My Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner

Menu:

Entree:

Chikun Roulade
Green Beans
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce

Dessert:

Deep Dish Apple Pie

I know this is late, as I am creating this in the middle of December, but Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks; I believe we should be doing that all the time. Therefore, the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. When I was younger, my dad used to make a variation of a cottage cheese loaf with rice crispie cereal instead of Special K cereal. We soon switched to chikun, or gluten, as some people know it, and that became the center of our meal instead of the loaf. We also always had mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls, and a few types of pie. My father always demands five different pies, but we have yet to succeed. We recently switched from cottage cheese loaf to chikun to turkey, but all sides have been kept the same.

I wanted to create this meal with a reminiscence of my childhood and the food I used to eat then. I made the roulade with chikun, vegan Bologne, vegan boring cheese, kalamata olives that I butterflied, and sliced roasted red pepper. I paired that with green beans, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, and cranberry sauce. I usually would pair this with Martinellis, but I did not have that this time. But I did have an apple pie. That is usually one of the five pies my dad asks for each year, the others being chocolate mouse pie, pecan, and cherry, and we haven’t figured out the last pie.

I made the apple pie with crust and almost everything else because it tastes better than things from a can. I enjoyed doing this and would make this again for my family next year or possibly for Christmas, as I know some people who eat a Christmas turkey. However, there is another tradition we have for Christmas and Christmas Eve dinner, so I'd like to see if I can squeeze it in this year. We usually have fondue for Christmas Eve dinner and appetizers for Christmas lunch and dinner, which we snack on all day after the festivities.