At some holiday gatherings, there is very little for vegans to eat. Thursday’s Thanksgiving feast, however, was not one of those parties! Literally, every time I blinked, a new vegan dish appeared.
Anthony Nelson, your new genie is ready. 🙂
Dishes included the incredibly easy, yet so delicious Vegan Magic Mushrooms, and my favorite Creamy Vegan Polenta
Without lifting a finger (or engaging in the aforementioned blinking), I could’ve easily made a meal simply from the vegan side-dishes my mom prepared. Oh heck, I could’ve easily made a meal from just the magic mushrooms alone! My family’s always been big on vegetables; therefore some of what my mom prepares for Thanksgiving has always already been vegan. And other dishes, such as the polenta she made, are easily veganized.
Mom also makes a broccoli dish that is vegan (originally my grandma’s recipe). As I said, I could have made a meal feast from just the sides. But I didn’t. No, I made my own vegetarian main dish to share. It was so good, it deserves its own post. (I’ll post the recipe tomorrow.)
That looks like a great vegan feast. It is always nice to have someone else do the cooking but I do not get that pleasure often. The only time is when I go out to eat but I do not dine out often. That polenta looks so good. I’ll have to try it soon.
I’ll admit when I was younger [like 8] I thought vegans were weird and vegan food was wierder. Boy, was I wrong! Katie, your vegan Thanksgiving looks delicious! 😀
LOL thanks, Erika!
P.S. I emailed you back :). Let me know if you didn’t get it, because my emails often go to spam.
When I was heavier, I loved eating what everyone else made. Now that I have worked really hard to lose the weight and I’ve learned more about what healthy eating really is, it is really hard to enjoy what some people make. If I knew someone had the same nutritional standards as me I could enjoy their food, but now I just kind of wonder what really is in each dish! I love to cook and bake and try new things so I really am happy making most of my own food!
i have a problem eating what others make due to control issues. someday, i’d love to be able to eat my mom’s food or eat in a restaurant again without feeling anxiety or guilt about it.
I definitely prefer to make my own food because I know what’s going in it, but it’s nice to not have to cook sometimes and have others do it for you, or to eat out.
That all looks delicious! Excited for the main dish recipe :).
I would’ve eaten the apple filling too! I’m not a vegan, but I still would’ve left the crust, because we all know that it’s the filling that’s the best part, right? 😉
What’s in the crust that’s not vegan? I made crust out of flour, sugar, salt, water and vegetable shortening. Way easy! I was all prepared to bring most of my own food to Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncle’s until they offered to make me a tofurkey and roasted vegetables. I almost always make my own food as it’s just me and my boyfriend and he hates the kitchen so it is always nice when someone who understands what vegans eat makes me some food. Not to mention how great it is when I don’t have to even look at the dishes much less do them.
On a side note, do you ever get people who, when confronted with your choice of being vegan for the first or second or third time, ask a question like “wait, you can eat chocolate?”. It blows my mind how people can just eat things and have no idea what goes into them and yet they question whether vegans eat a healthy diet.
End rant!
Well, the first ingredient is partially-hydrogenated lard! (It was a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust.) LOL I wouldn’t want to touch that even if it were vegan. But it doesn’t really matter, because I’ve always hated pie crust and never ate it anyway! 🙂
As for your second question: LOLOL YES!! Oh my gosh, if I had dollar for every time someone asked me how I cold have given up chocolate to become vegan. They obviously don’t know about my blog ;).
I feel your ranting pain too. When people ask me where I get my protein, I always ask THEM, “Where do you get your Vitamin A? Your fiber? Your leafy green veggie servings?”
I know you two aren’t TRYING to sound condescending, but, as I’m sure you know, lots of people just eat milk chocolate, and even some dark chocolate has milkfat in it, so it’s not like people who ask that question are totally ignorant. Try to see it from both perspectives! And, Katie, you know that plenty of people who eat meat also eat lots of vegetables! I think we should all try to be understanding of everyone’s preferences. Just sayin’, hope that doesn’t sound mean.
As for me, I like to be vegan one day and a meat-eater the next. Kudos to you for eating the pie your mom made.
I TOTALLY agree, Tammy!
Um. Here’s the thing… when people ask vegans about chocolate they normally have this “gotcha!” tone of voice, like they are just waiting to tell us no chocolate is vegan and that we’ve messed up by eating it. It’s the INTENT of a lot of those questions that are irritating. They aren’t curious, they are being the vegan police – and they are doing in in absence of knowing what they are talking about. Trying to “catch” vegans being non-vegan so they can go “oh, you’re not perfect either, you better than thou vegan!” isn’t very cool.
Honestly, it’s a bit insulting to have an omnivore in your face about whether or not what you’re eating is vegan. If I’m eating it, it’s vegan. And yes I checked!
Not ALL folks who ask it do so in this manner. Some are genuinely curious and you can tell by their tone/wording. I am not annoyed by them. 🙂
Oh ew! Sorry… my reaction to lard in anything is abject horror. WHY?! A lot of my Great Grandmas’ recipes contain lard and I always make this face: O.o or this XP when I read the recipe cards.
Seriously, Katie, with your mom being so wicked awesome(!) you should talk her into ditching the pig fat crust. My mom isn’t half as cool with vegan food as yours is but she’s made me vegan desserts before. 🙂 Maybe you could make the crust and momma could do the filling? Then you don’t have to worry about possibly eating lard AND everyone else would have a healthier pie, too. 😀 Win win! Plus, pie crust is so easy to make and the vegan version doesn’t taste “weird”. I don’t really like crust either but I’d rather the little bits that inevitably fall into my filling aren’t non-veg.
I’m so not trying to bash you (you know I <3 you!) but there is just no way in hell I'd ever want to even risk eating lard, ever again. *shudder* Mostly due to it being gross! Half the reason I'm such a "good" vegan is my weak stomach! LOL.
Aw damn, I wanted to delete this post since I’ve been thinking about it since I made it.
Rather than change your family recipe (sorry to suggest it) I think my solution would be to pull a serving of the filling aside and bake in alone in a ramekin! Then no icky crust (vegan or otherwise!) and more apple goodness. Totally WIN WIN. 😀
Hey girl! Just got your email, and I’ll reply when I get a chance. 🙂
i LOVE when I can make my own food- i take charge of the kitchen! that way I know exactly what’s in it and I can tailor it to my needs!
The apple pie filling doesn’t have any sugar? That is awesome; I’ve never even thought to make filling sans sugar. It would be awesome if your mom were so inclined as to share that recipe 🙂
I’m sure she would! I’ll try to write it out for ya later today or tomorrow! 🙂