Thanksgiving Vegan Meet-up
Our DallasVegan 101 Meet-up group gathered on Saturday night to celebrate Thanksgiving. What a potluck it was!! I was very camera happy…so you get to see all the wonderful dishes everyone brought.
I’ll start with my contribution…Mashed Potatoes (I used a recipe I got from a Spiral Diner cooking class last year)…
and Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from VwaV. I am making these same mashed potatoes and gravy for my family on Thanksgiving, so it was great to test out the recipe. The gravy is soooooo good.
I also put out the remaining slices of our Celebration Roastfrom Whole Foods. It disappeared quick! Eric and I bought another celebration roast last night for Thanksgiving. We love it sooo much. It’s excellent on a sandwich with cranberry sauce!!
Now for everyone else’s dishes… Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
Tofurkey
More Mashed Potatoes
I really didn’t understand what this was exactly, but I know it’s from an Indian restaurant. They are basically fried hot peppers and hot potatoes. There were two sauces to dip them in. VERY spicy!!
Southwestern Corn Pudding from VwaV. This was awesome!!! I’ve actually got the recipe out right now and am debating adding it to my Thanksgiving menu. My mom always makes this corn casserole, so this definitely reminded me of it, except this one is almost better with all of the southwestern spices, not to mention that it’s vegan. 
Macrobiotic Rice and Veggie Casserole
Shepard’s Pie
Here’s a picture of my plate before digging in.
And of course, what meal would be complete without desserts?!! Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake from Fat-Free Vegan.
Gingerbread Iced Cookies
A most unusual breakfast…Oat Bran Almond Butter Waffles
So I read on a blog last week, I can’t remember which one…I apologize, about someone who made oatmeal or oat bran then broke a waffle up into their bowl of oats. Well…that inspired me this morning. I wanted waffles, but I didn’t have any bananas to slice on top. My creation was toasted waffles, spread with almond butter, and then oat bran on top. I put about 1/6 cup of oat bran and 1/3 cup of water in the microwave. That’s all the oat bran I had left!! When it came out done, I mixed in cinnamon and nutmeg. After I placed the oat bran on top of the waffles, I drizzled them with warm agave nectar. YUM!!! This was such a satisfying and delicious breakfast!
And to keep things funky today…I had an interesting, and new, afternoon snack! I needed a substantial snack, as Eric and I are going to a Bikram yoga class this evening and dinner will be later than usual. Apple slices, dunked in almond butter, and then rolled in Nutlettes cereal (which is 100% soy protein). I’m good to go now!! 
Whole Foods VEGAN HOLIDAY DINNER
I work in an elementary school, as most of you know, and schools always have a designated day where they serve a special turkey lunch to the students and staff. Well that day was yesterday. Knowing that I wouldn’t be eating any turkey, but craving the tastings of Thanksgiving already, I ordered the Vegan Holiday Dinner (for two) from Whole Foods. (You can specify how many people you want it for.) I picked it up Tuesday evening and then brought it to work on Wednesday. First off, the amount of food they give you is insane. It’s more like for 4 people!! Clorinda and I ate it for lunch, and there are plenty of leftovers!! I munched on it more at night, and Eric and I are going to have it for dinner again today.
The menu:
- Celebration Field Roast
- Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
- Green Beans with Carrots
- Wild Rice, Pearl Onion and Cranberry Pilaf
- Wild Mushroom Sage Gravy
- Cranberry Mandarin Orange Relish
Yum, yum, and yum! I definitely recommend it…even if it’s not for your real Thanksgiving…it’s a great dinner to enjoy. I ordered it the day before, and they were able to have it for me.
FAVORITE Larabar EVER
Peanut Butter Cookie!!! I bought this a couple of months ago and then couldn’t find it in the stores again until this weekend. This is absolutely amazing. You must get your hands on one.
To prove it more….heehee….
Last night I came home from work wanting to be in the kitchen. I started out by making this…
Pumpkin Crumb Cake with Pecan Streusel from VwaV. Vegan Dad has blogged about it before too here.
I then packaged some pieces up for our lovely coworkers.
The rest for us!!
I then made Blakened Tofu from ED&BV. We had it with roasted sweet potatoes that I roasted in the oven for an hour….sooo tasty and couscous.
I still do cook too!!! To prove it…
Not that you were doubting me or anything! haha
Sweet Potato and Pecan Tamales (purchased from Whole Foods) with quick homemade chili and a side salad.
Homemade Soup and Sandwich. I put this together for lunch. The soup is just veggie stock with a bunch of veggies from the freezer and fresh cabbage….lots of it….yum! The sandwich had sweet potato puree on it with tempeh bacon, yellow pepper, and lettuce.
Lentil Spaghetti Sauce over pasta with a yummy salad. You know this is a favorite of mine!!
Cabbage and Lima Bean Fried Rice
Another favorite of mine…an Ezekial sprouted grain tortilla with grilled tofu, baked beans, and vegan mayo….all wrapped up. Awesome!
Whole wheat penne pasta with pesto, grilled potatoes & onions. This is what I call our Scotland dish because we ALWAYS had pesto pasta in Scotland. I think it’s a good hearty food that’s really great when it’s cold outside. It just makes you feel good!
Turkey Excitement
I can hardly believe Thanksgiving will be here in a week and three days. Wahoo!! Vegan Thanksgiving food is so yum and fun to make (and so much of normal Thanksgiving food is vegan or can easily be made vegan). Even the turkey technically…I bought our Tofurkey roast today! The cute little thing has made a home in our freezer until next Thursday. Before Thanksgiving Day, our Dallas vegan meet-up group will have a vegan thanksgiving and the school cafeteria at the elementary school in which I teach is serving their turkey dinner this week. Lots of Thanksgiving eating to be had!!! So that I can enjoy turkey day on Wednesday at my school too, I’ve ordered the Vegan Holiday Dinner for 2 from Whole Foods (for me and a co-worker). I’m going to pick it up Tuesday night to take to work on Wednesday. I’ll be sure and take lots of pictures. This means I am SOOO looking forward to 3 Thanksgiving meals this year. Wahoo! Life is good.
Here are some other vegan treats I’ve enjoyed lately….
A couple of Friday’s ago, Eric and I tried Pizza by Marco here in Dallas. I learned about this place in conversations at our last meet-up group. (This is why having a vegan meet-up is so amazing!! I learn so much.) Pizza by Marco has a thin, vegan crust and a ton of soy vegan toppings in which to choose from. We got vegan cheese, vegan pepperoni, onion, garlic, jalapeno, pineapple, and roma tomatoes. YUMmy! It is quite a drive from our house ( I mean only a little over 15 minutes…but it’s farther than most places we usually get to-go from). They supposedly have a sit-in location, but the one we went to, only had a couple of tables, so we brought it home.
One day last week, when I didn’t feel like cooking, we got to-go from Spiral Diner. I got the Jamaican Jerk Sandwich with Potato Salad. I was craving BBQ ever since there was a teacher appreciation luncheon at my school with BBQ.
I also spoiled myself and ordered another entree to take for lunch the next day. I got Ramsey’s Perfect Protein Platter, which is quinoa and black beans with salsa and avocado. I also got a small order of broccoli and ranch dressing. The first picture is of it sitting on the counter at my house, cooling before I put it in the fridge. I protected it very carefully from the hungry mouth of my husband. haha!!
Here it is on my plate at school the next day….ready to be eaten…
Lastly, this past weekend we went to Fad’s Mediterranean Grill. I got the Vegetable Sandwich, which is pita bread wrapped with hummus, cauliflower, tabbouleh, and potatoes. They serve it with tahini sauce and wee pickle and jalapeno pieces. It’s so delicious when you stick a pickle and a jalapeno, drizzle it with the sauce, and take a huge bite. Delish!! You can’t really see the wrap (it’s in the foil), and I got a mushroom salad on the side. To drink I had freshly squeezed 100% strawberries.
Supper Time
Eric took over one night and planned dinner. He bought some premade vegan eggrolls from Central Market that we dipped in some yummy sweet & sour sauce. We also had lettuce wraps. The “meat” mixture was in a little red box, and we got it at Whole Foods. I can’t remember the brand, but it was advertised as vegan lettuce wrap mixture or something to that effect.
Angel hair spaghetti and meatballs….my favorite!!
Greek Salad with Pita Croutons. I got this out of the October issue of Fitness Magazine. I just left out the feta to veganize it. It was delicious!!
This was our election night dinner last Tuesday: Quinoa Chickpea Confetti Casserole with Balsamic Maple Sauce (from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan) and a corn, okra, and red onion saute with sliced avocado on the side. Ash, my lovely sis-in-law, came over to dine with us. Delish! I still have leftovers of the casserole. It’s excellent for lunches.
Sunshine Burger Night on yummy spelt bread with a side of broccoli sprinkled with vegan parmesean.
Spicy Oriental Vegetable Stir-fry (very closely based on a recipe in The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook called Spicy Oriental Vegetable Sauce). This was composed of onion, baby bok choy, asparagus, napa cabbage, bean sprouts, and a lot of spice. I served it in wee tortillas (that was one of the recommendations). Eric loved it that way. After one bite though, it was too oriental to be in a mexican tortilla for me, so I quickly heated up some brown rice and ditched the wrap. This was also excellent leftover.
New favorite breakfast
It seems as if no one can get enough oatmeal these days….I see so many bloggers writing about their oatmeal concoctions. It must be the cold weather in the Northeast. I felt inspired and created my own warm bowl of goodness.
-1/3 cup oat bran
-2/3 cup water
-1/2 frozen banana
I then heat that in the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes.
When it comes out, I add:
-Cinnamon
-Nutmeg
-Pumpkin Pie Spice
and one spoonful of almond butter.
Mmmm….absolute heaven!!!!!
My only complaint with oatmeal and oat bran is that I’m always hungry again like two hours after I eat it. I’ve just been having more food then….an apple, some pretzels, etc. Anyone else have this problem?! I do like eating it before morning yoga though, since it digests so quickly, I can get fuel, but also have a pretty empty stomach.
You scream, I scream, we all scream for vegan ICE CREAM!!!
Two new flavors at my Whole Foods in my favorite brand…It’s Soy Delicious, fruit sweetend ice cream. I have never seen these before, and they are very holidayish! I’m so excited. Carob Peppermint and Almond Pecan!
