Happy Turkey Day!

One of the very first things my parents said to me when I became a vegetarian 7 years ago was “What about the turkey?” As delicious as it smells and as eventful as the carving of a 23 pound bird may be, I am thankful every thanksgiving and christmas that I’m able to help one small turkey have a happy holiday by not eating it. As glad as I am not eating one of North American’s most popular birds, the quality of my festive family meals have gone down since I caught the veggie train. Though I used to do the potatoes sans gravy and stuffing that wasn’t stuffed, my plate never looked as good as my fellow loved ones. This year was the turning point. Working 5 days a week as a dinner service “chef on duty” and getting paid to make peoples plates look good, I figured I could take 20 minutes out of big dinner prep and family chit chat to make myself something good to eat.


Dinner 1 - Sunday with the Fam and cousins

The Main Meal- two large pieces of extra firm tofu, lightly marinated in soy sauce and freshly chopped “poultry herbs” (sage, rosemary and thyme). Baked in the oven on top of rice,cranberries, apple and walnut un-stuffed stuffing. The rice stuffing was pre made by my aunt and was amazing. She used red rice, cooked it till is was well done the baked it with the other ingredients till it was just the right amount of mushy.

The Greens - broccoli and cheese sauce is the favorite at almost every family gathering I’ve ever been to. Unfortunately for me, broccoli means extreme flatulence and as much as my family loves me, I try to increase the amount of time they spend with me by decreases the amounts of gas I emit. Why broccoli in particular? I don’t know. But that’s the answer to most of my stomaches inner workings - I don’t know. Anyways, I picked up 2 dozen brussel sprouts for my own pleasure and surprisingly there was zero left overs. As a child I hated brussel sprouts but it seems that my 3 cousins aged 5 - 10 have much more cultured tastes then me when I was young. The brussel sprouts were boiled, then halved, lightly sauteed with garlic, salt and pepper and devoured.

Should our back woods family cabin had an extra stove or two, there would have been room for me to whip up some vegan cheese sauce but forests for stovetop burners is trade off I’d make any day. I saved my sauce recipe for leftovers the next day. It’s pretty standard, but simplified a little bit for cabin ease- a 1/2 cup of unsweetend soy milk, approx. 1 tsp garlic, 3-4 tbs nutritional yeast, 1 tsp onion powder, touch of flour/cornstarch for thickening and S’n’P to taste.

Dinner 2 - Monday with the BF and the best family a boy friend could have.

I happen to be really good friends with my boyfriends older sister and immediate family which makes dinners with them fun, delicious, and far less stressful to my delicate intestines. In addition, the younger sister is vegetarian which means I don’t have to tenderize tofu all alone!


The Gift of Salad - I brought over my favorite green as my meal contribution - arugula. Arugula with anything is good in my opinion but mixed with baby spinach, diced pears, pine nuts and a cilantro lime dressing from WineLand dressings was a particularly good combination.


The Centerpiece - a full skillet of rice, onions and bok choy was ready for soy sauce as I walked in the door. I had some extra tofu and mushrooms that I had previously sauteed with the above mentioned poultry herbs and they were stirred right in there long with some extra oil and soy-sauce for pleasingly large portion of easy vegan delights.


The Piece de Resistance - In my opinion the most essential part of any turkey centric feast, besides the cranberries, is the gravy. Why I have gone 7 years without making my own veggie gravy is unbeknownst to me, especially now that I can do it in 5 mins. Inspired by the best veggie gravy I have ever had (miso gravy w/ yam fries from Fresh), I quickly googled (capitalized? non capitalized?) a recipe and adjusted to my kitchen contents to form an easy and delicious gravy. I shared with the veggie sister to many a thumbs up. Thumbs get raised as follows (recipe for 2) - 1 cup water, 1 large tbs miso paste, 1tsp tamari (or preferred soy sauce), 1 tsp sesame oil, 1/2 tsp garlic, and S’n’P to taste. Heat everything up in a small sauce pan, and add extra ingredients to taste. While constantly whisking, slowly add flour or thickening agent of choice. Once thickened, pour through a wire mesh colander or similar to remove lumps. Pour finished gravy over absolutely everything.