brothy, vegetable-full soup is a great way to begin a meal and allows you to get in some much needed nutrients before turning to the sweets. Try this Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Pear Cider or maybe this twist on Carrot Soup that adds miso and sesame oil. You can also get your greens in by starting with this Creamy Broccoli Soup. Or make the soup the centerpiece and pull out all the stops by serving White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs.

For the gluten-free-ers, Thanksgiving can be a treacherous time. Even if you can eat wheat yourself, chances are there will be someone at your meal who can't, so why not play it safe and make as much of the dinner gluten-free as possible? Not only does this mean not planning to cook your bread stuffing in the bird and load the table up with mac-n-cheese, wheaty gravies and pumpkin pie, but it also means checking your ingredients. Making a marinade, broth, gravy, soup? Read everything for hidden glutinous ingredients and make as much from scratch as you can.

Good thickening substitutes for wheat in things like gravy and roux are tapioca starch, arrowroot starch or sweet rice flour. And if you really want a stuffing, why not try making it with rice and or even cornbread, as in this Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing with Maple Roasted Acorn Squash? Or check out these tips for making gluten-free stuffing.

Of course, the main event at any Thanksgiving meal is the dessert table, which is often loaded with intensely sweet and wheaty pies. If you need that traditional pumpkin pie to be present but are looking for a gluten-free alternative, try this recipe for a gluten-free pie crust. And if you're wanting to branch out a little, what about trying this Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Praline and Coconut-Pecan Crust? Other great dessert ideas that don't involve a lot of time rolling out pastry include roasting or poaching whole fruit, as in this recipe for Poached Pears. You can even skip the fruit (/squash) part altogether and try serving Hazelnut-Caramel Bars. Get simple and comforting with Cornbread Pudding or chocolately and decadent with Chocolate Mousse Tart with Hazelnuts.

However you do Thanksgiving this year, just remember: this particular autumn feast was made for giving thanks and eating well. Keep stress out of it and eat what makes you happy.

Vegetarian Stuffing

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter or buttery spread
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups celery, chopped
2 medium to large apples, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dried sage leaves
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 to 1 tsp dried poultry seasoning
9 cups soft bread cubes (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch per cube)

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and apples and cook until tender, stirring constantly.

Add salt, sage, thyme and poultry seasoning. Mix well.

Add bread cubes and stir until seasoning is evenly distributed.

Serve with vegetarian tofu "turkey".

Tofu "Turkey"

INGREDIENTS

5 blocks extra firm tofu
2 tsp vegan poultry seasoning (or more to taste)
1/4 - 1/2 cup fresh chopped herbs (such as savory, rosemary, sage, basil, or bird blend herbs)
2 cubes vegetable bouillon crumbled well
Salt and pepper
Vegetarian stuffing

Marinade:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 - 1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (same as you used in tofu)
1 cube vegetable bouillon dissolved in a couple tablespoons of hot water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Dijon mustard or stone ground mustard
A sprinkle of red pepper flakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Blend tofu in blender or food processor until lumps are gone. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in herbs, poultry seasoning, crumbled bouillon cube, and salt and pepper.

Line a medium-sized, round-bottomed colander with one layer of cheese cloth or a clean dish towel. Put the tofu mixture in colander and fold remaining cheese cloth over the top. Place the colander on a plate (to catch excess water being squeezed out) and put a heavy weight on top of the tofu. Put in the fridge and press for at least 2 to 3 hours, or overnight if possible.

Make the marinade by whisking all the ingredients together in a small bowl or blending in a blender. Adjust spices as desired.

After pressing and with the tofu still in the colander, scoop out the centre, leaving about an inch of tofu around the edges. Place your stuffing in the cavity. Put some of the tofu mixture you scooped out over the stuffing and press down firmly.

Flip the formed "turkey" on to an oiled cookie sheet, use the excess tofu to form the turkey legs and wings for an added turkey look. Brush the whole turkey with the marinade.

Cook at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1.5 hours brushing with marinade about every 15 minutes.

What’s Up With the Two Thanksgivings?

Canadians and Americans both enjoy too much pie, turkey or tofu turkey and have large gatherings with relatives they might otherwise avoid on their Thanksgiving holidays. So… how are the two holidays different?

American Thanksgiving celebrates a time of peace between the "Pilgrims" who left England to settle in the "New World" and the indigenous Native Americans, who taught them how to survive in their new home. It can be argued that their magnanimity didn't turn out so well for the Native Americans in the long run, but that's another story.

American Thanksgiving is also a harvest holiday. It's celebrated at the end of November because the harvest season typically falls later in the US (of course, all this is pre-global-warming) than it does in Canada, since Canada is farther north.

Canadian Thanksgiving is first and foremost a harvest Cclebration, created to commemorate a successful harvest season. We celebrate this on the second Monday in October.

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada also goes back to enterprising English folk, notably English explorer Martin Frobisher. He'd been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient, and while he didn't find that, he did "discover" the rich ecosystem of North America. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving his long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving.

Frobisher was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay.

Simultaneously French settlers were crossing the ocean. Arriving in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, they also held huge feasts of thanks. In the tradition of the open-minded French, they formed "The Order of Good Cheer" and shared food and wine with their First Nations and Native American neighbours.

Some of the menu similarities arise from the fact that during the American Revolution, Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada. They brought with them the traditions of America's Thanksgiving harvest holiday, such as the cornucopia, turkey and pumpkin pie. 



There is another similarity that we at Green Earth Organics wish to note. Both "Thanksgiving" holidays celebrate a time when foreigners from across the sea traveled to a land populated by thriving native peoples. And both holidays mark the start of a gradual period of marginalization and displacement of the indigenous peoples who called the "New World" their "Only World".