The weekend is over. But Thanksgiving food is still on my mind. I decided to Google for “vegan Thanksgiving recipes”, in case anyone is interested for next year, or for the next “food holiday”.

My point in posting this, is to give meat-eaters the idea that ALL of the side dishes and desserts could be veganized. (And that way, if you have a vegan guest or family member, they can eat a majority of the food you’re serving.) And also, I would encourage people to try the Lightlife vegan roast turkey slices between now and next year, along with the gravy recipe, to see if you like it well enough to go “cold turkey” on the turkey next time. I think it tastes great! And once the gravy is made, the slices just have to be warmed up in the gravy pan. One package would be a generous helping for a couple of people, and could potentially feed a small family, with all the other food. It’s just a culturally-ingrained “must have”, after all. It’s the side dishes that make the kitchen smell so good.

I don’t cook a lot, and don’t need a lot of left-overs. But I do have a few “obligatory” things that make a Thanksgiving dinner seem traditional — Some sort of turkey substitute, mashed potatoes, gravy sweet potatoes, veggies, corn bread, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie (with maybe an apple or cherry pie as something to fall back on).

So it’s simple to veganize the meal. Basically, instead of butter, I use Fleischman’s unsalted margarine or olive oil. Instead of milk, I use soy or rice milk. Instead of eggs, I use Egg Replacer and/or tofu. And I used vegetarian bouillon.

It is a little bit eye-straining to find a commercial stuffing mix that doesn’t contain something like chicken broth — even between varieties of the same brands. But I did have a few. Unfortunately, all I have handy at the moment is the Arrowhead Mills Organic Savory Herb Stuffing. But I think certain varieties of Pepperidge Farm are vegan.

For the pumpkin pies, I used Mrs. Smith’s frozen pie crusts and regular Libby’s pumpkin where I had to add my own spices (and a little molasses to darken it a little). I used vegan sugar, although I don’t usually make a big deal over sugar. I used Egg Replacer to “hold it together” so it wouldn’t get soupy if unrefrigerated too long. And I added a container of silken Tofu, instead of the sweetened condensed milk. I didn’t add any additional sweetener, but probably should have. I threw it all in the blender to be sure there weren’t any noticeable chunks of tofu. It turned out well, but was more spicy than sweet — which is OK with me. It was sweeter with a dollop of Cool Whip, which I think is dairy-free, or So Delicious (soy) ice cream.

I ordered a Field Roast brand “Celebration Roast”. It tastes more like a pork roast than turkey to me, maybe because of the herbs. But it worked for me.

That’s gone now, but I still had some left-overs. So tonight I made more mashed potatoes, and some homemade sage/thyme gravy (see below) to warm my LightLife Smart Deli Roast Turkey Style slices.

My daughter made a good corn bread casserole with corn meal, a can of corn, a can of creamed corn, a container(?) of Tofutti Sour Supreme (vegan sour cream), and some cheese on her half. She cooked it for about a half hour at 350 degrees. Very good! She also made some chocolate pumpkin bread which was very good, but I suspect it wasn’t vegan.

I want to share Lidia’s gravy recipe, because it tastes like Thanksgiving:

VEGAN THANKSGIVING GRAVY

The above measurements are as close to what I did as possible - I don’t measure and go by eye and taste. Sage is what gives the gravy special taste. I think I added more of it after my taste test.

Some ideas for turkey substitutes (in order of price and personal preference):
- Lightlife Smart Deli Roast Turkey Style slices (in herb gravy) Cheapest, fastest, tastiest (with the gravy). My favorite for all those reasons.
- Field Roast Celebration Roast (Nice presentation for a holiday. Small, but enough for at least 4 people. It takes 15 minutes to heat.)
- Tofurky (I like it better the second day. The variety I bought last year had sides. It cost more than the other options listed. But it was still much less than going to a vegan restaurant, where I went a couple of years ago. It takes more time to heat — but I don’t remember how long.)
- Nut Roast en Croute (Fancy for company, but too much work for one or two people — and too big. This is made from scratch, and takes some time to bake.)
- homemade tofu turkey (I’ve never tried to make this, but know people who have. I hear that it tastes better than it looks. But once it’s sliced, who cares if it isn’t shaped exactly like a turkey?)

Updated 12/26/08: I just found this site that has a video on making traditional, but vegan side dishes, and thoughts on turkey substitutes. Watch it, if you’d like to see how easy it is to veganize your holiday meals.

The email below was sent to me, and linked to this page that has a growing number of animal-related ideas.

Click here for Ideas for Change in America

The top 10 ideas are going to be presented to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day and will be supported by a national lobbying campaign run by Change.org, MySpace, and more than a dozen leading nonprofits after the Inauguration. So each idea has a real chance at becoming policy.

Ideas for Change in America is a citizen-driven effort to identify and create momentum around the best ideas for how the Obama Administration and Congress can turn the broad call for “change” across the country into specific policies. You can help by submitting an idea for how you would change America, discussing ideas with others, and/or voting for your favorites.

Here are pictures of crafts I bought at church today. The afghan is probably for a baby. But since I don’t have a baby, I’m going to give it to my mom as a lap blanket. I couldn’t resist, because I liked the colors. The 12 Days of Christmas counted cross-stitch ornaments are something I’ve wanted since I first started going to that church about 20 years ago. I finally won a set in a raffle. I had to get the kitchen towel, because I liked the cow picture (not that I need another kitchen towel). I needed mittens (which don’t show). And the farm animal finger puppets weren’t even out on display. As I was leaving, one of the ladies was packing things up. And they were in a plastic container. I said, I didn’t see those! And I asked if they were for sale. Too cute! I also got a couple of baked goodies.

I might display the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments on a card holder, instead of on the tree where they’re likely to get “drowned out” by all the other ornaments. We’ll see.

Green Cleaners

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Or click here for Spanish.

Last night, I was listening to Nightline while I was on the computer, and stopped to watch a segment on a lady who throws out one trash can of garbage in a year. You might find the segment here, but I don’t think it’s perma-linked. So watch it now. According to the EPA, Americans produced 254 million tons of garbage last year. What can we do to drastically reduce that? It’s simple, really.

I found EnviroMom’s website, and they are challenging us to reduce our garbage to one trash can a month by “pre-cycling” (choosing products with minimal packaging), reusing, recycling and composting. Click here for information on the “One Can A Month Challenge”. (And while you’re on the site, check out other pages.)

This was timely for me, because I try to be pretty conscious and conscientious about what I do with my garbage. On a typical week, I might have the equivalent of a grocery bag. This week I didn’t even have enough to fill a bread bag. So I decided not to put my cans out, thinking, interestingly, that at the rate of one bread bag a week, it would take many months to fill my big garbage can. Other than pet poop, I could probably not worry about the smell for long periods of time. So without knowing what would be on Nightline two nights later, I thought that maybe I would go through Lent without taking my cans to the curb. (I also have a large recycling can. But if I don’t put out the garbage, I don’t want to put out the recycling either, because that might cause both trucks to have to come down my street, and the garbage guy might accidentally trash my recyclables.)

Here’s a picture of my garbage from this week:

I was actually surprised how much the bread bag holds.

But this next garbage day will be different, because I have to clean up the house for Thanksgiving — including changing the litter box. So I might have to use a bigger bag.

VEGAN. For the People. For the Planet. For the Animals.

Skinny Bitch author gives you five good reasons to go vegan:

How to be a Vegan: How to get Protein in a Vegan Diet:

Vegan Diets: Vegan Diet Grocery List:

Vegan Philosophy and Lifestyle (Moby):

Vegan Video (anatomy of herbivores & carnivores):

The philosophy of Vegan Values: The practice of non-violence:

I just found this video (from last June.) It’s worth watching:

It’s nice to see such a positive report.

I received an e-newsletter from Mercy for Animals today, and ended up visiting their site. Two things caught my attention: Another undercover investigation of abuse at a turkey facility in West Virginia, and MFA’s ad campaign on Chicago’s busses and subway.

From the e-newsletter:

Millions of bus riders in Boston are getting a new outlook on dinner, thanks to the launch of over 600 pro-vegetarian MFA ads.

The campaign, which features images of cows, pigs, and chickens crammed in tiny cages on factory farms, asks Bostonians, “How Much Cruelty Can You Swallow?”

The powerful ads will be viewed over 20 million times in the next month.

This summer MFA unveiled the same campaign on Chicago bus and rail transit lines.

Below are the posters:

Click here to watch a good video to hear what commuters had to say.

Click here to request, or to download a Vegetarian Starter Kit.

Click here to request a guide to veg or veg-friendly restaurants in the Chicago area.

I found this on Huffington Post. I feel the need to quote, instead of just adding the video.

Sarah Palin Turkey Incident: Does TV Interview While Turkeys Are Slaughtered In The Background (VIDEO)

Some videos you just have to see to believe. On Thursday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appeared in Wasilla in order to pardon a local turkey in anticipation of Thanksgiving. This proved to be a slightly absurd but ultimately unremarkable event. But what came next was positively surreal. After the pardon Palin proceeded to do an interview with a local TV station while the turkeys were being SLAUGHTERED in the background!! Seemingly oblivious to the gruesomeness going on over her shoulder, she carries on talking for over three minutes. Watch the video below to see for yourself. Be warned, it’s kind of gruesome.

Added 11/22/08:

On the topic of dead turkeys (and moose), here’s another video that I found here tonight, which I assume is meant to be pro-Palin, although it almost seems like a parody. Let me quote Huffington Post (in part) again:

From the department of awkward timing: Days after video of Sarah Palin’s interview in front of slaughtered turkeys became a web sensation, the conservative group Our Country Deserves Better releases a Thanksgiving-themed ad “thanking” Palin.

The opening of the spot features an announcer praising Palin…in front of images of roasted turkeys.

Take a look:

What’s up with Sarah Palin and dead turkeys? Is that the new symbol of the GOP?