No Animals Were Harmed in the Production of this Feast

This Meatless Loaf was the hit of the party!  The outer crust parts were the best so next time

I will cook it thinner or in individual smaller pieces to give it that wonderful texture!

Can't forget the gravy!  Once you go vegan gravy, there's no need to go back!

Andrea's Super Quick Lasagna.  Daiya cheese is almost like the real thing!

Our open minded dinner guests brought Indian spiced taro.  I need to

get the recipe from her because this dish was DIVINE! 

My lovely mom and sis worked on the sides: Orange juice marinated 

Sweet Potatoes and a Cucumber Pear & Persimmon Salad.

Vegans can pig out on Thanksgiving, too!  (This is my plate ;)

Oh yes, the desserts!  This easy breezy pumpkin pie got slightly overcooked 

so to keep it pretty I topped it with easy and fun candied cranberries! 

This was my masterpiece: Apple Pie Cheesecake.  I stayed up until 2 in the morning making the topping.  Well worth the effort as my non-vegan dinner guests raved about it and went back for seconds!!!!

Oh, and I adopted a turkey and his name is Skip.  :)

   

Vegan Rehab

Confession: Something happened this summer, and I completely fell off the vegan bandwagon.  Sh!, don't tell anybody, but I even spent some quality time at Taco Bell.  Yikes!  (Did you know their beans are vegetarian!?)  Needless to say, I went deep and dark into an addiction I call cheese.  Thankfully, some angels came my way (yes that's you Andrea and Joey!) and reminded me who I really am: a vegan!  Why vegan, you ask?  Well, because learning how to "Eat to Change the World" is part of my personal journey.  One thing I've learned in life is to never turn your back on your individual journey.  Be who YOU are, not who THEY tell you to be.  Listen to your heart, and you will be led to far greater happiness than had you stayed in the "pack".  Becoming a vegetarian changed my life.  Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter".  Being a vegan is a personal choice.  I do it because I feel a burning in my gut that tells me I'm right where I need to be.  People tell me I am weird, that I am "extreme", that I need to eat more proooootein (the government-brainwashed agenda on protein is for a future post!), but life is too short to concern yourself with naysayers.  What I learned last year lit me on fire and made me want to be a part of the food revolution.  And darlin', with GMO's, pesticides, the destruction of our environment by factory farming, the skyrocketing of lifestyle-based diseases (namely our diet), the greed of corporations that compromise our health for profits, and the truly horrific treatment of most farm animals, you better believe there is a revolution coming.  So the next time somebody asks me why I am a vegan, I will answer "why not?".