A Plant Based Thanksgiving

Grateful to have my son at home, my granddaughter close by, and no travel plans this Thanksgiving holiday, I settled in for a four day weekend at home.  I shopped last weekend for the cooking items I might need this weekend besides our fresh produce so that I could stay at home if I wanted or the weather demanded all weekend.

We haven't had a family Thanksgiving at home in a few years.  We used to travel all day to fetch our granddaughter for the weekend, but her family moved back to our area and I am loving it. Funny, I had to reassure my son that we only tried the Tofurky once about six years ago and won't repeat it again.  I enjoyed the flavor of the Tofurky and all the roasted vegetables, but the texture has much to be desired.  It is a good transition food for new plant based eaters on the holidays and many vegans who went to a friend's or relatives probably found it on the table, but it's really a processed food item and I do feel like I'm eating deli lunch meat.  It's the first thing people mention when I tell them we are having a plant based Thanksgiving dinner.

What did we have? Ooh, I tried a wonderful recipe by Mark Reinfeld, Link to recipe: Mediterranean Pistachio Crusted Tofu with Saffron Quinoa Pilaf  It recently won Vegan Recipe of the Year by Vegan.com.  I had already practiced a version of this in Mark's two day vegan cooking workshop and knew it would be tasty and easy.  The whole meal only takes a little over an hour from start to finish. The quinoa was easy and colorful and the Mediterranean vegetable salad brightened the whole plate. I thought I'd give it a try for our Thanksgiving meal.  I added some fresh cranberry sauce with some frozen strawberries added for extra sweetness. I doubled the recipe for some planned leftovers.  It was great for lunch today.  I was especially pleased when I saw my son, who is still a bit leery about our plant based lifestyle, go to the refrigerator and heat up a plate for a meal today.

Marinating Tofu Cutlets

Pistachio Crusted Tofu Cutlets on Fresh Baby Spinach

Mediterranean Vegetable Salad

Saffron Quinoa Pilaf

Apricot Almond Pie & Four Ingredient Pumpkin Pie