TDay Dinner Challenge - Gluten Free + Vegan!

[Leader of the Club]

Greetings Fellow Budgetears:

We are hosting Thanksgiving this year and I need some new ideas. I've been put on a gluten free diet (I feel 120% better!) and we are having a vegan family over also. There will be around 14 dinner guests.

So, I need your best GF recipes and some vegan ideas to throw in the mix.

GO!

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Roasted sweet potatoes and root veggies. Can flavor with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper for savory or sweet with pure maple syrup, brown sugar and cinnamon.
Make a wild rice salad. There are many recipes online that include greens and craisins with some type of vinaigrette.

Spinach and orange salad with toasted pecan dressing.

White bean cassoulet

Those will be vegan and gluten free.

You can have turkey and mashed potatoes plus crust less pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream that is gluten free but not vegan.

 

[Leader of the Club]

I love roasted root veggies! Great idea.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Olive oil mashed potatoes (http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015335-olive-oil-mashed-potatoes)
Roasted green beans with lemon and marcona almonds (getting in some protein http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/lemon-roasted-green-beans-with-marcona-almonds-2
Carrot Osso Bucco (this has main dish presentation - serve over quinoa or farro or the already made mashed potatoes) http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/carrot-osso-buco-richard-blais
Roasted brussel sprouts with pecans and avocado (getting in a different nut and protein and more healthy fats http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-toasted-pecans-and-avocado
Celeriac soup (easier, cheaper, and not roasted recipe and a make ahead http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/celeriac-soup
Cranberry sauce (anyway you like it
Spinach salad with fresh fruit (apples/dried cranberries) and nuts (what you are already using elsewhere) with a cider vinaigrette

You don't need all this, but it's a nice variety! I would avoid the "fake" foods or the ones that are supposed to be like a product, but aren't (can't get my head around tofurkey, for example...I'd enjoy all the foods that make being GF and vegan great...

And if turkey is a must, I would just buy a small turkey breast for cooking...I'd keep the non-vegan/non-GF items in the background...

And you're doing a wonderful thing - I hosted a dairy allergic family once and it made me do a rethink on many normal Thanksgiving recipes...and it was a huge hit - I still do my turkey dairy-free to this day...

 

[LJSquishy]

I love recipes from Oh She Glows! We are gluten free and also try to eat a lot of vegan meals.

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes that we eat as a main dish but could also be a side dish:

http://ohsheglows.com/2015/01/21/warm-roasted-winter-salad-bowl/

I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds wonderful and the flavors seem like they'd fit well with Thanksgiving (and now I'll have to make it!):

http://ohsheglows.com/2012/10/05/glazed-lentil-walnut-apple-loaf-revisited/ Make sure to use GF oat flour & GF breadcrumbs (or you can use GF crispy rice cereal instead)

I love roasted veggies so I'd definitely offer those...broccolini w/ minced garlic is my husband's favorite, but we also eat a lot of roasted squash, green beans, etc.

 

[GlitteryOtters]

Good luck with the Thanksgiving challenge! My husband & I are both vegan and have friends who are gluten free & with dairy allergies, so we make vegan & gluten free food pretty often. I have to second the suggestion to check out Oh She Glows...GREAT stuff there, I've loved every recipe I've tried from her.

We also rely heavily on Allyson Kramer's 2 vegan & gluten free cookbooks as well as recipes from her website (http://www.allysonkramer.com). She's posted several delicious looking vegan & gluten free pumpkin recipes (including a pumpkin pecan cheesecake which we haven't tried yet, but it sounds delicious: http://www.allysonkramer.com/2014/11/pumpkin-pecan-cheesecake/).


She also has a post full of some Thanksgiving recipes up at: http://www.allysonkramer.com/2013/11/gluten-free-vegan-thanksgiving-menu/


The main warning I give when recommending Allyson Kramer is that she tends to oversalt her recipes, so if you try her stuff, try starting with less salt than she calls for...I typically eat low sodium and a lot of raw vegan food, so I find that starting at half as much salt as she suggests is a good starting point for me, but my husband typically prefers if I use more like 2/3 or 3/4 as much salt as she calls for in her recipes.


There is also a good master post of vegan Thanksgiving recipes at:


http://www.runningonrealfood.com/4-vegan-thanksgiving-menu-options/

Some of them are gluten free too but, frustratingly, she doesn't indicate which ones are, so it might take a little looking, but you should find some good ideas there.

In other recipes...if you like pomegranates, this pomegranate cranberry sauce is awesome:

http://nutritionstripped.com/pomegranate-cranberry-sauce/


But this is actually my all time favorite cranberry sauce recipe:


http://www.therawtarian.com/raw-cranberry-relish-recipe

(She calls it a relish, but we eat it like cranberry sauce. We had 3 cranberry sauces last year and this raw vegan one was the first one to be completely eaten up!)


This vegan & gluten free quinoa sweet potato dried cranberry "stuffing" is delicious:


http://withstyleandgraceblog.com/20...to-and-dried-cranberry-stuffing-thanksgiving/




Most likely none of your vegans are raw vegans, but if they are, let me know. I have a ton of good Thanksgiving recipes that are raw vegan, but they are typically a bit more pricey, so not in keeping with the budget board theme...


~Meg

 

[sheetz]

For dessert you can make this pumpkin-coconut panna cotta.
http://chezpim.com/bake/pumpkin-panna-cotta

I do this often with mango instead of pumpkin and it's also excellent.

 

[superme80]

I made this gravy for thanksgiving once, and it was a huge hit with the meat eaters, http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/mashed-potatoes-with-shiitake-mushroom-gravy/.

Also mashed cauliflower with almond milk, earth balance butter, and garlic is really good.

 

[sweet maxine]

I love recipes from Oh She Glows! We are gluten free and also try to eat a lot of vegan meals.

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes that we eat as a main dish but could also be a side dish:

http://ohsheglows.com/2015/01/21/warm-roasted-winter-salad-bowl/

I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds wonderful and the flavors seem like they'd fit well with Thanksgiving (and now I'll have to make it!):

http://ohsheglows.com/2012/10/05/glazed-lentil-walnut-apple-loaf-revisited/ Make sure to use GF oat flour & GF breadcrumbs (or you can use GF crispy rice cereal instead)

I love roasted veggies so I'd definitely offer those...broccolini w/ minced garlic is my husband's favorite, but we also eat a lot of roasted squash, green beans, etc.

I second the idea of roasted vegetables. I use a rosemary, thyme, balsamic vinegar and olive oil base for mine, but any way of roasting is so good!

I've made the lentil loaf from Oh She Glows several times, and it is very good. Make sure to use the raisins and apples as per the recipe, as it gives an extra touch of flavor to the loaf. I also add in about a tablespoon of whatever bbq sauce I have on hand to the glaze. Anything on her blog or in the cookbook is pretty much yummy and can't miss food. (And make sure to line your loaf pan with parchment paper, as it really makes it so easy to just lift the loaf from the pan for serving. Let the loaf cool first though so it has time to set.)

What about a baked potato or baked sweet potato bar? A large platter of finger food fruit is nice, too. Maybe a wild rice dressing (Martha Stewart's recipe) with some apple sage Field Roast sausages? Hmmm, not sure the sausages are gluten free though.

If you can find gluten free potsticker wrappers, Heidi Swanson's Red Lentil Dumplings are fantastic as an appetizer. We also love her Golden Potstickers as well, but I'm not sure how easy it is to find gluten free wrappers. The quinoa salad at Whole Foods looks yummy, and I've wanted to try it but haven't yet. The recipe is online somewhere and looks easy.

 

[Aimros]

Also echoing PP recommendation for Oh She Glows - Angela is fantastic and you can definitely get a lot of great GF/vegan recipes from her.

 

[sweet maxine]

Also echoing PP recommendation for Oh She Glows - Angela is fantastic and you can definitely get a lot of great GF/vegan recipes from her.

Yes, and her Thanksgiving recipe round-up has so many ideas too!