To Live and Eat in L.A. – A Vegan Food Photo Blog

I skipped Thanksgiving this year. Not only was I sick with a bad cold, but more so, I have a hard time participating in a holiday that revolves around worshipping the consumption of a tortured, dead bird. The farther away I get from that heinous tradition, the less I am able to tolerate “celebrating” it with friends & family (instead of eating one, I become a foster parent to Eliza the turkey at Animal Place). That said, I have always loved all the other delicious foods that are part and parcel of the Thanksgiving package. I’d spent the entire month of November drooling over all the amazing veganized recipes that were showing up online, eventually I got the idea to have a vegan Thanksgiving-themed potluck because I really wanted to try my hand at some of these recipes, plus I wanted my friends to cook and feed me as well :) Thus, my vegan post-Thanksgiving dinner party was born.

We gathered at my place a week after the real Thanksgiving. There’s nothing quite as awesome as having a few of your most bitchin friends show up at your door bearing armloads full of homecooked food. I myself had been in the kitchen for the previous two days, I ended up breaking all kinds of personal records having cooked more food than I’ve ever cooked in my life… and I didn’t mess any of it up! Here’s a peek at just some of what we got to indulge in…

Read the rest of this entry »

My delicious all vegan Thanksgiving meal, featuring the AMAZING “Hazelnut cranberry roast en croute” by Field Roast. So delicious!

Jeez, I’ve been such a slacker since Thanksgiving. I’ve done little else other than eat. I swear, my jaw is sore from all the chewing. When we last met I was preparing some snazzy vegan Thanksgiving recipes to share with my family at their otherwise non-vegetarian, carcass centric dinner. I am very happy and relieved to report that everything I made turned out great!

The first item I tried my hand at was Dreena’s Festive Chickpea Tart. I originally found the recipe while looking through back issues of VegNews Magazine, but since then I’ve found it posted online over at the Serious Eats Vegan Thanksgiving Menu.

For those of you who actually cook for reals, this is a very straightforward and relatively easy recipe. For me, this was one of the more fancier things I’ve ever cooked. The recipe calls for a pre-made whole wheat pie crust but those with the gumption to make their own certainly could. The filling of the tart is made from chickpeas, walnuts, spinach and cranberries, and flavored with fresh parsley and thyme. I followed the recipe precisely, even the onions (spawn of satan), and this turned out really nice. I was worried it would taste too much like falafel, what with all the chickpeas and parsley, but thankfully it did not and was totally delicious. It looked really nice served on the table that evening but I actually think it tasted even better as 1st and 2nd day leftovers.

Next up, I made the Red Pepper Hemp Cornbread from ExtraVeganza: Original Recipes from Phoenix Organic Farm. This great cookbook was a birthday present earlier this year from VegYogini of Hugger Food and this was my first time making anything from it (thanks again lady)! On that note, this was my first time ever making cornbread. And on one more note, this was my first time making any kind of bread, ever.

It came out so good… beyond my expectations. I was so proud of myself for not messing it up, especially since I had to make a last minute substitution. The bread is made from corn meal, spelt flour and hemp seeds (or meal). I ended up not having enough hemp seeds (needed 3/4 cup but I only had less than 1/2 cup), so I filled in the rest with extra corn meal, hoping this wouldn’t cause some sort of unknown disaster. Thankfully all was well & good and this bread turned out extra delicious. It’s action packed inside with pieces of corn and red pepper and flavored with yummy basil and oregano. Next time I make this I’ll add a bit of jalepeno to spice it up.

While it wouldn’t be very nice of me to post the recipe out of this book, I don’t think it’s hurting anyone if I clue you in to the fact that if you search Google Books for Extraveganza, you’ll find a limited preview which just so happens to have page 138 with this recipe included. Better yet, you could head on over to Amazon and just buy yourself (or your friends) this awesome cookbook and then you’ll have all of it’s excellent farm-y organic-y goodness always at your side. For more info on ExtraVeganza or to purchase a copy, click here….

I hope all of you had a great holiday. I’ve been enjoying stuffing myself with fine vegan holiday food left and right, and plan to get back to some restaurant adventures for you here shortly. I’ve also got lots of your great comments in previous posts to reply to… if I can stop eating leftovers for long enough, I just might be able to get to them all soon :)

Oh boy do I owe you guys an update. Too bad for you my pretties… I’m too busy cooking up a vegan Thanksgiving storm! Here’s partial proof (there are a lot more ingredients in the fridge and freezer which I didn’t feel like dragging out for the photo):

Really it’s a big deal considering I hardly ever cook and I’m serving this stuff to my very-not-vegetarian family. I’m making a Chickpea, Spinach, Cranberry & Walnut Tart (from VegNews magazine, Nov. 07), Red Pepper, Hemp Cornbread (from Extraveganza) & the infamous Pumpkin Couscous Cake. They’re all going to love it and beg me for more vegan food. That is if I don’t mess any of it up. If everything goes as planned and as awesomely as I expect it to, rest assured there will be photos.

In the meantime I wanted to share a couple of last minute cruelty-free Thanksgiving links:

Adopt-A-Turkey Project:
www.adoptaturkey.org
For as little as $25 you can sponsor a turkey who will be very thankful. This year I adopted Serendipity because she reminds me of my kitty. Start a new tradition, don’t eat a bird… save one!

Gentle Thanksgiving:
www.gentlethanksgiving.org
“An opportunity to encourage friends, family and neighbors to adopt compassionate alternatives to unnecessarily cruel turkey dinners. We accomplish this by demonstrating the great taste and superior nutrition of gourmet vegan recipes and a variety of festive plant-based foods.”

Wishing you all a thoughtful and delicious holiday!

(Update): Click on the following link for my follow up post-Thanksgiving report showing you the goods: www.toliveandeatinla.com/2008/vegan-thanksgiving-recipes

…and it went without a hitch thanks to the fine ladies of Spork Foods. Their specially prepared vegan menu included:

Truffle Scented Thyme and Mushroom Gravy
Sage Whipped Mashed Potatoes
Sourdough Stuffing with Caramelized Onions, Apples and Pecans
Juicy Herbed Vegan “Turkey”
(the asparagus in the photo was made by my aunt)

Everything was very tasty. The faux-turkey was moist and flavorful and had a very meaty texture to it. I don’t actually know what it was made of but I assume it was some sort of seitan/gluten concoction.

Here’s how it was lovingly packaged for me beforehand, and I even get to keep the cute bento-like tupperware. Score!

This was the yummy dessert, ‘Maple and Cinnamon Apple Turnover with a Coconut Whipped Topping’. It had just started to burn as I was heating it but I got it out just in time (the dark parts look darker in the photo than they really were). It was delicious and the coconut topping was fantastic as well.

See my previous post for more info on Spork Foods…