My Vegan Thanksgiving

When I first became vegan, I thought my days of celebrating the holidays with a beautiful festive meal were over. I mean come on, what's Thanksgiving without turkey??? Well, after a couple of years of feeling truly left out, I decided to put my culinary skills to the test and came up with a menu. The problem I was running into was creating a meal that wasn't full of starches, and in spite of my best efforts, I just wasn't happy with the results.

Now, you might say, "Dee, I'm gonna gain weight.", and to that I say, watch your portions :). Although I do not recommend eating such starch heavy meals daily, once or twice per year shouldn't hurt, so let's have a little fun; shall we?

After careful consideration, I decided I'd make a rendition of my grandmother's famous cornbread dressing, with my yummy mac n cheese, some garlicky green beans, roasted butternut squash with candied pecans, and homemade meyer lemon cranberry sauce (yes, I know, now close your mouth before a fly finds their home in there, lol).

A Bit of Advice

I highly recommend you start cooking your meal the day before to save you some stress on the day of. The best things to make ahead are the cornbread dressing, and the cranberry sauce. Leave the mac n cheese, green beans, and squash for the day of the feast. You can however, peel the squash the night before, as it can be quite a task. Remember to leave room for dessert; Thanksgiving just isn't Thanksgiving without dessert :).

I truly hope you enjoy this meal as much as I did. Cheers!