Thanksgiving! (and new honey moon plans?).

My grandma and I worked out a really awesome cooking partnership for Thanksgiving this year. My parents were going to be arrive home from Austin (Texas) (they saw devendra banhart by the way... and I'm insanely jealous.) Anyways, my sister and her husband were traveling home from Penticton, so everyone was really super tired, which doesn't make an excellent situation for a big dinner.. but it worked out. Grandma decided to make a ham,prepare hors d'oeuvres, bring cornbread muffins and bring pumpkin pie, and I decided to make the mashed potatoes, the roasted veggies, vegan corn bread muffins, and a vegan dessert. It took a lot of stress off to have half of the dinner done for you! Everything turned out beautifully, and I am very excited about some new recipes that I tried!


YUM.

So here's some recipes. The Scarlet Roasted Veggies are from Alicia Silverstone's book "the Kind Diet." (buy this book! even if you're not vegan, or not even interested in being vegan, the recipes are FABULOUS!)

These go really well as a vegan side dish to any big meal, or even just when you need veggies to go with your protein for dinner!

You will need (totally substitute different veggies if you don't have these ones!)

4-6 shallots, pealed and halved lengthwise (these are like a combo garlic/onion thing.. so regular onion, and garlic will work as a substitute)
3 large beets, cut into 1" chunks
2 parsnips, quartered lengthwise
1 large fennel bulb, halved, cored, and thickly sliced (this is delicious)
1-2 cups of butternut, acorn, or kobocha squash, cut into big chunks (only peel if the squash isn't organic)
3-4 celery stalks, cut into 1" pieces
3-4 dried bay leaves
1/2 cup pecan halves
6-8 dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1-2 teaspoons soysauce (shoyu, or tahini)
grated zests of 2 lemons
2-3 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
juice of one lemon
2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley (for garnish... and it tastes good)

Preheat your oven to 350, and oil a big baking dish. I used two 9x11 dishes, and it worked really well. Half the recipe if you only want to make one big dish. Combine ALL of the ingredients (except the lemon juice) in a bowl, and transfer it to the baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes with tinfoil on top. Then after the 40 minutes is up, take the pans out, take the tinfoil off, stir around and put back in the oven for 20 more minutes without the tinfoil. The first forty minutes is to make them soft, and the next 20 is to make them a bit crispy. Once they're done, toss with the lemon juice, and garnish with the parsley! YUM! It was like a combo stuffing-esque dish, with the sophistication of gorgeous healthy roasted veggies, a perfect vegan side dish to a big meal... and filling too.

Now, onto the PIE! (The vegan cornbread muffins are delicious too, and I'll post about them in a different blog!)



This pie is filling, beautifully textured, decadent, and basically to die for. It's also from Alicia's book (buy it!).

2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
3/4 cup vegan margarine, melted
1 bag of nondairy chocolate chips
1/2 cup soy milk or hemp milk (but not rice or nut milk)
1 1/4 cups peanut butter, divided
1 box of silken tofu (firm)
1/4 cup syrup (maple or jemima :P)
1-2 tsp vanilla extract

FIRST! preheat the oven to 375. Mix the cookie crumbs with the melted margarine, and press that mixture into a pie plate, creating a crust going slightly up the pan. Then bake that for 15 minutes or so. Once that's done, take it out and let it cool completely. Next with a small sauce pan, mix the chocolate chips, and the soy milk, on a low heat, keep stirring, and don't let it burn, until it makes the most gorgeous chocolate mixture you have ever seen. Take about 1/4 cup of this mixture out, and set it aside. Take the rest and evenly spread it in your pie crust.

Put this in the fridge for an hour or so, and get ready for some peanut butter action! In a food processor blend together the tofu, 1 cup of the peanut butter (save the other 1/4 cup for later :)) the syrup and the vanilla extract. Blend this together until your ears cannot handle listening to the food processor any longer (or about 8 minutes). Scrape the sides down periodically, you want it mixed really well... no one wants to find a big chunk of unflavoured tofu in their pie... :( Once the crust and the chocolate filling has been chillin' for an hour in the fridge, take it out and scoop the peanut butter mixture in, pressing it down into the pie lightly as you go. Then put this back in the fridge for an hour. FINALLY when you're ready to serve it, well almost ready, mix the chocolate sauce that was left over and the extra peanut butter in a small sauce pan, and heat until it's pouring consistency (and add a little soymilk if it doesn't get thin enough to pour).. then put this on top of your pie, either decoratively in swirls, and designs, or just spread it evenly! Then put it back in the fridge for about 20 minutes... THEN YOU'RE DONE! and you'll be super happy and content! It was amazing.

Okay moving one.

Honey moon plans. Plans were to go to San Fransisco... but now we're thinking... and decided that we'd rather go to.... EUROPE!

We're going to back pack through Europe for a few weeks, and do it super cheap, and have a huge adventure! More on this later! (but I will say that both of us agree, that if we don't go now, we probably won't.. and we both would LOVE to see so many places... so.. EXCITED! if you have any tips, or cheap ideas, or books, or tours or whatever that you want to suggest, let me know.. I'm going to do LOADS of research!)

Alright, well I'm going to go let my tummy rest, and get ready for the next week with a really long luxurious sleep. Hope your thanksgiving was awesome.

Peace.