Mofo #18..Thanksgiving planning...

The time has come to finalize my plans for Thanksgiving...I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow and will likely be picking up ingredients for the week.
We will be driving 4 hours to my parents' house. Previously we had made do with side dishes...(requesting a couple of potatoes to be left aside to mash with earth balance, buying our own salad dressing and gravy, etc)

BUT NOT THIS YEAR!

I want to make a feast that makes the rest of my skeptical family envious!

MAIN COURSE
I toyed with the idea of an autumnal Shepard's pie but ultimately I think I'm going with something I have made before and is mostly turkey-ish: Bryanna Clark Grogan's turkey style seitan. It's my go-to recipe and it can be seasoned very similarly to turkey. Plus I know that it reheats well so I can make it ahead of time! YES!



The recipe doesn't seem to be on her website anymore...however she does have a whole page of Thanksgiving recipes(including slow cooker and low-fat) that look great!!


SIDE DISHES
-Definitely need a green bean dish and rather than the boring old green bean casserole, I will probably do something like this:
http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2010/07/green-beans-with-bacon-balsamic.html
But obviously tempeh bacon or maybe even bacon bits in place of the actual bacon...

-As for the potatoes...I may actually just do with plain ol' mashers and maybe some roasted garlic and chives thrown in

-With the potatoes we will definitely have gravy. My favorite is mushroom gravy but my partner DETESTS MUSHROOMS.
I've made this one from Vegan Vittles before and upped the poultry spices and soy sauce...it was pretty good. And its really only pantry ingredients so that's a plus for travelling and my wallet.



-Probably some greenage...sauteed kale most likely.

-Stuffing is actually something I usually make from a pre-mix...horrible I know. But it's so convenient! This year I want to try making my own. This might require a test run though...
This one from Terry Hope Romero looks pretty dang good

This one looks alright too as long as I use a different gravy

IF ANYBODY HAS A KICK ASS STUFFING RECIPE LET ME KNOW!

-And we'll have cranberry sauce of course...cranberries, sugar, spices...Boil it up and DONE


DESSERT
I'm probably going to make FFV's pumpkin cheesecake...although I've never made it before..it doesn't look too tough, right?!



Probably whip up an tofu-spinach-onion dip and do some spiced olives for appetizers but here's hoping it goes well!