Prepping for an amazing (and mostly vegan) Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m ready for the Macy’s Parade and for relaxed cooking tomorrow. I did some pre-cooking tonight and I’m feeling peaceful about what needs to happen tomorrow. Everyone enjoy a happy holiday. It might be about enjoying family or enduring family but either way, find at least one blessing in your day.

Menu

Early appetizers: blue chips and our homemade salsa

Soup/Salad course: Wild Rice Soup and Big Green Salad
I found a local farmer who sells big bags of microgreens for a reasonable price and it was a 5-minute drive from my house. I’m pretty pumped about this revelation. Find them at Rainbow City Farm on insta.

Dinner:
Celebration Vegan Roast
Just Bare Roasted Chicken (I couldn’t find a local one)
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans with pomegranate seeds
Healthy Corn “Casserole”
Mashed Potatoes with vegan mushroom gravy
cranberry – orange raw relish
Jicama/Avocado/Mango salad (from my Friendsgiving recipe book)
Homemade pretzels for our bread (Groovy Girl’s recipe)

Everything but that roasted chicken is vegan. My theme is comfort food with a Native American flare.  I’m learning and working to experiment with a variety of recipes. Heather and Tristan are bringing the pies.  And I found good almond milk whipped cream for the tops!

Guacamole; A cooking poem by Jorge Argueta and Margarita Sada

One day over at Jama Ratigan’s fabulous blog, Alphabet Soup, I entered one of her drawings and I won!
I almost missed my opportunity to win this book because I missed her email message to me and she nicely emailed me a second time.  Thank you Jama!

Groovy Girl and I were both home when the post person brought the package from House of Anansi Press with this very green poetry food book inside the yellow bubble wrapper.  We actually sat down in the grass and read it right away.

The first thing you notice are the gorgeous illustrations that show the young children interacting playfully with the food. The second point is that the story is told bilingually with Spanish and English.  It begins:

“Today I’m going to make you guacamole,”
I say to my mother and father
and my little brother and sister.
They stare at me with their big eyes
that remind me of the green avocados
in the basket on the red kitchen table. (1)

and it continues with vivid colors and words used to describe the process of making a delicious bowl of guacamole!  I adore how this young chef sings and dances around the kitchen with her apron on.  She continues with:

I wash them in the fountain of the sink
and then, dancing and singing,
I put them on the red kitchen table. (6)

This is a treasure of a book for the kitchen or the library.  It is a celebration of food and fun and this young girl celebrates the simple process of making a family tradition.  I think I’m going to add it to my school library collection but I’m not ready to part with it at home yet.  I am waiting for some beautiful avocados to slide my way so I can give this recipe a try. Thanks again to Jama for offering such a great poetry giveaway!