Chickpea Triangles

Serve these delicious Chickpea Triangles in place of turkey for a vegetarian or vegan Thanksgiving. Omnivores will want to have both. These savory wedges say "main-dish protein" without resorting to faux meat charades.

Top them with Mushroom Gravy, made while the triangles bake.

Active time: 20 minutes, starting with cooked chickpeas. Total time: 40 minutes. Serves 4.

Recipe ingredients

2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon butter or 2 teaspoons corn oil
1/2 onion
1 carrot
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 tablespoon tahini
2 teaspoons soy sauce

Recipe method

1. Cook chickpeas if needed, reserving broth for gravy,

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Mushroom Gravy

Use this savory gravy on Chickpea Triangles, mashed potatoes, and stuffing for Thanksgiving. Or use it whenever you want a gravy. This vegetarian gravy becomes a virtueous vegan sauce when made with corn oil instead of butter: no cholesterol or only 1/7th the saturated fat.

This recipe includes the secret to lump-free gravy.

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Grown-Up Mustard Greens

Leave mild spinach to Popeye and the kids. Sometimes you just want food with a jolt that engages all your senses. Grown-Up Mustard Greens do the trick. Mustard greens come with a built-in whiff of horseradish. Some recipes tame them by boiling and draining. Here we cook them with onion, garlic, and jalapeño, then steam until tender but still springy-chewy.

Serve Grown-Up Mustard Greens as a side dish, stuffed in a burrito with refried beans, or layered thickly on toasted bread with a schmear of ricotta for an unusual and thrilling sandwich. (Thanks to Toast in Durham for the sandwich inspiration.)

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Onion-Mushroom Dip

Do you have foods you just can't keep in the house or you'll just gobble them up? For me, that's potato chips and the classic dip made with sour cream and dried French onion soup. I now only buy chips and make dip during one holiday season: the basketball playoffs ... and I make this delicious, healthy, and largely local version dip.

This onion-mushroom chip dip is a bit lighter in taste that the sour-cream version, which helps prevent that greasy feeling of regret. It's also relatively low calorie, low fat, and has no artificial flavorings, preservatives, or mysterious ingredients.

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