v-con and ED&BV LOVE! and a very personal sidenote!

I first want to start w/ my very best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! no matter how you choose to celebrate! Over the last couple of weeks here is what I have been cooking from my new cookbooks.....

V-Con leek and bean cassolet w/ biscuits..
Love these biscuits!.. This totally smelled good in the oven!!!

V-con...Chickpea cutlets.. OHH baby.. too bad I made mine a bit too thin then baked the heck out of them.. they ended up being more like crackers... Total operator error.. I will be trying these again!! Sweet potato mash and a garden salad on the side.

The ever so crumbly ED & BV chickpea sensation patties w/ popcorn fries. Ohhhh everyone LOVED those fries!! man o man! I had some better photos but, thought this one was cute w/ the book there and all.ohhh MYYY again... The chickpea sensation patties made a mighty fine leftover lunch! especially w/ homemade bread
I made some beefy seitan then added some left over bbq sauce and on the side....ED&BV Lemon garlic pasta... The funny thing about these noodles is little Ms. Emma really didn't care for them.. She begs me to buy lemons so she can suck on them or make "lemon water" regularly.. but, to hers I ended up adding a splash of Old Bay seasoning and then she ate them.. Would I make them again? oh heck yea w/ some Old Bay seasoning and soy creamer (life is always better w/ soy creamer, is it not?)

ON a very serious note....

Last year my Mom was diagnosed w/ breast cancer the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. .. I will never forget that call. I had that night's dinner going... and Thanksgiving dinner going too. I had started the tofu pumpkin pie, I had my wild rice cooking on the stove.. It was about 3:00 pm.. when Mom called. She really couldn't say anything but, it was confirmed it was breast cancer. She hung up and all of the sudden I was completely and utterly paralyzed. I remember calling my hubby.. telling him the news, sobbing.. telling him I had a plan for the night, that I had started prepping this and that...but, I could not seem to remember a bit of it. Stuff was cooking and I could not seem to remember where I was, or what I was doing. Honey came right home to help/ comfort me and reassure me everything was going to be okay. The absolute hardest part was I was 900+ miles away.. That I could not be with her. That was torture! I wanted so desperately for her not to be alone that night (her honey was out of town). I called her BFF and she assured me that she was on her way to stay the night w/ my Mom (YEA! MARYELLEN!). The next day I had my first parent teacher conference w/ my son Eli's then kindergarten teacher. My oldest was in town for the holidays and stayed home w/ the little ones. I only remember braking down in the car on the way .. crying... yelling screaming all the way there.. Once there, I couldn't tell you one thing that the dear teacher said. Later that night my mom arrived for Thanksgiving.. Logically I knew she would be fine, emotionally I couldn't stand the thought of her suffering emotionally.. Why would I tell ya all about this?

-One, my Mom almost skipped her yearly mammogram last year. It was inconvenient, It was time consuming, and she thought like every year they wouldn't find anything anyway. Moral of the story girls - they did find something! SOOO girls go get your mammograms! Please don't put it off...They truly does saves lives!

-Two it leads me to this..

(I hear your collective ahhhhh... isn't it cute?)In honor of my Mom's one year anniversary.... My new tattoo. It is on my wrist, if ya can't tell from the photo. It is kind of hard to see but that is supposed to be a breast cancer pink ribbon behind my MOM tat... I had gone up to Anchorage to celebrate my daughter's 18th birthday. Her idea was to go get tattoos. It became a family affair as my two oldest kids, my bff Kari and I all got tattoos.

-Three, while I was there I got to meet Ms. Dabbleswithapples!( yea me! I have been some what jealous of ya all being able to meet up! in my neck of the woods it just seem to be impossible!), Ms. Monica is just as charismatic as she is so flipping cute! Me, I'm a bit shy and reserved, and meeting new people has never been one of my strong points.. I kinda felt like a nerdy Jr. high boy w/ braces and glasses and a bad hair cut .. at his first dance. I was thrilled to meet her none the less! She is a veggie superstar!

Happy Thanksgiving again.. I look forward to reading all of ya'alls post! I have had quite a time making my vegan thanksgiving thus far! stay tuned .. it should be fabulous!