What's Your Holiday Menu?

This was my first holiday as a new Whole Food Plant Based eater, so I couldn't eat anything that my darling DIL fixed. I made myself a Sweet Potato Stew with brown rice and shared it with another vegan at dinner. It was nice to have a like minded person to share with!

With my family scattered around the USA and dealing with their kids and grandkids, it's just the three of us and my mom. Vegetarian won't fly in any way shape or form. I'm dealing with my own cancer issues and not where I can easily prepare a big meal for us. Our solution is to go to one of the local restaurant Thanksgiving. This particular one is owned by a family who came to USA from Lebanon and are all excellent cooks, bakers, etc. They also understand preparing good quality vegetables, salads, whole grains etc.

So today I had hummus. Roasted root veggies (I saw quite a few colors, I couldn't tell you every single one, but for sure, sweet potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, onions, mushrooms, other squashes I'm pretty sure, maybe some green pepper, brussels sprouts? It was amazing!). Then ummm, let's see, a rice pilaf thing but it was all dark rice - none of that pasty white stuff. There was another complex salad that I'm not sure what all it was, other than rice or other grains, and I think maybe finely chopped up kale or some other green leaf, and pomegranate seeds in the mix.

Why didn't I take a photo???



A whole grain bun - part of it looked like it had been rolled in oatmeal for decorative effect.

I didn't see the tabouli. I think it was cleaned out by the first wave of the hungry mob, and hadn't gotten any more put out.

A crispy romaine lettuce salad with all sorts of green stuff. Yummy.

And I did the pescetarian thing - had a small piece of the smoked salmon edged in capers, hardboiled eggs, and red onion.

I don't remember what else...

flourless chocolate cake! yum!

Quorn roast with mushroom duxelle in puff pastry
whole wheat bread stuffing with onion and red peppers
mashed red bliss potatoes
mashed sweet potatoes
roasted butternut squash
roasted asparagus
mushrooms and garlic
cranberry apple sauce
&
pecan pie
&
for some of my family ...
a 10.75 pound turkey that I named Clyde

Wow, that sounds wonderful, WildBotanist!

I’m making both the traditional menu for others, as well as a Vegetarian smallish menu for me. I’m a cooking fiend on the Holidays! The menu items for me today (and for others who want them too, of course) are:

*Sage and Pecan Stuffing
*Homemade Cranberry Sauce made with fresh cranberries
*Mashed potatoes (made with grass fed butter and real cream—hey, I splurge once a year lol)
*Green beans and Roma Tomatoes Baked in cream & sour cream and topped with mozzarella cheese and French fried onions
*Sautéd wild mushrooms in a butter/red wine reduction (wonderful over the mash, instead of gravy)
*A sweetish and slightly sourish dish called 24-Hour Salad (it’s a fruit salad and I made with vegan marshmallows, shh, don’t tell the rest of my family lol)
*Pumpkin pie with whipped cream




Edited by: RAVENSOUL1 at: 11/28/2019 (14:39)

Cornbread dressing with Fri-Chik (meat alternative)
Mashed potatoes & Cashew Gravy
Sweet Potatoes with Maple Cranberry Glaze
Homestyle Green Beans
Killer Cranberry Sauce with Toasted Pecans
Homemade Rolls
Pumpkin Pie/ Whipped Topping
Pecan Pie

Holidays, particularly winter holidays, tend to focus around animal products. Perhaps a thread of what each of us is preparing/thinking of preparing will help inspire new traditions!

Here's one of our menus:

Mushroom Wellington
Roast brussel sprouts with cranberries & walnuts
Vegan sausage & sage stuffing
Pumpkin spice cake