Forums: September 2010 Kickstart Forum Archive: Vegan Thanksgiving
Created on: 11/11/10 04:52 PM Views: 6077 Replies: 19
Wild4Stars Joined: 12/27/09 Location: Florida Posts: 832	Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 4:52 PM Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I would love to hear what some people have planned. We are probably going to a "bring a dish, pot luck" with my in-laws, which means all omnivores and all over 75-80 years old. I'll need to take something I can eat and share. Probably either a huge salad or a rice and bean dish. Maybe both. Are you cooking? Going to relatives? How do you plan to stay vegan for the day? Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2070	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 5:20 PM Repeat: we're going to a vegetarian friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner so it shouldn't be too hard to stick pretty close to vegan. If we had been going to family's for dinner, we were going to bring mac'n'cheese - the cashew based non-cheese sauce from another thread mixed with a whole grain pasta (quinoa, spelt, kamut, that sort of thing) and maybe toss in some frozen or steamed veggies (like some nice broccoli) in the mix. --Deb R
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Wild4Stars Joined: 12/27/09 Location: Florida Posts: 832	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 6:27 PM Thanks Deb, I repeated the thread not knowing if everyone was still tracking some of the old threads. Wanted to just keep some conversation going! Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com
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cch22 Joined: 09/08/10 Location: New York State Posts: 999	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 11:16 PM Good to repeat the thread. Sometimes plans change. It looks like we are going over to a relative. She & husband are vegetarian. Lots of other people are coming that eat meat & dairy. So we will have both tofurkey and turkey... and lots of side dishes, some vegan.. others with fat, hfcs, high sugar content etc. I have tried 2 cranberry sides. One was the cranberry pear. It was ok, a bit tart. I looked on all recipes and found one i liked. This one recipe did call for an additional 1/2 cup sugar. I reduced it to one cup. Of course I used unrefined sugar. You could always use agave to taste if you want. The mixture of orange, apple, nutmeg is different. THere are layers of flavor that make the dish quite interesting. Definately take the time to grate your own nutmeg. Cranberry Fruit Relish 3 1/2 (1-bag) cups fresh cranberries 1 medium navel orange, peeled and sectioned 2 medium apples, cut into wedges 1 cups sugar 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground fresh nutmeg Place the cranberries, orange and apples in a blender or food processor; cover and process until chunky. Transfer to a bowl; stir in sugar, pineapple, ginger and nutmeg. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
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mollyhorn Joined: 03/03/10 Location: Fort Worth, TX Posts: 582	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 1:29 AM I'm glad you started a new thread! I had forgotten about the old one. And our plans have changed about 17 times already. 5 diners, I'm the only vegan. My mom is flexatarian, but plans to eat turkey that day. She's making turkey, cornbread dressing, whole wheat dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, giblet gravy, and pecan pie. I'll be making Stuffed Mini Pumpkins (still cobbling together a recipe, but it will involve wild rice, cranberries, walnuts and seitan), Orange Cranberry Sauce, either Roasted Brussels Sprouts or Green Beans Amandine, and Golden "Chicken Soup." I kind of wish we were having more people, cause I found some great recipes! Golden "Chicken Soup" Serves 8 1 pound package (2 cups dry) yellow split peas 1 cup grated parsnips 1 cup grated organic carrots 3 bay leaves Salt to taste Cook yellow split peas according to directions on package. Halfway through cooking time, add parsnips, carrots, salt, and bay leaves. Simmer with partially covered lid. Remove bay leaves before serving. For a golden color and smoother taste, puree. (Roberta Kalechofsky, "The Jewish Vegetarian Year Cookbook") http://www.vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=2592&catId=11 http://www.fromsadtoraw.com/Recipes/HolidaySweetPotatoSlaw.htm Cashew Cheese with Meyer Lemon and Dried Cherries (Yields approx 1 1/2 cups) 1 ½ cups cashews, soaked 1-2 hours 3 tbsps meyer lemon juice 2-3 tbsp agave nectar (to taste) ½ tsp sea salt ¼ cup dried cherries (try to get unsulphered and unsweetened) 2 tsps meyer lemon zest Blend the cashews, lemon juice, salt, and agave in a food processor till very, very smooth (this may take some time, and some scraping of the sides of the bowl). When the mix is thick and consistent, add the cherries and zest and pulse till the cherries are slightly broken down. Serve the cheese over flax crackers or with vegetable crudités. (Choosing Raw blog) http://www.delectableplanet.com/recipes/cashew-crock-cheeze.html Molly Horn
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theodore Joined: 09/16/10 Posts: 641	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 4:58 AM Good question Wild4Stars. You know, I haven't really thought about what I'm gonna do for Thanksgiving. I guess I should try and decide. Just to help the decision process along, can you tell me what Thanksgiving is. And when it takes place. I've heard it being mentioned in TV programmes but that's all. Never make assumptions. You'll end up being an A**, and the UMP will TION you. -- Coach Smiley -- Fresh Prince of Bel Air
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Wild4Stars Joined: 12/27/09 Location: Florida Posts: 832	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 5:53 AM Molly - That golden soup sounds yummy, will have to try that. Theodore - Thanksgiving is a US tradition started when the Pilgrims (first settlers in US) and the Native American Indians set aside time to dine together and be thankful for their bounty. It's traditionally the last Thursday in November. Turkey was eaten at the first Thanksgiving and traditionally still is. That's why it becomes a question for most vegans and vegetarians. If you are planning to eat with non-vegan family - "What are you going to eat?" Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2070	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 8:11 AM theodore wrote: Good question Wild4Stars. You know, I haven't really thought about what I'm gonna do for Thanksgiving. I guess I should try and decide. Just to help the decision process along, can you tell me what Thanksgiving is. And when it takes place. I've heard it being mentioned in TV programmes but that's all. I suppose bein gin the UK, the US Thanksgiving isn't actually much of a holiday. Over here, it's the last Thursday in November and commemorates the celebration of the harvest back in Pilgrim days. It's typically a day for eating TONS of food and watching American football. Typical menu would be: roast turkey with some sort of stuffing (wild debates over whether it should be corn bread, chestnut, sausage, or other things) and turkey gravy (often made with the turkey drippings from the pan) some sort of potatoes (usually mashed white potatoes) sweet potatoes (often baked with butter, brown sugar and topped with marshmallow) biscuits or dinner rolls and/or bread some form of cranberry dish (sometimes jellied, sometimes more of a relish or chutney) a nod to vegetables in the form of something like green beans amandine or a bowl of cooked green peas pumpkin pie and other sweets The typical menu is loaded with meat, animal fat, other fats in general, sugar, and white flour. It's very much, in its traditional form, a carnivore's meal. It's also a major "group" holiday where family and friends gather. That's a nice thing but poses a bit of a problem for veg folks - cobbling together a meal at someone else's home that still meets dietary/ethical choices. That's where many folks will bring a side dish of some form to share that can double as a main dish for them, supplemented with other bits from the table. For instance, we might have brought a big pot of mac'n'cheese (made with the cashew cheese sauce recipe) - mac'n'cheese is a general favorite as a side dish but it can also be a centerpiece with bits of whatever veggies are available. --Deb R
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mollyhorn Joined: 03/03/10 Location: Fort Worth, TX Posts: 582	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 1:37 PM From Wikipedia: Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. Thanksgiving was originally a religious observance for all the members of the community to give thanks to God for a common purpose. The event that Americans commonly call the first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive their first brutal winter in New England. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. William Bradford's note that, "besides waterfowl, there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many," probably gave rise to the American tradition of eating turkey at Thanksgiving. The modern Thanksgiving holiday traces its origins from a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the Plymouth settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season. This was continued in later years, first as an impromptu religious observance, and later as a civil tradition. In the United States, certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals. Firstly, baked or roasted turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, other fall vegetables, and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. All of these are actually native to the Americas or were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived. The less fortunate are often provided with food at Thanksgiving time. Most communities have annual food drives that collect non-perishable packaged and canned foods, and corporations sponsor charitable distributions of staple foods and Thanksgiving dinners. During Thanksgiving Day families and friends usually gather for a large meal or dinner. Consequently the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year. Thanksgiving is a four-day or five-day weekend vacation for schools and colleges. Most business and government workers are given Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays. In New York City, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held annually every Thanksgiving Day from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, and televised nationally by NBC. The parade features parade floats with specific themes, scenes from Broadway plays, large balloons of cartoon characters and TV personalities, and high school marching bands. The float that traditionally ends the Macy's Parade is the Santa Claus float, the arrival of which is an unofficial sign of the beginning of the Christmas season. American football is an important part of many Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States. Professional games are traditionally held on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night. For many college football teams, the regular season ends on Thanksgiving weekend, and a team's final game is often against a regional or historic rival. While not as prolific as Christmas specials, which usually begin right after Thanksgiving, there are many special television programs transmitted on or around Thanksgiving. The Friday after Thanksgiving, although not a Federal holiday, is a holiday for many companies, except for those in retail. It is also a day off for most schools. It is popularly known as Black Friday, so-called because of the heavy shopping traffic on that day. Another reason for the term 'Black Friday' is that many stores reach sales numbers that take them out of the red and (hopefully) keep them in the black for the rest of the fiscal year. Black Friday has been considered by retailers to be the start of the Christmas shopping season since at least the 1930s. Molly Horn
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Wild4Stars Joined: 12/27/09 Location: Florida Posts: 832	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 1:48 PM Now THAT is a complete explanation of Thanksgiving! Thanks Molly! Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2070	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 1:48 PM A few years ago, we did Thanksgiving at our house with the inlaws. We weren't veg at the time but heading that direction. Our menu included Three Sisters Soup (corn, beans, squash) and baked stuffed cod (cod fillets wrapped around a bread stuffing consisting of bread cubes, seasoning, veg stock, celery, onion, and diced apple). After all, the Pilgrims did live in the area of Cape Cod! --Deb R
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Wild4Stars Joined: 12/27/09 Location: Florida Posts: 832	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 1:50 PM I love the Three Sisters idea. Maybe add some brown rice and make a casserole. Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2070	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 1:53 PM Actually, it's a hearty enough soup that it really doesn't need anything else - rice would be overkill I think. It's a thick pureed type soup - the squash is cooked and lightly pureed (still kinda chunky) and then the beans and corn are added, along with seasoning - in some places, it's a fairly spicy bit of seasoning. There are Three Sisters recipes all over the Internet. We browsed through and took bits and pieces of several recipes to put together our own combination. --Deb
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Wild4Stars Joined: 12/27/09 Location: Florida Posts: 832	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 2:05 PM Thanks Deb, I'm going to do some searching and find a recipe. How perfect to take a Three Sisters dish to a Thanksgiving dinner. Don't you just love this forum ??!!!? Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com
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mollyhorn Joined: 03/03/10 Location: Fort Worth, TX Posts: 582	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 2:07 PM Thanks, Vikki! I am nothing if not thorough. On that Three Sisters Soup, I think you were suggesting changing the recipe, right? Making a casserole instead of a soup. That's why the rice would not be overkill – it would be a different recipe altogether. Here's Dr. Barnard talking about the Three Sisters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQdU9umyqIk Molly Horn
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2070	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 2:08 PM Yeah, this is a great place. Three Sisters Soup is indeed a wonderful thing to have for Thanksgiving - it can be vegan (not all recipes are, some use chicken stock as the base but veg stock or even water works just fine), it's hearty enough for all, it's got plenty of protein and other goodies to stand alone as a main dish, and best of all it's CHEAP and EASY to make even if you're feeding 20 people! --Deb R
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theodore Joined: 09/16/10 Posts: 641	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 12, 2010 at 3:06 PM . Never make assumptions. You'll end up being an A**, and the UMP will TION you. -- Coach Smiley -- Fresh Prince of Bel Air
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mommyof2nc Joined: 12/31/09 Location: North Carolina Posts: 172	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 7:44 AM I have to cook something and bring it with us to my mother-in-law's house. She knows we don't eat animal products but thinks, for some reason, that it's ok to put chicken stock in everything. So, to be on the safe side, I volunteered to help cook this year. Not sure how we ended up having Thanksgiving at her house two years in a row (we've always alternated between her house, my house and my parents' house).
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Wild4Stars Joined: 12/27/09 Location: Florida Posts: 832	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 7:51 AM I'm thinking I'll take a big salad and my own salad dressing. Also some vegan stuffing or some kind of Three Sisters dish (corn, beans, squash). A lot of people think broth is not "meat." I've even had restaurants tell me there's no meat in something only to find out it's made with chicken or even beef broth. The good news, Vegan is becoming more and more popular, many people are jumping on board. It's going to get easier! Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com
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Oceandog Joined: 01/10/10 Location: California, USA Posts: 642	RE: Vegan Thanksgiving Posted Friday, November 19, 2010 at 12:37 PM My sister and I are headed north to spend time with my father and step-mother. It is an ocean town so it will give me a feeling of home. Deb and I have been vegetarian for soooo long, that it isn't an issue with our family anymore. They just accept it. She prefers a nontraditional meal, and we don't use meat subs as we both have celiac and are gluten intolerant. So that said... what am I making? I will make a big coconut curry stirfry with lots of veggies over rice for us. I may have to make a bowl of mashed veggies with GF vegan gravy for me though.... but not necessarily for Thanksgiving. It is just plain ole comfort food, good any time of the year. I will just focus on my blessings, enjoy the curry and THE OCEAN! Always offer kindness and a soft word to the beings around you; You do not know their journey. Your words can be the hug they need or the shove that breaks them.
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