Thanksgiving!
This is the second year in a row that I haven't made it home to see family for Thanksgiving; last year I made a lentil loaf, a sweet potato/cranberry/kale saute, and gravy, and had a friend over. This year two of my friends were around, and we ended up with a pretty hearty meal by the time we all made and brought dishes. (Stuffing, sweet potatoes, and turkey thanks to R; L. and I made mashed potatoes and pumpkin muffins; and I made cranberry sauce, kale, and a quinoa pilaf... and L. got a non-vegan pie for dessert.) All things said, I think it was a pretty hearty Thanksgiving-y meal for a bunch of grad students... I was really impressed with us. This is also a pretty traditional combination of stuff... probably the most "real" thanksgiving I've had in awhile, since I usually just make whatever.... but I mean we had mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and stuff.
The pilaf I made was something I took to a family dinner for Thanksgiving a couple years ago. I was originally going to make stuffed acorn squash or something with butternut squash, but decided I didn't feel like dealing with squash, since it's such a pain to peel and cook. The pilaf had 1/3 c. quinoa, 3 grated carrots, a sauteed onion, 1/4 c. raisins, 1/2 c. orange juice, a can of chickpeas, and some chopped fresh cilantro; then 1 tsp+ a little of cumin, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.
Great success with making vegan mashed potatoes. L. and I peeled and boiled 5 lbs of red potatoes, and we didn't have a hand mixer so we used an old fashioned potato masher. I was surprised how well it worked. It was really, really easy, and I may now consider buying a masher. I hadn't had mashed potatoes since I went vegan, so in almost 3 years. We were a little worried about using soymilk in mashed potatoes, but you couldn't taste it at all (we used Silk Plain in the red carton, plus some soy Earth Balance margarine stuff). I had a tiny bit of gravy left from my baked potatoes earlier in the week.
This was also my first attempt at cranberry sauce; I cut down on the amount of sugar the package said to use, and used a bit of orange juice instead of part of the water. You couldn't taste the orange at all, and they seemed sweet enough.
The steamed kale isn't pictured, but I ate a ton of it. It's so good steamed with a drizzle of olive oil and some lemon juice and salt.
My kitchen was a nightmare of dishes/pots/pans, but L. helped me clean up. She did most of my dishes and you can't even tell thanksgiving happened here now... heh.
The pilaf I made was something I took to a family dinner for Thanksgiving a couple years ago. I was originally going to make stuffed acorn squash or something with butternut squash, but decided I didn't feel like dealing with squash, since it's such a pain to peel and cook. The pilaf had 1/3 c. quinoa, 3 grated carrots, a sauteed onion, 1/4 c. raisins, 1/2 c. orange juice, a can of chickpeas, and some chopped fresh cilantro; then 1 tsp+ a little of cumin, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.
Great success with making vegan mashed potatoes. L. and I peeled and boiled 5 lbs of red potatoes, and we didn't have a hand mixer so we used an old fashioned potato masher. I was surprised how well it worked. It was really, really easy, and I may now consider buying a masher. I hadn't had mashed potatoes since I went vegan, so in almost 3 years. We were a little worried about using soymilk in mashed potatoes, but you couldn't taste it at all (we used Silk Plain in the red carton, plus some soy Earth Balance margarine stuff). I had a tiny bit of gravy left from my baked potatoes earlier in the week.
This was also my first attempt at cranberry sauce; I cut down on the amount of sugar the package said to use, and used a bit of orange juice instead of part of the water. You couldn't taste the orange at all, and they seemed sweet enough.
The steamed kale isn't pictured, but I ate a ton of it. It's so good steamed with a drizzle of olive oil and some lemon juice and salt.
My kitchen was a nightmare of dishes/pots/pans, but L. helped me clean up. She did most of my dishes and you can't even tell thanksgiving happened here now... heh.