Until this year, I have worked every Thanksgiving at a barbecue restaurant and it always is a real life hell since the staff is reduced but it is still crazy busy. I am literally running for 6 hours until we close but there is a silver lining to working on this holiday: the annual staff potluck dinner after the shift. All the staff, including those who aren’t working but come in help close down the restaurant: putting up chairs, the endless sorting and rolling of cutlery, bussing tables and cleaning every surface in that place. We all work hard so all of us can sit down and enjoy a meal together. You would think working in a restaurant we would be having meals together all the time but this couldn’t be further from the truth, with the exception of sharing a plate of cold fries.

The people I work with are not just coworkers, they are my friends: we help each other move, go on vacations together, drink (heavily) together and are always there for you when you need them to cover your section so you can shame eat a kid’s dessert in the bathroom before you have a mental breakdown. The last one happens a lot more than you would think.

There are a lot of funny and painfully accurate articles on BuzzFeed on how it is to be a server but my coworkers make it worth it to crack a fake smile to a rude table and speak to them with a voice 10 octaves higher than your normal voice. These people help me in so many ways and I am thankful to them every single time I punch in to start my shift.

When I said I wanted to create this site, not one of them questioned me or suggested that I may be in way over my head, even when I did. They were all supportive, offered their help when they could and have been my taste testers since I started. This post is dedicated to them, the people that make my job survivable, the people who I get silly drunk with, who make my birthday so special every year and the people who I look forward to seeing everyday, hands down my favourite part of my job. I am thankful to all of you.

I hope you are spending your holiday with your loved ones, whether family you are born into or the one you made for yourself. Happy Thanksgiving from Sprouts and Chocolate!

Vegan Thanksgiving Roundup From Blogs I Love:

Fork and Beans: Thanksgiving-themed Foods

Oh She Glows: The Best Shredded Kale Salad

Vegetarian Snob: Comforting Coconut Butternut Squash Fall Soup (Don’t forget to download their 12 Fall Favourite: Vegan Warming Comforting Seasonal Recipes E-Book! I downloaded one and LOVE it!)

This Rawsome Vegan Life: PUMPKIN CASHEW CREAM CAKE with CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Post Punk Kitchen: Stuffed Thanksgiving Burger 

Lunchbox Bunch: Ginger-Maple Fall Spiced Tofu Cubes 

The post Lentil-Stuffed Roasted Delicata Squash with Savoury Pear & Onion Cranberry Sauce {Vegan & Gluten-Free} appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Adapted from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Serves 4-6

Stock:

• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance
• 1-tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
• 4 carrots, unpeeled, cut lengthwise and chopped into half moons (2 cups)
• 1 head of garlic, cloves separated, unpeeled and crushed with the back of a knife
• ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed and roughly chopped
• 1-750 ml bottle dry red wine
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped parsley (stems are ok too)
• 8 springs of thyme
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled
• ½ teaspoon whole black pepper corns
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 6 cups low sodium vegetable stock

 Garnish (Optional)

• 10 ounces pearl onions (any colour is good, I used red pearl onions)
• 1-tablespoon organic cane sugar
• Pinch of kosher salt and cracked black pepper
• ½ cup of water
• 1 teaspoon Earth Balance

 Stew:

• 1 ¼ pounds cremini mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
• 5 teaspoons Earth Balance
• 5 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium sized carrots, peeled and diced (medium dice about 1 cup)
• 1 cup green lentils or lentilles du puy, rinsed and picked over for pebbles or shriveled beans
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely grated through a microplane
• 2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced (2 cups medium dice)
• ¼ cup fresh minced parsley

For the stock:

In a large pot melt the Earth Balance and oil over medium heat until bubbly. Add onions and carrots and cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally until the vegetables are caramelized. They should be golden brown and very soft, not black. If you find that they are burning too quickly, turn down the heat. Add the crushed garlic cloves and stir until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add porcini mushrooms and cook for 1 minute, ensuring all garlic and mushrooms are coated in the oil. Add the wine, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring up to simmer and cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 15 minutes.

Add the vegetable stock and bring up to a simmer again. Allow the stock to simmer for another 15 minutes. Take stock off heat. Over a large bowl set a fine mesh strainer and ladle the stock over the strainer, gently pressing the vegetables to get most of the stock out. Discard the vegetables and continue with the rest of the stock, you should have about 6-6.5 cups of stock.

Wipe out the now empty stockpot with a paper towel and return the stock to the pot, cover and keep it warm over low heat until ready to use.

For the garnish:

In a small pot, bring 4 cups of water to rolling boil over high heat. Add pearl onions and cook for 4 minutes. Drain over a strainer and rinse with very cold water until cool to the touch. Cut the root and stem off and peel skin off the onion. Continue with the rest. In the now empty pot, bring ½ cup water, sugar, salt and pepper to a boil. Add the peeled onions, cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. Uncover and allow liquid to reduce to about 3 tablespoons. Add the butter and coat onions. It should be browned and glossy. Set onions aside until the stew is ready.

For the stew:

In another large (preferably cast iron) pot, heat 1 teaspoon Earth Balance with 1-teaspoon olive oil over medium heat until bubbly. Add a quarter of the mushrooms to the pot and spread out evenly so the mushrooms aren’t crowded.

I added more for the next batch but just don’t crowd them or they will  be grey and not browned. 

Brown all sides of the mushrooms for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Place the browned mushrooms in bowl and continue browning the raw mushrooms, adding the oil-butter mixture for each batch. I did mine in 4 batches. Set mushrooms aside. Add the last oil-butter mixture to the pot and add the carrots. Cook until the carrots are slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add the rinsed lentils to the pot with 1/3 cup of the wine stock and partly cover the pot with the lid and cook for 7 minutes.

Add the salt, pepper and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the rest of the stock to the pot and bring heat up to medium to medium high until a gentle boil. Cook lentils for 15 minutes, uncovered and then add the cubed potatoes, cook until tender, about another 15 minutes. Remove 1 cup of the stew and add it to a food processor or blender. Blend until very smooth, it will almost resemble a paste.

Add the puree back to the pot and gently stir until the stew has thickened.

Add the browned mushrooms and peas and cook until heated through, about 6 minutes. Add pearl onions and ladle stew into serving dishes. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with wine and warm crusty French bread. Bon Appetite!

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