Vegan Thanksgiving: Expectation vs. Reality

I’m reflecting a lot today on the wonderful Thanksgiving we just had. It was my first time planning and preparing the entire (vegan) meal, and all of my eager planning really paid off!

I’m particularly amazed at how all of the recipes I found online actually met or exceeded my expectations. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to compare my results to the original photo from the recipe. I’ll mention any substitutions (and mistakes!) I made, and if you are intrigued you can click on the photos to open the original recipe.

Even the original recipe suggests serving them in a mug. So WTF, Food Network? Misleading photos aside, the cider was delicious (I served the bourbon on the side). We skipped the honey because our cider was already so sweet. Also skipped the crystallized ginger, because I didn’t realize Trader Joes had stopped selling it (due to something about lead content – eep!), and I didn’t have time to go somewhere else!

Maybe I was a little impatient with the whipping of the cream. Or maybe I just wasn’t generous enough with my dollops. It still tasted amazing. In hindsight I would have run the pumpkin mixture through a fine mesh strainer, however, because the bottom of the latte was a little lumpy.

I let the squash go a little long in the oven, and I used quinoa instead of wheat berries. This salad was a perfect palate cleanser between bites.

This was my only non-vegan recipe choice, but it was simple enough to veganize: vegetable broth instead of chicken and earth balance instead of butter. Probably the ooh-ed /ahh-ed / mmmmed dish of the night. Sad I forgot to take a photo before we destroyed it.

I loved these cheater pizza dough rolls. I needed something simple here so I could focus on the more complicated dishes. I used the garlic-herb dough from Trader Joes to up the flavor quotient. Totally screwed up and rolled them in butter/parsley BEFORE I baked them, but they were still fantastic and the only thing we didn’t have leftovers of.

I think I might win this round. This was just as delicious as it looked. Sure I burnt the walnuts the first time around, but that’s what backups (and wonderful mother sous-chefs) are for.

Everything else had butter or oil of some sort, so I decided to go for a healthier potato (we were going to cover them with gravy anyway!). I skinned mine (against the recipe’s wishes) and they were absolutely delicious!

This was great. Three pies in one! I used coconut sugar instead of cane (for no reason other than I had recently bought it and wanted to try), and it was just right. Not overly sweet or decadent, which nobody really wants after such a gluttonous meal anyway! I had a bit of struggle with the topping at first, because it wasn’t easy to just sprinkle on top (it was sticking to my hands!). After accidentally mixing the layers a bit more than intended, it came out fine.

Here’s another shot with just the slices:

I put the maple coconut whipped cream (from the morning lattes) on the pie too. Highly recommended.

Oh, and because I mentioned the candle holders in the last post, here’s a little bonus:

I didn’t have the right drill bit, so I MacGyvered something using smaller ones. These were the perfect centerpiece at our table!

My plate!

…and that was our feast! Expectations and reality not as distant as expected. And so many delicious leftovers! I’ll be eating this all week. 🙂

How was your Thanksgiving?

Not pictured: Our main course was a Native Foods Wellington. We supplemented the supplied gravy with a homemade batch of their mushroom-shallot gravy from the cookbook. Both were delicious but I don’t have an expectation photo because I didn’t find the recipe online! 🙂

Thanksgiving place card idea: mini pumpkins!

What to do with these little beauties?

I’m hosting my first Thanksgiving this year. It’s a manageable debut: just a small gathering with my boyfriend and parents (who are driving up from LA!). Since the moment they first confirmed the visit, I have been scouring cookbooks, blogs, and Pinterest to plan the perfect little feast.

When I went to the market to brainstorm table decor, I found a plethora of mini pumpkins and gourds. Perfect – I didn’t know what I would do with them, but I knew I needed them for something, so I dug in. They had been picked through pretty thoroughly, however, and very few colorful ones remained. As I looked at the tiny white pumpkins I had a stroke of genius: place cards! I could write each person’s name on a pumpkin as a unique and personal way to set the table. I grabbed a few other pumpkins (which I am now planning to use as candle holders), and went on my merry little way.

My shoddy tracing method.

When it came time to decorate these bad boys, I didn’t trust my handwriting to be beautiful enough. I decided to find a font I liked online and trace it (sort of) onto the pumpkin. In hindsight I could have just done it myself and practiced a few designs beforehand, but this method worked fine and made them all look very uniform.

I went on dafont.com and previewed fonts using the four names I needed. I chose the very dainty Things We Said for my pumpkins, and printed out a sheet with our names in various sizes. I cut the ones that fit best and taped them to my pumpkins, being careful to fold them to the curves and fit snugly.

I traced over the text with a fine black sharpie, and got a loose outline. I took off the paper and attempted to connect the dots. I then added a few flourishes to match the original font, and it turned out pretty well!

Aren’t they cute?

I can’t wait to set the table on Thursday.

What do you think? Got a better way to get the text to look the way you want? Ideas for additional ways I can decorate these? What are you doing for your place cards this year? Do I ask too many questions? Just leave a comment!