Photosgiving!

The vegetarian Thanksgiving meal at Alison’s was even more delicious than I had hoped!  I can’t remember the last time I ate that much food!

First of all, kudos to Alison and Joe for getting out the family China and to Alison’s dad for keeping up with the dishes all day.

Our friend Mindy brought bruschetta as an appetizer.  It was so delicious, I couldn’t stop eating it even though I wanted to save room for my meal.  She said the secret is to throw in some sun-dried tomatoes for extra concentrated flavor.  I’ll have to remember that.

The tofu roulade was perfect!  They said that the recipe came from the Chicago Diner, an all-vegetarian diner in (surprise, surprise) Chicago.

The sweet potatoes with Grand Marnier in orange-rind cups were heavenly!

Our friend Emily brought roasted Brussels sprouts.  Yum!

Alison and Joe made REAL cranberry sauce from scratch…soooo much better than the canned stuff.

The blue-corn muffins were baked in corn husks…super festive!

Alison was sweet enough to set aside a little bowl of mashed potatoes just for me with soy milk and Earth Balance buttery spread instead of dairy!  This made my evening.  Mashed potatoes have always been one of my favorite foods.

My green bean casserole came out nicely.

The chestnuts in the stuffing gave it a really “meaty” quality.

Even the gravy was vegan!

My vegan pumpkin cheesecake was a hit!  And it was easy to make!

After that, I met up with some friends at the Savoy Grill, where my Dad was waiting tables.  We had an absolutely lovely time.  I somehow found room for a salad and about 1/2 a slice of mincemeat pie + some really nice wine.

For Black-Friday-thank-goodness-I’m-not-working-or-shopping-today breakfast, I decided to make sweet potato pancakes!  Yum!

I got the recipe from BUST magazine.  Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of several vegan cookbooks, writes a column called “Nickel and Dined,” which was part of the inspiration for this blog.  She estimates that this recipe costs $0.35 per pancake (including the whiskey-kissed candied pecans, which I omitted since I didn’t have any pecans…or whiskey).

3/4 cup cooled, mashed sweet potato

2 Tbsp. canola oil

3/4 cup almond milk (or any other non dairy milk)

1/2 cup water

2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp each ground cinnamon and ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

cooking spray

1. Prep your potato. Heat your over to 350 and put the washed potato on the middle rack. Put a shallow pan on the bottom of your stove to catch any drips. The potato is done when you can easily insert a knife into the center. ***Or if you’re impatient like me, just stab it with a fork a few times, and cook it in the microwave for 2 minutes, flip it, and cook it for 1-2 more minutes.

2. Whisk together sweet potato, oil, almond milk, water, vinegar, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Mix until there are very few lumps, but be careful not to over mix.

3. Preheat a large, heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat for at least 3 minutes. You will know it is hot enough when a drop of water dances around the pan. Spritz with a light coat of cooking spray. Pour 1/2 cup of pancake mix and cook until the top looks somewhat dry (about 3 minutes). Flip and cook for another minute. Top with pure maple syrup.

 

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