A Semi-Vegan Thanksgiving

It is December 1st and clearly I am in need of a Thanksgiving update.

Let me start by saying that I am entirely too jealous of my vegan friend who, with her vegan partner-in-crime (another reason to be jealous of her), prepared a completely vegan Thanksgiving feast for both of their families.  First, that is completely amazing to me.  I am so new at this dance that I can just barely imagine an entire feast of edible vegan food.  Second, the day my family sits down to eat an entirely vegan-friendly meal made by me with stuff they've never heard of before on plates before them is the day the United States gets universal healthcare a la Canada or England.

Thanksgiving is my mom's holiday.  Each sibling in her family has a designated holiday to host and we usually go nuts over Thanksgiving here.  For some reason we were a little more relaxed this year.  Mom roasted the turkeys, my dad attempted a turducken whose parts are packed away in the freezer for later sentencing.  My feelings on that will remain silent for the benefit of my parents and the birds.

The rest of the menu:
*I made the usual sweet potato casserole with streusel topping.  This is the same recipe you will find yearly in Cooking Light magazine.  It is a reader favorite and with good reason.  It is delicious.  I love sweet potatoes even just baked and plain, but mash them up and top them with sweet goodness and they are divine.  I have always made them vegan, substituting the half-and-half with soy milk and using a vegetable based substitute for the butter in the topping so that my uncle can eat them.  You see, my great uncle keeps kosher.  Turkey and dairy don't mix.  (P.S., we always have one kosher turkey and one non-kosher turkey.  I never really understood why we don't just get two kosher turkeys.)

*I also made Alicia Silverstone's rice crispy treats for dessert.  Everyone loved them!  See, vegan is scrumptious.  I'm not sure everyone realized they were eating something semi-healthy and vegan, though.  I feel slightly sly and evil that way.

*Mom made mashed potatoes using soy milk and Smart Balance spread for my benefit.  I love Mom.  (FYI, depending on the variety of Smart Balance spread that you buy, it may or may not be vegan.)

*Mom's cousin made the famous green bean casserole.  I used to enjoy this dish, but I look on the bright side in that it saved me some calories this year.

*My aunt made stuffing.  I'm not a fan of stuffing anyhow, so not being able to eat it didn't bother me in the least.

*My cousin my roasted veggies.  A huge pan of veggies (carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, green beans) seasoned and roasted fit for any diet.  Yum!

*Rolls with your choice of butter or Smart Balance spread.
1
*Mom's cranberry sauce (for some reason tastier this year than in years past, I kept eating it!)

I'm forgetting something, I'm always forgetting something...

There is always more dessert than dinner at our family gatherings and I've realized that becoming an almost-vegan has helped me not over-do the desserts and keep myself from busting the buttons off my pants.  You can't stuff your face when you can't eat it!  As I mentioned before, I made the rice crispy treats which were a hit.  I also made some almost-vegan ginger bread cookies (one humane-certified egg) whose heads and limbs were broken off from a fall when my mom accidentally knocked the container off the counter.  My poor limbless cookies.  And the citrus fruit salad with pomegranate seeds was quite refreshing.

I went to bed exhausted, but not over-stuffed.  That I did the next day with the left-over mixed nuts...

The end!