Thanksgiving Veganaversary

Years ago (we're talking 1994), I gave up meat on the day after Thanksgiving. In 2004, I went one step further and gave up cheese and eggs on the day after Thanksgiving. So Thanksgiving is a pretty special day for me. It's Veganaversary Eve, and that's as good an excuse as any to pig out on delicious vegan food as I can think of. Of course, I don't really need an excuse.

Since I have the best Mama and Granny on the planet, I can eat every dish at the Thanksgiving table. They make all the sides vegan and a few of the casseroles have vegan versions (all for me!) and nonvegan versions (for everybody else). And I get a Tofurky while everyone else eats turkey. Here's what we had this year.

Of course, there's the obligatory Tofurky. Some years, I mix it up and bring a Field Roast or a Gardein turkey, but good old Tofurky will always be my fave. It's bigger, and I think, tastier, than its competitors:

My mama is FAMOUS for her Cornbread Dressin.' And lucky y'all, the recipe is in Cookin' Crunk. But hers is always better than mine because she has the magic touch (and because she uses white flour):

The one dish I knew I'd miss the most when I went vegan after Thanksgiving 2004 was Hash Brown Casserole (hash browns, cream of mushroom soup, cheese, butter, and cornflakes). For a few years after going vegan, I definitely missed it! But then my mama tried veganizing it using Daiya cheddar and her homemade vegan cream of celery soup! Hurray!! Hash Brown Casserole again! (Oh, and her version is also in Cookin' Crunk):

While we're on the subject of Cookin' Crunk, look what Granny brought — Corn Casserole (also in my cookbook) made with vegan cream cheese. The recipe in my book is her recipe that she gave me to include:

And there was one more crunk item on the menu — my Deviled Tofu Bites. Granny and Daddy were anxious to try them. And everyone at dinner loved them and said they taste "just like deviled eggs." My aunt Mildred said, "If you were to close your eyes and eat one, you'd never know the difference." Score! By the way, we didn't have nonvegan deviled eggs this year, so everyone ate tofu! And we put them in my Mama's retro glass deviled egg dish:

While we were in Atlanta for VegFest a couple weekends back, my Mama and I picked up some Judyfood Southwestern Dip from the Whole Foods by our hotel. It's a local (to Georgia) savory vegan dip that tastes like dressed-up mayo. This dip has chipotle peppers and sundried tomatoes. We used one of Judy's (the maker of Judyfood dips) for Southwestern Pasta Salad. It has pasta, Southwestern Dip, black beans, corn, peppers, avocado, lime juice, and some other stuff:

Granny also brought some Greens and Turnips (both hand-picked from a garden!) cooked together, but I forgot to photograph those. And she brought some Green Beans with Carrots:

Mama made some delicious vinegar-based Coleslaw:

And she made her standard homemade Cranberry Sauce with Pecans:

I managed to fit a little of everything mentioned above onto one plate. And I managed to fit that plate's contents into my belly:

And I still saved room for dessert. Now, we've NEVER had pumpkin pie at the Phillips family Thanksgiving dinner. My mom always thought she hated pumpkin, but her tastebuds are expanding, so she decided this would be the year we'd have pumpkin pie. But oh, it wasn't a traditional pumpkin pie. No ma'am. It was a Pumpkin Pudding Pie with Vegan Caramel!

The pumpkin puree is mixed with vegan vanilla pudding and rice whip cream. It sits atop a layer of vegan caramel (homemade, of course) and pecans, all packaged in a graham cracker crust. Oh, and there's more caramel and pecans on top too. This may have been my favorite Thanksgiving pie ever! Here's an inside shot of its creamy goodness:

So now I'm stuffed. We ate all of that at lunch, so for dinner, I had a little popcorn. And even the popcorn was probably too much. I feel like I'm about to explode. But there's more eating ahead of me. I have tons of leftovers for the weekend, and I'll be having my annual veganaversary Black Friday brunch (tofu scramble, hash browns!) at Brother Juniper's with Mama in the morning.

Hope y'all had a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Oh, and just in case you want to try some of the above-mentioned recipes (deviled "eggs," corn casserole, my Mama's dressin'), you should head over to All About Vegan Food! Blogger Glauce is giving away a copy of Cookin' Crunk, as well as copies of Hannah's Vegan a la Mode and Isa and Terry's Vegan Pie in the Sky.