Hey everyone! I hope all my US pals enjoyed the holiday this past Thursday. My Thanksgiving was a low-key day spent with family (minus one sis suffering from an unfortunately timed migraine). The boyfriend and I jumped in on the fun workout with my work "family" in the morning, then loaded up my vegan goodies to enjoy a meal with the family later on. Holidays now seem to center mostly around my niece, but it makes for a fun and memorable experience every time. I can't wait for Christmas up next!
I think with the hustle of getting everything to the table and desire to be as unplugged as possible, I hardly ever get good photos of my holiday meals. I did have a few folks interested in how my cranberry marinated tofu came out, though, so I had to take a few shots of the delicious finished product!
A bit more simple than some Thanksgiving plates, but no eater's remorse for me! ;)
I had gotten fresh cranberries from the farmers market the Saturday before the holiday on a whim, not really sure what I was going to make. After looking around for some inspiration I decided to make a basic homemade cranberry sauce then use it for a marinade. The sauce itself was just the cranberries cooked down in a bit of water with a few tablespoons of blackstrap molasses. Once the sauce was made, I blended a cup of it with a heaping tablespoon of fresh minced rosemary, a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a tablespoon of coconut aminos, and a pinch of black pepper. I sliced extra firm tofu into slabs then marinated them in the sauce overnight.
On Thanksgiving day, I fired up the broiler and put the tofu underneath for about 4-5 minutes each side. It came out even better than I expected! A little sweet and tart from the cranberries, but with that nice earthy aroma and flavor from the rosemary. Even my brother-in-law enjoyed it, and he's usually not big on tofu. The sauce was so good I used it again for a new meal on Friday.
We didn't have many leftovers from the holiday, but I had plenty of my farmers market veggies to use for a meal the day after. Nothing beats an easy casserole after a busy few days leading up to the holiday. Into a baking dish went chopped sweet potatoes, beets, fennel, tempeh and Red Russian Kale. I poured over the same version of the cranberry sauce marinade and mixed it all in. Popped it in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit and let it cook, covered, for about 45 minutes.
Max was interested in tasting this, too...
Another easy and pleasing bowl of goodness! I don't often use fresh cranberries in my cooking, so I'm glad to have some new ideas to add to the repertoire as they are little healthy gems. We've got a few more servings of this to enjoy into the beginning of the new week.
To continue on with the theme of abundance, the BF's parents came back to collect our little fuzzy house guest Saturday and brought with some goodies from their trip to Florida. Citrus will never go to waste in our household, so a big bag of fresh oranges was gladly received. They also brought this beautiful papaya fresh off the tree!
I also made my usual Saturday trip to our local market, which was nice as the theme of the day was Small Business Saturday. Always love supporting my farmers and other local vendors! It was a quiet market as many vendors were taking the holiday off, and lots of shoppers were, as well. I got to purchase a lot of the usual veggies, and snagged a bag of fresh pecans from the southern part of our state. Talk about a delicious snack!
Finally, I'm very thankful for the wonderful 
I will try to continue to share some of my thoughts and experiences throughout the next three weeks. Perhaps the discipline will help me find that "abundance" of time to tackle all the other goals I want to work on before the end of the year!
On that note...time to finish my turmeric tea and get to some mindful moments. Cheers to starting off the last month of the year on a high note!
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and 
for 
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