Happy Thanksgiving and neatloaf

I have so much to grateful for this year; my beautiful children, wonderful husband, friends and family and wonderful readers. I hope you all have a great day.  The sunny yoga kitchen is buzzing with all the cooking that’s going on and this is what’s on the menu for today.

• Walnut and buckwheat neatloaf
• Cranberry and pomegranate sauce
• Gravy
• Green bean and creamy mushroom casserole
• Corn bread stuffing with apples and dried cranberries
• Mashed potatoes
• Home baked breads and crackers
• Desserts by Jessica

Someone once asked me if we only eat the side dishes on Thanksgiving. I found it funny but realize that if you never been around vegetarians or been one you really have very little idea what we eat during the holidays. I know many vegetarians and vegans eat tofurky on the holidays and we have too. The past 4 years I’ve been making neatloaf instead which has been loved by vegetarians as well as meat eaters.

This year I’m planning to make a walnut neatloaf made with buckwheat to make it very hearty and protein rich. I find that neatloafs can be made so many different ways and you can be adventures and add all kinds of things that sound good. I don’t know why I associate walnuts with Thanks Giving and Christmas but I do and besides it add great flavor to a neatloaf. I like using buckwheat cereal as a base because it adds a lot of nutritens and also makes it easier to shake and cut the loaf.

1 ½ cups walnuts

½ cup yellow onion, chopped

1 large garlic clove, grated

1 tbsp. canola oil

2/3 cup creamy buckwheat cereal

1 cup water

½ bullion cube, crumbled

1 tbsp. dried thyme

Black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to F400. Process the walnuts in a food processor or blender until you’re left with a fine meal. Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat and cook onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add buckwheat, water and bullion cube and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add thyme, pepper and walnuts and blend well. Spread the batter into a greased small loaf pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Let loaf rest for 10 minutes before removing and slicing. Enjoy as a neat loaf sandwich, or with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and gravy.

Cream of mushroom soup and green bean casserole

When I was a little girl and traveled with my mom by train to see my grandfather, we used to eat lunch in the restaurant on board the train. They served a cream of mushroom soup which I thought was heaven. I loved sitting there looking at the country side and cities passing by while sipping my soup. Yesterday I made a creamy mushroom soup and when I tasted it brought me back to that memory and it’s funny how food can do that.

I’m going to make this soup on Thanksgiving to use it for a green bean casserole. I will just lightly steam green, yellow and purple beans and place that in the bottom of a baking dish. Pour sauce over and sprinkle some slivered almonds. Bake for 15 minutes in F400. 

2 cups white mushrooms, sliced thin

2 canola oil

1 tbsp. spelt flour

1 cup milk ( I used plain almond milk)

2/3 cup cream (I used mimic unsweetened cream)

Bragg’s liquid amino’s or Tamari

Black pepper to taste

1 tbsp dried parsley

Heat 1 tbsp. of the oil in a frying pan and a single layer of mushrooms at the time, until browned. Remove from frying pan place into a sauce pan. Then repeat, add more oil and keep doing this until all mushrooms are browned. Sprinkle flour over mushrooms and then combine with milk until there are no more lumps. Bring t a boil on medium heat while stirring. Add cream and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes on low heat. Add bragg’s, black pepper and parsley.

Cranberry and pomegranate sauce

This weekend I have been working on preparing for Thanksgiving so I've been making cranberry sauce, crackers, cranberry baguettes, whole wheat spelt loaf and ginger bread caramels. I'm finally done and my poor feet are super tired. I was lucky that Bella went to the movies with my friend Jess and Noah took a long nap so I could work undisturbed, a rare occasion for any mom.

For years I've been making the same cranberry chutney for Thanksgiving and Christmas which has been very appreciated but this year I decided to make a new version because I had beautiful pomegranate and I wanted to use them. I personally things this sauce is amazing and I used it on a sandwich yesterday with tofurky on a cranberry baguette.

1 bag cranberries, washed

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cloves, grounded

1 tsp dried ginger

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Combine in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil on high/medium heat, covered with lid. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring often, until it resembles and syrup consistency. Let it cool before pouring into bowls, glass jars etc.

Cranberry spelt baguettes

This is a bread I bakes last weekend and it's one of my favorites now and I will bake this again for Thanksgiving. I like baking and cooking with spelt flour since it better for you. Whole wheat spelt flour is more nutritional than white spelt flour but by using white it's still good option to white all-purpose flour.

7 cups white spelt flour

1/2 package dry active yeast

2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups warm water

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp honey

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Combine flour, yeast, cranberries and salt in a large bowl. Mix warm water, oil and honey until honey is dissolved and add to flour. Work dough until combined and elastic, about 5 minutes. Set aside covered with a towel to rise for 1 1/2 hours. Place dough on a surface sprinkled with a little flour.

Knead the dough by folding sides over and over again for a minutes. Divide dough into four and shape each to a baguette by twisting each end carefully. Place on a baking sheet and cover with towel. Rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to F425. Place a small baking dish with 1 cup water in the bottom of oven. Brush each baguette with water. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.