It’s just amazing how our Vegan and/or Raw community is developing in San Diego! Today I attended a pre-Thanksgiving ‘give and get’ ideas event at Nate and Jade’s home in the Point Loma area of San Diego. Was that the best? Or what?
Yes. Yes it was. They have a beautiful backyard. Not only did they share their home, but they also walked us through the garden (their beautiful organic garden – I so miss mine) and told us to pick what we like.
Here’s the zucchini I got.
I don’t know if I should leave it on the table in a bowl, or actually use it!
It’s beautiful! Nate also gave me several other vegetables including two different kinds of cucumber. And my most favorite this to do with a cucumber is mirin, coconut sugar, and salt, with the cuke slivered. YUM! So I’m grateful for the donations to my Thanksgiving!
Preparing for this event was a breeze. But let me tell you how the thought process came to me for my little experiment.
This morning I played…. I mean cooked. Well, actually …. I assembled. lol
The first thing was quinoa. Now how do you take quinoa and make it Thanksgiving? Just guessing here….. After cooking up the quinoa in vegetable broth I grabbed a can of northern beans and hit ‘puree’ on the food processor. Then in a separate bowl, I placed the quinoa and added kosher salt and pickle juice (whoot)? Yes pickle juice! I was done with the pickles and just going to throw it out when I thought…. yes! Let’s try this. I added half a lemon, and then to balance out the sour/tart and salt flavors on the taste buds, I added chopped dates to the Northern Beans and then combined it all. Next? Take Vegan Marshmallow Spread. Into the oven on high until brown and voila!
Next? I took vegan sprouted organic brown rice, added flakers (raw flax seed crackers with cinnamon & currants) some raisins, tamari pumpkin seeds and then melted the vegan marshmallow spread on top, then blend it in. You can call them Rice Balls!
There were 3 of my favorites here today, and luckily those three people talked about their recipes to me. Some will have actual recipes I linked to, that come close or are exact to the recipe they followed. And I will say the coconut homemade whipped cream was ‘the bomb’ too… but try to figure that one out? Not me.
- My all time favorite of the day: Cranberry Sauce with a kick!
I even named it for ya! But actually the women who made it named it Orange Zested Cranberry Sauce. So that’s orange zest sitting on top of the cranberries, which of course you do at the end after you cook the cranberries down until their natural juices release. Add thai chili and cinnamon. The kick on the back end (and I’m not a big spice eater) is so fabulous. This is a ‘not to be missed’ dish for Thanksgiving.
- Two is a toss up between Green Beans and Mushroom Lentil compote wrapped up in Phyllo. Ok I’ll go for the Phyllo every time. Probably what’s wrong with my diet! lol So I was talking to Barbara who made it and she told me you can use Earth Balance in place of butter for the two layers of phyllo. Inside? Sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, brown lentils, and carrots and this mixture is seasoned with Liquid Bragg’s and Garlic. For the gravy on top, Barbara got a recipe from Green Monster she said, but I think it’s One Green Planet (I’ve linked it here for you) and that was pretty good too.
- Last but not least, the Green Bean Casserole. The recipe that comes closest to their recipe is from Vegan.com. I’m thinking they used soy instead of salt and adding both white wine and coconut milk, instead of soy. And Trader Joe’s has the crispy onions in a can. They were great on top, but the reason we like to buy them in a can is we really haven’t figured out how to get the coating to stick to an onion without egg. I can get it to ‘sort of ‘ stick. But not like this!
Do you have any ideas about that? Please write and tell me!
A picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s more pix from today’s event (below)!
If you are reading this and you went to the event and have a recipe or you just have some great ideas for Thanksgiving and you wish you went to this event, send them and I will do a second Vegan Thanksgiving Blog before Thursday. And check out San Diego Foodies on meetup. Sign up to see all events I will be hosting this holiday and into the New Year! Looking forward to a year filled with new creations including a Vegan Festival!
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Happy Eating,
