Preparing for our feast.

My folks will be here in the morning, and i should be cleaning and doing lots of food prep. Instead i'm procrastinating, and thought i'd put up a quick post. As a vegetarian family, we don't celebrate a totally traditional thanksgiving.

Instead we have a Feast of Favorites. Everyone chooses their favorite meal/foods and we have a huge Feast that usually lasts us a couple days. :)



Last year, i made a homemade seitan/tofurkey with wild rice stuffing and an orange juice tamari glaze. It turned out awesome, and now looking at the picture i almost wish i was making one this year. Instead, we opted for the store bought Tofurkey. It's kind of expensive, but is good and we only do it once a year. So it's kind of a treat.

i actually like the traditional Thanksgiving foods, so besides the Tofurkey i make stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, winter squash and sweet potatoes.
The rest of the family prefers nontraditional, so we also have pizza, bean dip, spinach pies and mac and cheese. :)

i really like to incorporate as much food from our garden as we can in our feast. This years garden wasn't the best, so there is a lot of things we'll be eating that are not homegrown. My spinach and lettuce got pecked up every time it start sprouting. i finally fenced it in, but it's not big enough to harvest yet. We do have plenty of red potatoes, and sweet potatoes. A few different varieties of winter squash and a few tomatoes.

i also have lots of greens! i'll pick these tomorrow right before we cook them. i like to saute them with kale in olive oil, add a splash of tamari and some fresh garlic.

i made up a Blackberry cobbler, from the berries in the freezer that we picked over the summer.

i also made a cherry pie, again from frozen cherries we picked this summer. This is my 'before i bake it' picture, because i knew when i bake it the filling would ooze out everywhere and make it not so pretty. Smells good though.

i'm feeling a bit melancholy. Last year on Thanksgiving, our dog Sampson was hit and killed just minutes after we finished eating. The truck that hit him was the only vehicle that drove down our road all day, and it didn't stop. It was the beginning of a downward spiral for me. It was very tough winter, and in a way it feels like i am just now getting out of that 'funk' that i was in for most of the year. It is hard to believe that an entire year has gone by since that day.
So, i'm looking forward to tomorrow, spending time with my family and enjoying our food, but i'm a little sad too remembering the events of last year.
Still, i am extremely thankful for all that we have, and all that we are.


Give Thanks

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.

Give thanks for your food and the joy of living.

If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

Chief Tecumseh