This wasn't my first vegetarian Thanksgiving, but it was my first vegan Thankgiving and the first time, I was able to share some of my favorite foods with my extended family. With my uncle's house filled with about 40 or so people, the festivities began. My family is very used to me turning down the various meats on the table, but bringing a bunch of "alternative food" sets off their individual "this girl is trying to convert me into one of them veh-gee-ter-ree-Uns" radars. Guess what? They loved it. I don't think half of them knew that they were eating vegan at all, and I only bothered to tell them about the Tofurkey, mainly because I didn't want them to waste it and partly because I didn't want them to eat up all of my only protein option. My hubby and I traveled to Accomac County, which is where I am from originally, with goodies in tow. Included in our trunk for travel where a roasted Tofurkey with carrots, celery, onions, garlic and rosemary;
Tofurkey before cooking...
Tofurkey after cooking (I really enjoyed it and so did my daughter, who also had a completely meat-free holiday too)
Green Bean Casserole;
My Cream of Mushroom Soup made from a roux for the casserole
After blanching my frozen green beans, I mixed in the soup
Topped with store bought french fried onions, (I don't skimp on the crunchies)Though I didn't get a picture, we also took Rum Carrots (My Hubby made those and they were awesomely sweet with brown sugar, rum and Earth Balance), he also made a wonderful vegan stuffing based on his mother's recipe, I was so proud and hopeful for his Vegan conversion (he is destined to be veganized, I can't wait and I won't ever give up ever, muah-ha-ha-ha), I digress.
The following tasted much better than it looks, I browned it just a bit too much, but I was very pleased with how it turned out and my daughter loved it. She begged for sweet potato pie for a week so I took the plunge. Now, I have never made a vegan version of this until now and I may have taken a few more creative liberties than I should have right out of the box. I used Silk Nog instead of just soy milk, which made the normal sweetening and spice choices a bit tricky, basically I don't recommend it for the virgin veganizing voyage on your recipe, but I really did like the idea of playing around with cool flavors. I know, I know, I am not posting this recipe now, but I will as soon as it's perfected the correct way in my opinion. But, I will say this Sweet Nog Potato Pie did please and has been devoured.
Overall, Thanksgiving went so well and I think that I enjoyed it so much more because of all we were able to bring to the table. It has been a busy week, but oh what a week it was. I hope everyone had as blessed a time as we had. Happy Tofurkey Day!!!!
-Ty