Foodnatic: Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Thanksgiving Day is HERE! Let me start out by sharing a couple things I am thankful for...

My husband is HOME this year... We haven't been together for Thanksgiving since 2008. I feel SO blessed that he is home and we are going to be able to celebrate together.

Our son.... He is healthy, strong and his height of intelligence astounds me everyday. It is such a blessing to watch him learn and understand....and love. He gives kisses...I'm one happy Momma!

We have food... The two days leading up to this I have spent a lot of time going up and down my stairs to our food pantry shelves in the basement...grabbing extra pecans, corn starch and mushrooms...etc. I never go down there without looking at the shelves and thinking how BLESSED we are to have what we do.

We are warm... It started snowing Tuesday night here in Ottawa, that makes for a cold house when you can't afford to turn the heat on. We're blessed with my husband's employment and all the things it provides for us.

My body hurts... All it means to me is that I am still blessed to have use of it and it was worth getting up in the morning because I was able to be productive.

All that was left for today was Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Awesome Gravy, Vegan Dinner Rolls and cook the Turkey Roulade and Vegan Green Bean Casserole. Let's get to it!

Vegan Soft Dinner Rolls

1 1/4 c. warm water, 110 degrees NO higher

2 T. olive oil

1 T. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. sea salt

2 1/4 tsp. instant or rapid rise yeast

1/2 c. potato flakes OR 1/4 c. prepared mashed potatoes

3 c. flour, plus more for kneading

vegan buttery spread

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

Grease a medium sized bowl for your bread to rise in. In a large mixing bowl combine water, oil, yeast and sugar. Whisk together well. Add in potato flakes/potatoes and salt. Whisk until potatoes are well dissolved. Add in 1 c. of the flour. Whisk until it resembles pancake batter. TURN THE OVEN OFF NOW. Add in the remaining two cups of flour and incorporate with a wooden spoon. When it looks more like biscuit dough, get rid of the spoon and work it with your hands. Knead the dough on the counter until it is no longer sticky. When it is smooth put dough ball into greased bowl and cover with a cheese cloth or large kitchen towel. Let it rise in the oven for 45 minutes. While it is rising, grease a cake pan or what ever you plan on baking them in. When time is up divide the dough into 3 sections. Divide each of those sections in to 4 balls of dough. Roll them into balls and stick them in the greased baking pan. Allow them to rise in the oven until they are doubled in size...this can take up to 2 hours.

Remove from oven when they have doubled in size. Turn oven back on and preheat it to 400 degrees. DO NOT put them in the oven until the temperature is at 400. When it is at temperature bake them for 7 1/2 minutes, then turn the pan 180 degrees (so the rolls that were at the back of the oven are now at the front) and bake the rolls for another 7 1/2 minutes OR until tops are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap on the top of the rolls. Remove from oven and set on cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cool completely.

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

1 recipe of Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup

3 cans of unsalted cut green beans, drained OR 5 cups fresh, tipped and cut in half

1/2 c. soy creamer

2 T. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. black pepper

2 c. fried onions

1/4 c. dehydrated onion

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Take your vegan cream of mushroom soup that you made yesterday out of the fridge. Let it warm up a bit...close to room temperature. Clean it out of the container into a medium sized bowl with a spatula. Whisk in soy sauce, soy creamer, dehydrated onion and black pepper. When all is incorporated well, add in your beans. Coat them thoroughly. Pour into a casserole dish that has a lid. Bake for 25 minutes with the lid on. Remove from oven add on your fried onions and return to the oven to bake for 5 more minutes or until the onions start to turn golden brown. Keep in a warm oven...180 degrees, no higher.

Turkey Roulade

1 tsp. bacon grease

4 T. vegan buttery spread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Blend the bacon grease and butter together with either a fork or your finger. Rub it all over your hands and massage the your turkey roll on ALL sides. Return to foil, pack it tight around the roll again and cook it in the oven for 3.5 hours OR when the internal temperature is 175 degrees. Open foil long enough to pour the drippings into your gravy pan. Return to foil and let the meat rest until ready to serve. Keep in a warm oven with your Vegan Green Bean Casserole.

Vegan Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes

12 smallish potatoes, peeled and cut uniformly

6 c. water

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 c. soy cream

6 T. vegan buttery spread, cut into 1 T. pats

In a large pot boil your potatoes with sea salt in the water until they are forkable; about 10 minutes of a rolling boil. When they are finished cooking, drain the water out. In the same pot that your potatoes are in toss in your 6 T. pats of butter. Using a hand mixer, blend butter and potatoes together. If they are a consistency you like...leave 'em alone. If you want them creamier, slowly drizzle in your soy cream while you run the hand mixer. Stop when they get to your desired creaminess. Put them into the serving bowl you'll be using...toss them in the warm oven to keep your turkey and casserole company until you're ready to eat.

Awesome Gravy!

4 T. bacon grease

3 T. vegan buttery spread

6 T. flour OR 6 T. cornstarch mixed with 6 T. of cold water

1 32 oz container of turkey STOCK (not broth)

roulade drippings

In a large saucepan melt together your butter, roulade drippings and bacon grease. Toss in your 6 T. of flour and whisk it until it resembles a paste. Slowly add in turkey stock until it is the desired consistency...some like their gravy thick...some like it thin. The more stock you add, the thinner it will become of course. If you opt for the cornstarch version of gravy it will be more translucent and closer to the color of the turkey stock itself. For that melt the butter, bacon grease, roulade drippings and turkey stock in a medium sized sauce pan. Mix cornstarch with water and slowly add it into the saucepan AFTER the contents have started to boil. Make sure you do this slowly so you don't make the gravy thicker than you want it. Make sure you let the starch boil into the stock before adding more. You will know that it has dissolved completely when it loses the whiteness of the starch after each addition.

When the gravy is done....the feast is ON!!

Thank you so much for joining me on my cooking marathon for what was one of the best Thanksgivings I have had in years! My Mister is home from the desert, our son is healthy & strong, we have plenty of food, a roof over our heads and we are blessed and watched over by our Lord; we know the reality of His hand being upon us in our daily lives. We hope that you are able to celebrate the same things in your life this year and every year.

Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes