Vegan (Mostly) Thanksgiving

Lately I’ve been thinking about the difference between abundance and excess.  Thanksgiving seems to be a perfect holiday to write about these thoughts as the day is marked so thoroughly by both.

I want to live abundantly, with abundant joy and giving, grateful for all the many blessings in my life.  Fall is a wonderful time to celebrate the abundance that our Earth still provides.  I was astonished, for example, by the 15 pounds of potatoes, boxes of tomatoes and many other vegetables that my small community garden plot produced this year.  I am also constantly amazed at the abundance of generosity, kindness and love that the people in my life give so freely.

This is, in my mind, very different from the excess that so marks our culture.  Excess seems to be more about fear than celebration and hoarding than gratitude.  It’s about taking too much, more than my own need, whether in the form of overeating, overspending or other “over”ings.  I have noticed a lot of excess in my own life and am working to transform it. 

This Thanksgiving, as I sat down with my beloved family for a delicious meal, I reflected on the abundance in my life and remembered hearing somewhere once that the best prayer one can say is, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

And what did we eat?  The centerpiece of the meal was a beautiful lentil stuffed pumpkin with sides of roasted potatoes, roasted veggies, quinoa salad and, for those who wanted some, chicken.  It was important to me that the chicken be a small side dish and that the meal be centered on plant based foods and I think we succeeded, there was far more excitement about how good roasted Brussels sprouts are than about the chicken.  (In a future blog I’ll talk more about my journey in living with a meat eater, but for now, here is one of the recipes.)

Lentil Stuffed Squash

I wanted to create a loaf-like stuffing for the pumpkin, something that was delicious and substantial.  This stuffing is inspired by tangines, Moroccan stews.

• 1 squash suitable for stuffing about 8 inches diameter (I used one that looked like a pumpkin, but I’m not entirely sure what kind it was)
• 1/2 c French lentils
• 1/2 c black lentils
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t cloves
• 2 – 3 bay leaves
• 1 t Ras El  Hanout
• 1/4 t Marash Chiles
• 1/2 stock cube
• 8 dried apricots, diced
• 2 thick slices Spelt bread
• 2 T oil
• 1 onion
• 1 cup celery
• 3-5 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup ground almonds

Combine lentils, spices, stock cube and apricots in a pot with 2 1/2 cups water, bring to a simmer for 20 minutes.  Toast bread slices and make bread crumbs in food processor.  Fry onions, garlic and celery in oil until softened and translucent.  Drain lentils and remove bay leaves.  Add about 2/3 of onion and lentil mixture and all the almonds to bread crumbs in the processor and puree.  Mix the remaining lentils and onions into the stuffing and stuff the pumpkin.  Put squash in casserole dish and add about 2 cm water to bottom of dish.  Cover with lid or tin foil.  Cook for 2 – 2 1/2 hours at 350, until sides of squash are easily pierced with a fork.