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Cranberry Cookies with White Chocolate and Ginger

November 27, 2019 By Alana 1 Comment

Cranberry Cookies with White Chocolate and Candied Ginger

Unless you are super Type A or enjoy making shared family spreadsheets (and does anyone really enjoy that?), chances are there will be some oversights or duplications in your Thanksgiving shopping. Especially when multiple people are bringing ingredients/food. Last year, for example, I somehow ended up with four bags of organic cranberries and only eight people to feed. Despite having multiple cranberry sauce fanatics at the table,  nobody is going to eat quite that much of it, especially with all the Thanksgiving standards to load up on. So I decided not to use all four bags.

But then I had a new problem – what could I do with so many cranberries? Cut to a few days post Thanksgiving, when the last slice of pie had been eaten and the glorious array of leftovers was almost gone. I wasn’t ready to give up having a kitchen stocked full of treats just yet, so I decided to make some cookies. (I mean, I needed to use those cranberries, anyway, so this was really the responsible choice, right?) Okay, maybe responsible is a bit of a stretch, but the decisions was definitely a good one. It yielded these cookies! And I’ve been waiting a whole year to share them with you.

Perfect for including at your Thanksgiving table or for munching on after the fact (people with extra cranberries, I’m looking at you!), these cookies have such a holiday flair. The tartness of the cranberries goes perfectly with the sweetness of the white chocolate and the lovely chunks of candied ginger. I’ve used finger millet flour for these, which is a darker variety of millet flour that helps temper all the sugar a bit and lends a lovely earthy quality that is perfect for the cold weather. That said, if you are unable to find finger millet flour (I order it online from Pure India Foods), you can use regular white millet flour (actually pictured above) and the cookies will still turn out. If you go this route, I would suggest cutting the sugar slightly (try a scant ½ cup) as the white variety turned out much sweeter.

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Tagged With: Cranberries, Ginger, Millet Flour, Quinoa Flakes, Thanksgiving, White Chocolate Filed Under: Baked Goods and Desserts, New American, Simple and Easy

Sample Thanksgiving Menu + Stuffed Kabocha Recipe

November 14, 2017 By Alana Leave a Comment

Stuffed Kabocha

Thanksgiving in my family usually involves a lot of arguing. It’s not the arguing you’d expect. Questions like Who’s going to host? When’s it going to be? and Who’s coming? are not major issues. What can fuel heated debates, however, are questions like What’s on the menu? Who’s cooking? and When can I put my dish in the oven – yours has been in there forever!

This year, I (somewhat miraculously) managed to get complete menu control, in exchange for cooking and hosting. Since my brother is vegan and I’m still on a mostly Low FODMAP diet, holidays can be tricky, and we generally end up with a menu where everyone has multiple options, but nobody can eat everything. This year, however, I decided to create a menu that is entirely on both of our diets, and still screams Thanksgiving. I hope it gives you some ideas!

Thanksgiving Menu 2017 (Vegan & Low FODMAP)

Assortment of dips with crackers and crudite
Buckwheat crackers
Blue corn tortilla chips
Veggie spears

Roasted red pepper dip
Garlic oil, red pepper flakes, coriander, cumin

Walnut dip (similar to this one)
Walnut, hemp, hot paprika, thyme

Oyster mushroom dip
Mushroom, zucchini, carrot, chive, basil

Main Meal
Stuffed kabocha squash (recipe below)
Quinoa, walnuts, herbes de provence

Mashed potatoes with oyster mushroom gravy
Yukon golds, garlic oil, fresh thyme

Balsamic-roasted green beans
Dijon, balsamic, toasted pumpkin seeds

Brussels sprouts
Hot paprika, fresh dill

Coriander-pepper tofu
Chives, coriander, black pepper, tamari 

Veggie cakes
Millet, cabbage, lentil, middle eastern spices

Roasted carrots
Citrus, garlic oil, red pepper flakes

Herbed focaccia

Cranberry Sauce

Dessert
Chocolate pudding 

Pumpkin Pie
Pecan-coconut crust

Salty Oat Cookies (vegan version)

Berry Crisp
Crispy quinoa flakes, berries

And now, for the stuffed kabocha recipe, read on!

[Read more…]

Tagged With: Herbes de Provence, Kabocha, Quinoa, Thanksgiving, Thyme, Walnut Filed Under: Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Entrees, Low FODMAP, Musings, New American, Twists on the Classics, Vegan

Buttery Brussels (Vegan)

November 21, 2015 By Alana Leave a Comment

Buttery Brussels

I’m not sure what it is about Thanksgiving season that has me creating vegan twists on the classics left and right – but here’s another vegan recipe for your Thanksgiving table. Or any table, for that matter. I don’t know about you, but brussels are one of my all-time favorite vegetables year-round and this is one of my favorite ways to prepare them!

Before I describe this recipe, let me just rant about brussels for a second. Has anyone noticed that they’ve gone from being everyone’s least favorite vegetable to something frequently found (and ordered) at chic bars and small-plates places? What happened? I think the answer has to do with the fact that brussels can be just about the absolute worst tasting thing in the world or they can be the best bite you’ve ever had, depending on how they’re prepared. And they are finally being prepared properly more often than improperly! Sure, you still get your occasional mushy, sulphuric, boiled-to-death old-school brussels, and sometimes you’ll get the super undercooked and tummy-ache fueling version, but more often than not, you get something much more akin to truffle fries, if truffle fries were made out of cabbage.

I have a bunch of favorite ways to prepare brussels – from boiling them until tender and then adding copious amounts of olive oil and parmesan, to roasting them in chili glazes. But my absolute favorite is the boil and sauté method. The brussels get nice and tender (which makes them easier to digest and brings out the sweeter side of their flavor profile), and then they are quickly pan-fried/sautéed in oil or butter and delicious spices for a fabulous crispy exterior and a supremely addictive flavor.

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Tagged With: Brussels Sprouts, Hot Paprika, Red Palm Oil, Thanksgiving Filed Under: Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Grain-Free, New American, Peanut & Tree Nut-Free, Sides, Simple and Easy, Twists on the Classics, Vegan

Thanksgiving Shepherd’s Pie (Vegan)

November 14, 2015 By Alana 6 Comments

Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie

Thanksgiving is approaching faster than you can say “pilgrim.” Okay, maybe not quite that fast, but it’s definitely sneaking up on us quickly! And that means it’s time to start thinking about your Thanksgiving feast!

Being vegetarian growing up, people ALWAYS asked me what I did for Thanksgiving. It was apparently incomprehensible that it was possible to have a turkey-less celebration. The questions kept coming – “Do you make an exception for Thanksgiving?” “Um, no…” “Do you get a vegetarian turkey?” “Um, no…” “Oh, is your vegetarian turkey made out of tofu?” “Um, we don’t have a vegetarian turkey…” “Wait, really? Wait, what does vegetarian turkey taste like, anyway?” At which point, I’d normally give up, sigh, and tell them that it tasted just like regular turkey minus the dead bird.

What I failed to communicate to those pesky questioners is that in our household (and in many meat-eating households I’ve been to), Thanksgiving is not about the turkey. It’s all about the sides. If you can call them sides — big, beautiful, hearty, casseroles; luscious, richly-prepared mashes; vegetables upon vegetables upon vegetables. And pie, of course. Lots of pie. And maybe some chocolate pudding too.

While I’m not vegan (and you’ll know that quite well if you made my buttery cookies from last week), I wanted to post a vegan Thanksgiving recipe because I’m sure that vegans get the endless questioning ten times worse. “Mashed potatoes without butter? Really? No cheese at all? I don’t get it – what do you eat?” Sigh.

Anyway, speaking of mashed potatoes, I’ve decided to go classic here. This is a Thanksgiving twist on vegetarian shepherd’s pie – the “meat” layer is composed of a savory mushroom/lentil mixture, with some pumpkin and sage thrown in for good measure. A bit of chopped carrot adds some crunch. Finally, it’s topped with a yukon gold mash and baked to perfection.

[Read more…]

Tagged With: Lentils, Mushrooms, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Sage, Thanksgiving Filed Under: Dairy-Free, Entrees, Grain-Free, New American, Peanut & Tree Nut-Free, Sides, Twists on the Classics, Vegan

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Hi, I’m Alana!

Thanks for checking out my collection of gluten-free and vegetarian recipes (with many grain-free, vegan, and dairy-free options) inspired by the cuisines I like most :-)

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