The Elf and
Big Solid’s most FAVORITE holiday has come and gone for yet another year. We
LOVE Thanksgiving. We typically spend it on the Redneck Riviera (Gulf Shores or
Dauphin Island, AL) having a potluck Thanksgiving at the world famous Roadhouse,
The Flora-Bama. Literally thousands of folks gather to celebrate with tons of
great food and friendship and while certainly not vegan friendly, we always
take plenty of vegan stuffs for us and to share. This year, however, with
Marley’s recovery ongoing, we were a) not going to board him and b) not subject
him to travel. In his Mama's lap with a warm pack on his incision site.
So, home it was. Enter our BFFs, Jesse and Mary
Evelyn Dees, who opened their hearts and home to us. We always have our PJ
Christmas dinner with them, but this year we celebrated Thanksgiving as well. Below
are (left to right) Jesse, Mary Evelyn, Stonewall Jackson (Boston Terrier), Emmi
(Jesse and ME’s daughter photobomb) The Elf and Big Solid.
And it was the
PERFECT opportunity to make the FatFree Vegan Kitchen’s recipe of the week,
Creamy Broccoli and Brown Rice Casserole.
We have certainly been on a roll
lately with our FFVK recipes but I think this one is one of my favorites. AND,
it’s really easy to make! I must admit to being a bit intimidated by the number
of ingredients listed in the sauce but when you actually get your ‘mis en place’,
it’s a piece of cake. We only have the one final picture to share as we were so
occupied making several recipes, we did not even think about ‘picturing’ as we
went. We did take Susan’s idea of preparing ahead of time and warming before
serving which was most helpful. We cooked a LOT of brown rice, withheld our
recipe amount and froze the rest in smaller batches. Fun to have it handy when
needed and you don’t have time to cook rice. But we regress--trust me, this is
a KILLER recipe. We did adjust the cayenne seasoning from a pinch to a slight ¼
teaspoon which gave it just the snap and fire that we like. And, we took
advantage of Susan Voisin’s suggestions of alternate ingredients instead of the
chickpeas by adding some sautéed Shredded Chikun pieces.
The Dees prepared a lovely and delicious
Ratatouille seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil as well as some roasted
potatoes, seasoned the same.
And then the
final spread was such a bounty..including stuffed pork loin and turkey for
those who wished! You may also note the nearly empty punch bowl that contained
a lovely champagne punch for our pre-dinner enjoyment! The Elf was very happy
with her dishes and ate like a little elf pig.
We made an
Apple Crisp that was TO DIE for (again, sorry no picture) and topped it with
some Almond Milk Snickerdoodle ice cream. The Elf’s rendition of the Apple Crisp
turned out JUST like the picture you’ll see on the link. We did have to bake
ours a bit longer than the suggested 40 minutes but the taste and the crisp
were outstanding.
AND, Amaretto
Freezes were the ‘piece de resistance’ (The Elf’s made with Almond Milk Vanilla
Bean). This recipe includes an ounce of cream or half and half, which is
certainly not needed.
Now, this is
an example of vegan excess at its best (or worst) but, hey, it’s THANKSGIVING!!
As usual, the tablescape was gorgeous and the camaraderie even better.
Here are the MAN-BOYS Big Solid and Jesse with
some après dinner clowning around.
It could NOT
have been a nicer day.
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So—where do we
go from here! Well, for our next FFVK elf-fort, we will make Homestyle Lentil
Soup. It’s time to slow down the rush of the Kinky Elfery Kitchen for a week
and get back into eating a bit less! We can have this soup and a half grilled
vegan cheese sammich and be ‘jes fine!
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A quick word
on mis- and pre-conceptions about vegan food…and we know we are singing to the choir
here. HOWSOMEVER, a couple of recent conversations and Facebook posts/links
have gotten The Elf’s attention. In our Body Pump class the other day, we were
talking about our vegan Thanksgiving dishes and the preparation of analogue plant-based
meats with a classmate. The response was an immediate “Oh I can’t eat tofu” and
that reaction is not an uncommon one. So many people think that in order to be
vegan, you have to adjust to really bad tasting foods. And, The Elf is the
first to admit that she has tasted some vegan foods that have not been
particularly mouthgasm inducing. That being said, MY GOODNESS but do we have
delicious foods to offer people and we make it our life’s work now (more or
less) to make things that people will taste and say, “DAYUM…this is good”.
Sure, we run into recipes that don’t have quite the flavors we enjoy but hell’s
bells, we are not going to quit being vegan because we found a recipe that didn’t
do it for us. The stakes are too high and there is too much to benefit from
eating plant-based. So, if we can continue to cook really good plant based
foods to share with people, maybe we can eventually
teach/convince/impart/communicate/instill/demonstrate/influence/persuade or
otherwise convey that vegan food can be quite delicious! So there…
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And there you
have another thrilling and exciting segment of Life in the Kinky Elfery
Kitchen. We have some kinda cool stuffs coming up in the near future, if The
Elf can figure out how to pull it off. In the meantime, breathe deep, laugh a
lot, eat plants, love life and ‘DO EPIC’.
The Elf
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