It's almost here!
Time is flying by, quickly, as usual. I'm always shocked to think something is so far away and then it's just suddenly here. So the big eating holidays are rushing in and I figure it's probably about time I start making a plan. To be honest normally I think about Thanksgiving the day before but seeing how this will be our FIRST Vegan Thanksgiving it will probably require more thought.
Fear and Eating
I want this Thanksgiving to be a huge success. I feel like if I can survive the biggest of the food related holidays then I have nothing more to be scared of. I've conquered eating at home, I've conquered eating out, I survived my daughter's bday party and made an amazing vegan cake- the only fears I have left are holidays and summer BBQs. So let's kick this Holiday's booty so hard we kick the Turkey right out of it (and safely into a field with plenty of food where it can start a family and grow old in peace).
Where to begin?
I figure the best way to have a successful Thanksgiving is to start with what made it so yummy to begin with.
- Turkey
- Stuffing
- Mashed Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes
- Corn Pudding
- Veggies- Broccoli & Corn
- Cranberry Sauce
- Corn Bread
- NAP
- Pumpkin Pie
- Apple Pie
- Other MISC. Dessert
- NAP
The changes being made...
- Turkey- Clearly I'm not going to make a Turkey. Because I feel this is an important part I'm going to take 2 approaches to this and hope at least one if not both works out. 1) I will be buying either a Tofurky or Gardin Turkey Roll. I've heard mixed reviews which is why I will not be fully relying on this. 2) I have a recipe for turkey loaf that I plan to try to make. I will serve this with my Plum Sauce since I think it should pair nicely and have a nice fall flavor.
- Stuffing- I always make this from scratch because I don't like celery or onions (it's a texture thing). I'm going to use earth balance butter in place of real butter and vegetable stock in place of chicken broth- simple enough.
- Mashed Potatoes- not much has to change here other then my milk being almondmilk and my butter being earthbalance...
- Sweet Potatoes- My family loooooves the sugary, buttery, marshmallow covered ones- yes candied yams. I still have hope to make this- I'm going to go up to whole foods to see if I can find these mysterious vegan marshmallows I keep hearing about! If I find them and they taste good we're golden- just switch to earth balance and should be good to go.
- Corn Pudding- This one will be complicated- it's a must have for my thanksgiving as it has been made every thanksgiving for as long as anyone could remember by my Grams, when she passed I took the torch and made it each time. I can replace the butter easy, I can probably replace the sour cream with Better Than my worry is how to replace the Jiffy- I don't do processed foods anymore and there is plenty of nasty in Jiffy that I don't want to use it. I'm not sure however if I can just make a corn bread dry mix to replace it or if there is more to Jiffy then that. This one I'm going to have to think on and probably experiment with - but it is a MUST.
- Veggies- will be made as they always have been- steamed .
- Cranberry Sauce- will probably try to find a recipe to make my own- since I don't want the canned one no matter how much I love it. More research required as I don't want the chunky type, there has to be a way to get the smooth gelatin type - perhaps with agar flakes?
- Corn Bread- Found a recipe, will try it!
- Desserts- We shall see, haven't looked at anything yet. My mom's apple pie should be fine as long as I make a vegan pie crust.
That's all I have so far, I'll post recipes as I figure things out with more detail!
I'd love more ideas so feel free to speak up!
-Me
