Inquiring minds want to know- what was on the Thanksgiving menu?

Because our family has not eaten meat since the end of August,  I was frequently asked "What are you going to eat on Thanksgiving?" as we approached the year's most food focused holiday.  What that question really meant was "Are you going to eat turkey?" The short answer is no, I did not eat turkey on Thanksgiving. If that's all you wanted, you may now return to your regularly scheduled program.  If you'd like a few more details on this year's nontraditional Thanksgiving, feel free to continue reading.

Honestly, eating turkey vs. not eating turkey was a game-time decision. I had told myself it wouldn't be the end of the world if I sampled a few bites since this was a special occasion.  Once I realized that neither my husband nor my children were going to partake, I crumbled under the silent peer pressure and abstained. Ultimately, I did not regret my decision (especially when watching my mom clean up the turkey "remains" after dinner- ick!).

Avoiding the turkey was only part of the story as much of the typical Thanksgiving Day fare contains dairy products and/or eggs (and those items aren't included in our current eating experiment).  I made my standard sweet potato casserole as well as vegan-ish versions of dressing, mashed potatoes and even gravy. Whaaaaaat?  Yes, vegan gravy...never in a million years would I have thought I'd be making, let alone eating, vegan gravy.  Even writing those words makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I'm typically not a huge gravy fan, but I thought it was quite tasty!

My dessert choice was certainly not healthy (that's the idea of dessert, right?) but was technically vegan.  Thank goodness for the delicious cherry pie my mom made! And so we continue...my husband and I eating about 90-95% meat, dairy and egg free and the kids avoiding meat (of their own volition).  It can sometimes be a challenge as we continue to experiment with new recipes and food choices. I think having a personal chef could really improve my chances of sticking with this gig long term....

These chickens are his friends, right??

Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, I will still provide the recipe for the vegan gravy I made. If you plan to put it ON something, you can easily tweak any mashed potato recipe by using non-dairy milk and Earth Balance (or similar) in place of butter.  I'm not recommending potatoes and gravy as a staple on a plant based diet, but it's great if you have an occasional hankering for some comfort food!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/13799/vegetarian-gravy/