So what have you all been up to on this final sprint to Thanksgiving? Scoping out boxed whole vegan turkeys? (it comes in a box.) Perhaps you’ve been digging up those repressed memories of family dinners past just for funzies? Well, if you’re busy doing either or both of these things (they are time consuming!), you are probably just realizing now that Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday and you are only realizing this because I just told you. Thanksgiving cat’s out of the Thanksgiving bag! Slow roasted!

Apparently once you turn 26, time starts passing at hyper level speeds. One second you’re crying on Valentine’s Day, the next second it’s fucking Thanksgiving on Thursday. Everything is now something that “just snuck up” on you. You live in constant fear of being startled.

For the ones being snuck up upon by Thanksgiving (I write good!) who are planning on bringing a vegan dish to their Thanksgiving dinner so they can have a vegan dish to eat, this side is dedicated to you. It’s super easy, the veggies interchangeable depending on your mood/grocery store/food color preferences, the supplementary non-produce ingredients are probably things you already have in your pantry, and it’ll make your apartment smell like a Thanksgiving wonderland of sweet and spicy roasted dreams and love.

On a side* note, I quit my job a couple days ago and I have never been so thankful. It’s like the giant black cloud (with fun white accents if under a blazer!) that’s been hovering dangerously close has been lifted. I’ve been walking around smiling and stuff. And I hate smiling! Sure, some guy still called me an ass when I went out that night but it happened significantly later in the evening than usual! All my sentences now end in !

Hopefully you also have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. If not, you still have time. You’ll figure something out.

ROASTED ORANGE GLAZED BRUSSELS SPROUTS & SUNCHOKES

serves 4 if you’re polite, 2 if the other vegan option contains fish because you eat fish right? What about chicken?

ingredients:

half an onion, chopped into rough chunks (about 130g)

a few sunchokes, washed and chopped into similarly sized chunks (about 140g)

fresh brussels sprouts, ends trimmed off

½ cup of fresh squeezed orange juice (use regular oj if you have some already but it’ll be sweeter)

1 tablespoon of maple syrup

1 teaspoon Splenda Brown Sugar Blend + some extra for sprinkling (again, regular brown sugar can substitute if you don’t want to put on pants today)

1 tablespoon vegan butter

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ – ¾ teaspoon coarse salt, dependant on your taste

ground pepper

*Be thankful for hot puns fresh from the oven/Hell.

Preheat your oven to 400. Line a roasting dish with tin foil.

Whisk together maple syrup, orange juice, cinnamon, and brown sugar. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter over lowish heat (just don’t make it so sizzly or whatever). Add your liquid mix and bring to a boil. Bring it down to a simmer and let it keep on simmering for a few minutes or so. Toss in your prepped chunks of veggies in the liquid to get them good and coated. Let them soak in the glaze on low heat for a hot minute or so just to make sure the glaze really gets in there.

Put your coated veggies in the prepared roasting dish. Sprinkle them with paprika, salt, pepper and just a tiny bit of brown sugar. Toss gently.

Roast for 35-40 minutes.

Be thankful.

NUTRITION: 127 calories // 23g carbs // 3g fat // 3g protein // 4g fiber // 13g sugar

if served as a side dish for 4

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