Simple Thanksgiving Side Dishes (That Won't Keep You In The Kitchen All Day)

Here in the city, there are three types of Thanksgiving scenarios.
Type 1 (most typical in my circles): travel far and long to gather with family. Type 2 (I know very few of these people): family lives close by, and this meal is just a bigger version of a typical family dinner.
Type 3: those who are not able to travel to their families for some reason or another. Friends and acquaintances gathering for a meal.

I can't tell you much about type 2 - the only type 2 Thanksgiving I've been involved with is my husband's family in Long Island. They're from India. They don't really get the whole Thanksgiving thing. As with any other holiday except Diwali, they pretty much eat the same thing as any other day. It's quite anti-climactic and I don't care to spend my special food superbowl that way again. I'll admit it's kind of about group-gorging... and turkey.

Thanksgiving types 1 & 3 are what I know (and the same system applies to Easter, in my experience). With type 1 you will gorge yourself among family, while catching up with cousins/aunts/uncles/grandparents who you have not seen in possibly a year (like, if they're not on facebook...). Type 3's are bringing together multiple traditions and expectations, all while getting acquainted with some new friends.

These are recipes for the latter types. You don't want to miss out on the conversation, but you also want something besides mashed potatoes and cranberry log. Maybe it's your first time cooking a big meal, or your oven is very small and filled with a bird. Maybe your friends or family are helping you in the kitchen, but you don't have time to give them complex instruction. But you still need to bring interestingness to the table - and new foods are a good conversation starter too. So here are some simple, chop-chop, sprinkle-drizzle, roast-or-boil side dish ideas to fill up that table.

ROASTING
If you have space in your oven, a big baking dish filled with vegetables is easy. Simple is better - stick to one star vegetable and add one or two herbs or seasonings and a bit of oil. Just set it and forget it. Remember a single layer of veg will probably take 30-40 minutes to roast at 425F. But the more you cook at once, they longer they will take. If the oven is already set lower for other things, allow extra time also. Give yourself a good 1 to 1-1/2 hours for roasting time. You can always remove and reheat if it browns too soon.

Roasted Cauliflower
Drizzle with oil, salt & pepper. A pinch of fresh nutmeg or some orange zest will give it fresh flavor. Sprinkle on some nuts like almonds or walnuts for the last 10 minutes.

Try an unusual variety of cauliflower to make things interesting. Romesco has alien-like points, or try purple or yellow varieties.







Roasted Tomatoes
Toss in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and a little sugar before roasting. A few tomatoes only take about 10 minutes in a 425 oven - so keep an eye on them and remove when they start to pop. Garnish with fresh basil or oregano to pump up the color and aromas.

Whole Roasted Carrots
We're quite used to throwing whole potatoes in the oven to bake, but how about other whole vegetables, like carrots? You could do the same with large wedges of winter squash or eggplant. Vegetables are more appetizing when you can still see what it is after it's cooked, instead of cut into unidentifiable cubes. Allow plenty of time for roasting large vegetables.






Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Thanksgiving is a good time to get people to try new things. People tend to think of brussels sprouts as an evil green enemy with a bitter flavor. Roast them to a crisp with garlic and lemon juice, optional rosemary and thyme, and maybe even a drizzle of balsamic vinegar before serving. Everything tastes better crispy and brown.




BIG POT
If the oven is full, and you've got some burner space to spare, cook up a big pot of something. As soon as your guests figure out you've got more cooking than just some potatoes, watch them sneak into the kitchen, lift the lid and say "oh wow, what's this?".

Cabbage
Start by sautéing something flavorful in olive oil in a soup pot. Add a bunch of cabbage and simmer away for an hour or more. It's pretty resilient.

Try toasting cumin and mustard seeds in oil, add some red pepper flakes and toss in a chopped up head of cabbage. Season with salt and pepper and add a little stock. Simmer away. This could work for broccoli, also.

Or, for a more colorful dish, use purple cabbage. Heat oil, add the cabbage, some mustard seeds, paprika, coriander, salt and pepper. Add 1/2 C Apple Cider, 2T white wine or cider vinegar and simmer. Toss in some diced apple for the last 10 minutes, or some golden raisins, for added texture.


Unconventional Mashed Potatoes
Instead of plain old mashed potatoes, try stirring in some fat-free sour cream instead of fatty butter. If you want to take it up a notch, try mashing sweet potatoes together with russet. You won't even miss the  butter in these, especially if you add a touch of maple syrup, brown sugar or applesauce. You could do the same by boiling cubed butternut squash.







Green Beans with a Twist
If you don't have room for that green bean casserole in the oven, just boil 'em and add something. Try wax beans or flat beans for something different.

Green Beans Almondine is about as satisfying as the creamy casserole, but much healthier. Just stir in a dab of margarine to the cooked beans, and some toasted almond slices (which you can toast in the oven if it's on, on some tinfoil).

If you don't have nuts on hand, just season the beans up with a little lemon zest, dry mustard powder or fresh herbs like basil or mint.


SIMPLE SALADS
You can make salad ahead of time, and it takes no space on the stove. Buying ready-to-eat greens cuts down on the work. For green salads, focus on one star ingredient like a fruit or vegetable, plus a crunchy surprise. For chopped salads, stick to no more than 3 vegetables to keep it simple.

Pear Cashew Salad
Top mixed greens with sliced pears and honey-sesame cashews (found at Trader Joe's). Dress with a vinaigrette, mix in a little maple or honey.

Indian Summer Salad
Fuyu Persimmons are in season, and look really cool and interesting sliced onto a salad. A little grapefruit, toasted almonds and mixed greens and you've got an impressive salad.

recipe via Fresh Direct, from "Nicole Routhier's Fruit Cookbook" by Nicole Routhier. 

For the Grapefruit Vinaigrette

1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice

1/4 cup walnut oil

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Salad

1 large bunch watercress, tough stems removed

4 ripe persimmons, peeled and sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick*

2 pink grapefruits, peeled and sectioned

Parmesan cheese, for garnish (optional)

Freshly ground black pepper

 

Beet, Pistachio, Baby Spinach
Roasted beets can be found pre-cooked in the produce section of grocery stores. Slice them up and toss over spinach for a colorful salad. Toasted pistachios are an unexpected texture. Dress with balsamic vinaigrette.






Have a fun and festive Thanksgiving!

Tal Ronnen's Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and if you're anything like me, you've been thinking about nothing else for the past week. The menu is pretty much out of my hands on this one, since we go up to Vermont to eat with my fam. If it were at our place, I'm sure I'd be spending a lot of time dreaming up ways to spice things up.

Whether you're having turkey, Turk'y or Tofurky (does anyone really eat that?), you might be looking for a few new ideas for veg-friendly side dishes. The following recipes, created by Vegan chef Tal Ronnen, were sent to me by Gardein to share here. I haven't tried any of them yet for one reason or another (such as: I'm sick of red beet juice getting on everything, and I can't find pumpkin seeds without hacking open a pumpkin, and I'm not sure where to get the best "non-dairy cream cheese"), but they sound pretty good if you're up for it.

Chef Tal Ronnen  (*all photos courtesy Gardein)

 

Recipes by Chef Tal Ronnen, author of The Conscious Cook

  www.talronnen.com  

Beet and Orange Autumn Salad

Sage and Pumpkin Seed Encrusted Gardein with Cranberry Cabernet Sauce

Green Beans with Fresh Cranberries

Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Chives

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Oven Roasted Banana Rum Cheesecake with Spiced Pecan Crust and Maple Rum Sauce

Simple & Healthy: Roasted Cauliflower with Almonds

Yellow Cauliflower with Almonds

Earlier this week I made some roasted cauliflower to go with some Gardein Crispy Tenders and some vermicelli with olive oil and herbs. The meal wasn't all that visually appealing, since it was quite yellow, but it was fairly healthy and satisfying.

I like roasting vegetables because #1, it's easy, and #2 it's healthier. It's better than boiling because you don't have to watch a pot on the burner or drain it. It's healthier because you don't lose the vitamins into the water, and roasting gives the vegetables a nice caramelization also, so there's no need to add any butter, like I would if it were boiled. This time I threw in some almond slices for added crunchiness.

Roasted Cauliflower with Almonds

1 head of Cauliflower (any variety), cut / broken into small florets

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder 

Lemon Juice

Sliced Almonds

Heat oven to 425F. Place florets in a baking dish and drizzle lightly with oil, and just a pinch or two of salt and pepper (you can always add more at the table). Sprinkle with garlic powder, and juice from about 1/4 of a lemon. Toss to coat evenly.

Bake, tossing from time to time for even browning. After about 30 minutes, add the almond slices and bake another 10-15 minutes. Test for doneness by poking with a fork - some like it mushy and some like it crunchy - it's up to you.

Roasted Grape Tomatoes, Brussels Sprouts and Seedy Cabbage

Roasted Grape Tomatoes

 I'll admit tonight's meal was not entirely vegan, since it was based around storebought pierogis, but most of it was. You could totally make vegan pierogis from scratch using soy milk & cheese with the wonton wrapper method (like this), if you have enough time on your hands!

Pierogi Meal

Seedy Cabbage

I surrounded our pierogis with every veg in the fridge that was on the verge of becoming past it's prime. The half-head of napa cabbage I sauteed with some spices before I used the same pan to fry the onions. The sprouts I roasted with oil, pink salt, and what became garlic chips, in a cast iron pan. The tomatoes were relieved of their brown spots (and taste tested to make sure they had not become bitter, since they were a bit wrinkly), and sugared, salted and oiled to roast.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

 ROASTED GRAPE TOMATOES

Preheat oven to 425-450F.  

Rinse grape or cherry tomatoes and place on a baking pan. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and a pinch of sugar. Roast until they start to pop - about 5-10 minutes.

ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH GARLIC

Heat oven to 450F.

Place a cast iron skillet inside the oven to preheat. Trim and halve brussels sprouts and slice garlic cloves. Toss in a bowl with a dash of olive oil and some fresh lemon juice. Season with red pepper flakes, black pepper and your favorite salt, such as sea salt or Himalayan pink salt. Remove skillet from oven and pour the sprouts mix in and stir around - it should be sizzling. Place back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, stirring to evenly brown.

SEEDY CABBAGE

Napa Cabbage, chopped

Earth Balance

Olive Oil

Cumin seeds

Mustard seeds

Dried Dill

Cider Vinegar

Salt

Red Pepper Flakes

Black Pepper

In a skillet over medium heat, melt a pat of earth balance with a splash of olive oil, and a little salt. When it starts to bubble, add a teaspoon or so of cumin and mustard seeds and cook 2 minutes until they begin to pop. Add the cabbage and stir in. Continue to cook and stir until cabbage begins to wilt and stem parts become more transparent than white. Add a splash of vinegar, a pinch of dill, and season with salt, red pepper, and black pepper to taste.

Operation Vegan Tapas: Mission Failed!

Oh, man, did I not achieve balance today. You'd think cooking vegan would just automatically make everything so healthy, but that is not so.

For some reason, I decided to make tapas for dinner. The common veggie tapas are mostly fried - croquettes, fried goat cheese, patatas bravas, etc. I think I got the idea from the brussels sprouts I had planned to make based on a dish at Poco in the East Village. They have these deep fried brussels sprouts that are crispy, spicy, lemony and minty. So I found a few more tapas-worthy ideas in the crazytown inside my head and ended up creating one heck of a mess in the kitchen and a seriously greasy meal.

The plan was this:
Roasted Chili-Lemon Brussels Sprouts
Butter Bean Croquettes
Roasted Patatas Bravas with Vegan Sauce
Fried Eggplant with Chili-Maple-Orange Sauce

The brussels sprouts were actually pretty good. I roasted them in a cast-iron pan so they were only crispy at the cut side, but delicious and not at all bitter. I tossed the halved sprouts with red onions, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, olive oil and lemon juice. Then I preheated the pan in the 450F oven and added the mix. I probably roasted it about 30 minutes, moving it around a few times to get even crispness.

For the blended bean croquette experiment,  I made a paste from butter beans, tomato paste, crackers, cumin, oregano, lemon and onion. I should have just left out the crackers and used the paste as a dip - because the flavor was pretty good. As a croquette rolled in breadcrumbs and dropped in hot oil, it kind of lost shape and disintegrated into the oil causing a crapload of crumbs to just turn black and smoke in the oil. My husband tried rolling the rest into balls, but they still seemed to just absorb oil.

3 sauces

For some reason the patatas took about an hour to crisp up. I used a chicken-wing trick and coated them with canola and corn starch. They kept sticking to the baking sheet, yet were surrounded by excess oil. I think the potatoes were too aged and had too high of a water content. I tried two different sauces - one using ketchup, vegan mayo and paprika. Gross. I tried one heavier on the mayo with a little ketchup, paprika, cumin and vinegar. Better but still gross. It was my first use of egg-less mayo and it just tasted like italian dressing to me. I'm a Hellmann's-only girl, so this was just too far from the real mayo I am used to.

I actually followed a recipe for the eggplant, soaking it in soy milk before dredging. I used chickpea flour instead of regular - although I'm not sure that's what killed it. With the croquette failure, I tried melting Earth Balance with Canola first, yet it turned brown as soon as I started cooking the eggplant. So the next batch I just used a little canola, but it still became full of fine chickpea powder which turned black and smoked. The slices just drank up the oil and became soggy. The chili-maple-orange sauce with tomato paste and cider vinegar was actually my favorite thing I made tonight. My husband thought it too sweet, but I kind of liked it since it helped with the heat from the little indian chilis I used.

My poor husband was a good sport, and tried everything but was right to eat only a little bit. He said he couldn't eat any more, and was feeling so mentally wrong about eating all the oily and fried stuff that he'd make sure to get to that Bikram class tomorrow to make up for it. Too bad I skipped mine today to play in the kitchen! I'm prescribing myself a good 2 hours of cardio plus a pilates and bikram class as my punishment for this meal.

Vegetable Pot Pie with Dill-Mustard Sauce

It's been hard to keep up with the vegan meals this month without resorting to fake meat - which is fine, but I know not everyone is interested in that. But, I've been tight on time and just haven't had the energy to use too many new ingredients or make stuff from scratch. Trying to eat just a few vegan meals has seemed so difficult to plan. Coming from a background of meat-starch-veg meals, I used to think vegetarian took a lot of thought and energy to make it interesting, but now it seems easy as pie compared to vegan!

Speaking of pie....

Last night I outdid myself with a home-made vegan vegetable pot pie. I have made some good vegetarian pot pies at home, like a butternut squash pie, using shortcuts like canned soups - but for a vegan pie I made the sauce from scratch using soy milk. I was worried that the sauce was not going to thicken, since it was still a little thin when I poured it into the shell, but it came out perfectly - not too liquid-y and not too dry.

Most of the ingredients I used are things I tend to keep in stock all the time. The box of unsweetened soy milk and yeast flakes are a new addition due to Vegan MoFo. The yeast flakes add a nice, almost chicken-like, flavor to sauces and soy milk is much healthier than regular anyways. I'll quickly admit I am no baker and have tried many times to make pie crust and failed. So the pie crust I made from a Pillsbury box-mix (just add water), but the refrigerated version would have been less work. I suppose you could make the crust from scratch as well, if you're handy with those types of things.

Just the 2 of us ate half this pie in one sitting.

 You could use really any vegetables you like in this pie, or even add tofu or soybeans. I used sweet potato for a more flavorful (and vitamin-rich) starch, and mushrooms for protein. The idea of dill popped into my head as I reached for the thyme in the spice basket and remembered that my husband has developed an aversion to it lately. He hates rosemary outright, but I have noticed he doesn't touch the leftovers if I've used thyme. He says he likes it but I don't think he does. So I tossed some dried dill in the sauce instead, hoping for a bright fresh flavor. It really worked with the mustard and the vegetables.

Vegetable Pot Pie with Dill-Mustard Sauce

Filling:

2 C Sweet Potato cut into 1" chunks (about 1 Medium potato)

3/4 C Carrot, sliced (about 4 small carrots)

1/4 C Celery, sliced (about 1 large rib)

1/2 C Shallots, sliced (about 2 large shallots)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 C sliced Mushrooms (canned or fresh)

1 C peas (fresh or frozen)

3/4 C corn (fresh or frozen)

2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 T Flour

Sauce:

1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 C "No-Chicken" broth (or vegetable stock)

1 tsp Arrowroot powder

1 tsp Mustard powder (use dijon mustard if powder is not available)

2 tsp Nutritional Yeast Flakes 

1 C Unsweetened Soy Milk

1 tsp Dried Dill

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

2 pie crusts & a pie plate

Heat oven to 425F.

1. Bring potatoes and water to a boil and cook about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Add 2T oil to a skillet over medium heat and add the carrot, celery, shallots and garlic. Cook and stir about 6 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook another 4-5 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and set aside.

3. Microwave the peas and corn in water for about 1-2 minutes to heat through. Drain.

4. Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl and toss together.

5. In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, add 1 T oil and stock. Bring to a simmer and add arrowroot, mustard and yeast flakes - whisk to combine. Add soy milk, dill, salt and pepper and simmer until reduced, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.You should end up with about 1-1/2C of liquid.

6. Prepare the pie crust if needed, and lay one into a 9" pie plate. Pour the vegetables into the crust, being sure to evenly distribute the peas and corn (they tend to want to hang out in the bottom of the bowl and fall in one spot). Sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp of flour over the vegetables.

7. Transfer the sauce to a measuring cup (or ladle) and pour around over the top of the pie filling. Gently shake the plate side to side to distribute the sauce - it should come about 1/4" below the edges of your crust or pie plate edge. 

8. Apply the top pie crust and seal the edges by pinching together. Poke holes for ventilation.

9. Cover the edge of the crust with a ring of tinfoil and bake at 425F for 40-45 minutes. Place a sheet pan or tinfoil on the bottom rack of the oven to catch overflow. Remove the tinfoil for the last 15-20 minutes. Pie is done when the top is golden brown and the insides are just starting to bubble up through the holes.

10. Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Hearty Vegan Meatloaf Dinner

The chill in the air is getting stronger here in New York. It hailed, randomly, again this morning. I guess that's a good thing.  In my business, we have a love-hate relationship with inclement weather. People don't really buy what they need until they need it these days, and it takes a nice storm to get people out there to buy their kids some coats.

The cold weather makes me desire shopping too, but it's not really about need. It just starts to feel like the holidays and I naturally gravitate towards buying things. It also switches our brains into full-on comfort food mode. Tonight was the perfect night to break out that vegan meatloaf I picked up and smother a plate of food in delicious gravy.

Although I spent most of my life in meat & potatoes land, I can honestly say I've never fancied meat loaf. Ground meat in general just turned me off with it's loose texture, and yeah, well, I won't go into all of it. But the vegan version is just fine by me, and totally healthy. The Field Roast version has chunks of carrots, celery, tomatoes and mushrooms amidst it's signature grainy wheat-gluten "meat". I spread on a layer of ketchup and baked it 30 minutes, as per the instructions, and whipped up a big pot of "no-chicken" gravy. A side of simple boiled, mashed, yellow potatoes and green-beans almondine with Earth Balance completed the plate.

The loaf was another new experience for my husband, who's certainly never eaten meatloaf. Both of us will be having a nice container of leftovers to look forward to at lunch tomorrow!

Vegan Gravy

2 C "No Chicken" Broth ("no chicken" tastes better than vegetable stock, if you can find it)

1 T Dijon Mustard (such as Grey Poupon Dijon with White Wine)

1 T Nutritional Yeast Flakes (or more to taste)

1 T Earth Balance margarine

2 T Flour

1/8 tsp Garlic Powder

Salt & Pepper

Bring broth to a simmer over medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients, seasoning to taste. Whisk the flour and butter in to make a smooth consistency, be careful not to let it burn down. Continue to simmer until thickened, adding more flour if needed.

Finding Vegetarian (or Vegan) Thai in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

Vegan Noodles - pretty good but needs some veg like peas & corn.

Not much time to post this weekend. We're spending most of it in Queens at the in-laws for Diwali, but we took a break to come home and do Bikram class. We're just about to dig into some vegan noodle-cups I got at Whole Foods.

Last night before we headed out to LI, we headed out for some Thai food with the sister in-laws. My husband wanted to take them to Joya on Court Street, a very popular spot for delicious & cheap Thai food. He's been there a bunch of times and loved it. So we waited 20 minutes for a table, sat down and picked out some appetizers: veg spring rolls, fried tofu and papaya salad.

Seeing an entire section of the menu dedicated to vegetables, we thought we'd be fine. But when we asked what had fish sauce in it, the waitress said everything has fish sauce - it's a very important flavor ingredient and everything is made ahead of time. Except there are 3 dishes that can be made in the wok without it - instead of oyster sauce on some tofu/broccoli - just soy sauce - boring! Mixed vegetables in garlic sauce - boring!! Tofu pad khing vegetables in ginger sauce - still pretty lame. Why would you even put oyster sauce on tofu? I don't know anyone who orders tofu unless they're vegetarian.

So you know what? We politely explained that there was just nothing appealing, the apps would be it for us,  and the waitress was understanding - she thought it better to tell us the truth. So we went to just the next block and found Ghang. I asked the waiter and he was very quick to say that no fish sauce would be used. So quick that I doubted the truthfulness of the statement and asked the bartender who concurred, vegetarian curry could be made fresh to order. Bingo! A little more expensive, a little longer wait for the food, but very very good, well spiced food. Pad Thai - no problem, Drunken Noodles, Penang Curry and Cashew Vegetables. All great.

Now only if they would delivery all the way up to Tillary we'd be set!

Gardein Savory Stuffed Turkey

The lovely people at Gardein wrote to me sharing news of their award for "Product of the Year" from VegNews Magazine. In response to these accolades, they have released a special limited edition product called gardein™ savory stuffed turk’y. According to Gardein, it "is made with vegetables, ancient grains and plant-proteins (soy, wheat, and pea) and is a delicious meat-free main course with 22 grams of protein, 9 grams of fat and 270 calories per serving. The turk’y is breaded with toasted crumbs and is stuffed with celery, onions, cranberries, and bread crumbs."

As I zigzagged the crowded dairy section of Whole Foods tonight with my cumbersome cart, I found the turk'y in the back of the bottom vegetarian freezer shelf. I may not have noticed it if I wasn't specifically looking for it. It was a very good find.

It might be the lack of daylight, my busy workdays, or that I need more exercise, but I'm feeling quite tired lately. Today is the first Vegan MoFo attempt at a completely vegan dinner. I spent my extra time today shopping for vegan products to experiment with, which means I had little time to actually concoct something by the time I got home. So tonight's vegan adventure entailed resisting the urge to "cheese" my potatoes, and "buttering" my carrots with Earth Balance. Baby steps, I guess.

The turk'y was pretty awesome. It was crunchy outside (despite me par-cooking it in the microwave before baking), and the gravy topping was enough to top some mashed potato if needed. My husband asked if I didn't already know it was fake meat, would I think it was real turkey? I suppose someone could possibly be convinced it was processed turkey, but it doesn't chew like the real thing. My only complaint was that the filling was a little gooey-slash-gelatanous - but tasted good.

I sliced some yukon gold potatoes and tossed them with olive oil, sea salt and pepper and baked them on a sheet next to the turk'y for 20 minutes. I tried out the Earth Balance on some boiled carrots with salt and pepper. At first taste, there's some slight flavor of something, maybe the soy, that's a little wierd. Once it melted and mixed with the salt, it actually tasted alright.

So today I introduced my husband to turkey-stuffing-gravy, and both of us to Earth Balance. Let's see what happens next in the Vegan MoFo.

This Is Going To Be Harder Than I Thought

Although I don't have too much time to fool around in the kitchen this month, I decided to sign up for Vegan MoFo (Vegan Month of Food). The idea is to join about 700 other bloggers in writing about vegan topics as much as possible throughout the entire month of November.

Challenge #1:
Fresh Direct is no longer stocking my staple items from Gardein, or my beloved SmartWings, or Quorn chik'n nuggets. Boo FD. Boooo. Not to mention they broke my fricken' pickles last week and my husband won't stop complaining about the lack of pickles! Oh yeah, have I mentioned there are NO grocery stores near my home?

Challenge #2:
I was forced to endure the crowds at WholeFoods in Union Square, only to discover the Gardein shelf almost empty. And no Field Roast sausages! I did find some other interesting items, like egg-less mayo, nutritional yeast flakes (for making cashew cheese) and Earth Balance vegan margarine. They even had the SmartWings for $3.50 - a savings of $2.50 compared with Food Emporium across the street! The other bonuses included free Udon noodles that didn't scan properly, and nice paper bags for my recycling.

Challenge #3:
My priorities are all over the place. I'm in the midst of busy-season at work, my fitness level needs more attention, and there are just too many holidays requiring social activities (last week Halloween parties, this weekend Diwali, in a couple weeks Thanksgiving travels).

Challenge #4:
I'm just beginning to understand that some things I thought were vegan are actually not. I've been using margarine without realizing it contained dairy - I thought it was just oils. There are little traces of dairy in so many vegetarian things. Even the Smart Wings have egg white powder - crap.

So I'll do the best I can. I won't make any empty promises of being entirely vegan for the month. It's hard enough eating about 75% vegetarian (including eggs is the only way I survive that). This may be harder than I thought, but hopefully I'll learn a thing or two.