Thanksgiving without Turkey? Oh My!

The holiday season is upon us and my personal favorite is Thanksgiving!  It's the only holiday where you just get together to be thankful for each other, and nobody expects anything from you. But if you happen to be a turkey, it could be the worst day of your life!

Portland has done many wonderful things for me, but I'm most thankful to it for opening my eyeballs to a more compassionate lifestyle.  In true Portland Thanksgiving tradition, we're heading over to our best friends house for the big feast.  Cam and I are in charge of apps and sides, so it looks like we'll all be eating a lot of lettuce and almonds on Thursday....JUST KIDDING!  We have a few tasty dishes up our sleeves, my favorite being the Nutter Butter Ice Cream Pie by The Tolerant Vegan for dessert!  For an appetizer we're bringing over a dish we just discovered at Kirbie's Cravings called Bang Bang Cauliflower!  We did a test run of it this weekend and it's very addicting, but also very light so as not to fill us up for the main feast! We made it vegan by using vegenaise instead of mayo, but we did use a freshly laid egg from EggBerta for the batter.  I plan on slipping a vegan cheese I purchased at New Seasons onto the cheese plattter when we get there just to see what happens!  I've always had a hard time justifying paying $13 for a cheeseless cheese, but it's a holiday so I'm going for it!  But if I say that it's vegan nobody will try it.  After a couple of glasses of wine or a few cocktails, I bet everyone will gobble it up.  We're also making homemade cranberry sauce and a Sweet Potato Casserole.

I'm very much looking forward to the shorter work week broken up by the holiday, and it's always a fun time hanging out with our pals The Bakers!  My dad is coming down from Vancouver, WA and our friends parents are coming in from California.  I never make a big deal about eating a plant based diet, especially when I'm a guest in someones home.  I really enjoy making vegan versions of every day foods and not letting anyone know.  I brought a 7-layer bean dip to a football party the hosted last week and it was demolished in minutes! Of course I never told anyone that it was animal free!  Slowly but surely my family and friends are catching on to my tricks, but they always humor me and usually enjoy our creations!  That being said, I'm not perfect.  I mean I'm not gonna shun the stuffing if it has some sausage in it, and if a piece of real cheese "falls" onto my plate I don't want to offend anyone by not eating it!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!