Last week I had a great time with the group of ladies who come to my home for Healthy Cravings. If you’re new here and not sure what I’m talking about Healthy Cravings is a monthly meeting I host to help ladies learn and hopefully transition to a plant-based diet.
My sweet friend Rene came to share her story. She has been eating a plant-based diet for about 4 months and loves it. She told the group that she had always been a dieter but the other diets weren’t sustainable. Eating a plant-based diet is a life-style change for Rene and her husband. After sharing her story she was gracious enough to answer questions for the group. Thank you Rene!
This month’s theme was Thanksgiving foods. I’d been looking for ideas for quite a while and organizing them on Pinterest. Every dish was vegan and gluten-free. unfortunately I didn’t get great pictures since it was already dark but I’ll be remaking many of these dishes over the next two weeks.
These Mashed Potatoes were the most popular dish of the evening. Everyone loved them. They need no accompaniment but I made the Happy Herbivore’s Thanksgiving Gravy that you can find by clicking here along with all of Linsday’s favorite Thanksgiving recipes.
I also made the Sweet Potato Casserole that I shared yesterday. Everyone loved it too and several of the ladies have been patiently awaiting this recipe.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving Dinner has always been the Corn Bread Dressing. I created my own vegan and gluten-free recipe based on my Memaw’s recipe (that is full of eggs and butter). It tasted great when I made it in the morning, unfortunately it dried out through the re-heating process. I’ll continue to tweak this and share the recipe soon.
I made two recipes from Susan at Fat-Free Vegan. First was her Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie. It is really easy to make but came out more like a pumpkin mousse that a pie, I even made it the day before like she recommends. Next time I’ll likely cut back on some of the spices because it was a little too “spicy” for us.
Second was The Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole. I made this last year also and it is really good. So much better and better for you that my old recipe that used canned green beans, cans of cream of mushroom soup and french fried onions. I’ll admit I love those french fried onions but they contain wheat so I made my own gluten-free topping featuring GF bread crumbs, onions, and broth made from my broth mix.
Lastly I made Good Clean Food’s Cranberry Maple Compote. Forget your old, canned cranberry sauce this Cranberry Maple Compote is amazing. I have never liked cranberry sauce until now. I soooo wanted to pour this in a flaky crust and scoop some almond milk ice cream on top. I’m getting excited just thinking about it.
Our next Healthy Cravings group isn’t meeting until January but the food will focus on plant-based party and Super Bowl food. Oh yeah, come hungry.
Thanksgiving is just over a week away here in the U.S. so I’ll be enjoying these delicious foods at least once more this year. We are getting together with two other families who have really become family to us. I’m so thankful for them and I’m looking forward to sharing this special meal with them.
Joye says
My tummy’s grumbling I can’t eat all this NOW! Great job, Holly. You have truly shown all of us interested in keeping it Vegan that we CAN get through Thanksgiving without thinking we HAVE to compromise or go without. I bet strong meat-lovers would have a hard time arguing that this menu is anything but Delicious. Thank you for being such an inspiration! Sharing with Pinterest now :o)
My Plant Based Family says
Joye you are too sweet! I think this Thanksgiving may be the first I don’t feel gross and bloaty after dinner. I’m looking forward too it. I used to always cook a big turkey and I’m so happy to never do that again. It always completely grossed me out.
I wish you could have come to Healthy Cravings! We had a great time! One of our mutual friends came and she was pleasantly surprised at how delicious everything was.
Thanks for being such a great encourager!
Sarah says
No kidding on the bloaty feeling. I am looking forward to having energy after dinner 😉
erika says
So happy you loved the cranberry sauce! Your other selections look amazing too, a vegan feast to marvel at. Going to try the sweet potato casserole this week!
My Plant Based Family says
Erika “loved” is truly an understatement! When it cooked enough to eat I ran around with a spoon making everyone taste it! Then I moved into the next stage and didn’t want to share with anyone. It is incredible and beautiful! I may start stockpiling cranberries just so I can make this year round. Thank you Erika for your awesome recipe!
An Unrefined Vegan says
Oh my gosh I’m so not ready for Thanksgiving! I’m in charge of desserts! Brilliant to have a “test run” for the big day ;-)!
Lafemmeroar says
Reading this is making me soooo hungry!