Hello and to all my U.S. friends, happy belated Thanksgiving! I know I promised I’d be posting once a day, but internet was much harder to come by than I originally anticipated! No worries though, I’ve been keeping plenty busy and I barely noticed the lack of internet! For the sake of brevity, I’m just going to recap some of the highlights, including thoughts at the end about my first vegan Thanksgiving.
The drive from Gainesville, Florida to Dothan, Alabama was easy and only four hours long! We caught a gorgeous sunset on the way up that made our trip that much more enjoyable.
Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning was spent sleeping in, going for a long walk, and full of last minute preparations/ final touches on Thanksgiving dishes. Once we arrived at the other grandparents’ house for the actual Thanksgiving meal, there was quite the spread!
I don’t know everything that was served because the only things I could have were what I brought, but I do know Ross’ family does holidays with a very Southern flare: deviled eggs, pickled beans and vegetables, peas (in beef bouillon), corn (in butter), macaroni and cheese, tomato slices, potato salad, turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole with pecans and marshmallows, rolls, a creamy vegetable casserole with crushed Ritz crackers on top, cranberry sauce and more!
There were also the dishes I brought: vegan garlic mashed potatoes (unpictured), vegan green bean casserole, multigrain rolls (I picked up the dough from Publix and made them into rolls that morning), vegan butternut squash puree, and a seasonal salad with greens, roasted chickpeas, raw almonds, pear and pomegranate arils.
My plate with salad, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, squash puree and a roll in the middle.
My Thanksgiving dessert was also what I had brought with me – my vegan pumpkin pie. I think everyone was scared to try it at first, which was why they stuck with the “ice cream sandwich delight”, but eventually a few warmed up, tried it, and said they enjoyed it!
After dinner the immediate family headed outside to take a family picture my mother-in-law’s Christmas card picture. We have the serious on the left and the silly on the right. Can I just direct everyone’s attention to Ross’ expression in the silly picture? I think the silly picture captures each of us perfectly. However, for some reason I don’t think the silly picture is going to make the Christmas card photo cut. 
Yesterday was Black Friday in the U.S. due to all the crazy shopping deals and steals and crazy shoppers that go along with it. Every year my mother-in-law likes to take her mom out to do a lot of Christmas shopping. Jordan (my sister-in-law) and I headed out with them. Little did I know that the four of us would be out from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM!!! I was walking for all but around an hour of that time and I was pushing my sister-in-law in a wheelchair the whole time (she recently tore her MCL, ACL and meniscus) and some of that was uphill! Needless to say, I didn’t feel too guilty that we got back too late for me to get a run in.
One highlight of the day was the fact that Ross’ grandma got her ears re-pierced. It was a total whim and rather fun to be there for. 
The rest of the time has just been full of family, movies and long walks with the love of my life. Sometimes life just doesn’t get much better.
Can you find me in this picture?
Now I’m just chilling in Atlanta Bread sipping the worst Chai Tea of my life (disgustingly sweet…I don’t order hot beverages out enough to be savvy enough to get my orders right 
). At least I did manage to make sure it was made with soy and no whip cream!
Now, I know everyone will ask how my first Thanksgiving as a vegan went, so here goes. For the most part, my first vegan Thanksgiving was just as I expected. I expected there to be minimal, if any, options prepared by my in-laws, so I was not disappointed when there was not a thing I could have. I had made the majority of my food in advance so there weren’t any last minute frustrations or stress trying to put dishes together the day of. I did not miss the turkey at all. I have never really enjoyed turkey that much to begin with (it always seems dry on Thanksgiving), and Ross told me that I was definitely not missing out, so I had zero regrets there. I felt awkward that I prepared five dishes plus a dessert when there was so much food there to begin with, but honestly – I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I was able to enjoy more traditional holiday food (mashed potatoes, butternut squash, green bean casserole) that I definitely would have missed had I not made those to begin with, vegan or not.
The only things that were not how I expected were not big deals at all. I honestly thought that more people would try more of “Lindsey’s food”, despite it being vegan. Instead of focusing on that though, I focused on the fact that those who did try “my food” did indeed like it. The other thing that was a tad unusual for me is that at one point during our Thanksgiving meal, a conversation started about foods that people did not like. I found it a tad hypocritical and frustrating to sit there and hear how disgusting different vegetables are, when I knew the conflict that would arise had I opened my mouth and mentioned one word about my thoughts on eating animals. (How can an eggplant be disturbing when what you’re eating once breathed and walked??)
Honestly though – that was just one minor moment in time, and the minute frustration I felt over comments from one or two individuals was not worth the conflict I knew would be caused had I opened my big mouth. I think it’s just one of those things you have to deal with as a vegan. All in all, I could not be happier with how my first vegan holiday went, and I am so thankful and blessed that I had the opportunity to spend the holiday with my wonderful in-laws.
How was your Thanksgiving?
P.S. The recipes for the vegan butternut squash puree and vegan green bean casserole will be coming in the next day or two!
I’m so glad you made those dishes! My first vegan Thanksgiving was good, mostly I ate a lot of vegetables and some plain mashed potatoes which were great, but I will definitely be making a dish or two for next year
I agree with you about when people start talking about how terrible veggies are. I love it when people complain about the “texture” of certain vegetables and I can’t help but think “you eat flesh!” But, to each his own.
Loved reading about your experience. Have a great day!
[...] Thanksgiving Holiday from Alabama | Sound Eats [...]
Fabulous celebration!! Mine was great
I’m glad you had a good Thanksgiving, despite the minor blips
And they were minor because you MADE them minor…kudos to you for being one classy lady! (Just like I knew you were, BTW) And the family pic is fantastic…I think you should go with the silly pose, I’m just sayin 
Glad you’re back, I’ve missed you while you were gone!
xoxo
Glad you had a good Thanksgiving! : ) It sounds like you did a GREAT job managing to eat vegan. That sounds like a very similar menu to what my family would cook, ha. (And my grandma has plates JUST like that! ; )
Oh for real! I jokingly (well kind of) said we should skip the turkey and do a vegetarian (not even vegan) Thanksgiving and Nate got so upset that he didn’t talk to me for 10 minutes saying I insulted him and the tradition and the holiday and his family. (Holy crap.) Then when he did make the turkey he spilled turkey gut juice all over the counter where I was trying to cook and when I got upset and said it was gross and unsanitary he got so upset that he moped till the next day saying that it’s okay if I don’t eat meat but I’m stupid and unjustified for it and I shouldn’t ever say my opinions on why meat is gross/wrong/bad for you etc because I’m wrong. Needless to say this led to a discussion (read: argument) about how I planned on our kids being 100% vegetarian if not mostly vegan and how he wouldn’t hear of it.
I let it go for now. He’s usually extremely supportive of it and until recently has been about 50% vegetarian. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. God forbid I want to keep him alive and healthy as long as I can. Ugh. I don’t understand why the topic of eating meat is so deeply rooted in people. I think (read: KNOW) that the reason is because DEEP DOWN they feel a twinge of guilt on the topic and so they jump to the defensive position. It’s frustrating.
Yay for vegan Thanksgivings! Your looks like it was a great success. There are always going to be people who criticize and insult your diet, but you just have to ignore them and remember why you chose to eat the way you do. I get so mad when people talk about how gross and disgusting veggies are, but then I realize it’s not worth it to argue. It is frustrating though!
I made your vegan pumpkin pie and I loved it! Mh family was hesitant but they all tasted it and loved the spice flavor to it! All in all a major success!
Happy belated turkey day!
Lo
We had a delicious vegan feast too (I posted it on my blog today), but we prepared it for two others. We also made a wonderful green bean casseroles. I can’t wait to see yours to compare. Ours turned out really well, but if we would have traveled, there would have been nothing for me to eat.
I would have been frustrated during the “vegetables are disgusting” situation. You handled it so well! I hope that over the years, they warm up to your awesome cooking and change their minds just a bit!
Seriously your meal looked amazingly delicious and if I were there I would have joined you!
I want to come visit one weekend and have a “vegan” weekend. It would be a fun experiment. Congrats on your first vegan Thanksgiving! Glad you had a great holiday minus a few bumps. 
Hooray for your first vegan Thanksgiving!!!
What a beautiful sunset! Your vegan Thanksgiving sounds delicious!! The whole ‘disgusting vegetable’ thing would have frustrated me as well. Glad everything else went alright!
Aww, looks like you had a fab and successful thanksgiving!!! Mine has always been vegetarian, so i obviously don’t miss the turkey either!
And vegan mashed potatoes are probably my favorite thing, ever….so i’m glad you got to get in on that!!!
[...] Thanksgiving Holiday from Alabama | Sound Eats [...]
I’m so glad you had a successful thanksgiving with the family and you enjoyed all the food that you brought! i def think you made the right decision making and brining everything, otherwise you would have had thanksgivings like me in the past: vegetable platter and rolls. eck.
and those mashed potatoes sound awesome…!
I decided to be flexitarian/vegetarian on Thanksgiving this year – did not want to make a bunch of dishes just to accomodate my “veganism”. I ate mashed potatoes; sweet potato souffle; green beans; stuffing (my MIL makes hers w/ sausage but thankfully my Bro in law doesn’t eat pork so she always makes a separate dish for him and I of that – always!); cranberry sauce
not too shabby for vegetarian thanksgiving
Glad you enjoyed your dinner.
I shopped Black Friday 10:00am-9:00pm – 11hours!!!!!! I feel like we robbed Ann Taylor Loft and Express blind though!!!! LOLOL
Your vegan dishes look wonderful! I’m not a vegan and haven’t a problem with the way anyone chooses to eat, but I know I would have dived head first into that butternut squash puree you made. Yum. I’ve always thought turkey to be the least important part of Thanksgiving dinner; I could easily take it or leave it. I’m a side dish kind of girl.
My husband spent a fun filled 8 weeks near Dothan, AL at Ft. Rucker for about 5 years ago. He doesn’t remember it too fondly.
Glad you had a successful Thankgiving!