Pre Thanksgiving Fest

I really wanted to try out some Thanksgiving recipes, so I made the whole deal. Mostly for Andy since he can't get enough of this kind of food.

Starting at 12'oclock & going clockwise:
bread
mashed potatoes and gravy
mashed rutabega
stuffing
green bean casserole
pickles
cranberry sauce
seitan saurbratten (center)
roasted acorn squash (center)

pumpkin cheezecake w/ soyatoo
I used the green bean casserole recipe that I found on SusanV's blog. It was phenomenal. You should totally try it. I used apple cider vinegar instead of wine. I als0 chopped the mushrooms really fine. I used the same broth that I had made for the stuffing. I also made my own fried onions for the top. I dipped the onions in soymilk, then in flour/salt/pepper, then I deep fried them until they were sort of golden. I kept them sort of pale so that they could also brown in the oven.

I used the stuffing from the Holiday Feast class I recently took. I used Dave's Killer bread, which made it really yummy. The other main ingredients are chopped hazelnuts, celery, onions, broth, sage and lentils. I made the broth recipe from the same class. I had used Imagine veggie broth a few weeks ago and it ruined my lentil soup (which I fixed with peanut butter). I won't do that again. It's boring to make stock, but it's totally worth it and it's freezable. If I ever make stuffed mushrooms, I'll use this as stuffing.

I made the pumpkin cheezecake recipe from A Vegan Paradise twice because Andy ate the first one on Thursday (a testimony to the deliciousness of the pie) and the pre TG was on Friday so I had to have one then :). This pie is really really good. Thanks, Roo for the recipe.

The first time I followed the recipe exactly. The second time I halved the soy milk and doubled the tofu so it would firm up faster (I was in a time crunch). It firmed up just fine both times, in case you want to follow the original recipe. Don't worry, I made half batches each time, so it was 2 pies, not 4 :). As with all pumpkin type pies, I covered it with aluminum foil for the first part of baking.

I used this recipe for the gravy. It was really good and I will definitely make it again. The recipe calls for 2 cups of water. I replaced part of the water with 1/3 cup soy creamer and 1/2 cup broth. Later on when I thinned the gravy, I used edensoy rice soy blend. I went for the optional mushrooms which I chopped really fine.

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Here is the dog that I would have picked up today to foster, but they found another foster family. I guess that this is sort of good because I'm already fostering 1 dog. If she is not adopted in 2 weeks, she might come to my house. I know the dog I'm fostering now will be happy to play with her.

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More of the 2008 calendar.

September: Peepa and the Judge. They are clinging to each other for warmth.

October: Kobie and the Judge. I don't know how the Judge snuck in there.

November: Scoatt. I like this picture because it looks sort of uncomfortable and shows how huge and fluffy he is.