Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It was just past 12:30 a.m. in "The City." However, below, I have an update as of 6:30 a.m.

Well, another Thanksgiving Day has come and gone. But that doesn't mean that it's gone from our hearts.

Mary and I celebrated a vegan Thanksgiving Day with, to borrow a phrase, "All the trimmings!"
As you may recall, we started our preparations on Wednesday with the making of two types of vegetable broth, one for the vegan roast that Mary made in lieu a of a turkey and the other for her dressing and gravy.

All in all, we ended up with about six quarts of broth.

Each of those aforementioned dishes had no written recipe, they came straight from Mary's heart and into my stomach, but not before Mary prepared a pre-meal snack of vegan cheeses, crackers, pickles, and vegan pepperoni.

I may appear to be staring into space, but I am watching what seemed to be an endless pre-game warmup-up for rhe football game between the Lions and the Bears. The Bears, behind backup QB Chase Daniel, won the game 23 - 16.

I should mention that we had a piece of the pumpkin pie that I made Wednesday as our pre-meal snack/breakfast. True to Mary's prediction, it tasted great.

I think the best way to start the tale of our actual vegan Thanksgiving Day is to add some pix of the preparations, the meal itself, and the usual Thanksgiving Day leftovers that every family seems to have. Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't also remind everyone of their usual post-meal moans and groans about eating too much. Frankly Scarlet...

The recipe for our vegan roast and its broth, came from a cookbook that Adam and Steph gave me for Father's Day, entitled Field Roast: 101 Artisan Vegan Meat Recipes to Cook, Share, and Savor. The recipe for the special broth was named Mushroom & Herb Stock, while the recipe for the roast was called, surprise, Mushroom & Herb Roast.

Along with the special vegetable broth, there were numerous other ingredients that Mary chopped and blended into the final product.

The roast was wrapped in cheesecloth and then tied up before being boiled/simmered and then oven roasted.

What would a Thanksgiving meal be without dressing, which starts with sauteed mushrooms following a recipe known but to Mary.

Broth, homemade croutons and those sauteed vegetables made a very tasty dressing.

You simply must have mushroom gravy to top the dressing and the roast. Mary has a secret recipe that utilized more chopped vegetables, mushrooms, and spices.

Our potatoes departed from the traditional Thanksgiving potato dish of mashed potatoes. Instead, Mary followed a recipe from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen cookbook for Herbed Scalloped Potatoes, Provencal Style. The potatoes came from the vast gardens of the Palatial Estate. I peeled and sliced those without further incident.

Here is the meal in place on the dining room table. I had to wait for this picture to be taken before I could "Dig in."

We ate way too much and we still have leftovers that will last for many more meals. If you look on the left side of this pic, you'll see the biscuits that Mary made from a recipe found in a cookbook entitled Vegan Diner.

Somehow, we missed taking a picture of the green bean casserole that Mary veganized. This recipe was adapted from a cookbook entitled Better Homes & Gardens: All-Time Favorite Casserole Recipes, copyright 1977. Plus, there was one thing on our table that didn't come from a cookbook. That was my favorite Thanksgiving Day side dish, Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce©.

 

As Mary would be quick to remind, a sauce is usually more liquid than solid and is meant to be poured over something. This Jellied Cranberry Sauce does not fit that description, but I don't care.

We have a current temperature of 30° with a Small Craft Advisoryin effect until 7:00 a.m. today. Wind-speeds of 30 knots and 2' - 5' waves are expected on the "Big Lake."  The sn will rise today @ 7:47 a.m. and set later this evening @ 5:14 p.m.

Today, we hope to stay in and stay out of trouble. We will take a walk with the fur-children and that's about it. My shoulder is aching more each day and so I am limited in my ability to do much of anything. Hmmm, this looks like a good place to insert part of my addendum.

I went downstairs around 5:15 a.m. to let Ginger out and discovered that our Thanksgiving Day extravaganza had produced a huge load in the dishwasher. I proceeded to empty that appliance and then I tackled the sundry pots, pans, and casseroles that had helped us to enjoy our day. I finished washing and drying those around 6:00 a.m., but by then. STWD had arrived, so I made her go out too.

You can say with near certainty that when you have used most of the flatware and stirring/mixing utensils in the drawers, washed some of the dishes several times, and scrubbed the stove-top and the sink until they once again sparkle, that you had a great holiday meal. With all sincerity I can say, like that girl in the old Shake and Bake©™ commercial that I sure enjoyed the meal immensely, but that, "I helped!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhUTboHTrO4

However, now that Thanksgiving is over, I can get to one of my little pleasures in life, decorating the house for Christmas. I'll start indoors, but I will likely get to the outdoor decorating on Monday, as the NWS is forecasting rain on Saturday morning and also on Sunday. That's OK, because I'm retired. I will do a little each day and after a few days, I'll be done.

A special aside. Mary loves to chop, cook, and be in the kitchen. She is far better in the kitchen than I, and way far better than my mother or her mother. I am genuilely glad that Mary's recipes are not passed down through the generations.
 

Prior to eating our repast, we gave thanks to people who made Thanksgiving meals special for many years, like my late maternal grandmother, Nane. However, what is most important is that Mary does what she does out of love, certainly for yours truly, but also for the sheer joy that comes from loving the simple things in life. She is secure in who she is and so she doesn't worry about traditional female/male roles. She just does what she likes to do and doesn't judge others for who they are or what they like to do. I think that's one of the many reasons that I fell in love with her over 45 years ago!

 

So my gentle readers, that concludes this update and so I'll say as I always do, Ciao.