This coming Thursday Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving, first recognized as a national holiday in the United States in 1863. But in fact, before President Lincoln’s proclamation, “Thanksgiving” had been observed in the New World for over two hundred years. Though the nature of the relations between the first English colonists and the Native American tribes they encountered is still fiercely debated, historical records from Plymouth Plantation do indicate that in 1621, the settlers and their Indian neighbors gathered for a feast in the late autumn, at which time they gave thanks to God for a successful harvest.
While Thanksgiving Day in the twenty-first century may retain some religious overtones, the holiday is now largely civil and secular, with families gathering to enjoy a bountiful meal together. The featured food is baked or roasted turkey, served with such dishes as mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Locavores: note that these foods are native to our shores!
As a committed vegetarian, I can’t condone the traditional Thanksgiving meal, so this weekend I was inspired to spend more time cooking than I usually do and then enjoy my own solitary celebration. Besides, November is “Vegan Mo-Fo” (Month of Food, okay). Everything I made, listed below, turned out very well, which is most unusual.
- No-Knead Swedish Cardamom Braid, p. 64
- Roasted Carrots and Parsnips, p. 50
- Zesty Mashed Potatoes, p. 44
- Lentils Monastery Style, p. 239
- Maple Granola, p. 94
The bread and roasted vegetable recipes are from the Nov-Dec 2010 issue of Vegetarian Times magazine and the mashed potatoes recipe from the 1 January 2007 issue. The soup recipe is from Diet for a Small Planet (my most used cookbook) and the granola recipe from the Nov-Dec 2010 issue of Yankee magazine. And yes, each is these dishes is vegan.
Today was probably the first time ever in my life that I made a yeasted pastry, so I actually photographed the bread because it looked just like the picture in the magazine. And no, I’m not including the photo in this post, as I’ve pledged that this blog will remain free of food p-rn.