Vegan Mushroom Lentil Wellington
Vegan Mushroom Lentil Wellington was the best decision EVER for my Christmas dinner. It was incredibly easy to make, loaded with flavor, healthy, and seemingly fancy-schmancy so my guests were uber impressed! Typically, I hear of mushroom Wellington as a vegan substitute for beef Wellington, however, with my love for lentils and wanting a more solid stuffing, I opted to add lentils as well. So glad I did! Was crazy tasty and enjoyed by all! This recipe will be a crowd pleaser for Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas dinners, Easter dinners etc. I’d really love your opinions on this if you make it so please share in the comment section!
Along with my Vegan Mushroom Lentil Wellington I made a carrot barley soup (usually I add mushrooms but didn’t want to overload on the shrooms), and mashed potatoes & gravy (extra gravy for the Wellington). We chowed it all down with a beautiful Simi cabernet sauvignon! For the mashed potatoes, I used Earth Balance ‘butter’, unsweetened almond milk, fresh rosemary, and salt & pepper. For the gravy, I used dijon mustard, Braggs Aminos (or soy sauce), veggie broth, flour, Earth Balance, thyme, and salt & pepper.
Christmas was extra amazing this year because it was the first year that G could really get into the xmas magic and spirit (movies, songs, presents), and because it was the first year that I have spent Christmas as a home owner! I am a lover of the art of decorating for all holidays… especially, Christmas and Halloween! It was awesome to listen to my favorite xmas tunes (classics and, hello, Mariah Carey!), drink Poinsettias, and decorate the new house with the fam. A pretty amazing month! Missing my grandma hardcore over the holidays but keeping her alive in spirit. 🙂 Now, it’s the new year and I’m crazy committed to my goals/resolutions for 2018! Read my previous Poinsettia post if you’d like to join me in ‘said’ resolutions! Lastly, I’m back to work today. Great to be back in a routine, but missing sleeping late, hangin’ with G, seeing my friends, shooting food, and exploring Portland! Sigh… maybe one day my dream of blogging/writing full time will come true. Until then, enjoy your return to the grind! XO -FGG
PS- Daytime photos of the Wellington are from the next day. For the full effect of the crispiness of the loaf, look at the nighttime pics. 🙂
- 18 oz cooked lentils (I used Trader Joe's Steamed Lentils)
- 3 C sliced baby portobellos
- 1 roll of phyllo dough/puff pastry
- 1/4 C unsweetened almond milk (or any unsweetened milk) for brushing dough
- 1/4 C olive oil for brushing dough & additional 2 Tbl for pan
- 1/4 of a yellow onion -diced
- 3 cloves of garlic - minced
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tsp all purpose seasoning
- Optional: fresh rosemary sprig for garnish
- Gravy to taste
- Heat pan with oil and add onions cooking for approximately 4 minutes
- Add garlic - stirring occasionally for 1 minute more
- Add the mushrooms, salt & pepper - stir for approximately 5 minutes
- Add the lentils, all purpose seasoning, and rosemary, and stir for approximately 5 minutes more
- Heat the oven to 375f and remove the mushrooms & lentils from the heat
- Spray a baking sheet with oil and place a few sheets of pastry on the sheet to make a large enough surface area for your Wellington and brush with oil
- Top those sheets with 5-6 more layers - brushing each layer with oil prior to placing the next layer on top
- Add contents from pan (mushroom/lentil contents)
- Cover the mixture with an additional 5-6 layers brushing oil in between layers again
- For the top layer, do not oil (top), brush with almond milk
- Press sides together, adding more oil if needed and fold upwards -flip the Wellington over and place in the oven for approximately 35 minutes or until slightly browned
- Place a sprig of rosemary on top for a garnish
- Wait at least 5 minutes before slicing
- Serve with gravy
- Cabernet Sauvignon
Vegan Lentil Nut Loaf
Vegan Lentil Nut Loaf is easy, healthy, and delicious! Perfect for dinner, Thanksgiving, or Christmas meals. I make some kind of loaf for every Thanksgiving I have at my home – which is every year. LOL. Sometimes I do a pure lentil loaf, sometimes I do a nut loaf, sometimes a straight-up vegan meatloaf, and occasionally a mushroom wellington (click HERE for that recipe). Needless to say, I just try to change up the deliciousness every year since I host a vegan Thanksgiving annually.
I already had one vegan Thanksgiving thus far! My friend and her daughter came over since we won’t be able to spend the actual day together. It was amazing! We drank too much wine, good beer, and listened to too much Christmas music (is there such a thing?). The kids topped it off with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Round two of unnecessary eating came late night after some porch time with Jack Herer. LOL. That’s also when we thought it was a good idea to dive into the beers. Fuck it, right? We only live once and spending this time with friends is precious. Especially as we are preparing for our inevitable departure to our new home – Shenzhen, China. It couldn’t come soon enough!
This year, our T-day will be with my sister and her son. Simple but perfect. Again, getting that time in with our nearest and dearest! It is HARD with COVID. My Saturday night plans are now on Zoom. Ideal? No. However, still fun. It is really important to maintain connections and stay social during this pandemic. One of the few things that have truly helped.
I’ll have a few more vegan Thanksgiving recipes posted in the next ten days, and then my annual vegan Thanksgiving menu post with some T-day trivia for your holiday. Treat yourself to some early T-day grub because “fuck it,” it’s COVID and we might as well! On that note, cheers!
To get you in the holiday spirit…
Vegan Lentil Nut Loaf
Makes 8 slices
Ingredients –
2 C brown lentils (I use Trader Joe’s steamed lentils)
1 1/2 C walnuts – chopped finely
1 Tbl olive oil
3 Tbl vegetable broth
2 C yellow onion
1/2 Cup carrot – diced
1 C celery – diced
4 cloves garlic – minced
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
3 tsp oregano
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 C tomato paste
1 vegan egg equivalent – I use a flax “egg” – 1 Tbl ground flax with 3 Tbl water mixed well
1 1/4 C breadcrumbs
For the glaze:
1/3 cup ketchup (I use a good ketchup – Portland Ketchup)
2 Tbl balsamic vinegar
1 Tbl real maple syrup
Directions –
Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat
Add the onion, celery, carrot, and salt – mix and cook for about 7 minutes
Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes
Add the broth, lentils, oregano, thyme, sage, and salt & pepper and cook for 5 minutes more stirring ocassionally
In a large bowl, add the lentil mix, breadcrumbs, vegan egg, and tomato paste – mix very well (use a masher or your hands)
Flatten the contents of the bowl into a loaf pan
Evenly spread glaze on the top of the loaf
Cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes
Done!
Wine pairings –
Red – Barbaresco, tempranillo
White – Chardonnay
Beer pairings-
German hefeweizen, English brown ale
The BEST Vegan Thanksgiving Menu
Happy almost T-day, everyone! This is mostly a repost from last year with a few additions. In this post, I am giving you my recipes AND my favorite premade vegan roasts. Honestly, I serve at least one every year. It’s 2019 so we have options, people! When I was 8 years old and vegetarian, it meant I could eat a lot of potatoes and some sides. As a vegan? I would’ve had nothing but some veggies. Then came Tofurky. It was okay at the time. Now, Tofurky has jazzed it up and we have Gardein and Field Roast to give Tofurky some serious competition.
This year my vegan thanksgiving will look a bit different. One, I’m divorced. Thank. Fucking. God. Well, not yet, but soon. It couldn’t come fast enough. I’m doing a Friendsgiving, okay, one of my sisters will be here too, at my new and awesome apartment. I thought I’d miss my house SO much. Turns out, I don’t. I guess home is wherever and whatever you make it. This year, I’m serving many of the recipes below and a roast. I’m also adding a staple salad from Thanksgivings of my childhood. My mother made this salad every year. I don’t have a pic of it, however, I use mesclun greens, red onion, sliced purple grapes and small bits of apple, candied pecans or walnuts, garbanzo beans, vegan blue cheese or vegan feta (optional), and a homemade honey mustard dressing. SO GOOD! My friends, their kids, the Macy’s parade, lots of jazz records, awesome cocktails, dresses that stretch to match my belly as it begins to bust, my couch, and a massive sleepover at my place will complete my holiday of fun. Hell yeah!
Below are recipes for soups, salad, appetizers, entrees, and amazing cocktails. Enjoy the grub and please leave a comment if you make these or even one of these recipes, and let us know what your thoughts are! -FGG
Click on a recipe to bring you directly to the link!
PS- The featured image is by, RUNNING ON REAL FOOD
PPS- I remember seeing this when it aired. I was having a sleepover and my friend and I were watching this from my mother’s bed. I LOVED Adam Sandler. Cheers to the past! 😉
Creamy Vegan Carrot Sweet Potato & Mushroom Soup
Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup
Lentil Soup with Sauteed Mushrooms (Vegan)
Sauteed Veggie & Farro Spiralized Zucchini Salad
Artichoke Balsamic & Basil Hummus (If you use the parm, my favorite vegan parm is Go Veggie Vegan Parmesan)
The BEST Pumpkin Seeds Ever!
Premier Tomato Bruschetta with Olives & Capers
Vegan Mushroom Lentil Wellington
Vegan Pumpkin Mac n’ Cheese
Vegan Kale Pesto Lasagna with Veggie Tofu Ricotta
Crazy Delicious Veggie Couscous
Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Stuffed Portobello Mushroom
A Maple Bourbon Fruit Fling Named Rosemary
Blackberry Royale
Amazon Link To My Two Self-Published Books!
Image by, Player.One
Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes & Menu
Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes & Menu is your go-to guide for faux T-day this November. All things delicious, all things festive, and all things healthy. Say whaaa?! I was encouraged to serve vegetarian and meat last year for T-day. I said, “fuck that!” That is demeaning to both myself and my kitchen. Why would my vegan grub taste any different than my vegetarian grub? So, naturally, being who I am, I did what I wanted. After all, it was me, and only me, who was cooking for 8 people. I’m not complaining, I love doing it solo, just don’t tell me what to do in my kitchen. Now, hope you’re not thinking I’m a cruel, control-freak kinda asshole, I assure you, I’m not. I am speaking in defense of food. If you make it well, it tastes good. Simple as that. A lesson to be taught to many who think that no food can be a meal without meat or cheese. That’s nuts-o. It’s 2018. I think by now, we should all be aware that plant-based food is DOPE! Just like any food! If you cook chicken or pasta without flavoring, it sucks. It’s alllll about flavor. I had 2 meat eaters, a gluten free-er, 5 vegetarians and moi last Thanksgiving. The result? Everyone loved the food! And I mean alllll of the food. I made everything GF as well. For me, this holiday is about eating amazing food, drinking copious amounts of delicious wine, shoveling some pie in your overflowing and about-to-burst belly, unbuttoning your pants, or losing the tights, and then enjoying good company with some good games. Last year, we somehow made it to the dart board. I have NO idea how anyone was standing long enough to make that happen. It was awesome.
Below are recipes for: soups, salad, appetizers, entrees, and an amazing cocktail. Enjoy the grub and please leave a comment if you make these, or even one of these recipes, and let us know what your thoughts are! -FGG
Click on recipe to bring you directly to the link!
PS- Sorry for the day-late post! It was my kiddo’s bday party (HUGE) on Saturday, and his actual bday on Sunday. He got all of me. No time for anything or anyone else. My heart, G-man. 😉
PPS- The featured image is by: RUNNING ON REAL FOOD
PPPS- I remember seeing this when it aired. I LOVED Adam Sandler. Cheers to the past! 😉
Creamy Vegan Carrot Sweet Potato & Mushroom Soup
Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup
Sauteed Veggie & Farro Spiralized Zucchini Salad
Artichoke Balsamic & Basil Hummus (If you use the parm, my favorite vegan parm is “Go Veggie Vegan Parmesan)
15 Awesome Vegan Recipes for the Fall!
So, it’s been a while… a long while. I am making a vow right now that I am going to get my shit together and start blogging like I was doing before summer hit. In fact, I’m gonna blog ten times f’in’ harder than that! Why? Well, one, because I LOVE it! Two, because I’m listening to “Crushing It!” by, Gary Vaynerchuk and I am sooo inspired! It literally makes me want to pull my car over mid-drive and start blogging, writing my book, and starting my podcast. I freakin’ heart you hard, Gary. 😉
Okay, back to the title of this post: 15 Awesome Vegan Recipes for the Fall! I have compiled 15 of my favorite autumnal recipes (appetizers, salad, soups, pasta, cocktails etc) from the archives of this blog that make my soul warmer and happier in what should be called, the BEST season of the year. Who doesn’t love fall foliage, the crisp air, apple and pumpkin picking, tractor rides at farms, corn mazes at farms, all things pumpkin spice, all things maple, and of course, some warm food on a cold day?! Obviously, only the soulless! Click on the recipe title to bring you directly to the link. See you all soon… -FGG
PS- My mother had said she was listening to George Winston’s “Autumn” the other day which has inspired the musical selection for this post. Totally reminds me of my childhood!
SOUPS:
Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup, Creamy Vegan Carrot Sweet Potato Mushroom Soup, Creamy Vegan Broccoli Soup, Lentil Soup with Sautéed Mushrooms
APPETIZERS & SALAD:
Artichoke & Balsamic Parmesan Hummus (replace real parm for vegan parm – GO VEGGIE is my fave), The BEST Vegan Nach Cheese Sauce Ever! (who doesn’t love nachos during game season?!), Sautéed Veggie & Farro Spiralized Zucchini Salad
MEALS:
Vegan Pumpkin Mac n’ Cheese, Vegan Mushroom and Lentil Wellington, Crazy Delicious Veggie Couscous, Spaghetti Squash with Cheesy Marinara, Lentil Sloppy Joe’s (replace shredded cheese with vegan shredded cheese like Daiya’s)
COCKTAILS & DESSERT:
A Maple Bourbon Fling Named Rosemary, Warm & Delicious Spiked Choco-Coffee, 3 Minute/4 Ingredient Hot Chocolate Mini-Mug Cake (Replace Egg with Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg – this stuff is awesome!)