Hey guys! Today I’m going to share with you two Thanksgiving recipes that are vegan. Before my meat-lovers click off, these two have been approved by myself and three other non-vegans. They are good, trust me - I wouldn’t share them if they weren’t. Take my absolute failure attempt at vegan sweet potato casserole for example. I just scraped that baby into the trash can and pretended that soupy goup never happened.

Story time: If you don’t know, my fiancé Zach is vegan, but I’m not and neither are our families, so that makes cooking and eating out really fun 🙃. When holidays roll around it gets even more complex. You end up around buttery, cheesy, and chicken broth recipes GALORE. I’ve learned that SO many dishes could easily be “vegan,” but since everyone cooks with butter and chicken stock, for example, Zach typically can’t eat anything, not even the veggies. Don’t get me wrong, we both have families who try to accommodate, but it doesn’t always work out. People often forget or don’t really understand what being vegan means and they say “we made this for you and it’s vegan.” He’s like, “great! So no butter, egg, chicken broth or cheese?” (the usual suspects) and you just see their defeated face go “oh, yeah, I forgot I used (insert whatever non-vegan ingredient here). 9/10 if you’ve invited us to an event or dinner, we have stopped by Subway on the way for Zach, haha. LUCKILY, earlier this year Zach got into cooking and has made some pretty incredible food these past few months. When I got contacted by Kroger to work with them on a Thanksgiving campaign over on my Instagram account, we took this as the PERFECT opportunity to trial some vegan Thanksgiving recipes. Below are two dishes that have passed the test! Enjoy!

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. green beans, trimmed

6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 medium shallots, finely chopped

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c. all-purpose flour

3 c. Unsweetened almond milk (make sure it’s NOT vanilla as well)

6oz container of French fried onions

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Prepare an ice bath. In a large pot of boiling water, add green beans and cook until bright green, about 6 minutes. With a slotted spoon or tongs, quickly transfer green beans to ice bath to cool, then drain and transfer to a large bowl. 

3. In a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until mushrooms are golden, about 5 minutes more. Stir in garlic then transfer mixture to the bowl with the green beans. 

4. Heat remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in almond milk and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, about 4 minutes (prob longer). Remove from heat then add green bean mixture and toss until even combined. Transfer mixture to a medium casserole dish. 

5. Bake until warmed through and bubbling around the edges, about 20 minutes. (If it isn’t thickening up enough, keep cooking it - we had this happen). Top with fried onions and bake 5 minutes more. 

6. Enjoy!
   
   *Recipe was modified from the Delish website.

This next recipe is courtesy of Jackie from Vegan Yack Attack. I’m going to tell you right now, I didn’t eat the “mac and cheese” with the sweet potato like it says in her original recipe (so I didn’t include it below), but Zach and our friends did and loved it. I can say though 100% that the “mac and cheese” on it’s own is pretty incredible. HOWEVER, it does not taste like your standard Velveeta Shells and Cheese so get that out of your head or you’ll be disappointed. As a meat-eater who enjoys delicious vegan food as well, I have this theory that some vegan dishes need another name. BECAUSE, although it’s incredible tasty, I have found that if you try to call a vegan recipe the same name as it’s cheesy counterpart you just let people down when it doesn’t taste identical. SO, let’s call this one “Smokey Pasta.”

Smokey Pasta

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 C . Dried Pasta (we used elbows)

• 1 C . Pure pumpkin (we used the one from a can)

• 1/2 C . Vegetable Broth

• 1/3 C . Raw Cashews soaked for 1-2 hours or for 20 minutes in boiling water

• 3 T . Nutritional Yeast

• 1 Clove of Garlic

• 1/2 T . Lemon Juice

• 1/2 tsp . Dijon Mustard

• 1/2 tsp . Chipotle Flakes (we couldn’t find flakes so we used Chipotle Chile Powder)

• 1/2 tsp . Smoked Paprika

• 1/2 tsp . Liquid Smoke

• 1/2 tsp . Sea Salt

• 1/4 tsp . Turmeric for color

• 1 C . Packed Kale Chopped with Stems Removed

• 3/4 C . Tomato Diced

• 1/3 C . Yellow Corn Kernels (we just used canned corn)

• 1/4 C . Green Onion Diced (plus more for garnish, which is optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Start cooking the pasta by following the directions as the package describes (cooking times are different on most).

2. To make sauce: Take the pumpkin, cashews, veggie broth, nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, chipotle powder, paprika, liquid smoke, sea salt and turmeric in a blender or food processor and puree until completely smooth.

3. Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse with cold water. Place the pot back on the stove, over low-medium heat.

4. Pour the sauce into the pot, and add the kale, tomato, corn and green onion.

5. Stir it all together and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the kale is wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste, if desired.

6. Serve up that “Smokey Pasta” to your friends and family!

   *Recipe was modified from the Vegan Yack Attack website.

Oh look! There is me eating a bowl of mashed potatoes!

Anyways! If you guys try out these recipes let me know! Also, huge thanks to Kroger for working with me on a Thanksgiving campaign over on my Instagram. If you haven’t seen the photo already (click here), I’d love some support by liking, commenting, and sharing it with others! Thanks guys!