Thanksgiving. A time for friends, family, fun, and food. We had all of that. I invited a few friends over and to my surprise, two came! One for the full on dinner experience, one for snacks and fun since she had a lunch time extravaganza which left her quite full. In another surprise twist The Dad flew in from Connecticut too. The day started with a quick morning freak out (by me) because I forgot the sweet potatoes…so I rode my bike to the store asap to secure the most important item on the menu! Once I returned The BF & I enjoying some of the Pumpkin Oatmeal Bread topped with Earth Balance.
Then I did some online t-day shopping/browsing. The Dad arrived in time for lunch (snobby joes!)
After lunch we got to the real fun, prepping all the dishes. On Wednesday I shared the plan…here’s what actually happened:
Appetizer: Hummus & Olive Tapenade (Homemade by my friend Liz), Pita Bread from Garden of Eatin’, Pita Chips from Kangaroo, Crackers from Doctor Kracker, Lentil & Rice Salad from Casbah, carrots.
I don’t know how much the store bought pita bread, chips, and crackers cost but they all went well with the appetizers we had. They all get a solid 3.5 piggies.
Side Dishes: Roasted Brussels Sprouts – recipe is here.
Carrots & Red Potatoes – cooked with the Tofurky!
Candied Yams – recipe is here.
French Rolls – I cheated and did store bought, frozen rolls from Alexia.
Price: $3.99
Overall Rating: 3.5 piggies – it’s good, homemade is better, but this is a great time saver and everyone seemed to like them!
Main Dish: Tofurky – mega on sale, I couldn’t say no. I thawed it and made the marinade/basting broth that is on the package. Added Potatoes, Onions, & Carrots to the roasting pan too.
Price: $9.99
Overall Rating: 4 piggies. Easy, convent, tastes good, crowd pleaser. This is a great dish for those new to vegan or serving your omni friends/fam on the holiday. It’s flavor is similar to turkey and its texture is pretty great too. I was planning to do something different for Thanksgiving this year…but this baby was 1/2 off, so I went for it.
Along with dinner we had gravy, again taking an easy way out I found a packet of gravy from Road’s End Organics. This was quick and easy and had good flavor too. Everyone enjoyed it. It cooked quickly and then as soon as I turned the heat off that gravy thickened up super fast. It was good.
Price: $0.99/packet each packet makes 1 cup.
Overall rating: 3 piggies
MY plate was quite full…
Dessert: Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Glaze (From Vegan On The Cheap) served with ice cream or pumpkin spice cream, depending on your mood. Yes, I tried it both ways.
Adult Beverage: Our Daily Red (vegan wine) I love this wine, great flavor and affordable. I can drink and entire bottle myself. We also had Orleans Hill wine, which I didn’t care for at all. I can’t really explain exactly why I didn’t like the wine, I don’t know much about wine tastings or various aspects of wine, I just know I really like Our Daily Red…it’s good with food, it’s good alone.
Our Daily Red: Price: $8.99 (reg, on sale it’s usually $7.99)
Orleans Hill: I honestly don’t remember the price and I really didn’t like the wine, so that’s the extent of my rating.
So the meal was great and I’m very much looking forward to my leftovers for lunch and eating more cake when I get home!
girl goes vegan 
