Our first vegetarian Thanksgiving turned out rather well, if I do say so myself. We attended a great vegan potluck at the beach for lunch. Well, it was supposed to be vegan but I managed to mess that part up! I took some prepared food from Whole Foods that I assumed was vegan, but I'm not a great label reader and it turns out it had Parmesan cheese in it. Someone realized and put an index card next to it with "NOT VEGAN" written on it. I was glad someone caught my error but I was also mortified since they so nicely asked that we bring only vegan food!! At least the two batches of cranberry sauce I had The Eldest make were vegan, down to the vegan sugar. Other than that it was fun, though. The kids had a ball running around near the water and the weather was picture perfect.
I didn't plan anything for our Thanksgiving dinner. I figured the potluck was enough, plus I've been having a tough time with a fibro flare up for the past week so planning has been beyond me. That means I didn't do any menu planning or special shopping for the day. I still got hungry and wanted a Thanksgiving meal a few hours after we got home from the beach, though! I mentally went over what we had in the house and managed to come up with a meal we could all work on together. I went to the kitchen and called all hands on deck, then told them the plan. The kids really came through and figured out some additional things we could have, even The Wild Child, and we managed, with some great team work, to pull together a feast!
I am still so proud of my kids for the team effort and I'm looking forward to many more holiday meals where we work together to create a feast for us all to enjoy. I like cooking with my kids. The only sour note was DH. He HATES to have people in the kitchen with him when he cooks and he got super cranky about it, but he's going to have to learn to suck it up. The lessons the kids learn from working together are too valuable to let the opportunity go to waste. (He does get kudos for all the clean up he did after the fact. The kitchen was a disaster and he worked on it off and on all day Friday to get it back under control. He's forgiven his grumpiness for that.)
I wanted to take pictures when we had the table all set but we couldn't find the camera. Here's what we had and who helped make it:
Potato prep: DH and The Eldest (luckily we had a bag of mini purple potatoes, a bag of baby sized honey gold potatoes, and one baking potato on hand)
Potato Salad: I finished this up
Mashed Potatoes: The Wild Child, Martha Stewart Jr., and I finished this up
Vegetarian Gravy: The Eldest requested this and I made it
Roasted Purple Potatoes: DH
Baked Mac and Cheese: The Eldest (she decided she wanted this, found the recipe, and made it all by herself; it was delicious and a great main dish for the meal)
Deviled Eggs: Martha Jr. came up with the idea and made them all by herself
Green Salad: DH
Corn Bread Sticks: The Wild Child requested these and helped me make them (although we didn't get them done in time for the meal; I ate them with my leftovers on Friday)
Iced Tea with Simple Syrup on the side: The Wild Child, Martha Jr., and I
Table Setting: The Wild Child and Martha Jr.
As a special treat for The Wild Child I also made four chicken leg/thigh quarters, the one thing I purchased specifically for Thanksgiving. That's the first time I've cooked meat in 2010. He ate two of them; the girls ate the others while DH and I abstained. The Wild Child was so happy! He's a carnivore, through and through. He's also a growing boy and needs meat occasionally since he won't eat beans or other vegetarian proteins. He's so darn picky; drives me crazy.
Since Thanksgiving is about giving thanks, I will finish up by stating that I am thankful for my family. We pulled together to accomplish something that turned out to be really wonderful. I think this will go down as my favorite Thanksgiving ever.
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Trails and Travails of a New Semi-Vegetarian; Traditions
We had our turkey for Thanksgiving and enjoyed it tremendously, kind of like a last supper since it's the last meat I plan to buy for some time. After our feast, we had pies for dessert. DH made the Sweet Potato Pie with Hazelnut Struesel from Cooking Light but forgot to pre-bake the shell. (He went off recipe and used a regular pie crust instead of the graham cracker crust called for in the recipe. You have to cook those before you put the filling in.) Luckily my dad picked up two pies from the grocery store to contribute and wound up saving the day; we ate those instead of the homemade pie.
Later on in the evening after it got dark, DH lit a fire in our fire pit on the patio. The plan was to toast marshmallows, make s'mores, and drink hot chocolate. In trying to avoid meat products, I purchased marshmallows from Whole Foods made with gelatin from fish instead of cows. Fish counts as an animal product, but at least there wouldn't be the risk of Mad Cow disease, or something. Whatever, it was a giant FAIL. While the mini-fish marshmallows (as the kids named them) were fine as a topping on the sweet potato casserole, they didn't work quite as well in a s'more. Might I say- BLECH. They were grainy like peeps before toasting, and edible. After toasting, they were grainy, like... something you wouldn't want to eat. Grainy mush; ewww!
Traditions
In spite of the marshmallow failure, we still had fun being together in front of the fire. The little ones especially LOVE a good fire and sat outside long after the rest of us went in. I've been searching for new traditions for our family since so many things have changed in recent years and a post-feast fire might be a good start. Except for my dad and brother, and my brother rarely comes to visit, we don't have any family left closer than 3 hours away. My grandmother, who lived about half an hour away, died in 2008. She was the cornerstone of my family and, until she got too elderly and sick, would orchestrate our holidays. Our traditions revolved around going to her house for the big meals and celebrations, seeing our aunts, uncles, and cousins. The last few years of her life my immediate family would still go to her house but we would cook and take the meal down to her. The aunts, uncles, and cousins tried to visit as they could but usually not on holidays. Now that she's gone I've been set adrift. Last Christmas, my first without her, was so hard; I couldn’t get into the holiday spirit but just went through the motions. I think this year will be better though, and my way to cope will be with finding our new traditions starting with that evening fire. I just wish the smoke wouldn’t make my allergies go crazy! ;)
PS: I found a place on-line that sells vegan marshmallows. I ordered a bunch; I'll write a review once I try them. I have really high hopes; after all, I'm a Girl Scout leader. Gotta have my s'mores!
Later on in the evening after it got dark, DH lit a fire in our fire pit on the patio. The plan was to toast marshmallows, make s'mores, and drink hot chocolate. In trying to avoid meat products, I purchased marshmallows from Whole Foods made with gelatin from fish instead of cows. Fish counts as an animal product, but at least there wouldn't be the risk of Mad Cow disease, or something. Whatever, it was a giant FAIL. While the mini-fish marshmallows (as the kids named them) were fine as a topping on the sweet potato casserole, they didn't work quite as well in a s'more. Might I say- BLECH. They were grainy like peeps before toasting, and edible. After toasting, they were grainy, like... something you wouldn't want to eat. Grainy mush; ewww!
Traditions
In spite of the marshmallow failure, we still had fun being together in front of the fire. The little ones especially LOVE a good fire and sat outside long after the rest of us went in. I've been searching for new traditions for our family since so many things have changed in recent years and a post-feast fire might be a good start. Except for my dad and brother, and my brother rarely comes to visit, we don't have any family left closer than 3 hours away. My grandmother, who lived about half an hour away, died in 2008. She was the cornerstone of my family and, until she got too elderly and sick, would orchestrate our holidays. Our traditions revolved around going to her house for the big meals and celebrations, seeing our aunts, uncles, and cousins. The last few years of her life my immediate family would still go to her house but we would cook and take the meal down to her. The aunts, uncles, and cousins tried to visit as they could but usually not on holidays. Now that she's gone I've been set adrift. Last Christmas, my first without her, was so hard; I couldn’t get into the holiday spirit but just went through the motions. I think this year will be better though, and my way to cope will be with finding our new traditions starting with that evening fire. I just wish the smoke wouldn’t make my allergies go crazy! ;)
PS: I found a place on-line that sells vegan marshmallows. I ordered a bunch; I'll write a review once I try them. I have really high hopes; after all, I'm a Girl Scout leader. Gotta have my s'mores!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone is having a lovely Thanksgiving Day today. My dad will be joining us for our dinner; we've also invited a family friend and her mom but she's not sure if they'll be able to come or not. Since I started this blog because of the "Menu Plan Monday" meme, I'll go back to my roots and post our menu plan for today's big meal:
Humanely raised free range organic turkey
Gravy
Cornbread Dressing (my grandmother's recipe)
Stove Top Stuffing (special request; not my idea since I don't like food out of a box)
Sweet Potato Casserole (with marshmallows on top per The Youngest's request)
Mashed Potatoes (yes, two potato dishes, but they are both expected)
Steamed Green Beans (something healthy to balance out all the starchy stuff)
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry Sauce from the can (another special request)
Crescent Rolls
Guacamole and chips (appetizer; The Middle Child's specialty)
Sweet Potato Pie with Hazelnut Streusel (we use a regular pre-made pie crust instead of the graham cracker crust called for in the recipe)
And it's a good thing we didn't plan on pumpkin pie since there's been a crisis in the pumpkin patch this year. Guess the Great Pumpkin won't be making an appearance this year after all, but hopefully it won't affect your holiday too much. Or was that Halloween? ;)
I found out about the pumpkin crisis at the grocery yesterday. The store was PACKED and for some reason people kept asking ME where stuff was. (OK, two people, but still.) One woman was trying to find the canned pumpkin. I knew where the pie fillings were and I thought it should be there, but it wasn't. What WAS there was a sign saying "due to problems with the pumpkin harvest we do not have any canned pumpkin available; we regret the inconvenience, yadayadayada", or something like that. She freaked! "What am I going to tell so-and-so when I don't come home with the pumpkin?" I told her "make sweet potato pie; there's a great recipe on Cooking Light.com!!!" She thanked me, but somehow I don't think she's going to make the sweet potato pie. But the recipe really is great; DH made it last year and it was sooooo good. I highly recommend it, even if you can get pumpkin.
I'm not doing all the cooking this year if you were feeling sorry for me, by the way. ('Cause I know you totally were when you got a load of that menu!) We divvied up the menu and we're all making something. I'm responsible for the turkey (I hope I get it all the way cooked this year), the gravy, cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry sauce. DH is making the green beans and pie. The Eldest is making the mashed potatoes, Stove Top stuffing, and the cranberry sauce from the can. (It's her special job to get the cranberry sauce all plated up; you can ask her about it since she's very proud of that job.) ;) The Middle Child is making the guacamole. (She makes a mean guacamole, too; not very traditional, but it's delish!) Last but not least, The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, is making the crescent rolls. It's nice that we can all work on the meal and get it done together. I just hope we all get it done on time!!
Humanely raised free range organic turkey
Gravy
Cornbread Dressing (my grandmother's recipe)
Stove Top Stuffing (special request; not my idea since I don't like food out of a box)
Sweet Potato Casserole (with marshmallows on top per The Youngest's request)
Mashed Potatoes (yes, two potato dishes, but they are both expected)
Steamed Green Beans (something healthy to balance out all the starchy stuff)
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry Sauce from the can (another special request)
Crescent Rolls
Guacamole and chips (appetizer; The Middle Child's specialty)
Sweet Potato Pie with Hazelnut Streusel (we use a regular pre-made pie crust instead of the graham cracker crust called for in the recipe)
And it's a good thing we didn't plan on pumpkin pie since there's been a crisis in the pumpkin patch this year. Guess the Great Pumpkin won't be making an appearance this year after all, but hopefully it won't affect your holiday too much. Or was that Halloween? ;)
I found out about the pumpkin crisis at the grocery yesterday. The store was PACKED and for some reason people kept asking ME where stuff was. (OK, two people, but still.) One woman was trying to find the canned pumpkin. I knew where the pie fillings were and I thought it should be there, but it wasn't. What WAS there was a sign saying "due to problems with the pumpkin harvest we do not have any canned pumpkin available; we regret the inconvenience, yadayadayada", or something like that. She freaked! "What am I going to tell so-and-so when I don't come home with the pumpkin?" I told her "make sweet potato pie; there's a great recipe on Cooking Light.com!!!" She thanked me, but somehow I don't think she's going to make the sweet potato pie. But the recipe really is great; DH made it last year and it was sooooo good. I highly recommend it, even if you can get pumpkin.
I'm not doing all the cooking this year if you were feeling sorry for me, by the way. ('Cause I know you totally were when you got a load of that menu!) We divvied up the menu and we're all making something. I'm responsible for the turkey (I hope I get it all the way cooked this year), the gravy, cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry sauce. DH is making the green beans and pie. The Eldest is making the mashed potatoes, Stove Top stuffing, and the cranberry sauce from the can. (It's her special job to get the cranberry sauce all plated up; you can ask her about it since she's very proud of that job.) ;) The Middle Child is making the guacamole. (She makes a mean guacamole, too; not very traditional, but it's delish!) Last but not least, The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, is making the crescent rolls. It's nice that we can all work on the meal and get it done together. I just hope we all get it done on time!!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Roasting Pans
I went looking on the internet for a picture of the roasting pan I use to make my chicken, which I found (only this shows the larger size), but it seems I've been using the wrong pan! I found a review of roasting pans here and it was most illuminating in light of our Thanksgiving turkey disaster. I've made a few turkeys now and I make roast chicken all the time so I figure I've got it down, right? Well, not so much this past Thanksgiving. I got overly ambitious and picked out a 17 pound bird, the biggest I've ever tried. I seasoned it all up like I have in the past, popped it in the large roaster, (I have 3 sizes), placed it in the oven, and went on with the rest of the preparations. Baste the turkey, baby the turkey, tent the turkey, love the turkey, feel oneness with the turkey, watch it turn a delicious golden brown, then take it out to eat. DH starts carving and gets part way in and announces "it's not done, not even close". ARGHHHH! We throw it back in the oven and it takes TWO HOURS more to finish cooking all the way through! How did I miscalculate? Where did I go wrong? I'm not a newbie to the turkey thing; how could I make such an error? I couldn't figure it out until I read the review- it's because of the LID. The bird was too big for the pan and the lid wouldn't fit on, thus the need for extra time; mystery solved.
As to the roaster, I haven't had the same experience with my enamel lidded roaster as the reviewer (when I can actually get the lid on), but I don't use the flip-the-bird method of cooking. (I'd drop it and send the turkey flying across the kitchen, so while it sounds good in theory I'll skip the flip, thanks.) (It's supposed to make it more moist by letting the juices flow to the top of the bird while it's upside down, then you turn it over to finish the cooking and brown the skin. I first heard about it on a cooking segment on NPR.)
And as for Thanksgiving, DH managed to carve enough from the outer portions of the bird for us to go ahead and eat so it really wasn't a total disaster. Gives me a good cooking story to tell, though! ;)
As to the roaster, I haven't had the same experience with my enamel lidded roaster as the reviewer (when I can actually get the lid on), but I don't use the flip-the-bird method of cooking. (I'd drop it and send the turkey flying across the kitchen, so while it sounds good in theory I'll skip the flip, thanks.) (It's supposed to make it more moist by letting the juices flow to the top of the bird while it's upside down, then you turn it over to finish the cooking and brown the skin. I first heard about it on a cooking segment on NPR.)
And as for Thanksgiving, DH managed to carve enough from the outer portions of the bird for us to go ahead and eat so it really wasn't a total disaster. Gives me a good cooking story to tell, though! ;)
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