Thursday night, one week before Thanksgiving, I experienced the holiday early. Our local Meetup, the Colorado Springs Vegan & Vegetarian Group, hosted a Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner at Seeds Community Cafe, a new nonprofit restaurant with a “pay what you can” philosophy. Founded by Lyn Harwell, the talented executive director and chef at Seeds, it has become a go-to community space. Seeds is open Monday – Saturday 10:00 am – 2:30 pm (serving up coffee and pastries in the morning; lunch begins at 11:30).
Though not a vegan or vegetarian restaurant, Seeds always has vegan and veg options and will soon be completely gluten-free (which, as we know, has nothing to do with being vegan and is not an issue for me but I thought you might want to know). Earlier in the week I had a quick and hearty lunch: veggie bean soup and the now famous kale Caesar salad.
Seeds also offers catering and is available for private events. I have now hosted two events at Seeds – the first for Matt Frazier’s No-Meat Athlete book tour and the second was Thursday. And I will do more because the service during the planning process is personal and attentive and the food never, ever disappoints!
Our Colorado Springs Vegan & Vegetarian Group Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner
Acorn squash soup
Tomato tarts
A messy holiday plate – my favorite!
We feasted on Field Roast Celebration Roast (an event sponsor!), Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Cornbread Stuffing, Brussels Sprouts and Caramelized Onions, Tomato Tarts, Grilled Asparagus, Green Bean Casserole and Portobello Mushrooms stuffed with Quinoa.
And dessert. Oh, we had dessert. The Paisley Pantry provided vegan pies: cherry, apple and pumpkin (with chile spice – hot and amazing!)
With over 20 people in attendance we all agreed – the food was ridiculously delicious, the space was perfect, and we had a lovely evening. We will be back same time next year, Seeds, because you rocked our vegan holiday plates!
Now that we’ve had our first plant-perfect holiday meal, let the vegan holiday shopping begin! Today the Colorado Springs Vegan & Vegetarian Group is hosting our first Vegan Pop-Up Market, featuring Denver’s Nooch Vegan Market. See you there?
