Vegan Mofo: Banana Loaf

Monday is Thanksgiving here in Canada and my extended family had our Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  Sometimes it's hard to be vegan at an Italian gathering.  I love pasta, but it was canaloni, so it was stuffed with cheese.  No pasta for me.  But that's OK because I had lots of great veggies to eat.  I even ate some rapini even though it's not my favourite vegetable.  I find it very bitter, but it wasn't too bad tonight. 

Anyway, even though I'm one of the kids and I'm not "supposed" to bring anything, I wanted to bring some dessert.  You know if there is one thing we Italians do not have enough of, it's dessert.  (sarcasm intended, people!).  I bought some bananas that were marked for discount this week because they were veeeerrrry ripe--so perfect for banana bread.  I looked at some banana bread recipes, but alas, I forgot to pick up vanilla when I was shopping and I ran out last week.  Not to worry, I found a recipe.

I made this Banana Loaf.  It was really easy to make.  I was all set to put it in my loaf pan when I read in the recipe that it needed a cake pan.  Surprise for me!  It was more of a cake than a bread, and that was fine.  I really liked how it turned out.  The cake was very moist and quite tasty.  One thing I learned is that it's probably better to cut the loaf into pieces before the sugar on the top crystalizes.  It's really hard to slice the loaf without cracking the topping once it has cooled, and it makes it look a little messy.

I didn't mention that it was a vegan dessert.  I figured I'd just say it was dessert.  I did make sure that the diabetics knew it wasn't a good option for them to have it.  Too much sugar!  My aunt told me she quite enjoyed the sugar coating on the top.  I quite enjoyed it too!

I've got another Thanksgiving dinner on Monday with my husband's family.  I get to bring the veggies, so I know that I'll have plenty to eat, even without the turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

How to Freak Out Your Mother-In-Law at Thanksgiving

Yes, I did it. I totally freaked out my mother-in-law and I feel bad about it. See, we were trying to decide if we needed to make the ham as well as the turkey. Mum was counting how many wouldn't eat one or the other and I said, "Don't worry, I won't be eating either." Mum was digesting that when my husband and daughter both told her that I was "eating vegan" now. Oh yeah, thanks guys. Let's not ease her into it or anything.

Mum started to question me and my sister (in-law, but we call each other sisters) told her not to worry about me because I was not doing this without having researched it and following a program (kickstart). Mum dropped it then, but I saw her a few days later, and that's when the questions started.

I know Mum is just worried about me, but its hard to describe why I want to be vegan to her because she's an English baby-boomer. She's used to meat being something that you didn't get very often, so it was special and yes, an important part of a healthy diet. And to be honest, it's hard to explain it anyway. I want to be vegan because I feel it's healthier and it's better for the environment and animals. I feel healthier not eating animal products. I'm losing fat. My weight hasn't decreased a whole lot, but I am wearing pants that I couldn't even do up before I started eating vegan (and they are comfortable!).

My plan right now is to stick with what I am doing and not worry about what other people think. I'll give Mum more info in small pieces and see how it goes.

By the way, there is a new vegan social network I found out about this week. If you are interested in vegan or vegetarian eating or animal rights, you should check it out! This Dish is Veg Social. If you sign up, add me. My user name there is Jess. (and I just joined a group there called "Living with Omnivores"--might help me out!)