Hi folks, it’s been a while since I talked about food and with the start of fall (it still feels like summer here in LA) I am so looking forward to more crisp weather (the mornings and evenings have at least been cooler), overcast skies, and of course the holidays!
I know, I know, Halloween is coming up and everyone is getting their Sexy Olaf the snowman costumes ready, and yes, I love Halloween, but I really don’t look forward to it as much as I do Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is awesome, it involves lots of food, sitting around the table with family members, lots of food, anticipating what you’re going to get people for Christmas (or Hannukah, or Human Light, or Kwanza, what have you)… oh yeah and LOTS OF FOOD.
It’s no surprise I love Thanksgiving really, you guys know I like to eat and even though I’m a vegetarian and “Turkey Day” is pretty much how most people refer to the holiday… I’m here to say, Thanksgiving is just as enjoyable without the turkey.
Yup, every Thanksgiving, since 2009, I have passed on the turkey and every year, I find myself just as satisfied as I was in my omnivore days. So today, I wanna talk to you guys about what I’m looking forward to having this Thanksgiving (t-minus 46 days). The great thing about my list is, you don’t have to be veg*n to enjoy, everyone can enjoy these things (in fact, that’s how it is with all veg*n food, duh… unless you have specific allergies) and maybe you have some go-to thanksgiving foods that are non-meat and would like to share, so let me know!
7. The cup of coffee after the meal (or second, or third meal)
In my aunt’s house, which is where we normally have our get togethers, it’s pretty routine to have a cup of coffee after we eat and have digested our food a bit. It’s really pretty much the only time I’ll have coffee at night. Yes, you can have coffee any time of the day, month or year, but maybe it is the fact that I rarely have coffee late in the day and maybe it’s because it’s just nice to sit and have a coffee with my mom and my Tias… it’s just nice, and it’s just something I do find myself looking forward to, even amongst all the potatoes and pies and all that.
I usually have my coffee black, and black coffee is best with a piece of pie or a super sugary sweet, but if you really want to sweeten things, fellow vegans (or just plain non-dairy folks) should really try Soy creamer. Trader Joes has a pretty good soy creamer and Silk soy creamer is pretty tasty as well. A little bit goes a long way… I will mention, I’ve tried Coconut milk creamers and it just tasted like plain coconut milk, so if you go that direction, try the flavored ones like vanilla, it’s much better.
6. Biscuits
I don’t care how you eat your biscuits… with butter, from the can, from scratch, with cranberry sauce, or by cutting them in half making a little thanksgiving sandwich (that’s me personally)… biscuits are the best and it really doesn’t need much further explanation than that.
5. Apple Pie
Pumpkin pie is good, yeah, but I am all about the apple pie. My little sis even makes me a vegan crust sometimes when she makes me a pie (btw, my sister makes the best pies ever). Apple pie is so good, so savory and sweet, and cinnamon-y..mmmmm. Apple pie is good in it’s natural vegetarian state (with butter and veg shortening), but if you like to keep Earth Balance around, there are lots of recipes online… unfortunately, not so many awesome little sisters willing to do the baking for you!
4. Green Bean Casserole
Speaking of sisters, my older sis, Pati (yeah the other one who writes on this blog) makes a BAGBC…. that’s BAD ASS GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE. I don’t know why, but Pati, being an omnivore and all… just makes the BEST veg*n foods… better than me and that’s like, my specialty. Anyways, every year Pati makes the BAGBC but last year she had a baby so I had to take over and it was just GBC. I made it totally from scratch (as Pati has done in the past) and since I took over, I made it completely vegan. I found a cream of mushroom recipe online… which turned out to be great but unfortunately, I lost the link…. the only thing that went wrong is my fried onlons burned a little on top. It was still good though and the best thing about making deceptively vegan foods is watching people eat it, be like “hmmp, disus goof” with their mouth full and all and then you say… “yeah.. I know… and… it’s VEGAN!” diabolical laughter follows.
3. Sweet Potatoes
Just, sweet potatoes in general… that’s always a plus whether it’s in it’s french fry, puree, baked, or candied form, but on Thanksgiving I like ’em mashed. I usually just eat the mashed sweet potatoes alone, but combining them in with some classic mashed ‘tatoes, now that’s magical.
2. Gravy
My favorite: mushroom gravy. I make a mushroom gravy based on a recipe my mom uses. It includes wine (i’m a terrible cook cuz I can’t even remember what type of wine without looking for the recipe) it’s not too thick, it’s actually pretty thin, but it’s really good on top of my tofurky… speaking of which…
1. Tofurky
Yup, tofurky, that is my number one. So some people might go, “lame, why do veg*ns even eat faux meat… that means you like meat! YOU’RE A PHONY”
Whoa whoa, put down the pitchforks, I will be the first to say, meat tastes good. But I don’t want to partake in eating it. Now, if I can get similar flavors and textures from a source that doesn’t conflict with my beliefs… and note, I said “similar” I don’t want to have something exact because if it’s too close, then I get a little paranoid about what I’m eating. I really enjoy faux meat products… another argument I get is that faux meat is not exactly heatlhy, to which I say, yeah I know, I don’t refrain from meat because I want to stay in shape, though that is a nice side effect. I know eating too much processed food is bad, but I don’t eat it all the time, and hey, when thanksgiving rolls around, I want me some Tofurky.
And for those who doubt the wonder that is Tofurky, I’m a big fan of Turtle Island, the company that makes the products. Their foods are always well made and taste wonderful. High quality faux meat folks. If people didn’t get so offended by faux meats, they would discover tofurky is really good in it’s own right. It’s not turkey, of course it isn’t! But if you stop trying to think that this is somehow supposed to magically be something it isn’t, you would find that it’s this really good, savory protein that tastes great with gravy and potatoes. My little sis and my uncle both eat turkey at thanksgiving, but they also grab a slice of my tofurky each year because they like it for what it is. So this year, if you have a veg*n friend that brings a tofurky, get your jokes in, fine… but then have a taste… you might like it, you might not… but chances are, you will like it!
So that’s my list of Thanksgiving foods, what are you looking forward to?
Pati and Sylvia's Super Awesome Blog! 