Post Thanksgiving Thoughts

November 25, 2007

Hi Gwen,

Your TG sounds similar to mine as far as all the terrible food choices my family makes as well as them "all" being a little to a lot overweight.

Your yam gnocchi sounds wonderful, can I have the recipe please?

After cooking 4 different dishes to bring to my sisters (which of course were non-vegan because of family's choice), and taking them to my sisters. Then serving dinner to 10 and then cleaning up, I was exhausted. My sweet potatoes came out nice so I had a dollop of that on my plate and my sister made brussel sprouts with almonds which I had 5 of them. That was all I was able to eat from all the massive food dishes that lined the counter! That's okay though, I went home and destressed with my favorite destressor, Chardonney! The holidays with my family are always VERY stressful for me.

In answer to your question about cooking the sweet potatoes in film , please see my other message "my not so great sweet potato idea." You are exactly right, they are way too mushy to slice. If anyone has a good idea to make "sweet potato skins" I'd love to know it.

Well, we've got 4 weeks to prepare to "get through" another family meal, good luck to us all !

Gina

==================================================

Hi all! I hope you had a great day yesterday. I love getting Together with my family, but the food, as perhaps you may agree, is Stressful~~ and I thought I'd share my TG follies!First, I was making my yam gnocci which were good, but I didn't make The zucchini ribbons because DH was feeling slighted at my dish Choice (hello....I'm the ONLY one in my family who seems to care About making the holiday healthy!), so we settled on green beans Almondine made with Soy Garden (fabulous, by the way). I made him Go to the market to buy his green beans as I'd made 2 trips to the Store in 2 days for the TG preparation (I wasn't even hosting!). We Stuck the gnocci into the beans at his suggestion (this was after he Realized that gnocci are simply dumplings and not the tortelelini he Mistakenly thought I was making and thus, were not reason for panic-In-the-kitchen). Sometimes his spirit of compromise is Heartwarming. At dinner, my sister's boyfriend reacted strongly to the gnocci Because he thought they, upon first glance, were chicken nuggets (oh Boy!) and was suprised to have dumpling things.Ok...history of my famiy dinners in 3 words: fat, sugar, Alotafood. Last year I made a comment about the unhealthy food we Tend to cook and how nice it would be if we all tried to make Healthier things (most of my family is slightly to less than Slightly overweight). Now that comment and my veg**ism must have really stayed with my Other sister, who...despite my assuring her that she should make Whatever she wanted to make as the host of TG (I always bring what I Feel good about eating and enough to share...it's always good Stuff...really!), she insisted on making separate stuffing for me That she made with veg broth and didn't put it into the turkey. I Though that was nice, but it also didn't bother me when my mom Suggested she mix all of the stuffing into one bowl (the turkey and Pan stuffing). Believe me, there was PLENTY of yummy things I would Enjoy and I told her not to worry, I was happy to pick from other Things (as I carved her bird and coached her new husband's 16 y/o Daughter on how to make the gravy). She then, I assume verbally Shot all of her stress and anxiety about hosting TG at me and called Me a jerk (in front of my mom and her step daughter) and recalled (incorrectly) that I had demanded that the family accomodate my Veg**ism at family functions. EGHADS, SHOOT, OY, and WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!!! "I just muttered thank you very much". I probably Made it worse later when I had just wanted a sliver of the pumpkin Pie that my nephew made to taste instead of big piece...and replace The hunk of pie she gave me with 2 bites worth....at this Point...what did I have to lose?On the upswing, my DH liked my tofurkey better than the turkey Turkey. BTW, Gina....do you bake your spotatoes in foil? Mine were too Mushy to scoop!Well, I came out of this okay and am happy to be back at work! Have A great black Friday and enjoy your prep. For the next holiday!Best,Gwen , "veggieblake" <veggies Wrote:>> Gina,> I LOVE that idea! I deciced that i'm going to experiment with > making gnocci from sweet potatoes for TG tomorrow....I'll now bake > instead of boil my potatoes so I can save the skin! What a fun Idea > for packing quick lunches...with my nutty schedule these days I > welocome ANNYTHING that helps me keep on track!> > BTW, I'm putting the gnocci into Susan's Zucchini Ribbons dish to > bring to TG dinner....hope it works...may need to adjust the Spices > a bit to accomodate for the yams.> > Have a WONDERFUL TOFURKY DAY, ALL!!!!!!> Gwen> > , "Gypsy Gina" <gypsygina@> > wrote:> >> > > > > > Hi gang, > > > > Just thought I'd share my idea in case anyone else has not Already > thought> > of this. > > > > I'm in charge of making sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving, so > tonight I> > thought I would go ahead and cook them and finish preparing them > tomorrow> > night. > > > > I was getting ready to peel them and boil them because I am Going > to mash> > them and put them in a casserole dish, when I got the idea of > baking them> > whole and when done, scoop out the potato, leaving 1/4" and > freezing the> > skins for myself to make a healthier version of potato skins! My > family> > does not want to eat the skins, so rather than waste them, I > thought this> > was great. I love sweet potatoes and now, I can just take them > out of the> > freezer and fill with whatever strikes my fancy and bake to crisp > them up a> > bit. > > > > I know, kind of too simple, but I thought maybe somebody had not > already> > thought of it :-)> > > > Happy Thanksgiving to All!> > > > Gina> >>

November 25, 2007

I've only been vegan for 3 months and Thanksgiving was my first time traveling as a vegan and my first family get together since then too. It was a little overwhelming. I packed stuff to eat for the actual travel time so that wasn't a problem. Overall I have to say that vegan traveling can be expensive. I say that because I bought most of my food while away from home and it's harder to cook at someone else's house since they may not have things that you assume they will have. It seems wasteful to buy soymilk and vegan butter because you can't take it home (it wouldn't last the trip without being refrigerated) but the other option is to go without. In my family, if you bring/make something you offer some to everyone else, so I was buying for me and others as well.For Thanksgiving, I took a tofurky and a pasta salad with lots of veggies. My sister made steamed green beans with olive oil. My mom made baked sweet potatoes. That meal went pretty well. Other people tried

the tofurky; some said they didn't like it, but the majority said that it was good. I didn't feel up to making a vegan pumpkin pie in someone else's house so I just took some vegan-friendly cookies.I made a pumpkin pie and an apple pie when I got home. The fillings were wonderful but I'm still playing with the crust recipes. I don't like regular crust so I tried a graham cracker crust for one and a grape nuts crust for the other. But they both need more work.Gypsy Gina <gypsygina escribió: Hi Gwen, Your TG sounds similar to mine as far as all the terrible food choices my family makes as well as them "all" being a little to a lot overweight. Your yam gnocchi sounds wonderful, can I have the recipe please? After

cooking 4 different dishes to bring to my sisters (which of course were non-vegan because of family's choice), and taking them to my sisters. Then serving dinner to 10 and then cleaning up, I was exhausted. My sweet potatoes came out nice so I had a dollop of that on my plate and my sister made brussel sprouts with almonds which I had 5 of them. That was all I was able to eat from all the massive food dishes that lined the counter! That's okay though, I went home and destressed with my favorite destressor, Chardonney! The holidays with my family are always VERY stressful for me. In answer to your question about cooking the sweet potatoes in film , please see my other message "my not so great sweet potato idea." You are exactly right, they are way too mushy to slice. If anyone has a good

idea to make "sweet potato skins" I'd love to know it. Well, we've got 4 weeks to prepare to "get through" another family meal, good luck to us all ! Gina ================================================== Hi all! I hope you had a great day yesterday. I love getting Together with my family, but the food, as perhaps you may agree, is Stressful~~ and I thought I'd share my TG follies!First,

I was making my yam gnocci which were good, but I didn't make The zucchini ribbons because DH was feeling slighted at my dish Choice (hello....I'm the ONLY one in my family who seems to care About making the holiday healthy!), so we settled on green beans Almondine made with Soy Garden (fabulous, by the way). I made him Go to the market to buy his green beans as I'd made 2 trips to the Store in 2 days for the TG preparation (I wasn't even hosting!). We Stuck the gnocci into the beans at his suggestion (this was after he Realized that gnocci are simply dumplings and not the tortelelini he Mistakenly thought I was making and thus, were not reason for panic-In-the-kitchen). Sometimes his spirit of compromise is Heartwarming. At dinner, my sister's boyfriend reacted strongly to the gnocci Because he thought they, upon first glance, were chicken nuggets (oh Boy!) and was suprised to have dumpling

things.Ok...history of my famiy dinners in 3 words: fat, sugar, Alotafood. Last year I made a comment about the unhealthy food we Tend to cook and how nice it would be if we all tried to make Healthier things (most of my family is slightly to less than Slightly overweight). Now that comment and my veg**ism must have really stayed with my Other sister, who...despite my assuring her that she should make Whatever she wanted to make as the host of TG (I always bring what I Feel good about eating and enough to share...it's always good Stuff...really!), she insisted on making separate stuffing for me That she made with veg broth and didn't put it into the turkey. I Though that was nice, but it also didn't bother me when my mom Suggested she mix all of the stuffing into one bowl (the turkey and Pan stuffing). Believe me, there was PLENTY of yummy things I would Enjoy and I told her not to worry, I was happy

to pick from other Things (as I carved her bird and coached her new husband's 16 y/o Daughter on how to make the gravy). She then, I assume verbally Shot all of her stress and anxiety about hosting TG at me and called Me a jerk (in front of my mom and her step daughter) and recalled (incorrectly) that I had demanded that the family accomodate my Veg**ism at family functions. EGHADS, SHOOT, OY, and WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!!! "I just muttered thank you very much". I probably Made it worse later when I had just wanted a sliver of the pumpkin Pie that my nephew made to taste instead of big piece...and replace The hunk of pie she gave me with 2 bites worth....at this Point...what did I have to lose?On the upswing, my DH liked my tofurkey better than the turkey Turkey. BTW, Gina....do you bake your spotatoes in foil? Mine were too Mushy to scoop!Well, I came out of this okay and am happy to be back at work!

Have A great black Friday and enjoy your prep. For the next holiday!Best,Gwen , "veggieblake" <veggies Wrote:>> Gina,> I LOVE that idea! I deciced that i'm going to experiment with > making gnocci from sweet potatoes for TG tomorrow....I'll now bake > instead of boil my potatoes so I can save the skin! What a fun Idea > for packing quick lunches...with my nutty schedule these days I > welocome ANNYTHING that helps me keep on track!> > BTW, I'm putting the gnocci into Susan's Zucchini Ribbons dish to > bring to TG dinner....hope it works...may need to adjust the Spices > a bit to accomodate for the yams.> > Have a WONDERFUL TOFURKY DAY, ALL!!!!!!> Gwen> > , "Gypsy Gina" <gypsygina@> > wrote:> >> > > > > > Hi gang, > > > > Just thought I'd share my idea in case anyone else has not Already > thought> > of this. > > > > I'm in charge of making sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving, so > tonight I> > thought I would go ahead and cook them and finish preparing them > tomorrow> > night. > > > > I was getting ready to peel them and boil them because I am Going > to mash> > them and put them in a casserole dish, when I got the idea of > baking them> > whole and when done, scoop out the potato, leaving 1/4" and > freezing the> > skins for myself to make a healthier version of potato skins! My > family> > does

not want to eat the skins, so rather than waste them, I > thought this> > was great. I love sweet potatoes and now, I can just take them > out of the> > freezer and fill with whatever strikes my fancy and bake to crisp > them up a> > bit. > > > > I know, kind of too simple, but I thought maybe somebody had not > already> > thought of it :-)> > > > Happy Thanksgiving to All!> > > > Gina> >> As John Bingham says, "Waddle on." "Give a child a book, she'll be happy. Give a child a library, she'll be literate."Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, and Laugh uncontrollably. Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should

dance.

Comparte video en la ventana de tus mensajes (y también tus fotos de Flickr).Usa el nuevo Messenger versión Beta. Visita http://e1.beta.messenger./

November 26, 2007

Yes,

I am new here too and have been a lacto/ova vegetarian years ago then mostly regular diet ( little red meat though ) with a family of total vegan relatives, those with diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and so when I cook, I normally do three entrees , 2 soups, several desserts to reflect ( meat/fish, vegetarian and vegan, ) and recipes to include low fat and sugar free etc. . I never did mind doing this and love the challenge of cooking.

I have unintentionally lost weight via the good carbs ( only use whole grains/whole wheat now ) don't eat white flour anything, low fat dairy and fish and meat. Yes, I exercise 3 times a week at Curves. I bought myself a pedometer and trying to do 10,000 steps a day but succeeded to 7,000 so far.

Vegans can be fat too as my BIL, is an example that one can eat good and healthy things and yet gain weight! He is a snacker!

Hubby and I are considering a vegetarian or vegan diet again. For Thanksgiving I made quite a few vegan/vegetarian things- quite delicious.

Happy Holidays to all

Joan

November 26, 2007

I just made those Thai ( Pumpkin ) Lentil Croquettes and they came out great.

I made them into large patties for main course. Got about 7 large patties.

I used a silicone baking sheet to line the baking sheet.

Now I did a few changes myself. For the Kaffir Lime leaves and brown sugar: I used some lime syrup instead.

Normally I make a kaffir lime simple syrup ( 1 part sugar to one part water and add 12 large kaffir lime leaves ) Cook syrup till thick and let leaves cool in syrup. Then store covered. Use the syrup when you need kaffir lime flavor sweetener for any recipe

I also could not find hijiki and used another dried seaweed type of ingredient.

For the dipping sace I used combinations ( I didn't measure started with 1 Tbs each and added to my taste ) of soy sauce, mirin, fresh grated ginger and the kaffir lime syrup as the sweetener.

I am going to try more of the other croquette recipe!

Joan