Hi everyone!
This will be my first Thanksgiving as a veggie (that's what I like to call it). Any suggestions for dinner/meal plans? I would love to be able to bring a dish to my family's dinner and/or host my own Veggie dinner. Any suggestions/recipes/links would be appreciated :) Oh...and I'm open to Vegan ideas too!
Brandi
I had roasted stuff acorn squash last thanksgiving and it was so good (http://happyveganface.blogspot.com/2009/10/acorn-squash-lickety-split.html) You can basically stuff it with anything you want, I went or blend of wild rice, cranberries, and chestnuts. It's also really great to bring a bunch of small stuffed squashes and place one on each person's plate. Makes for a great presentation ;)
Hi Brandi,
What a coincidence! It's my first thanksgiving as a vegan! :-) I just started a recipe series of what I'm going to make this year:
http://www.marystestkitchen.com/2011/09/vegan-thanksgiving-project-2011/
Check it out if you want some ideas!
Hope that helps.
-Mary
Beverly - I actually debated a stuffed acorn squash - thanks for the link!
Mary - your menu looks great! I'm in Canada so your "test" dates will be during my Thanksgiving (Oct 8-10)! I will check in though to see how they went & if I could use them for that weekend or another time.
Let's both be thankful this holiday for not having a carcass on our table & for feeling as amazing before the meal as after! :)
Thanks Brandi!
A few of the recipes will be published this weekend too. I've just flipped through The Kind Life again this morning and am thinking I need to add her cornbread to that menu as well! yum yum yum
I love thanksgiving! You're right about being thankful about no carcass on the table!
I hear you Brandi on the no carcass on the table! I'm planning on adopting a turkey this year too haha. Anyway, hope you do the stuffed acorn squash. Enjoy!
Oh and Mary that is such a cool blog you got going there. I think I'll definitely be following it. I actually really want to see how the cornbread turns out cuz I've been meaning to try that recipe.
Thanks Beverly! I haven't gotten to the cornbread yet, but I have posted my first recipe for the Thanksgiving series. check it out here if you like: http://www.marystestkitchen.com/2011/10/vegan-thanksgiving-2011-cheesy-fungi-stuffed-mushrooms/
I'm going to buy the ingredients for the cornbread today. Wish me luck!
Mary
I am the matriarch of a large family, and am the family cook. (I am 51 years old, married my love at the tender age of 19 - so married for 32 years. We have 4 adult children and 6 - so far - grandchildren. We also have "extended" family members who are always welcome.) I enjoy cooking. I cook at home at every meal and have done so for decades. I've made 32 thanksgivings in my life - and have done every scrap of that cooking myself. Nothing prepared or processed. Needless to say, I am a very experienced cook and am often told I'm a good cook. Suffice to say, the "issue" my family has with my food is NOT the taste!
I am the only vegan in the family, although I have one daughter who is mainly vegetarian - but not necessarily eating healthfully most of the time. Lots of junky starchy, sweet stuff. And she is vehemently supportive of the carnivores in the family. She even insists her children eat meat. I am outnumberred completely.
I am compelled by non-veg family members to cook a turkey or they will! (either in my kitchen or elsewhere and bring it with them.) I have been boycotted many times by family members who would rather find another place to eat than be "FORCED" (their word, not mine) to eat vegan. Needless to say, the hours or often days of cooking and preparing that went into the feast is wasted, when they turn their nose up at it and leave rather than taste one bite of everything I made. The first question out of their mouths EVERY YEAR is "will there be a turkey?" To them, it is NOT Thanksgiving without the turkey! So, we wind up seething under our collective breaths, rather than ENJOYING each other. It's so sad.
*sigh* I have tried this so many times before. I would love to have a healthy, happy, KIND, (peaceful, gentle) Thanksgiving with all of us together.
Anyone have ideas or suggestions?
My husband cooks the turkey in the family and I make sure all of the other dishes are vegan. No one knows that everything is vegan and they still get thier dead animal. I never have to touch it.
My suggestion to MoniDew would be to do what I do for Thanksgiving and tell the family they need to be in charge of the turkey, but you will handle all of the other cooking, then maybe for another holiday (New Years, St. Patricks Day, Valentines Day?) invite everyone over for what would be your ideal Thanksgiving. Next year when you are planning for 2012 Thanksgiving you may find that the family may be more open minded at having a kind Thanksgiving.
@MoniDew How awful! Honestly, I feel like the holiday is the least of your concerns when those family members are so disrepectful and hurtful!
If what you want is to have a happy and peaceful thanksgiving, perhaps it is time for someone else to host the meal and you can bring a few of your own dishes? It's not fair for your to have to do all the work and not be appreciated like you clearly deserve!
I usually prepare the meals when my family gets together, but this is my first holiday as a vegan. So I am making a whole series of lovely vegan things, without soy products since my brother is allergic. I told my parents that if they want turkey (or any other meat) they can make it, but I won't be touching that. They are totally okay with it!
-Mary
Hi Brandi! Last year was my first veg Thanksgiving and it was yummy. We made:
- TKL's Sicilian Collard Greens (but substituted chopped brussel sprouts for the collards, and cashews instead of the pine nuts).
- Trader Joe's 17 Bean Soup (it's a bag of beans with a recipe on the back--add a buttload of vegetables and broth and it turns out like a wonderful minestrone)
- Mashed potatoes with veg broth instead of milk
- Foccacia bread (from the cookbook Veganomicon) formed into little rolls instead of one flat sheet
- Big green salad
- Sweet potatoes and I can't remember what else
There was a turkey for the rest of the family (my mom hosted) but everyone seemed to enjoy the side dishes, which I treated like the main course. Hope you might be able to get some ideas from this menu!
I highly recommend this web site for recipes: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/
She's the author of Veganomicon. Okay, good luck!
To Monidew: I don’t understand why people have to get so upset by it all or feel so threatened. I agree with Mary L ... let them make the turkey this year ... I would suggest in their kitchen and to bring it and give yourself a break this year and stand by your beliefs. They can have their food and you can have yours. If they continue to not play nicely and not even try some of your dishes or are very negative and it doesn’t feel very festive then perhaps next year invite people that are happy to eat vegan ... do you have any vegan friends that would enjoy the invitation? The meat eaters can go elsewhere and you can enjoy your day in peace. It’s nice to spend holidays with family but it’s not a must ... sometimes you have to do what you want and it’s the more peaceful option. There is always Christmas and all the other days to spend with them....or not ; )
Much of what I experience as far as the attitudes of family members and friends has to do with the part of the country that I live in. (Dark side of the moon where veganism is concerned! And EXTREMELY - self righteously - religious! In their minds, I'm going to spend eternity licking the grates on the bottom floor of hell for refusing to consume animals. It is what it is.)
I really have no where else to go. My family is my world. Making friends is difficult for me. I don't own a car, so I stay home, am no longer working, and live a very quiet life. Online support groups such as this are "it" for me.
In defense of my family's attitudes, they have seen me gradually change over time. This has been a 32 year process. So, from their perspective, it's more-or-less, "yeah, it's just mom being mom. You know how weird she is. Two years ago she was raw, last year she was vegan, this year she's macro, who knows what she'll be next year..." I seem "unstable" in their minds (and they have told me so.)
I don't expect support. I don't ask for it, because that's a waste of breath. I simply allow myself to evolve at my own pace and hope that someday they will understand. Doubtful as that may be. I hate to sound so negative. It's not my usual personality. The rest of the time we co-exist - although seperately. I cook my meals while they are out of the home at work/school etc. We each shop and cook independantly (my children are all adults although some still remain in the home for various reasons. And we have one semi-permanent house guest, my former son-in-law and father of two of my grandchildren. He is here at the request of my daughter, so he can reboot his life after their divorce. He's still "family" if you know what I mean.) I say this so all of you to have a clearer picture of me.
@monidew I am sending you warm thoughts and cyber hugs! I remember not respecting my mom sometimes, thinking she was being weird...when I was a teenager...and then I grew up!!! Living away from home had a lot to do with it. I think time away definately made me appreciate my parents more and understand their hardships. So stay strong, keep a positive attitude, and set a good example. One day they will come around.