ThanksVegan #6

The tradition continues. Every fall for six years we have gathered with our friends Jon and Erin for a completely vegan Thanksgiving. The menu changes every year and gets better every year, too. But some things - like the mashed potatoes and the bonhomie - stay the same.

seitan roulade from Vegan Yum Yum

We were all Tofurkey-eating novices when this began in 2004. By now we've graduated from a processed & boxed main dish, to made-from-scratch roulades - a tofu roulade last year and a seitan roulade this year.

sage, thyme, garlic - for the stuffing

Each year we've been able to get more local, too - although we seem to delocalize things pretty often - driving our Missouri Brussels sprouts to Tulsa - or driving Oklahoma sage and thyme to Kansas City.

Eden Alley's Mushroom Gravy was Sergio's most stunning gravy yet

Our resources this year included the Candle Cafe cookbook, a Nigella recipe cut out of the newspaper, and the newly released Eden Alley cookbook - Stirwell to Heaven. Oh, and Erin, who is a resource in and of herself.

heirloom pumpkins; long island cheese and jarrahdale

The Nigella recipe was for stuffed, roasted pumpkin. I took two elements of my centerpiece - two heirloom pumpkins from Hun's Garden - and stuffed them with rice, cranberries, and saffron and roasted them for ages. Delicious.

steak on our Cosentino's gift cards - not vegan

What I couldn't buy at Badseed on Friday, we bought at Cosentino's on Saturday - wheat gluten, oranges and cranberries, among other things. (Very little soy, though, as this year's meal was virtually soy free.) This trip to the grocery store was funded by a generous gift card from a colleague which I have been holding on to all year. I've been saving it for a special occasion - an occasion like the Sixth Annual ThanksVegan - a very special occasion indeed.

The Full Menu
• seitan roulade (recipe from Vegan Yum Yum)
• roasted, stuffed pumpkin (recipe from Nigella Lawson; pumpkins from Hun's Garden)
• roasted broccoli and cauliflower (from the JCCC/K-State Student Farm)
• sauteed kale and chard (from Badseed and KCCUA)
• mashed potatoes (from Alice, Western Hills Produce)
• wilted spinach salad (from KCCUA)
• mushroom gravy (from Eden Alley cookbook, using Soaring Eagle Farm wheat flour)
• mushroom and wild rice soup (recipe from Candle Cafe cookbook)
• grain travel bread (from Fervere)
• cranberry orange relish (recipe from Erin's grandmother)
• easy tarte aux pommes - a.k.a. Apple Pie (from Vegan Yum Yum)