Sunshine's Thanksgiving Special

Before Thanksgiving, Sunshine's Vegetarian Deli was offering a vegan holiday plate. I went there on Wednesday for an early dinner. There was pineapple not-ham, candied yams with agave, cornbread dressing, broccoli and rice casserole with vegan cheese, cooked kale greens, and a wheat roll. Yum! It was good, but I inhaled it! I thought the greens and the not-ham were the best parts. I love the nachos here, so I need to head back over there sometime for those.

For future reference, Quan Yin in Chinatown offered a vegan holiday plate on Thanksgiving day. By the time I saw that on VSOP's facebook page, it was too late to leave my kitchen to go all the way out there for a meal. It would have been a great lunch choice though!

Thanksgiving 2013

I had two vegan friends over for Thanksgiving. I don't go home for Thanksgiving usually, so I emailed a bunch of folks to see if anyone wanted to come over. I made a Field Roast Celebration Roast, mashed potatoes with chickpea gravy from Appetite for Reduction, green bean casserole from Fat Free Vegan (recipe here), and cranberry sauce from Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations. One guest brought another roast to cook and cranberry sauce, so we used his sauce for dinner. The second guest brought TWO desserts! Clearly a gal after my own heart! She brought Crave's red velvet vegan cupcakes and a vegan pumpkin pie from Whole Foods. Yum! It was a simple menu so I wouldn't be a big ball of anxiety before they arrived, but it was satisfying. It was great to have someone to share the holiday with and we talked for hours. :)

Hanukkah Party

I was recently invited to a Hanukkah party hosted by some of the dude's friends. We brought quinoa-stuffed mushrooms from Party Vegan, a vegan white wine by Sterling Vineyard (that I found on Barnivore to use in the mushroom dish), a peach crisp from Whole Foods, a whole grain bread from WF, and roasted veggies. I made the mushroom dish and he made the roasted veggies. He actually had the day off, but I worked until the early afternoon. I could have made much more food from scratch, but I wasn't sure if I would get out of work early enough to make more than the mushrooms. They were OK, but I probably won't make them again. The host made us vegan latkes! Yum! The dude tried the matzo ball soup because he doesn't worry about meat broth and eggs (yet). He's a new vegetarian, so I was glad that he didn't eat the brisket with bacon!

Vegan Thanks-living 2013

I went to VSOP's Thanks-living event last weekend. It was packed! 115 people showed up, even though they had planned for 100 people. Last year we got second servings, but this year there was barely enough for everyone. The entree was made by Vegan Comfort, exact same menu as last year but the roast was drier this year. The pumpkin cheesecake pie was from Sinfull Bakery and we got donated coconut ice cream from So Delicious to go with it this year! In the door prizes, I won a shaker of pesto seasoning and a bag of raw granola from Pat Greer's Kitchen. I gave my friend the bag of raw granola because I knew she'd like it. It had buckwheat, pecans, dates, and something else. Granola's not really my thing. The dude enjoyed the food but said he wanted more gravy. He's home for the holiday and said he'd make a game day decision about eating turkey. He's only been meat-free for a few months and I can understand that he's not super comfortable being the odd one out at a family gathering. I just said it'll probably put him to sleep, but I wonder if he'll get upset stomach from it. I'm proud of the progress he's making, so I won't be judgmental if he has a holiday slip-up. I never ate meat after going vegetarian, but I did eat cheese a couple months after I decided to go vegan (and it made me feel like crap).

Bread Baking

The dude likes fresh baked bread. It was a comment he made once and I thought, "Challenge accepted." I tried twice in the used bread machine I got from a friend, but neither attempt was successful. I think the temperature wasn't warm enough to encourage the dough to rise. Recently, I decided to try using my Kitchenaid to knead the dough and let it rise on the counter. I had the oven earlier so I think that made the kitchen warm enough for the dough to rise. You can see it rising above the bread pan edge in this photo. I followed a King Arthur recipe just replacing milk with non-dairy milk. He really appreciated the bread. I made Italian tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance and sun-dried tomato pesto to serve with the bread and some spinach. The sandwiches were delicious. I used the leftover marinade to make more tofu and created a bowl with the other ingredients. :)

Farewell, Miss Adie Mae

Since I introduced the new feral kitty in my life, I guess it's time to write about the saddest day of my life. On September 17th, Adie unexpectedly collapsed and died. I had fed her breakfast, then she went off to play. I heard her nails on the floor, like she was running, but it was way too fast. I came out of the kitchen to see her lying on the floor. I tried to lift her, but she was limp. I set her down, with the hope that I didn't injure her more. I petted her and tried to talk to her, then she took her last breath and wet the floor. I panicked and called the vet, rushing up the stairs to get her crate. She was so limp and light when I put her in the crate, I was crying hysterically the entire way to the vet. I knew it was incredibly unlikely that the vet would be able to save her, but I had to try. Or force them to take x-rays and tell me if she fell down the stairs. The vet helped me schedule a necropsy with the Texas A&M vet school. Turns out she had an enlarged heart that finally gave out. She did not have a heart murmur, so we had no idea that she had an enlarged heart. I knew from her ultrasounds that her liver was slightly too large, but the necropsy showed that one of her kidneys was 1/3 smaller than the other and that many of her organs had microscopic lesions. She had an adenoma on one of her thyroid glands too. Poor girl. All the result of bad breeding. She was a purebred Ocicat. I got her when her old owner dumped her at my house in Baton Rouge. She had misshapen toes, but was otherwise an absolutely stunning and intelligent cat. I miss her. Mischa has also been grieving. I posted many photos of her in the living room and made a little area for her urn in my room. I love you, Miss Adie Mae. You will forever be my little diva.

Meet Onyx

I have recently started feeding a feral cat by my house. I started putting the food inside a trap I borrowed from a neighbor so he'd get used to eating in the trap. Once I saw him go in the trap several times, I set it to actually trap him. Before you freak out and think I have awful intentions, I was doing trap and release. This program allows feral cats to be sterilized, vaccinated for rabies, and released back into their territory. Their ears are marked to show animal control that they are fixed and vaccinated, therefore they should be left alone. After having my hard drive crash and losing my fellowship application, I was very happy to have the kitty go in the trap last week on the first night of an extreme cold snap. It was down into the 30's!! After the vet visit, I kept him inside in a crate another night because of the weather. I hope he continues to come by for food. I've decided to name him Onyx since he's all black. :)