Thanksgiving 2019 Recap!

I'm back after a very long and relaxing holiday weekend! I hope y'all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I certainly did. Because I LOVE to eat (especially when my mama is cooking), Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday. There's no pressure to buy gifts. All you gotta do is EAT!!

And run. I always get a good run in before the big meal. For years, I've been meeting my friend Misti in Paragould (a small town about 20 minutes from Jonesboro, my hometown) for an unofficial turkey trot run. It's not a race. Just a big group of people who run between 3 and 10 miles on Thanksgiving morning. Thursday on my 50K training plan called for 5 miles, so that's what we did.

Here we are with the whole group. We're on the front row, right side. As you can see, the sun is just rising. We meet at 6 am (which means getting up at 5 am on my day off!). 

My family typically eats Thanksgiving lunch, rather than dinner. So my mom was already in the kitchen when I got back to Jonesboro around 7:30 am. By noon, we were fixing our plates. I picked up the Trader Joe's Holiday Roast this year, and it was good. I still love Tofurky the most though! This TJ's roast was breaded and came with a gravy packet, which was pretty cool.

My mama's Cornbread Dressin' is the highlight of the meal. No one makes dressin' better than my mama. She makes a vegan version and a non-vegan one, and I get to take all of the vegan leftovers home. I'm still eating dressin' on Monday!! The veganized recipe is in my cookbook, Cookin' Crunk. But if you make it, it won't be as good as mama's. 

The second best thing is mama's Hash Brown Casserole (also in Cookin' Crunk). Her vegan version has lots of vegan cheddar, vegan margarine, vegan sour cream, and crispy cornflakes. It's perfect.

We also had Coleslaw (vegan!) and Cranberry Sauce. Plus, not pictured (cause I forgot) Sweet Corn with Cream Cheese (she used the vegan Treeline cream cheese) and Green Beans.

And finally, there was Roasted Asparagus with vegan parm and Vegan Buttered Rolls.

Here's my plate! I ate every bite, and I was STUFFED afterward. Just the way one should feel on Thanksgiving Day.

But don't forget dessert! After we let our food settle for a bit, my mom brought out the Vegan Apple Pie! I enjoyed a warm slice topped with vegan Reddi Whip. 

What an awesome day! Here's my family — daddy, mama, and me-maw. Maynard (my pup) was there too, but he doesn't sit still for group pics. 

We definitely missed having Granny there. She passed a week ago Sunday (thanks for all your kind words on my tribute post to Granny!!). She used to always bring a batch of her famous greens over on Thanksgiving Day. And she'd always insist on helping clean up, even when my mom would tell her not to worry about it.