Let's Talk About the Food

People like to read about, and talk about, food. At least, that's true if my Facebook status updates are a good indicator. I put up a post about having seen tons of ads and mentions of Nutella lately, so many that I felt like I ought to try it, and got a ton of comments. Forget spiritual techniques or what's happening with the kids, bring on the chow! So, let's talk about the food. What better week for it?

We just made the final (we're pretty sure) batch of salsa using fresh tomatoes from this season. Our local farm store has had salsa tomatoes for far longer than I recall from past years. We have a friend who works there, and she kept letting us know when more tomatoes became available. So this is the third "final batch," and it's really very tasty. We may be getting just a teensy bit sick of Mexican food around here, though.

Not to worry, though, it's just in time for Thanksgiving, with its own particular recipes. Last week we attended the Maine Wholeschoolers' Thanksgiving, and our contributions were wild rice & mushroom-stuffed squash (both butternut and acorn), vegetarian gravy, and a pumpkin pie. The gravy was surprisingly well received by the other families, who all eat meat, but some of whom chose our gravy over the turkey one. And then the pumpkin pie was gobbled up, too, though I don't think anyone knew it was vegan. To the one Mom who asked me about what was in it, I leaned over and whispered "tofu!" She just grinned and kept eating, not letting on to the kids.

For our own feast this Thursday, which we host each year, we'll be making seitan (a vegan meat substitute), the veggie gravy again, and some non-meat-touched stuffing. BlackLion's Mom will contribute the traditional turkey version of all these. Then the rest of the clan (including us) will help provide the mashed potatoes and squash, peas, pearl onions, rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, and my family's traditional "pink salad" (much yummier than it sounds). And of course there will be pies! My vegan (shh!) pumpkin one, Mom's yummy low-sugar apple pie, and Aunt Peg's delicious chocolate cream.

Hungry yet? Don't worry, just three more days to wait. May your celebration be blessed!