When I was a little girl, I thought the best thing about Thanksgiving was the food: my grandma’s green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie and turkey. When I reminisce about those traditions, I realize now that I really didn’t care for the food. (What is that odd cranberry stuff that comes out of a can anyway?) What I really loved was the tradition of spending time with my loved ones. Now, with a family of my own, I want to create our own traditions so that my children will have fond memories. Most importantly, I want them to know that Thanksgiving is about celebrating life and that this celebration can be done without taking the life of a turkey. If you too are looking to create new traditions for your family, or need to know what to serve your vegetarian/vegan guests, here are some animal-friendly suggestions for a healthy and humane feast:
- Take your favorite childhood Thanksgiving dishes and make them vegetarian/ vegan. For instance, stuffing can be made using a vegetable broth and pies can be made using vegetable shortening in place of lard or butter.
- Try a commercial or homemade unturkey main dish
- Thanksgiving usually has a generous amount of side dishes, so try skipping the turkey substitute and feasting on the side dishes.
- If the people you celebrate with are not vegetarian, propose alternating years so that every other year the feast is vegetarian/vegan. Promise to help with recipes and ideas.
- Host a Day After Thanksgiving Vegetarian/Vegan Feast with friends, whether it be an extravagant sit-down dinner or a potluck.
Here are some menu ideas:
MAIN COURSES
- Field Roast Celebration Roast
- Garden Protein Veggie Turkey Breast
- Tofurky
- Pecan encrusted seitan
- Butternut squash with wild rice stuffing
- Veggie pot pie
- Veggie loaf
- Nut roast
SOUPS AND SALADS
- Pumpkin soup
- Butternut squash soup
- 12 bean soup
- Black bean and sweet potato chili
- Marinated lentil salad
- Quinoa salad
- Vegetable barley couscous
- Cranberry spinach salad
SIDE DISHES
- Mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy
- Potato and kale galette
- Roasted brussels sprouts with onions and apples
- Green beans with cranberries
- Cranberry-apple relish
- Cranberry chutney
- Corn bread
- Sweet potato biscuits
UNSTUFFED STUFFING
- Walnut-apple stuffing
- Sourdough stuffing with pine nuts and raisins
- Cranberry-pear wild rice stuffing
- Cornbread stuffing
- Stuffing with gimmelean sausage
- Quinoa stuffing
DESSERTS
- Pumpkin or squash pie
- Sweet potato pie
- Apple pie
- Pear and apple crumble
- Cranberry-nut bread
- Poached pears with wine vinaigrette
- Lemon custard bars
- Fresh fall fruit tart