interesting ingredients (for J.P.)

This is right from the internet, with behavioral recipes added in by me. Recipes for tofurkey, stuffing, and your choice of mushroom gravy or/and mushroom sauce, both of which are delicious. Left over tofurkey, if there is any, is really good sliced up and put on sandwiches with romain or green leaf lettuce and sliced heirloom tomatoes (if you can find and afford them).

Music

Depends on if you cook in the evening or in the morning. In the evening, listen to the righteous stylings of Erykah Badu or the deep roots of Burning Spear. Enjoy a glass of wine or two as you listen. If you cook in the morning, and you've had your coffee, measure, mix, mash, and stir to the beats of the M.I.A. or Handsome Boy Modelling School. Sing out loud and in your head. Defintely dance around the kitchen, occasionally grabbing the dishrag as your dancing partner.

Etiquette

Wash all the dirty dishes you find in the sink before you begin. Check to see if there are any forgotten pots or pans on the stove that also need washing. Might as well sweep, too. Naked cooking is interesting, but you should probably wear clothes. Barefoot is okay, but I always wear socks, no shoes. Try to avoid the phone when it rings, but do answer knocks at the door, and invite whoever has dropped by to come on in. Offer wine or coffee. Only curse when you cut yourself with a knife, accidentally forget something, or realize you used the tablespoon when you really needed the teaspoon. If you have to engage your OCD tendencies by counting every single chop, slice, or mince, go ahead and do it, but don't feel weird about it later.

Food

Tofurkey with Stuffing

Turkey:

5 pounds of firm tofu (use the TastyTofu extra firm from the Fiesta -- it's the best)
1 pound of tofu for the "drumsticks" (optional -- I never do this.)

Stuffing:
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 and 1/3 cup celery, diced (about 4 stalks)
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sage (may use 1/8)
2 teaspoons marjoram
2 teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon winter or summer savory
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 teaspoons celery seed
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
3 cups toasted or stale bread, cubed and herbed (original recipe calls for Pepperidge Farms, but I improvise. You can also search around for other stuffing recipes on-line if this one seems boring, however this turns out great.)

Basting mixture:

1/2 cup toasted sesame oil
1/4 to 1/3 cup soy sauce or tamari
2 tablespoons miso
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon vegan mustard of choice
improvise with anything else you think tastes good

Directions:

Mash tofu or mix well with hands. Be sure that all of the lumps are out. Line a 12" colander with wet cheesecloth over lapping the sides. Add the mashed tofu to the cloth covered colander, press down and cover with the overlapping sides. Place the whole thing in a large bowl. Cover the cheesecloth with a plate that fits inside the colander and place a 5 pound weight on the plate. Refrigerate and let sit for 2 to 3 hours.

When time is up, start the stuffing. Saute' the onions, celery and mushrooms in the 2 tablesoons sesame oil. When soft, add the garlic and all the rest of the stuffing ingredients, except stuffing, mixing well. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add herb stuffing and mix well.

Remove tofu from fridge and take off weight, plate and top of cheesecloth. Hollow out tofu to within 1 inch of the sides and bottom, placing the tofu in a bowl. Place the stuffing inside the shell and pack in firmly. Cover with the remaining tofu and pat down firmly. Turn stuffed tofu onto a greased baking sheet, flat side down. Gently press on sides of "turkey" to achieve a more oval shape. If desired at this point, you may mold "drumsticks" out of one pound of tofu, and place on each side of the "turkey".

Mix up the basting mixture and baste tofu "turkey" with half of it. Cover the "turkey" with foil, and bake at 400 degrees for about 1 hour.

Remove foil, baste with all the remaining mixture except a few tablespoons and return to oven for 1 hour more, or until the "turkey" is golden. Remove from oven and use rest of basting mix. Using at least 2 large spatulars, move to a large plate. Serve with the gravy of your choice, if you wish, and cranberry sauce.

NOTE: I always grow increasingly alarmed as the tofurkey roasts because the sesame oil cooks really fast and the drizzle run-off is prone to burning on the baking sheet. I worry and worry that it means that the tofurkey is burning, but it never does. Keep an eye on it. I've never seen anyone else write or complain or worry about this on-line, so it might just be me or my oven.

Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
1 cup strong veggie broth
1 small onion, diced
2 Tbs. flour
1 1/2 Tbs. margarine

Directions:
Hydrate your chopped mushrooms with about 1/2 cup boiling water. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Melt margarine in a small-medium saucepan over medium heat. Sauté the onion lightly. Don't brown too much. Add the flour, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until frothy. Do not let it burn! Add the mushrooms and their liquid and your vegetable broth. Cook over medium heat to a boil, stirring constantly. After it comes to a boil, turn the heat down a bit and let thicken.

Serves: 6
Preparation time: 10-15

Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:
finely diced onion
clove minced garlic
sliced or chopped mushrooms [any kind you like]
water
arrowroot, kudzu, or cornstarch [dissolved in a little cold water]
shoyu, tamari, or soy sauce
salt and pepper
thyme
vegan white wine or sherry
fresh chopped parsley

Directions:
This recipe is all to taste, and you can make as much or as little as you want, but here's the basic procedure. also, I've made it very simply before, with no wine, thyme, parsley, etc. So if you don't like something, or know of something you'd like better, experiment! In the parentheses are approximate amounts that I used.

Sauté the onion (~2 tbsp) and garlic (1 clove) in olive oil (~1 tbsp) until soft. Add mushrooms (~1/2 cup?) and let it cook until they get "watery". then add water (~1 cup), wine (just a splash for some flavor) and shoyu (to taste). Let this simmer and reduce for a bit, then add the arrowroot slurry (you'll have to experiment with the thickener, depends which one you use and what consistency you like) and thyme (to taste). Simmer/adjust thickener to get desired consistency. at the end add salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle with parsley (optional).
This is good on just about any ol' thing. Mashed potatoes, rice and tempeh, tofu, lentil loaves... go wild! It's very nice made with crimini or some other heartier mushroom, but also delicious with plain ol' white button mushrooms.

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes

Clean up

If you live alone, you should probably clean everything up right away. That way you don't have to look at it all later and wish that you had a roommate or live-in maid. If you live with another person, you have a couple of options: 1) Leave everything for the other person to clean. This follows the logic that you have labored to cook, so the other person, naturally, must do the dirty work. Plus, you are tired of the kitchen and the other person is not. Drawbacks: The other person might not get around to it for a while, and you might be tempted to go ahead and do it yourself, later. 2) Do it right away by yourself, but make a big deal out of it. Drawbacks: The other person might call you a martyr. 3) Share the clean up with the other person. Drawbacks: If you are a control freak, you might start thinking the person is not washing dishes the right way and this might make you really cranky.

Now you are ready for Thanksgiving.