Thanksgiving

Yes, I realize that Thanksgiving was a week ago but after cooking a ridiculous amount of food and then eating mostly leftovers for the following days, I couldn't even think of what I'd made without groaning and having phantom back/foot aches. But I've finally recovered so here goes!

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of most of the things I made because everything was so hectic. I even had to hold the stuffing for several minutes after it came out of the oven (using oven mitts, of course) because there was just nowhere to put it. This was my biggest culinary undertaking and I emerged victorious!The Home-Style Potato Rolls are delicious and adorable. They also nearly gave me a mental breakdown. The dough was ridiculously sticky, something that wasn't very noticeable until after it had risen the first time. I ended up adding at least 4 cups more flour (almost twice as much as the recipe called for) and reworking the dough made the rolls a little bit tougher than they were probably supposed to be but I don't think anyone noticed. The important thing is that I didn't cry into the dough, no matter how tempted I was. I topped them with poppy seeds or toasted sesame seeds and left a few unblemished for my seed-hating brother. The best thing about these is you can pull them apart into three pieces. Neat!

Mini-falafel with tahini dressing! I was really proud when I came up with this as an appetizer. I've made falafel more times than I've made anything else so I am fiercely proud of my work on this front. I can't remember the size exactly, but they probably had about the diameter of a quarter. The tahini dressing also came out great, although I think people were skeptical of it due to it having a heavy garlic/balsamic vinegar taste, which I loved but other people don't love garlic as much as I do (how they can live with themselves, I'll never know).

One of the other appetizers was the Mediterranean-style Cashew-Cucumber Dip from V'con (served with sliced pita bread). I've made this dip for various social occasions and it has always been a big hit. It's a great way to show your family that appetizers don't need to be covered in cheese! The texture for this one wasn't quite right. I suspect that I didn't squeeze enough of the juice out of the grated cucumber (I was rushed! And stressed!) so it was a tiny bit liquidy instead of its proper form - hummus' sexy cousin.

I also made:
- apple pie
- mashed Yukon Golds with Earth Balance and almond milk (I wanted to make roasted garlic mashed potatoes but was shot down. Someday!)
- The Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole from FatFree Vegan (I made some slight modifications so it would be gluten-free: arrowroot instead of flour and I skipped the crumb topping in favor of extra fried onions. I think this was the most successful/popular dish on the table.)
- roasted applesauce from Vegan with a Vengeance
- vegan stuffing/dressing

It was an intense several days, to say the least.