Ahhhh. macrobiotic thanksgiving

So, I had my first thanksgiving as a vegan, and it was at my mother's house who is not only vegan but macrobiotic (vegan on steroids, but quite interesting, look it up if you want). It went really well, I was pleasantly surprised by its tastiness. The menu: "celebration roasts" (wheat protein, millet, brown rice all layed out flat and then wrapped around raisins, corn, walnuts, cranberries, etc.). These roasts were our turkey substitute and actually very flavorful. In fact, once the gravy was on it was just like turkey. So now you're thinking, okay, you cheated with the gravy, but no...it was chickpea gravy and a-ma-zing! I mean if you think chickpeas you automatically think hummus (or at least I do), and that's kind of what it was, with some onions and mustard seeds, and other delicious seasonings. At any rate, it was great. Then we had the normal cranberry sauce (minus the sugar and plus some pears), which was delicious as well (although I still hold the ocean-spray brand cranberry sauce - not the kind in the cans that still has the indents of the can when you splosh it out, but the fresher kind which comes in a tupperware). Next we had sweet potatoes and you can't really mess those up (don't worry we used sweet brown rice syrup as the sweetener - it was nice, light and refreshing). As a side we made some amazing cornbread with flax seed instead of eggs and the flax seed substitute actually gave it a lovely nutty taste. Last but not least we had acorn squash (baked in the oven to a lovely softness) and stuffed with wild rice, dried cranberries, and walnuts. Basically, I didn't know it could be so delicious! and best of all, I didn't feel full at the end to the point of grossness, didn't crawl to the couch for a nap, and didn't even unbutton my pants. All I can say is, wow, it was great. P.S. if any of you are interested in these recipes I would be happy to pass them along. Mary Hayes - you must also try these "snobby joe's" made of lentils that are like heaven on earth. Let me know if you want the recipe. Oh ya, and thanks for the shout out on your blog...glad to see my stories engage you so well that you get distracted by shiny objects. HAHA. That was my great first (and hopefully not last) macrobiotic thanksgiving.