If you don’t mind spending some extra money (but saving yourself the extra time not having to cook 2 meals!), Whole Foods is offering a complete, prepared Vegan meal for two. Cost is $29.99. Here is their description:
Soulful style by cookbook author Jenné Claiborne brings Southern favorites with Creole flavors to center of the plate for an exciting vegan meal for two. Includes:
Mushroom Étouffée (V)
Braised Collard Greens with Tomatoes (V)
Spicy Cornbread Dressing (V)
Black-Eyed Pea Fritters (V)
Whole Foods Market Pumpkin Pie (V)
^^^ NICE!!! Thanks everyone! IDK why it never occurred to me to go buy prepared food at WF! I am 25 mins away from the nearest WF store, i will check it out this weekend.
@doschicos thanks for the tip that Whole Foods has a vegan meal for two. Just found out one of my nieces (she is just vegetarian) is not coming so only SIL and other niece will be eating vegan. I may just shell out the $30 so they can even eat dessert! Plus I know they both love collared greens. The downside is having to heat so many extra dishes separately when I already have so much for our regular menu.
@nhatrang The Minimalist Baker (google it) has a ton of vegan recipes and some specifically for the holidays. My vegan daughter has used that site a lot and I’ve even tried a couple of recipes.
Hmmm, $40 is a little too much for me. Not a bad price actually for two people but since I’m also providing an entire regular meal for everyone else, I don’t think I want to spend $40 on top of that for just two people. I think I’ll go back to having just one hearty dish for them, and then ask them to fill in with whatever else they want to bring themselves.
@4kids4us If you read back in this thread or search on “vegan” in this thread, you’ll find other vegan ideas including an entree thing from Trader Joe’s.
Last weekend I made the roasted Granny Smith apple pie that is in the Nov issue of Southern Living. . I have searched and can’t find the recipe on their website, but basically you peel and core 5 lbs of apples per pie and roast them in the oven before making the filling.
It was really good but was it worth the extra work? Not sure. Great flavor, kind of mushy texture.
My excitement for Thanksgiving cooking just turned into a bit of stress. My garage is full of floor tile that I purchased in July. I have been waiting for my tile setter. So today he calls and says they will be here tomorrow. Since drying time has to be considered with tile and grout, I think he will barely be finished by Wednesday. Then I will have to put my house back together and clean it all before I can start to cook. I’m sure it will work out but won’t be as much fun for me!
Edit: Better than last year, though. Two days before Thanksgiving I had a slab leak and a plumber in my house making a huge mess cutting holes in walls and rerouting water lines. At least I will get a new floor out of this–finally.
We are invited to the MIL’s and have been asked to bring a salad, but when I show up to a potluck dinner, I try to bring the Mexican influence from my beloved culture. I decided Mole Verde and Mole Rojo as a side to adorn the turkey instead of only gravy.
I think sites struggle to come up with something “new”. I went and read the recipe. What an unnecessary hassle of roasting apples like that. Ridiculous. LOL.
Green bean casserole- never had it growing up in Wisconsin although I heard about it- never with cheese (yes, I said WI)- just the cannrd grren beans, a can of mushroom soup and the canned fried onions. I think it was a way to make canned green beans taste better. My favorite vegetable is fresh green beans (frozen whole if fresh not available) so they are definitely on the menu- and luckily in season here in Florida where we retired to. Just cook until tender (not al dente!) add salt/butter to taste.
Just added the other vegetable back into the menu for H and his mom- so much for cutting back for 3 old folks. This year will make the Indian spiced cauliflower with peas that I detest instead of much liked with tomatoes and potatoes (I’ll take plenty of the green beans, I also detest the candied sweet potatoes).
Thanksgiving dinner has enough quantity and variety no one suffers from lack of an enjoyable meal.
We are staunch green bean casserole fans. I now realize I’ve never considered using fresh or frozen green beans, and we always eat fresh vegetables at other times of the year. This could be because my husband does the grocery shopping, and the grocery always has a display with the beans, onions, and soup. We like French-cut beans in it, and no way am I going to that much trouble!
Agree totally about the purpose of the turkey, @abasket!
We can never have sweet potatoes because, of all things, S2 is allergic to them. So strictly mashed here.
And yes, I know, it’s weird, yes yes, sweet potatoes are supposed to be easy to tolerate. But believe me, it’s real and there’s nothing psychosomatic about it. Just recently there was an, um, incident involving some delicious crackers he ate at a friend’s house. Stealth sweet potato in the ingredients. Ugh.
