Alternative, Traditional Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is upon us once again here in cattle country and while we may not enjoy the turkey, we are saying thanks for all of the vegetarian and vegan options available to us. From Tofurkey and Field Roast to desserts, there really is something for everyone. We will gather with friends and family who have a range of dietary requirements and can’t wait to see how some of the dishes go over. Here are a few of our favorites, and ways we will alter them to appease vegetarians and still appeal to the rest.

Main Dish:

Tofurkey and Field Roast both have a stuffed roast for holiday gatherings. This year, since we’ve procrastinated, we’ll go with whichever is left when we get to the market. We’ve historically made a Tofurkey roast, and we love them, but Field Roast has found its way onto our favorites list with other meat substitutes, so we’d like to try the celebration roast a try. For our meat-eating guests, we’ve secured a free range, organic turkey from Greenling.com.

Sides:

Green bean casserole is pretty much vegetarian as long as you leave out any bacon pieces, so that’s a no brainer. Just replace any chicken broth with vegetable broth if making this from scratch, or check the cream of mushroom soup can to ensure you are getting a vegetarian version.

There is this aunt who makes amazing cornbread stuffing. Of course, her original version uses chicken broth, but when we started playing with the vegetarian lifestyle in these parts, she took it upon herself to make a batch with vegetable broth one year. Everyone loved it! The only thing she changed was the broth; so if you have a favorite family recipe, give that a try. (She did not use bacon grease to season her cornbread pans in the first place, but if your recipe calls for that method, you might want to use vegetable oil, instead.)

Gravy is tricky. Since it typically comes from drippings, it’s not exactly vegetarian friendly. We’ve made some from milk and vegetable bouillon powder with a little cornstarch to thicken it. While it tasted great, it turned out green and visitors didn’t care to try it. (Who can blame them? This isn’t a Dr. Seuss story.) We’ll go with mushroom gravy this year, but would love to hear about any vegetarian or vegan gravy recipe you enjoy.

Candied yams are one of those sides that really should be dessert. The marshmallows, red hots, and generous amounts of brown sugar rival any pie we can think of. While the vegetarians can only enjoy this if the marshmallows used are vegan, Sweet & Sara brand makes it possible to alter this for everyone while maintaining the flavor.

We have this desert/side that we’ve dubbed Green Shit. Yes, it’s green, but it’s quite delicious. Basically, it’s a cottage cheese salad, but since it was historically made with green Jell-O, it’s not vegetarian friendly without alteration. We’ve used pistachio powder, and that came out like silk, but not as solid as we had hoped. La Cocina Encantada has a beautiful recipe for a vegan pistachio pudding that might go well in our recipe, so we’ll try that. While the carnivorous family members typically laugh at the Tofurkey roast, we’ll give this a try and see if they can tell the difference. While the cottage cheese definitely is not vegan, at least it will lack the gelatin in the original version. Alternatively, lime flavoring and agar agar will make a jiggly desert, so that might work, too.

We’d love to hear from you about your favorite items and alterations around the holiday season.

Until next we meet, enjoy great food and keep a happy heart.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving; we’ll see you next week.

Sal’s Pizza Restaurant: more than great pizza

A recommendation from a friend put Sal’s Pizza Restaurant in Plano, Tx. on our radar, and we couldn’t be happier. With fresh made dough, delicious pasta, and friendly staff, it’s no wonder we like this place. We walked in and immediately felt like we were visiting friends.

On the first visit, the angel hair with olive oil and garlic (7.95) set the bar for everything else. Clean pasta with large slices of garlic may sound simple, but this was definitely art. The garlic was flavorful and the pasta cooked just right to layer the flavor and texture for a perfect meal.

Later, the vegetarian tried some cheese ravioli with fresh tomato sauce (6.95). We asked and were told the sauce does not contain any meat broth. The sauce was tangy and plentiful, almost to the point of drowning the huge ravioli. The ravioli are filled with ricotta cheese and herbs, so given their size, this is an intense flavor on its own. Balance the sauce to cheese ratio in each bite for the best meal.

Pasta dishes here come with a basic salad and bread. The salad is nothing special, just some iceberg lettuce, a cucumber slice, a cherry tomato, and a pepper, but the house dressing is amazing. A thick tomato-based vinaigrette tangy enough to make you pucker, this is our new favorite dressing.

All of us like the pizza here, and prices ranging from $9 to $18, we can actually afford to love it. The carnivore tried pepperoni and hamburger and noticed it is not nearly as greasy as other pepperoni pizzas he’s had. The cheese and meat are piled onto a hand-tossed crust that is the perfect thickness to appeal to both crisp and chewy pizza lovers.

The margarita pizza is heavy with cheese and contains no sauce. Fresh basil cut into large strips and generously spread over the fresh sliced tomatoes give this an artful appearance. When the waiter said he liked how it looked, we had no idea it would be this colorful. Beautiful and delicious, we absolutely recommend the margarita pizza.

We also tried Sal’s Veggie pizza, but we added sun dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. Those were absolutely worth adding as they changed the dish from what would have been a better than average mushroom, black olive, green pepper and onion pizza to an amazing texture and flavor combination.

None of the pizzas are overloaded with red sauce, so if you prefer heavy sauce you should ask for it. We love the dough, so are happy to be able to taste the bread without an overwhelming sauce presence. All the pizza we tried was dry on the bottom, so we could use our hands without worry.

In short, Sal’s Pizza Restaurant offers delicious pizza and pasta, is a good choice for vegetarians and non-vegetarians, and delivers everything we could want from a great pizza place.

Until next we meet, enjoy great food and keep a happy heart.

Come back next Sunday for another ride through cattle country.