Hello! :D
Yesterday we had a wonderful get together with the family for Thanksgiving. :) I made a vegan banana walnut chocolate chip loaf that was a huge hit.
It was literally gone in 10 minutes! lol. I love showing people that vegan treats can be even better tasting than ones made with animal products. No one believed me that it was vegan. :) Music to my ears!
My brother in law had about 7 slices! hahaha. ;)
I brought my Aunt some Glo bars!
Prepping in the kitchen:
The appetizers: Pita chips, cheese, hummus, candied almonds, and my bread:
I got the recipe for these candied almonds and I will be making them soon. They were so delicious!
Table for 12 (plus 2 kids!)
Our Uncle Steve has a huge garden and he gave us a big bag of Tomatillos!
I’ve never seen them in the flesh before!
I’ve been told that I must make Salsa verde with them. Anyone know a good recipe?
Turkey…
My MIL makes deep fried potatoes every Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The boys goes crazy over them. No, crazy isn’t even the word!
Stuffing:
Fresh Carrots from the garden (my fav!):
Caesar salad:
As you can see, the choices I had for a vegan diet were quite limited. I don’t expect people to cater to my lifestyle though, so I always make sure to fuel up prior to the event. On the way there, I had a couple snacks to tie me over.
My plate:
I took advantage of all the veggies and filled my plate with them!
- Fresh carrots
- Fresh peas
- 1 potato
- Herbed roasted squash and red pepper (I had the cheeseless option)
I had it with some 20 Bees chardonnay which was really good:
I also went back for seconds on the carrots and peas. :)
Eric’s plate:
He isn’t a big turkey fan and he doesn’t like gravy. ;) He actually puts ketchup on his plate! Everyone makes fun of him each family dinner when he asks for ketchup. His request is always met with gasps of horror. lol. My dad always teases him too, he says, ‘Oh you aren’t going to ruin that plate with ketchup are you???’ ;)
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Being a Vegan At Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is always a bit difficult when you are vegetarian, and even more so when you are a vegan. Considering that the whole holiday revolves around eating an animal, it sort of provokes mixed emotions for me.
Firstly, I love Thanksgiving for the part of it that brings family together. Each Thanksgiving we go to our Aunt’s place and she puts on a fabulous dinner for us. It is always a really fun visit catching up with the family.
On the other hand, I am bothered by what is being served on millions of tables across Canada. Most likely, the turkey comes from a factory farm where it has suffered tremendously and been pumped full of hormones to make it grow. The method by which most animals are killed on many factory farms and slaughterhouses is nothing short of gruesome, inhumane, and down right disturbing.
Eric and I had a long talk on the drive home about factory farms and slaughterhouses. Apparently there is a slaughterhouse for pigs right near his work. He told me that each morning he sees a huge truck filled with pigs that are being brought to the slaughterhouse.
Eric said, ‘You know Ange it is really disturbing to see that. The pigs are just crammed in the truck with no room to move and you can see their cute little snouts sticking out of the truck. It is really sad to think about what happens to them in there.’
I think because Eric has witnessed this ‘so close to home’ so to speak, it has really started to change the way he thinks about eating meat.
He said something that I thought was quite interesting, ‘If I had to go out and obtain my own food [without having the convenience of a grocery store], I would 100% be a vegetarian. Actually I would probably be a vegan!’
We talked about it some more and I admit I got a bit emotional about it all. It really pains me to think about all of the animals out there who are abused, tortured, and living in conditions so severe many of them will ‘starve-out’. Starving out is a term when the animals starve themselves until death because they are under so much stress.
I never thought I would see the day when Eric would be slanting toward the side of giving up meat!!!!!
When we met, his diet consisted of meat, cheese, Coke, and bread. I’m not even joking. He hated vegetables.
I think because I make so many vegan dishes for us, he is starting to appreciate that a meal doesn’t always have to consist of animal products to taste good.
Whether he will or will not fully give up meat, I really have no idea and quite frankly that is up to him. I am just happy that he has reduced his meat intake to only having it on special occasions or when he goes out to eat. That is a huge change and certainly makes an impact on the meat-driven ‘system’.
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I’m off to bake 300 Glo bars today! I’ve got a full 10 hour day in front of me so I need to get going. :)
By the way, I added more Glo bars for sale on the shopping cart in case you were trying to get them when they were sold out.
That’s so great everyone loved your bread! It does look delicious! I’ve gone vegetarian a number of times, but have come back to eating meat because I can’t seem to get all my nutrients in ( I know researching more and being more knowledgable would help) but I think if I ever did it permanently, I’d have to go vegan, because reasons, too, are because of animal cruelty. And even if you’re drinking milk and not eating the actual meat, you’re still drinking the milk of a tortured animal – so I’m not sure how someone can justify that.
Oh my goodness! My son in law loves ketsup – it goes on everything, yes even turkey. Only he really only like Heinz ketsup, I think it’s because he’s from Pittsburg. So, you hubby isn’t alone. I did laugh when I read that, now I know at least two who do this at Thanksgiving.
I have been vegetarian for 24 years and vegan for 3 years this month (yeah!). I love the conversation that you had with Eric. Even if someone does not make the choice to eat an animal-free diet, that they can see the merits of it is progress for a world in which we live as cruelty-free as possible. I am glad that he is so open-minded about it, that is awesome. I so wish that I had people like that in my life, but rather I am met with the questions/comments along the lines of “plants have feelings too”, “don’t you care how that potato feels?”. Seriously! It does not detract me though, I am firm in my principals and, like you, do not push my beliefs on anyone.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I got a bunch of tomatillos from my FIL’s garden this year and did several experiments with them. Both a roasted and raw salsa verde, a soup and my new favorite. Baked eggplant with feta and salsa verde. Soo good! ( I am sure you could get creative with a feta substitution.) All the recipes are on my site.
I used to be vegetarian, and no longer am but I do try and make conscious choices about where my meat comes from. If I am in a restaurant where i don’t know I go vegetarian or choose a non-farmed fish.
This was my 1st year aniversary for becoming a veggie; last year we didn’t do anyhting for Thanksgiving but this year I sponsored a Turkey at farm santuary http://www.adoptaturkey.org/, although it makes me extremely sad to know how many turkeys are killed during this time of year I’m glad to know I made a difference in one turkey’s life. I also celebrated this year with a tofu pot pie, which tasted awesome by the way :)
I really love your blog but i was wondering if you have the following recipes under your blog:
I made a vegan banana walnut chocolate chip loaf .
I saw a similiar recipe Rustic Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Cake with PB Banana Glaze
but the pictures don’t match up.
looking for a great banana loaf recipe