From the Mouths of Babes

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I am still so full, I'm skipping breakfast this morning...
Well, maybe just one piece of pie.
We had 5 - seriously, FIVE - pies yesterday (for a family of four, we kind of overdid it), so I will be uttering the words, "Well, maybe just one piece of pie" for at least two weeks.

The diet starts in January! Hardy-har-har.

Anyway, I wanted to share something both hilarious and wonderful with you. I am very blessed to work in a darling little Methodist church as a secretary, and I love my job with all my heart. Everything that comes into the church has to pass my desk before going anywhere else as I am, first and foremost, a filter.
Earlier this week, a lovely woman representing a local private school came to the church office and offered me a handful of cards, all handmade and created by children, to give to recipients of Meals on Wheels.
The senior pastor, my husband, and I had a great time looking through all of the cards, all of which were very sweet and creative (and a few of which were unintentionally hilarious - one of them was addressed, "Dear Elderly...").

While looking through the cards, we started to notice a trend among them. Drawings of turkeys begging not to be eaten. I thought to myself, "Hey, the kids get it!" At least to a degree. I would imagine that the majority of them still ate turkey yesterday, but there's at least a tiny little spark inside of them that lights up in response to the mass killing and eating of literally 46 million turkeys in a single day. Here are a few of my favorites:

This final card has nothing whatsoever to do with turkeys, but I cracked up for a half an hour over it and wanted to share.

Happy Thanksgiving!

These little guys decorated my windowsill.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are all finished over here at Manriquez Manor, bellies puffed out pathetically like the zombie that ate Lori Grimes.

Oh, snap! Good one, Mom! Wait, I'm not allowed to watch Walking Dead...

I spent two days cleaning and cooking, and the food was gobbled up in about ten minutes flat. Oh well... Isn't that the plight of all home cooks on Thanksgiving?

Blessed and thankful, indeed.

This was my second all-vegan, 100% cooked-by-me Thanksgiving meal. My mom isn't vegan, but she went with the flow. However, she admitted that she didn't like the Tofurkey. It seemed like she enjoyed everything else though.

Today is also my mom's 64th birthday. Happy birthday, Mom!

Here's what we feasted upon...

Tofurky with Roasted Veggies in Wild Mushroom Gravy

"This Ain't Grandma's Sweet Potato Casserole" from Oh She Glows

Green Bean Casserole from Vegan Celebrations by Alicia Simpson

Oven Roasted Corn on the Cob

Chocolate Mousse Pie from The Cancer Project

Easy Vegan Pumpkin Pie from About.com

 We also had mashed potatoes with brown gravy, whole cranberry sauce, jellied cranberry sauce, and ciabatta rolls (which got a little bit burnt - my bad).

Who burned these dang biscuits?! Mom!!

Here's what Jason and I looked like before we started stuffing our gullets...

Out 9th anniversary is on December 17th. Yay, us! And yay love!

And here's what we looked like after we gorged ourselves on Thanksgiving fare...

Insatiable! We've got the hunger for tofu-flesh. We can't be stopped!!

After dinner we walked to the park and tried to make my Star Wars X-Wing fighter kite fly, but it was a dud.
I got a great workout, though! I need to (attempt to) fly kites more often. Running after this thing 800 times really got my heart rate up.

Fly, dammit. FLY!!!

This is the most air I got out of the thing.

Look how disappointed Jason looks, holding the dud kite. Poor fella.

We didn't have turkey, but I sure ate "a bird" this Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful day! I am thankful for compassionate vegans, amazing vegan food, a fabulous family who loves me, beautiful North Texas, and YOU! Thanks for reading. You are appreciated.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A Vegan Thanksgiving Feast

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day yesterday! My mom wasn't able to visit, so it was just me, my husband and my daughter this year. It was also the first time I have ever been responsible for the entire meal, all by myself. I was a little bit nervous, but luckily I was able to veganize my mom's fantastic sweet potato casserole recipe, I made our old favorite Mac N Nooch recipe, along with some homemade bread, and I found some great packaged items to fill in the gaps. I completely forgot to roast the fresh organic corn I had bought, but oh well...

My pictures aren't too great, but you can get the idea. I took them in haste while my hungry family looked on with desperation in their eyes. They were all, "C'mon! Let's eat!" while I snapped away. I'm so mean.

MOM'S SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

This stuff will change your life, I kid you not!

CASSEROLE

4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, boiled, mashed and slightly cooled

1/4 cup vegan butter*

1/2 cup agave nectar (or brown sugar)

1/4 cup vegan creamer (I used Silk Hazelnut)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

TOPPING

3/4 cup date sugar (or brown sugar)

1/3 cup vegan butter, melted

2 cups walnuts, chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Put all casserole ingredients together in a large bowl and stir until mixture is creamy. *If your potatoes have cooled completely, you may need to pre-melt or soften your butter. But if your potatoes are still warm the butter will melt nicely as you stir.
• Stir topping ingredients together in a separate bowl until all walnuts are coated.
• Place the casserole mixture into a deep 8 or 10-inch circular casserole dish. 
• Spread topping evenly across casserole.
• Bake for 45 minutes.
• Makes about 8 big servings.
• Enjoy!

NUTRITION INFO (per serving):
Calories: 316.1 / Total Fat: 22.3g (Saturated Fat: 4.2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 12.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4.7g) / Cholesterol: 0mg / Sodium: 102.3mg / Potassium: 179.4mg / Total Carbohydrates: 28.2g (Dietary Fiber: 2.8g, Sugar: 15.3g) / Protein: 3.8g

OUTRAGEOUSLY EASY BIG BREAD
This is my go-to bread recipe. I've been making it for years. It's so fluffy and delicious, and requires very little (if any) kneading. And if you have a Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook, it's even easier!
Go HERE for the recipe.

CREAMY MAC AND 'NOOCH' CASSEROLE

Fantastic, creamy mac and "cheese" with a crunchy topping you can't resist.

Go HERE for the recipe.

HERB STUFFING WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE

I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Savory Herb Stuffing. I prepared it as directed on the bag, but it came out a bit dry, so I added a quarter cup of melted butter. Once I poured some gravy on top, it was perfect!
I also lightly browned some of Tofurkey's fantastic Italian sausages and tossed them into the stuffing. It made a great "meat" entree for our table.

MASHED POTATOES WITH VEGETARIAN CHICKEN GRAVY

These mashed potatoes were so easy and really tasty! I purchased them at a health food store for only two dollars a box. Nice!

DESSERTS
I purchased three delicious pre-made pies from Sprouts Farmer's Market. We didn't go with the traditional pumpkin and sweet potato pies because I was doing this whole shindig all by myself (next year I'm going to look into pre-making and freezing homemade pies), but the cherry, strawberry with rhubarb, and dutch apple pies I snagged at just $3.99 each were totally vegan and absolutely delicious.

Well, I hope this gives you some inspiration for your next big holiday feast. See you at Christmas!

Jason's Whole Wheat "Bro"scuits

My husband, Jason, is the bread man. He loves fresh bread more than just about any other food, and he loves experimenting with bread recipes.

Here he is modeling some French "bro"guettes he made last week...

 They're shaped weird because our oven is small, but trust me they were awesome!

Jason's "Bro"scuits are super easy and crazy-tasty. The current recipe is still being partially made with white flour, but when we run out of the white stuff he's going to start experimenting with healthier, whole grain alternatives. When he finds a winner, I'll post the "Bro"scuit Redux recipe for you.

1 C whole wheat flour

1 1/4C unbleached all-purpose flour

1 T + 1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp fine sea salt

2 tsp agave (or preferred sweetener)

5 T sunflower oil (or preferred oil)

3/4 C + 3 T soy milk (oat milk works too)

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Whisk together flours, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
• Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour agave, oil and milk into the well, then whisk into a mealy dough.
• Knead dough gently in the bowl for one minute.
• Dust a flat surface with flour and hand-press (or roll) dough to about 1.5-inch thickness.
• Use a biscuit cutter or glass top to cut out your biscuits.
• Roll remaining dough into a ball (do not re-knead) and re-press and cut more biscuits. Continue until all dough is used.
• Oil and flour a medium cookie sheet (or mist with baking spray) and place biscuits on it.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, until they turn golden brown and scrumptious. 
• Enjoy fresh from the oven with vegan butter, agave and cinnamon or fruit-sweetened jam. Makes a great complement to my Tasty Tofu Scramble too. Yum!!

Gluten-Free and Vegan Bread: Artisanal Recipes to Make at Home

The Vegan Bread Box

The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Bread: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free

Roasted Acorn Squash with Walnuts

 

Remember the six acorn squash I picked up at the salvage grocery for only 29 cents a pound last week? Well, here's what I did with them, and they were delicious!

1 acorn squash
1/4 C chopped walnuts
1/4 C agave nectar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  
• Cut squash in half horizontally, removing the seeds and string. I like to chuck the seeds out into my side yard, in the hopes that one of them will root and grow some free squash for me next year! So far, no luck...
• Place squash upside down in a shallow pan with 1/4 inch of water. Bake for 35 minutes.
• Pour off the water and turn over squash. 
• Sprinkle walnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg on top, then drizzle with agave. Feel free to adjust amounts based on your personal taste.
• Place under broiler for 5 minutes.
• Enjoy!!

Vegan Holiday Kitchen

Eat, Drink & Be Vegan

The 4-Ingredient Vegan