This will be the first Thanksgiving that I'll be celebrating as a vegetarian, and I was wondering how others are navigating this time of year. I don't have any elaborate family things to go to, so there's no awkwardness in 'rejecting' the traditional turkey, and such. My partner and I are gonna have a friend over, and make some various dishes, and have it be informal. We'll be making: -veggie lasagna, with a few layers of spinach and shallots, and also, some capers and shiitake mushrooms...and the usual ricotta and mozzarella cheese; got some fresh basil for the sauce. -a salad of Boston lettuce, with chilled beets, layered with soft goat's cheese, some cucumbers and with a cilantro/avocado dressing. -some Indian style semi-mashed mini red and white potatoes; turmeric, coriander, garam masala, touch of red curry paste, butter. Then desert. Hopefully, our friend will bring desert! If not, it's ice cream and Ghirardelli chocolate sauce So what do all the other non-meat eaters do about this bird-based holiday?????
I'm a vegetarian and have been for 11-12 years now! I just avoid the turkey and stuffing (if it's been in the turkey) and gravy and eat everything else that we have. I go with my family to my grandparents house. We usually have: mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes and/or squash, carrots, peas, baby onion dish thing, rolls, cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, and whatever else happens to be there. We usually bring desserts: lots of pies and some cookies. I'm not a huge pie fan because I don't really like the crust, but I always try some of each (except maybe pecan... not a big fan of pecans and walnuts).
I've been vegan for almost 4 years now. I'll be making vegan turkey with gravy and perhaps a cake (because cake makes everything better) and my Mom is going to make mashed potatoes. ^^
What we have planned is Traditional Sage stuffing, bread rolls, mashed potatos and corn, Quorn Turk'y Roast, and cranberry sauce. All of those, except for the Traditional Sage stuffing, are vegetarian-friendly. Quorn Turk-y Roast is a vegetarian alternative that we discovered a few years ago, and is absolutely wonderful. The family is almost entirely vegan. We all care about animals and nature, three of us especially being particularly passionate.
Not a pure vegetarian here, although I do a lot of vegetarian cooking, and have had long stretches of no meat. I've never cooked a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner, and it has been years since I last cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. But...it seems like I could do quite a bit without having a turkey involved. (Well, no turkey apart from me, the chef. :lol Indeed, I honestly am not sure I'd bother with turkey ever again, vegetarian phase or not--I'm not at all wild about it. Just load up on many of the traditional side dishes. If protein is a concern, well, one could do something with beans. And Thanksgiving might be an interesting time to use interesting dried beans (such as the ones at Heirloom Beans – Rancho Gordo). Or one could totally discard tradition. Indeed, I'm not too wild about the standard dinner. It's edible, but not the most exciting thing imaginable. The menu posted by HuskyPup is, however, intriguing. ---------- Post added 25th Nov 2015 at 05:16 PM ---------- Oh, yes, I've tried Tofurky, and didn't particularly like it. Although it may still have been better than most of the turkey I ate in the past. I guess I don't think much of the idea of "fake" meat. It's often dreadful, and there is so much one can do with normal ingredients vs. highly processed fake meat. But...that's just me.
Sigh. I want to make this recipe really bad. It looks like a wonderful centerpiece that could replace a turkey. The downside? The intense level of work involved... on the other hand, that's also an upside, I guess. It appeals to every gay, overachieving, perfectionist bone in my body. I envision some wonderful future for myself, where I have this massive family and we're spending all day in the kitchen before Thanksgiving making that thing as an annual tradition. I want a dish that is unique, complex, delicious, and worthy of being a centerpiece on my table. The Vegetables Wellington might fit that bill. People who have tried it have said it tastes amazing. Here are some other, less intensive, recipes that might interest you.
My family was never big on Thanksgiving but I just have veggies, salad, etc like any other day haha the only difference is I get free wine at the family dinner lol
Mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, vegetarian stuffing, green bean cassserole, peas and onions, basically everything but the turkey itself
