Happy Vegan Thanksgiving - Frugal Vegan Stuffing

Just in time for Thanksgiving and early enough to plan for Christmas - my other easy "use it up" bread crusts recipe:  Yummy Vegan Stuffing.

Not for the birds!  This is the dish to take to your family Thanksgiving so you can give thanks for vegan food. 


After all, stuffing is the original alternative to fill up tummies so you don't eat so much of the expensive meat - happy to help out there!

Overview

You need:

• any size oven-proof dish with cover
• enough vegetables to quarter fill the dish
• enough starch (wholegrain bread crumbs, oats with a bit of flour, etc) to fill to the top (or a bit over)
• liquid, herbs and salt

My stuffing
I used a large dish (my new/old Corningware 2.5L) and:

Vegetables

• 1 thinly sliced courgette
• 1 cup creamed corn

Other good stuffing vegetables:
Use mild vegetables that will cook into softness easily

• celery
• mushrooms
• peas

Starch
It's been long enough since the Frugal Fruit Pudding that we have collected more bread crusts in the freezer.  And these are 90% wholewheat crusts (thanks to our supermarket instore loaf range). So hooray - we are gradually eating more whole grains! 
I grated these into crumbs using the food processor.

I also used 1 cup of dry oatmeal.

Other good stuffing starches:

• Cooked rice
• Wholewheat flour (no more than 1/2 cup)

Add the starch and mix in the vegetables.

Extras
Add richness (if desired) to your basic stuffing.

I used a handful of sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

Other good stuffing extras

• Sesame seeds
• Chopped cashews or walnuts
• Slivered almonds
• Olives
• Chopped meat replacement

Liquid/Salt
In a small bowl or jug combine:

• 4C (approx) liquid - water or vegetable broth
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh from my friendly neighbour's tree)
• salt to taste

• oil (optional) If you use some of the healthier rich extras listed above, you may not need any oil.  The richer the stuffing, the more "normal" this will taste, but it will still taste great without any rich extras  Up to you...

Herbs 
(Stir into the liquid)

• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional - I happened to have a little bit of parsley from the garden)

Later, I'll show you what happened to the rest.


Pour combined liquid over the mixture in the dish.  The starch should be all wet but not floating.  Add more plain liquid (water or broth) if needed.

Cover and cook in the microwave on high for about 10 minutes.
I put the cooking dish on a dinner plate to catch bubbly drips.
You can brown the top in the oven before serving.


Sorry, I can't photograph how good this smells!

And I highly recommend Lani Muelrath's Forks over Knives Mushroom Gravy on the side!

What's your favourite animal-friendly holiday dish?