The time for thanks

Alright...more like: Happy almost-Thanksgiving! I've got slightly over a week until the holiday is upon me so this will be my last post for a little while; until after Black Friday I think. I'm going to use the time to get the house ready. Just to be clear, I'm celebrating American Thanksgiving, since I know certain Canadians who are already starting to decorate for Christmas given that their Thanksgiving was last month... Last year was my first opportunity to act as a hostess for family gatherings; my in-laws came for both Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve last year. Things went well last year, but the first experience is always a learning experience. For example, last Thanksgiving I bought a gluten-free pie crust (Bry's stepmom, Fran, is gluten-free) from the health food store for the apple pie that I was going to make only to find out, on the day of, that it had eggs in it. Eggs are not vegan and I felt like a dope. That will teach me not to read labels much more closely. But Fran came to the rescue, she had some spelt flour out in their car and made one. This year, I'm just going to plan on making a pie crust from the get-go. Given that we're a vegan family (or vegetarian in the case of some of my in-laws) Thanksgiving looks a little different in our house. The basics are the same, they just don't contain any animal-based ingredients.
* a protein main dish with sage gravy,

Field Roast stuffed celebration roast

* vegetable side dishes (i.e. potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans etc.),

I'm not responsible for cooking any of the vegetables or the roast. I just bake!

 * rolls,

Vegan cheddar and herb biscuits

* desserts,

Copycat Vitamuffins brownies

Healthy(ish) pumpkin pie

It so happens that it's my father-in-law's birthday as well, so the pumpkin pie is doubling as a birthday treat (by his request). I also found a recipe for whipped cream made with coconut milk. Vegan whipped cream in a spray can does in fact exist (soy based if I remember right...). Our family bought it a few years back, one Thanksgiving, but it wouldn't come out of the can. Well, not much of it... What did come out tasted pretty good, but not good enough to be worth that hassle. So I am just going to make some because frankly, that's easier!

The turkeys should be thankful for the number of tasty vegan options available these days!

A lot of people do a "30 days of thankfulness" thing on their Facebook pages this time of year. I have not been one one of those in the past, and I'm not one this year either, but I really do have a lot to be thankful for. I'm not going bore you with 30 things, but I figured I list the top five.

1) Bry and our boys
2) Our extended families
3) My very good friends
4) Good health
5) Zumba

One downside to Zumba being on Wednesday nights? No Zumba the week of Thanksgiving. Aaw. Class is held in a school cafeteria and the schools are taking the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (as well as the Friday after) off. No open school = no Zumba class. I haven't decided what I want to do about that yet...but it's possible that I'll pay Rae's Monday night class a visit...

In past years, Zumba has done a Black Friday sale on Zumba gear. You can't see me right now, but if you could, you'd see my hands rubbing together in anticipation. I might even be doing an "Exxxcelllent..." ala Mr. Burns...

Best advice: Have a safe and happy holiday. If you already celebrated Thanksgiving (Canucks...), or if you don't celebrate it at all, have a safe and happy week.