Family

Thanksgiving... is a traditional North American holiday to give thanks at the conclusion of the harvest season. To me Thanksgiving is food, travel, turkey, fall, leaves, orange, and FAMILY.

On Sunday Nate and I went over to Fashion Square mall, if any of you know this mall you know it is a crap mall, but we had to return the tux that Nate wore in our friends wedding this weekend. As we waited out side for the store to open I started up the conversation about thanksgiving (for the millionth time). We haven't decided which family we are going to see and thanksgiving is only a couple days away. As we sat there thinking about it we realized no matter where we were going, it would probably be a depressing day.

We were going to his grandmothers in Seabring because she is not doing very well, but then Nates mom had to go to the emergency room last week and is still in bed receiving antibiotics for a staff infection. His parents told us that they still might be going to seabring, but I really don't think his mom should travel. On the other hand we can go to my grandparents house and have thanksgiving there, which is normally a good time and we can invite Nates parents over. We would still have the stress of seeing his mom, but we would only have to travel an hour and a half not four hours on the busiest travel day of the year. As I sat there, in our crappy mall, I realized that Thanksgiving is about family and how we are giving thanks for the people in our lives. I also realized that growing up kinda sucks and it really sucks when people we love become sick. We both agreed that no matter what we do the most important thing is to spend time with our family! Sometimes this is easier said than done. I love my family they are great people but sometimes I can only take so much of them. Most of the people in my family are very opinionated and mostly about my life. I know they are just helping me out and giving me advice that they wish someone had given them, but when it comes from your family it is different. I guess I just see it that since I am so comfortable with them I can become more agitated and annoyed with them. It even seems that way with really close friends, you feel comfortable with just telling them that you don't want to hear it and they continue to tell you their opinion! For this Thanksgiving, no matter where I end up, I am going to try and just enjoy every ones presence and enjoy the person that they are. I am going to try and take every little quirk and suggestion and just turn them into a positive, this Thanksgiving is just going to be about enjoying my family and the people that they are!

Our Mother

I went to Veg Fest 2007 last weekend with my friend Alexis and my dog Dakota. I wanted to take photos, but trying to hold my 70 lb dog at the same time just wasn't working. On the way back to the car I saw some beautiful trees lining the street, here are a couple of them. There is also a Spicy Sweet potato recipe at the bottom!

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

*Use one sweet potato per person

- pre-heat oven to 430 or 450 for crispier fries

- slice potato into thick wedges (steak fries size)

- put all the slices into a bowl and add some EVOO

-add oregano, cayenne, and chili pepper (or everglades seasoning) to the bowl (season as much as you would like)

- mix with your hands until seasoning is all over potatoes

- put potatoes on a baking sheet until they are evenly spread apart

- sprinkle with a little bit of cinnamon

- bake for 30 to 45 minutes until brown
Then you have some very yummy and health fries!

Some new yum yums

So this weekend was a weekend of many new things.
But, since I work full time, my week days arent very exciting! So I will let you know about the rest of my weekend throughout the week!
Ok, so I branched out and tried a new recipe. I made a Vegan green bean casserole. I am new to this whole vegan thing, I just wanted it to be low in fat and healthy, so I made it vegan! I got it from Fatfreevegan, but I made it a little different!

The Best Vegan Green Bean (and broccoli) Casserole (Lauren Style!)

Beans
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon table salt
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces ( I used about half of this)
( in a seperate pot (or you can wait until your green beans are done) I boiled up some broccoli the same way with the salt, but broccoli doesn't take as long)

Bring the water to boil in a large pot. While it's heating, cut up the beans. Add the salt and beans to the boiling water. Cover and cook for 6 minutes. Drain beans in a colander, and then spray for a minute with cold water to stop the cooking. Let them drain in the colander, shaking every now and then to get off all the water.

Sauce

*10 ounces mushrooms (I don't like mushrooms, so didn't add them!)
3 cloves garlic, minced
generous pinch cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
Fresh pepper to taste
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon dry sherry
3/4 cup soy creamer

Trim and discard the mushroom stems and chop the mushrooms into pieces. Spray a non-stick pan with canola oil and heat it. Add the mushrooms, garlic, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are very soft and exude their juices. Whisk the flour into the vegetable broth and add to the mushrooms along with the sherry. Simmer, stirring, until mixture thickens. Add the soy creamer and simmer until thick, about 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust the seasonings and stir in the beans.

Topping

1 1/2 slices whole grain bread ( I just used the bread I had in the cabnet which was 12 grain, it tasted good with the nuts)
1 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/16 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 3-ounce can of French fried onions

Put the bread, margarine, salt, and pepper into a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Pour into a bowl and add the onions. Stir to combine.

To assemble:
Put the green beans into an oiled casserole dish and top with the onion mixture. Bake at 425 F for about 15 minutes. If you are not serving this right away, refrigerate the topping separately. Bring to room temperature before sprinkling the topping on the casserole and baking for about 20 minutes or until hot throughout.
(I found it got a little too crispy cooking it for 20 minutes, I would do 15 next time!)

This recipe came out so great I really want to do it for thanksgiving! It passed the vegan test, and she doesn't even like green beans, thanks Alexis!

Ok, so off to bed gotta be up at 4 tomorrow morning, will share something new tomorrow night!