Thanksgiving Mayhem

So, I started cooking on Wednesday, finished on Thursday, and got around to blogging on Friday... You might be thinking that I had a huge crowd of people, well you would be wrong... Just 6 including myself, but within that group you have a strict vegan (me), a gluten-free (my Mom & me to a lesser extent), a refuse to eat vegetables, or anything mixed together (my brother), and three old-fashioned raised on lard types (my Dad & Grandparents)... So, that meant we did have a turkey on the table, and despite my making a huge pan of gluten-free, vegan cornbread dressing, my Dad "had" to make a "regular" pan of dressing (exact words).  Now, he didn't really have to make the dressing, he said mine was fine, but there was no way he was going to stay out of the kitchen... Not a chance, besides he had to make (no emphasis, he really did have to make) gravy and cook the turkey.


I had a Tofurky languishing in the freezer, so I decided to have it despite going gluten-free. If you don't know vegan products all that well, let me explain...  Mock meat products are usually made from one of two sources, soy (non-glutinous) or wheat protein (gluten).  Many are actually a mix of both soy and wheat bases...  Seitan is pure wheat gluten, Tofurky is seitan based, ergo Tofurky is pure gluten...  Now, I know I ate a big plate of food, but when you still feel overly stuffed nearly 24 hours later... I'm going to venture a guess and say that I am done with gluten...  Not that there is anything wrong with Tofurky as a product, it is great if you can tolerate gluten, I've been eating them and other seitan based products for years...  Of course that's before I learned about the damage that wheat proteins can do to the body (very inflammatory) and the inability for the human body to properly digest wheat proteins.


All that aside, I'd say my first go at Thanksgiving was a success (except for the gluten-free, vegan pecan pie).  Especially the Pumpkin Cake, veganizing the recipe was easy, and gluten-freeing (is that a word?) it was even easier...  It doesn't turn out as tall & light as the "regular" version, but still tasty.  I'll post recipes for several of my dishes that received passing scores from the family soon... For now, here's a tasty & simple Pinto Bean recipe: sort & rinse 2 cups of dried pintos, meanwhile put a large pot of water on to boil.  Get the water to a rolling boil before adding the beans (it helps to keep a kettle of water hot too, in case you need to add water during cooking, since the pot should never go dry, or stop boiling).  Add the beans slowly, so the boil doesn't stop, and turn the heat down (not enough to lose the boil)  Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  In the last 30 minutes add 1 cup of onions, 2 Tbs garlic, 2 Tbs chili powder, and salt & pepper to taste.  See gluten-free & vegan can be easy and delicious...