Crazy Sexy Thanksgiving

Delicious no-meat recipes for your holiday table.

Kris Carr is a self-described “wellness warrior,” a cancer survivor best known for her upbeat advice about a “healing” lifestyle that includes a plant-based diet and spiritual sustenance.

Ms. Carr was 31 when she learned she had Stage IV epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, a rare form of vascular cancer that had generated tumors on her liver and lungs. Ms. Carr had a less aggressive form of the disease and, determined to keep it from progressing, set out on a total “lifestyle upgrade” that included adopting a vegan diet, daily shots of green juice and a posse of positive, irreverent young women she calls “cancer babes.’’ A documentary about her cancer experience, called “Crazy Sexy Cancer,” led to books, blogging, wellness workshops and now the best-selling book “Crazy Sexy Diet,’’ a collection of the nutrition and lifestyle tips that formed the blueprint for her personal cancer makeover.

Ms. Carr’s commitment to healthful living never wavers, but she concedes to loosening up a bit around the holidays. “It’s not the healing, cleansing diet, but it’s still plant-based and absolutely delicious,’’ she says. “Thanksgiving or any traditional holiday I look at as a great opportunity to try dishes that are so far out of what I normally cook, and I try to make it festive. I like to see people’s expressions when they bite into these foods they never imagined they could prepare without animal products.’’

For the Well Vegetarian Thanksgiving series, Ms. Carr has offered her own Crazy Sexy Thanksgiving menu. It includes pumpkin bisque, roasted brussels sprouts and a fennel salad from her next book, “Crazy Sexy Kitchen,” a collection of recipes she’s developing with the vegan and raw-foods chef Chad Sarno. Her Thanksgiving menu also includes a dish from one of her favorite vegan restaurants, Candle 79 in New York City.

And for Ms. Carr, no meal, Thanksgiving or otherwise, would be complete without a favorite green juice. She offers a cucumber and kale combination that she says is a good starting point for those new to juicing.

“With a dinner like this that’s all plants, but predominantly cooked foods, I would probably serve a Thanksgiving cocktail of green juice,” she said. “If you’re new to juicing and you start using more heavy medicinal greens, that’s when people turn up their nose a bit.”

Visit Well’s interactive recipe collection to see more Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes; we will be adding new dishes daily.

Crazy Sexy Kitchen’s
Pumpkin Bisque

2 cups pumpkin, butternut squash or sweet potato
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cup white onions, diced
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
5 cloves roasted garlic
1/4 cup sherry wine
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Cracked black pepper, to taste
Toasted pumpkin seeds for garnish (optional)
Pumpkin seed oil for garnish (optional)

1. Steam or boil the pumpkin or squash until tender.

2. Sauté onions over medium heat in olive oil until translucent.

3. Using a high-speed blender, combine pumpkin, onions, stock, garlic, wine, maple syrup and spices and blend until smooth.

4. Warm soup in saucepan. Serve hot, garnished with pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings.

Crazy Sexy Kitchen’s
Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Pistachios and Cipollini Onions

3 cups brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
1 cup cipollini onions or shallots, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup raw pistachios
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of chili flakes
3 tablespoons sherry wine (or vegetable stock if omitting alcohol)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine brussels sprouts, onions and pistachios in a bowl and toss with spices, olive oil and wine.

2. Roast brussels sprout mixture on sheet pan for 12 to 15 minutes, shaking pan about halfway through to ensure even cooking. Serve hot.

Yield: 4 servings.

Crazy Sexy Kitchen’s
Shaved Fennel and Apples With Wine-Pickled Onions, Toasted Pecans and Mandarin Vinaigrette

Wine-Pickled Onions:
2 red onions, peeled and sliced paper-thin on mandoline
1/3 cup red wine or merlot vinegar
3 tablespoons apricot paste (dried apricots blended with water to paste consistency, or substitute agave nectar)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon course sea salt

1. Prepare the onions in advance. Toss all the ingredients and gently massage. Allow to pickle for a few hours to overnight. Store in a jar and chill.

Mandarin Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup muscatel vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons apricot paste (dried apricots blended with water to paste consistency, or substitute agave nectar)
1/4 cup mandarin orange segments, diced
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
2 tablespoons finely chopped mint
2 tablespoons orange zest
Ground black pepper, to taste

1. Whisk all the ingredients together. Makes about 1 cup.

For the salad:
2 cups fennel (about 2 to 3 bulbs), sliced paper-thin, preferably using a mandoline
2 cups baby arugula
2 apples or pears, sliced paper-thin, preferably using a mandoline
Drizzle of Mandarin Vinaigrette (see recipe, above)
1/4 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Wine-Pickled Onions (see recipe, above)

1. To prepare the salad, gently toss the shaved fennel, arugula and apples or pears (reserve a few slices for garnish) in a bowl with the vinaigrette.

2. To serve, plate salad and garnish with a few slices of shaved apple or pear, toasted pecans and pickled onions.

Yield: 4 servings.

Candle 79’s
Seitan Piccata

6 seitan cutlets (about 1 1/2 pounds; see recipe below)
Whole-wheat flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
1/4 cup finely sliced leek, white and pale green parts
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup capers, drained
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish (optional)
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Caper berries, for garnish
1 lemon, thinly sliced, for garnish (optional)

1. Dredge the cutlets in the whole-wheat flour, shaking off any excess.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the cutlets and cook until crisp and golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Place the cutlets on individual plates or a platter.

3. Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil in another sauté pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, leek, salt and pepper and sauté until soft and translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.

4. Add the all-purpose flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, to make a roux. Add the wine to deglaze the pan and stir well to incorporate the flour.

5. Add the capers, stock, bay leaf, minced parsley, thyme, turmeric and lemon juice and cook over medium heat until the sauce becomes slightly glossy, about 10 minutes.

6. Spoon the sauce onto serving plates, and place the cutlets atop the sauce. Garnish with the caper berries and the optional chopped parsley and lemon slices. Serve at once.

Seitan Cutlets
7 cups unbleached bread flour
3 cups whole-wheat bread flour
4 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
8 cups vegetable stock or water
1/4 cup tamari
1 piece of kombu
1 piece of wakame

1. Put the flours in a bowl. Mix the water and salt together and add to the flour. Stir until the mixture forms a ball of dough. When you have a nice ball, cover with water and let stand for 1 hour.

2. Pour off the water and rinse the dough under cold running water until the water is almost clear. Divide the dough into 2 balls.

3. Put the stock in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Add the tamari, kombu and wakame and decrease the heat. Add the balls of dough and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours, until they are firm and slice easily.

4. Drain the stock from the pot, reserving the stock if not using the seitan right away. Transfer the seitan to a bowl, add enough cold water to cover, and let sit for about 10 minutes.

5. Drain and slice the seitan into 1/2-inch-thick cutlets.

6. If not using the seitan at this point, store it (sliced or unsliced) in 4 cups of the reserved stock, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Alternatively, the cutlets can be frozen (without the stock) for up to 3 months.

Yield: 6 to 8 cutlets, about 1 1/2 pounds.

Crazy Sexy Kitchen’s
Make Juice Not War Green Drink

2 large cucumbers (peeled if not organic)
Large fistful of kale
Large fistful of sweet pea sprouts
4 to 5 stalks celery
1 to 2 big broccoli stems
1 pear or green apple (optional)
1 inch of ginger (or less), peeled

1. Wash and cut ingredients and put them through your juicer. You can pull the pump from the catch basket and put the ingredients through a second time for more yield.

Yield: 6 servings.