Delightfully moist and slightly sweet.

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup apple juice
1 cup well-mashed, cooked sweet potato
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt.  Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers until the dough has taken on the consistency of course crumbe.  Add the apple juice, sweet potato, honey, and nuts, and mix to form a soft dough.  Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and knead in just enough extra flour to make the dough lose its stickiness.

With floured hands, divide the dough into 16 equal parts. Shape into small balls and arrange on a lightly oiled cookie sheet, patting them down a bit to flatten. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one tests clean. Transfer the biscuits to a plate and serve hot. Makes 16 biscuits.

An impressive and healthful dish, this could easily serve as the centerpiece to a Vegetarian Thanksgiving feast!

1 medium pumpkin, about 10 inches in diameter

1 baking dish of cornbread, baked, cooled, and chopped into 1-inch cubes

4 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
6 cups fresh autumn greens (for example: kale, collards, turnip greens, beet greens, or chard) washed and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable broth to moisten

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut the lid off the pumpkin and scoop out seeds and fibers. Place cleaned pumpkin on a lightly-oiled baking sheet and bake for around 45 minutes, then remove from oven and keep warm.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil or butter over medium-high heat and add onion and garlic, stirring to coat with oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are slightly softened and golden, about 5 minutes.  Add greens and cook, stirring, until wilted and coated with oil.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the cornbread cubes, wilted greens, walnuts, egg, herbs, salt, pepper, and enough vegetable broth to moisten.

Place stuffing in pumpkin and cover with foil. Replace pumpkin in preheated oven and bake 35 or more minutes, until stuffing is cooked and pumpkin is tender.  Transfer pumpkin to a serving platter and remove foil. Serve warm, being sure to scoop bits of cooked pumpkin on to everyone’s plate along with the stuffing. Serves 6.

2 cups cranberries
1 cup water
1 cup packed brown sugar

Rinse the berries and remove and obvious stems.  Dissolve brown sugar in water in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the berries to the sugar-water and boil lightly until all the berries have popped open.  Stir frequently to make sure the sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.  Simmer the sauce over medium heat, stirring often, until the sauce has thickened to your preferred consistency.  Enjoy as soon as it has cooled enough to eat, or chill overnight and serve!

¾ c butter
2 c onion, chopped
2 c celery, chopped
1-2 t salt
pepper to taste
3 t sage
3 t thyme
1 t marjoram
1 t rosemary
½ c fresh parsley, chopped
2-3 T apple cider vinegar
16 c bread cubes*
4 c green apples, chopped
1½ c lightly toasted walnuts, minced
2 c vegetable stock
 

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter over medium high heat and sauté onion and celery until soft. Add salt, pepper, herb, and vinegar. Mix well and remove from heat.  In the bowl, combine bread, apples, and walnuts. Stir in onion mixture until well combined.

Toss this mixture with half of the vegetable stock and check for consistency, ideally moist but not soggy. Add more stock as needed, then taste and adjust seasonings.  Butter the casserole dish, add stuffing, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.

2 pounds butternut squash
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons dried sage
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 scallions including green tops, chopped
3/4 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Preheat the oven to 450F.  , Peel, seed, and dice the butternut squash into 1/2 inch pieces.  Toss the pieces with the olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper and sage, then spread them on a large baking sheet.  Roast, turning occasionally, until tender and starting to brown (15-20 minutes). 

In a small mixing bowl, prepare the sauce by combining the mascarpone, half-and-half, chopped scallions, and 3/4 tsp salt. 

Boil the penne in a large pot of salted water until cooked, then drain.  (Tip: reserve some of the pasta water to thin the sauce if it seems too thick!)  Combine the cooked pasta, roasted squash, and sauce.  Serve topped with Parmesan.  Serves 4.

Filling and Sauce:
2 cans pumpkin, or 1 small pumpkin halved, seeded, roasted until tender, and mashed
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small carrot, grated
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream

Pasta:
2 cups flour
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk

To make the ravioli filling, begin by sauting the onion, garlic and carrot in butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Mix the pumpkin, cumin and the salt in with the sauteed vegetables.  Be sure to reserve 1/4 of the resulting mixture for the sauce. 

Now make the pasta.  On a well floured work surface, form a mound of flour with a depression in the center and crack the eggs into the center of the well.  Break the yolks and add the milk, then combine well.  Knead for 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is springy and smooth.  Separate the dough into two equal sized balls.  Roll each ball into a thin rectangular sheet.  Spoon generous tablespoons of ravioli filling at 2-3 inch intervals on one of the sheets.  Moisten the area around each spoonful of filling, then carefully stretch the second sheet of dough over the bottom sheet, pressing hard to join the two layers.  Cut the individual raviolis apart with a ravioli cutter or the backside of a butterknife and set them on a clean towel.  

To make the sauce, put the remaining filling mixture back into a saucepan over low heat.  Mix in the pumpkin pie spice, then slowly add the cream while mixing.  Simmer until the sauce reaches your desired thickness. 

Boil the raviolis for 2-4 minutes in a large pot of salted water, taking care to avoid sticking.  Drain and serve with the pumpkin cream sauce, salted to taste. Serves 4.

The holidays can be difficult for vegetarians, with extended family and friends extending offers of bountiful meals laden with meats and dairy.  In fact, the centerpiece of the Thankgsiving holiday is a huge turkey, roasted to perfection, often with a ham on the side.  Stuffing and gravy round out the meal, leaving a vegetarian to dine on mashed potatos and cranberry sauce. 

However, Thankgiving can still be a great vegetarian holiday by relying on delicious and healthy recipes using pumpkin and sweet potatos, stuffed vegetables, delectable cranberry sauces, and hearty meatless stuffings.  Over the next week, we will post a number of hearty fall recipes just perfect for a Vegetarian Thanksgiving.  Please join in the fun by sharing your favorite vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes, too!