I’ve been making the Tuscan Kale Pilaf from my Happy Healthy Vegan Cookbook as a holiday dish for many years, served alongside a homemade Apple Cranberry Relish as it’s a fantastic flavor combo. I often make my Mushroom Gravy from the Keep It Carbed, Baby! Cookbook to serve with either mashed or steamed potatoes, as well. It occurred to me that I have yet to share the relish recipe in any cookbook — or even in a cooking video — so I thought I’d remedy that this year with this blog post! As you might notice in the photos I shared below, for the full “holiday meal” this year I modified the pilaf recipe slightly by leaving out the white beans, oyster mushrooms, and sun dried tomatoes. Because I was also serving simple skillet cooked tofu blocks and a easy vegetable side dish for Thanksgiving, I thought a pared down pilaf would be sufficient. I also used dried shiitake mushroom slices for the gravy this time as I had a lot on hand. Overall, this meal was delicious and super filling!

  • Tuscan Kale Pilaf with Apple Cranberry Relish
  • Happy Healthy Vegan Holiday Meal

APPLE CRANBERRY RELISH

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • 1 apple chopped
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1⁄2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Core and chop apple into bite sized chunks, leaving skin on.
  2. Place all ingredients into a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
  3. Once the water is boiling, turn heat down to low and allow to simmer 20 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat and let cool before serving.

NOTES:

The bags of cranberries found at supermarkets are approximately 2 cups worth, so don’t worry and just pour them all in! As for the apples, some folks prefer Granny Smith variety as they maintain shape after cooking, but I find that any sweet or semi-tart apple works well. You might find my relish to be a bit too tart for your tastes, as I use half the amount of sugar that most recipes. I’ve experimented with using coconut sugar, which gives it a bit of a deeper flavor than cane sugar. It does seem like the combination of cane sugar and lemon juice helps to set up the relish best, but you can experiment with your favorite sweetener and of course add more as you see fit to achieve the sweetness level desired1