With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought I would post about how I'm going to be celebrating the holiday as an almost-vegan. ;) (In case you're wondering, I say "almost-vegan", because I've been eating mainly vegan for the past 10 months, but every now and then I'll still eat something that's been prepared with small amounts of dairy product(s) already in it.) Even though I have eaten vegetarian during the holidays before, eating vegan can be a little more challenging. But, no worries. I've already overcome my fear of teaching high school students, so eating without any animals products during the biggest food holiday of the year should be a piece of cake! The most challenging part, I feel, is being able to enjoy animal-friendly recipes without making it a big deal, especially for your non-veg family members. Luckily, my youngest sister Angie recently started eating vegan, so the two of us (actually three of us, since my husband is pretty much the chef of our household) will be making vegan dishes to share with everyone. Plus, my Mom has generously adapted a couple of her recipes to be vegan this year.
Now, on to what Dave and I will be making. I have found a few awesome recipes that I am very excited to make. The only slightly scary part is that I have not yet made these recipes, so really I'm hoping they turn out okay. *Gulp* (I'll be sure to post again to show the results of our cooking after Thanksgiving.) The first dish we're going to make is called Harvest-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms. They sound and look awesome. Here's a picture (and the recipe link), although I'm not sure that ours will turn out looking quite this good (or quite this fancy). ;)
(Source: http://www.chefchloe.com/blog.
The second dish we're going to make is mashed red potatoes (with roasted garlic and chives), which is one of my husband's specialties. Although, I believe this will be the first time the we'll be making them dairy-free (we're going to use olive oil instead of butter, and unsweetened non-dairy milk instead of regular milk). And, for dessert, we're going to make a vegan pumpkin pie. I'm still debating whether to go with a tofu-based recipe, or one that uses coconut milk. So, we'll see!
For those of you who are interested in incorporating some vegan dishes into your Thanksgiving feast this year (for your veg family or friends, or just because they taste good), here are some websites I highly recommend:
http://www.chefchloe.com/blog.
http://vegweb.com/holiday/
http://www.gentlethanksgiving.
http://vegkitchen.com/recipes/
http://www.mercyforanimals.
http://www.ehow.com/how_
http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/
Happy baking/cooking, and Happy Thanksgiving! :)
