Thanksgiving 2011

This year’s Thanksgiving meal was very tasty, and we were most thankful that we could enjoy it together. One thing that helped a lot was making a detailed schedule of cooking times and temperatures, scheduling times to add more dishes to the oven so they would all finish on time. Everything was done within a 5-minute window. Everything but the turkey and gravy was vegetarian.

I now consider myself vegetarian. I know that might disappoint some of my blog readers, and I understand if you stop following me. I still eat a lot of vegan food and plan to post mostly vegan food here. I still do not eat eggs. Most meals I eat outside the house are vegan, and it’s still my preference because I know it’s the healthiest way to eat. It’s not that it’s difficult to be vegan, but I did find it difficult to be vegan in a non-vegan family, with some of our food preferences. I’ll still be trying a lot of new vegan dishes and coming up with my own recipes. And as I find more vegan dishes we can all enjoy, who knows? I might go back.

On to the meal!

The Post Punk Kitchen posted a delicious-looking seitan roast stuffed with shiitake mushrooms and leeks mere days before Thanksgiving. It happened to be the main dish I was looking for. The roast was HUGE. It took four hands to roll it up and wrestle it into the foil for baking. It serves 6-8 people. When it came out of the oven, it smelled delicious.

And lo, a heavenly light shone down upon my stuffed seitan roast. And it was good.

It was very good.

Raw cranberry salad, seitan roast, stuffing, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes. We skipped dessert. I walked away from the table full, but not stuffed.

This was by far the best seitan I’ve ever made. The roast recipe and technique would work with a multitude of fillings. I think I will try to halve the recipe and stuff it with other things.