Friday, November 28, 2008

Happy Vegeversary to Me!


Today makes 14 years vegetarian and 4 years vegan! Back in 1994 (when I was 14), I made the choice to give up poultry and fish on the day after Thanksgiving. I'd given up beef and pork a few months earlier and after a day of gorging on turkey, I decided to become a vegetarian.

On the day after Thanksgiving in 2004, to celebrate my ten year vegeversary, I went a step further by entering a vegan trial run — I vowed to eat no cheese or dairy for one whole month. After a month went by, I realized that I didn't really miss dairy products and I loved vegan cheese substitutes. So I made the trial run a permanent thing and never looked back. (Technically, the anniversary date is probably not today since Thanksgiving moves around date-wise, but I find it easier to keep track of this way).

This morning, my mom and I celebrated my vegan-ness with a Black Friday shopping brunch at Brother Juniper's, an awesome breakfast joint with lots of veggie options. Here I am eating the Veggie Sausage Tofu Scramble with Home Fries and Whole Wheat Toast:

The scramble had veggie sausage chunks, spinach, and roasted red pepper. And I spread that toast liberally with Brother Juniper's special blueberry spreadable fruit (the BEST stuff!) instead of that nasty whipped butter on my plate. My omni mom even ate a tofu scramble and declared it the "best breakfast ever."

For dinner tonight, I had a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers, which I have a TON of hanging out in my fridge. Here's my plate from yesterday:

There's a yeast roll, mama's vegan cornbread dressin', homemade cranberry sauce, 2 slices of Field Roast Celebration Roast, Granny's Southwestern corn salad, vegan cole slaw, green beans, baked kabocha squash, vegan hash brown casserole, and vegan broccoli & cheeze casserole.

My mom and I always get up early on Thanksgiving Day and we cook all day long. She makes the best vegan cornbread dressin' in the whole world ever! And all the sides are veganized so I can eat them too.

Here I am stirring some apples with cinnamon, sugar, and pecans:

You can't see it here, but my shirt says "Save a Turkey, Eat Tofu." Clever, huh?

And here's what the apples went into — the Apple Streudel from The Joy of Vegan Baking:

OMG! This stuff was amazing! Apple pie-style filling rolled up in buttery sheets of crispy phyllo and topped with toasted cinnamon pecans and vanilla icing.

Granny even veganized her Coconut Cake recipe:

This is my dad's favorite cake, and even though coconut isn't a traditional Thanksgiving ingredient, it went over really, really well. No one could even tell it was vegan. And since it sits in the fridge for three days and gets all moist and yummy, it really melts in your mouth. Granny also tried to veganize her pecan pie, but it flopped. So she made one the regular way instead. She gets bonus points for trying though ... I doubt I would have had enough room in my belly for pie anyway!

Hope ya'll had a fabulous Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everything looks FABULOUS!!!
I want that whole plate =)
That coconut cake is calling my name!

Anonymous said...

Happy vegeversary to you! Wow, that is something to be proud of :)

Your Thanksgiving meal looked soooo good! I can't believe the huge variety (and number!) of foods your family made. I'd probably OD on that cornbread dressing and hash brown casserole! (carb lover, perhaps?) Which brings me to that coconut cake--Whoah! Do you think your granny would be willing to share the vegan recipe??

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

You are so adorable! What an amazing feast! Your family is so cool for supporting your lifestyle and veganizing (or trying!) all the food!
The Apple Streudel looks delicious! You think Granny would be willing to bake me one of those coconut cakes? :D

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

Oh! Happy Vegeversary!! Happy Vegeversary!!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

INCREDIBLE EATS!!

Happy Vegeversary, Bianca!! I've only been a vegan for a little over 1 year, so I can't WAIT to celebrate at lesat 4 years of being veg :-)

Bex said...

Your meal looks fabulous and you look very happy. Happy Vegeversary!

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

what a great celebration! Your family is so sweet for veganizing so many favorite dishes. You really had a feast. And happy vegeversary!

Anonymous said...

Everything looks great, but that coconut cake is just making me all drooly!
Happy vegeversary, Bianca! I really should celebrate mine or something - it's been so long, I don't even think about it...but I should.
I wish I could have been cooking with my family - I'm so happy you had a great holiday with those you love!

The Vegan Snorkeler said...

Yay! Happy Vegeversary! I started being vegan with a "trial run" too, just too see how long I could do it. Here I am 15 years later...crazy! Your Thanksgiving feast looks like it was awesome. Your grandma must be one cool lady!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Happy Veganiversarry! Let's have a party; you will be in charge of bringing the cake ;o)

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your 4 year vegan anniversary! Sounds like the same way I went vegan- a two week trial that was totally just supposed to be a test. Looks like you rawked it for Thanksgiving. I'm going to have dreams of that Apple Struedel!

J said...

Happy Vegeversary! That is such a long time, you must be proud!

What a feast too! That is so nice of your family to veganize dishes so you can enjoy them too. They must be a wonderful and supportive bunch!

Leslie Richman said...

That's awesome. My mom really made me feel special this year by veganizing all my childhood favorites at Thanksgiving. It was so nice! Glad you had a good holiday!

Mike K said...

Happy vegeversary (what a great word!)- there is so much awesome looking food in this post, so I'll save my oohs for the apple streudel and that plate of thanksgiving leftovers.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that thanksgiving plate looks ridiculously delicious. And you're so cute with your scrambled tofu!

Anonymous said...

Congrats, you awesome vegan! That's quite something to celebrate.

Mmmm, can I have some of that strudel?

Alicia said...

Happy Vegeversary to you! you look very pretty in these pictures :-). And the coconut cake looks amazing. Yay for your granny!

Vegan In The VI said...

Your enthusiasm is always inspiring (but, hey, what's that Land O' Lakes butter doing on a vegan platter???)

Agnesss =) said...

Bianca I wish you a HAPPY VEGAN-NIVERSARY!!!!!! =D I'm SOOO PROUD OF YOU! !! =D

Oh oh!!!!!!! All the eats llok ABSOLUTELY DELISH!!!!!!!!! =D And the APPLE STRUDEL....=D SOOO DELICIOUS-LOOKING!!! It must have tasted WONDERFUL!! =DDD

It's like a VEGANIZED version of the famous Apple strudel from Austria =DDD =DD Congrats!!

Hope you're enjoying your time!!!

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

happy vegeversary!!

That coconut cake looks amazing!

Ruby Red said...

yay for 14 years of saving animals! you rock. the tofu scramble plate looks like a great way to celebrate! i was pretty irritated when i special-ordered my meal to be vegan when i was at a vegetarian restaurant the other day, and then put that same packet of whipped butter on my plate, too! obviously we won't be using that on our vegan meals, what are they thinking?! anyway.

your t-giving array looks fab! i want to try kabocha squash now, and i had celebration field roast for dinner on thanksgiving too. yummy!

Chelsea said...

Happy Veganversary! You need to update your "about me" now! My 4 year veganversary is coming up too, January 1 :)

That apple struedel has me drooling!!!

Anonymous said...

happy belated veg-a-versary to you, Bianca!!

jessy said...

happy vegeversary, Bianca! your breakfast looks super stellar! what a tasty way to celebrate! that's too awesome that your mom loved the vegan yummies, too! hooray! :D

i love your turkey shirt! ;) and your plate looks soooo full of awesomeness! so wonderful that they veganize the sides so you can enjoy them, too! yay!

Apple Streudel! Coconut Cake! omg - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

funwithyourfood said...

I think I'm the only person who did know what field roast was till this year and I've been veg for 8 years now... haha
that cake looks to die for

teddy

miss v said...

super cute apron! and my sister-in-law has her anniversary (vegetarian) every year on thanksgiving!

happy anniversary!

Vegan_Noodle said...

What amazing food to celebrate to vegeversary with!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Happy Veganniversary! Your family sounds so great to veganize things for you. I love that your granny made the coconut cake!

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

Happy belated vegeversary! Your family obviously rocks hard for veganizing so many fabulous recipes in your honor.

Veggie said...

Wow, 14 years, Happy Vegeversary, Bianca!!

The apple streudel and (especially) the coconut cake look so yummylicious!

Sheridan said...

Ok, LORD. I am just coming to your house this Thanksgiving. I will have to eat a small plate at my parents to appease my mom and then I'm coming over. This all looks so freaking amazing.

Anonymous said...

On your place I would go another by.