Our Vegan Friendsgiving 2018

Do you have a group of friends that feel like family? I am super blessed to have a number of friends that feel just like that! Last weekend I carted myself to the outskirts of London, to spend the day with a few of those friends, for a Friendsgiving that was filled with epic food, loads of fun, so much laughter, and many beautiful memories.

I met Rebecca (aka @thezestylime) and Becca (aka @veritevegan) about a year and a half ago, but it honestly feels like we’ve been friends forever. I couldn’t believe how many similarities and interests we all had in common – the very least of which being our shared name. Yes, it can get confusing when we all hang out together, but that just makes it more fun! We’re also all musicians and vegan foodies, and spending a day in the kitchen with these wonderful ladies, plus Becca’s eccentric and positively wonderful boyfriend G (who doesn’t really do Instagram, but we love him anyways), always makes for the most fun adventures.

Friendsgiving

In 2017 I asked Rebecca and Becca if they would be up for having a Vegan Thanksgiving celebration with me. I think Rebecca (Canadian) shared my same feeling of missing her country’s Thanksgiving celebration (in October). Becca, being British, had never experienced Thanksgiving before. So, my first proper Friendsgiving was with the four of us – Rebecca, Becca, Bekah (me!), and G. We put together quite the spread. You can see everything we cooked up on the Thanksgiving Recipe Round-Up post I shared earlier this month!

This time, a year older and wiser, we went in with a strong game-plan and high expectations. We had the best time! And ate soo much good food. For all of the behind-the-scenes action from the day, Rebecca put together an amazingly fun Friendsgiving vlog on her YouTube channel that you must check out, and I’ve got a pinned story highlight on my Instagram as well!

Here’s a break-down of our day, and of course all of the food we had!

The Day: Arriving and the Thanksgiving Table

Rebecca was our host for the day, and she did it with such style. Her home is stunning, her kitchen is big, and she is the perfect host – she’s a fabulous cook, an incredible food stylist (have you seen her Instagram feed?), and can decisively make orders to get things done.

I made the journey to hers on Saturday, after baking up a batch of my Cornbread, and Pumpkin Cookies for the festivities. Arriving at her home, I walked into the kitchen to see the most festive Thanksgiving table. From autumn leaves, to themed figurines, to the use of sheet-music as placemats, I was honestly blown away.

I mean, isn’t it just stunning?

There was even a fireplace crackling on the television (thanks to Netflix’s ‘Fireplace for Your Home’), with holiday tunes playing in the background. If it sounds over the top, you may be right – but that’s the best way to do Friendsgiving!

Mocktails and a Vegan Cheese Board

Becca and G had arrived just before me, and Rebecca set me up straight away with a tangy mocktail. She just mixed together:

• @pomwonderful Pomegranate juice
• Orange juice
• Tonic Water
• Ice cubes

It was the perfect combination of sweet and tart, and was really refreshing!

After the cooking commenced, we set about putting together an easy peasy vegan cheese board. Last year we actually made a cheese board with homemade vegan cheese – which was so fun, and absolutely delicious! But it took a lot of time and effort as well.

This year I brought along a few vegan cheeses, and Rebecca worked her food styling magic to put together this gorgeous cheese board. It just took a few minutes for her to chop the cheeses, add fruit and nuts, and voila! A vegan cheese board definitely doesn’t have to be complicated.

We used:

• @bonsanvegan’s Wild Garlic Almond Crème
• @daiyafoods Cheddar Style Block
• @violife_foods Original Flavour Cheese Alternative Block
• @scharglutenfreeuk gluten-free crackers
• @lidluk rice crackers
• @wonderfulpistachiosuk salt and pepper pistachios and unsalted almonds
• fresh blueberries and strawberries
• @abelandcole mint leaves

The Daiya cheddar cheese was a stand-out to me. It honestly brought me back to my childhood and had such a strong cheese flavour (to my tastes)! I’m not the biggest eater of vegan cheese (being lactose-intolerant I never had much cheese even before going vegan), but I definitely plan to make another board like this in the future. It was the perfect appetiser to whet our appetite as our Thanksgiving meal was cooking.

The Thanksgiving Table

Having one Friendsgiving already under our belt, we knew what worked, and what could be adjusted for even smoother sailing this time around. We wanted to spend less time cooking, and more time enjoying the food, company, and the natural light (for all of the photoshoots of course).

So, we did some things in advance to speed up the process. Becca had partially cooked her nut roast the day before, so that just needed to be stuck in the oven before serving. I also brought my cornbread already baked, so that was cut up, placed on a wooden serving board, and was good to go. I brought some packaged gluten-free stuffing that was easily prepared (just add a bit of hot water and oil) and was stuck in the oven alongside the nut roast.

Rebecca prepared a simple kale salad (I appreciated having some greens on the table), and also cooked up her 3 cheese and garlic mashed potatoes, butternut squash and sage risotto, a homemade caramalised onion and herb gravy, and cranberry sauce. How good does it all sound? I promise it tasted even better!

All of the recipes/ingredients for our whole Thanksgiving table are copied below, and I highly recommend EVERYTHING! Rebecca has an improvisatory cooking style. She’ll taste as she goes and add ingredients in the quantities she sees fit. Her dishes always turn out amazing! For some of the dishes there is just a list of the ingredients she used (exact quantities are unknown, but you could try out her technique of cooking by taste, and see how it goes).

Thanksgiving Recipes

• Kale Salad with Tahini Ceasar Dressing
• Golden Cornbread
• ASDA’s Free From Sage & Onion Stuffing Mix
• Festive Maple-roasted Sage and Onion Nut-Roast with Cranberry Glaze
• Cranberry Sauce
• 3 Cheese and Garlic Mashed Potatoes: potatoes, tesco vegan cream cheese, a little @violife_foods original, @violife_foods Prosciano cheese, @oatly single cream, sautéed garlic and garlic paste, some fresh thyme, plus salt and pepper
• Butternut Squash and Sage Risotto: sautéed onions and garlic, cubed squash, arborio risotto rice, @saykallo yeast free veggie stock cubes, fresh sage and thyme, @oatly single cream, and sprinkled with @violife_foods Prosciano cheese
• Caramelised Onion and Herb Gravy: made with caramelised red onions, fresh thyme and rosemary, and gluten-free vegan gravy granules from @tescofood’s free from range

Friendsgiving with ‘Friends’

After eating (which came after loads of photo-taking of course), we were absolutely stuffed. We retired to the living room and decided to watch all of the Friendsgiving episodes from Friends. It seemed like an appropriate thing to watch. We could definitely relate to several of the scenes – like the ones of the gang all sprawled on sofas in their own apartment, discussing how full of good food they were!

Rebecca made me a decaf vanilla chai latte for me (using a @pukkaherbs teabag), with frothed @oatly mylk, that absolutely hit the spot. It was creamy, light, and I just love holding warm cups of tea. We happily watched episode after episode, catching up G on the happenings between seasons as he hasn’t watched much Friends. Eventually we made room for dessert, and Rebecca brought out one of the star dishes of the whole evening: her pumpkin cheesecake.

Thanksgiving Desserts

About a month ago, Rebecca mentioned that she would try to create a pumpkin cheesecake recipe for our Friendsgiving festivities. I watched her experiment with this recipe on her stories for weeks beforehand. As each new batch came out of the oven, I got more and more excited. I had such high expectations for this cheesecake. And it exceeded them all!

Rebecca’s cheesecake was sweet, but not too sweet; creamy and rich, yet still light and fluffy; the biscuit crust was buttery and thick; and the coconut whipped cream added a beautiful flavour to the whole mix (it tasted much like whipped cream, with hardly a coconut taste at all). She posted her Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe on her Instagram, and you absolutely need to try it out!

I had my cheesecake with a steaming cup of ‘Just Peachy’ @davidstea (the leaves of which steeped in the cutest manatee tea steeper). We ended the night by having some of my Healthy Pumpkin Breakfast cookies.

I got back home feeling so satisfied and grateful to have made such wonderful friends. We’ve now done two Friendsgivings together, and I sincerely hope it continues to be a yearly tradition.

Have you ever had a Friendsgiving? If not, I hope you can organise one next year, and perhaps use some of these recipes as inspiration for your own Vegan Thanksgiving spread!