Best Idea/Worst Idea?

Tonight's dinner was inspired by a Martha Stewart video podcast I watched yesterday. It was old footage from her show, one of the early appearances Jennifer Garner made, and they were making a Thanksgiving dinner. Side note: if you've never seen Jennifer Garner as a guest on The Martha Stewart Show, it's such a fun experience. Most guests are there to promote whatever they're releasing into film or music, but Jennifer is always there for her private cooking lesson from Martha herself. She takes full advantage of her time on the show (and probably notes as well) and it's a joy to watch. Also fun to watch as guests on Martha - Snoop Dogg and Ludacris. Daytime television gold.

Anyway, I said to myself, "Self, Thanksgiving dinner would be tasty this week." But who wants to cook a turkey on a Monday afternoon? Also, I didn't want to buy a turkey, and we're primarily vegetarian, so there were some obstacles. There was also the overwhelming desire to make fresh cranberry sauce (so easy, so much better than the can - although, full disclosure, I like the plop noise it makes when it slides out into the bowl). I also had the Jerusalem artichokes we purchased at the farmer's market last weekend that needed to be used.

I decided to do something crazy. For the Jerusalem artichokes, they would become the mashed potato portion of the meal. Complete with roasted garlic and nutritional yeast (for the parmesan flavor). I'm going to add some chopped sage and thyme as well. I have a red cabbage, so I will roast that with some red onion and then toss it with caraway seeds and apple cider vinegar, for a twist on the cabbage dish I made at Christmas. I made some cranberry sauce with some of the frozen cranberries I tucked away in the freezer for just such an occasion. I'll make a vegan mushroom gravy using a French dried mushroom mixture, olive oil, fresh herbs, poultry seasoning (because really, poultry seasoning and sage are the tastes of Thanksgiving, let's be honest) and some flour (fun with roux!). But the coup de gras, the main event: baked lentil patties, seasoned like a turkey.

Lentils are great because they have a kind of earthy, almost game-y flavor, but it's subtle. Pretty much, they taste like whatever you put into them. So, with some chopped onion, poultry seasoning, thyme, sage, peppers (black ground and red flake) and a pinch of salt, they're ready to go. I used a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs and almond pulp as the binding agent.

This could have been the best idea I've had for dinner in awhile or it might have been terrible. If nothing else, it's definitely creative. Fortunately, it turned out well. Different from my original aim, but still quite tasty. [Side note: we ate right-side up, but for some reason I can't adjust the orientation of this photo. It's not upside down on my computer, so I don't know how to solve this problem.]