My Mom and I hosted a plant-based Thanksgiving the Sunday prior. We did a Veggie Loaf, by Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures. This was probably the biggest success! Great flavor! Re-heated well for leftovers and it was so delicious. We also had a Pumpkin Pasta by Forks over knives. This dish flopped, the reason for the failure was because I tried a new gluten free pasta and it ended up being mush. The flavor profile also wasn't the greatest. The one thing I liked about this dish vs other pumpkin pastas I had tried was that it had carrots and asparagus added for more texture. I'm not sure I would make this specific dish again, but I love the idea of adding the carrots and asparagus for more veggies. We also did a Rice Pilaf dish. It was okay. I don't think I'd make it again, but it was made much better by the Mushroom Gravy that we made by Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! It was sooo good! My husband is still raving about it! Gravy is so important for Thanksgiving as it just adds to all the foods. We also made this amazing Cranberry Sauce! We used it for all 3 Thanksgivings and everyone loved it! Best thing about it! It's sugar free! Lastly, but not leastly, we made Scalloped Potatoes. I thought these were pretty good. My Mom thinks that we should make them again, but add Rosemary and Thyme and of course they were made even better with the amazing Mushroom Gravy we made. All in all, the food was eaten. The winners were the Veggie Loaf, Cranberry Sauce, and the Mushroom Gravy!
Thanksgiving #2 was hosted by my lovely sister. This was not plant-based, so I brought two lovely dishes so I had some food to eat. They were both absolutely delicious. My Mom was also nice enough to bring some delicious green beans with almonds that I could eat as well. The dishes I brought were a Fall Harvest Salad with a Maple Tahini Dressing. Not only was it just a beautiful salad, but it was absolutely delicious. The dressing is creamy and thick and the roasted brussel sprouts, squash, and beets just made it extra delicious. I also made a Spaghetti Pie by Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures and it was so delicious. By the time it was done though, everyone had already filled up on other foods. My husband and uncle tried it and both liked it and I saved some small servings for my sister so she could try it later. It was better fresh, but to reheat it we added more vegetable broth to it and sort of stewed it for a while until it was hot and it tasted really good! I would definitely make it again!
Thanksgiving #3 was hosted by my mother-in-law Cheryl. It was also not plant-based, so I brought some very simple Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, a very simple Vegan Gravy, Leftover Harvest Salad, and a rainbow salad of my own design along with a Tahini Dressing. The rainbow salad consisted of spinach, cruciferous crunch salad mix, red pepper, carrots, yellow pepper, cucumber, blueberries, and purple cabbage. The garlic mashed potatoes turned out very bland, I was kind of surprised since there were two heads of garlic in there. I don't think I'd use that recipe again, they really needed more flavor. However, as always the gravy saved them. So I'm very glad that I made a good amount of gravy because I covered all my food in it. My Mother-in-law made a rice pilaf dish with carrots, mushrooms and wild rice and it was really delicious. It was made more delicious by my gravy!
All in all it was a great Thanksgiving week with lots of love and family! I'm lucky to have such supportive family that support my dietary choices and don't give me any grief about it.
Leftover Thanksgiving! So I had to share, I made my first plant-based Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich and I even took a photo. It's not pretty, but was it delicious! YES! So, the ingredients were leftover veggie loaf re-heated in the oven, garlic mashed potatoes, leftover rice pilaf, a bit of gravy, cranberry sauce, and homemade vegan mayo. The bread is an organic and sugar free bread by a company that I support called Happy Campers. They make healthy, organic, and gluten free breads! And it is also delicious. This is their Hemp Hooray bread.
I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings with your families!
