Thanksgiving vegetarian menu planning

We're planning a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner, with some thoughts in mind.

It would be great to have as much of it come from local sources as possible, and so I'll have my eyes open for things from the Ann Arbor Farmers Market.

We may have a main dish that's not vegetarian (some kind of fish, perhaps) but there's no turkey on the table or in the oven. No tofu turkey either - did that one year - no need to repeat. It's not that I don't like turkey, and I even have a source for a local organic turkey, but we'll let someone else cook that and we'll share leftovers.

The new stove is being delivered this week, and I am trusting that everything will work out with that. It would be really hard to cook on one small burner. First step in that process is done - the old stove is out - there will be a report on the new one!

Partial recipe ideas - I'll fill these in after some discussions and some more shopping at market.

Baked stuffed squash. We had a nice meal the other day with acorn or delicata squash filled with a mixture of rice, pine nuts, and dried cranberries. Start from this recipe in the Seattle Times and then work backwards to simplify and use the ingredients you have, it's pretty adaptable.

Brussels sprouts. This might just be for me, if the family doesn't go along. Epicurious has a very simple buttered brussels sprouts recipe with an amazing collection of variations in the comments.

Sweet potatoes. I like them baked, without much fuss.

Greens. The greens at market this week were turnip greens (delicious in a mustardy sauce) and collards (blanched and then seasoned). We have a good kale recipe with a sesame-soy-vinegar sauce that's really nice.

More sources:

• Vegweb.com Vegan/Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes

Technorati Tags: meals, menu, recipes, thanksgiving

Comments

[Murph]

Ed,

My largely vegetarian family has given strong approval to Quorn-brand "turkey" roast. Quorn is mycoprotein (yum! vat grown fungus!) , and their turkey roast has the taste/texture of white meat turkey pretty spot-on.

OTOH, I fully support breaking away from dependency on traditionally-defined thanksgiving dinners and skipping the turkey step. You can be thankful for anything you like.

[Pam]

Hi, For many years my family makes for Thanksgiving, the Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie recipe that came out of the Fit for Life cook book by Marilyn and Harvey Diamond. In this recipe I have always used local Ann Arbor Ed's Bread. It wouldn't be a stretch to use local ingredients for the balance of the recipe.

Be sure you use the "old" recipe and not the newer, less fat content one. It's Thanksgiving and with all of the work involved, you want it to taste good!

[Jack Vinson]

Ed - We've done veggie Thanksgiving for many years now. Even our in-laws seem to enjoy it. Our normal main course is a stuffed butternut squash from Vegetarian Celebrations by Nava Atlas. From there we switch it up. This year we'll have a fresh cranberry relish, jicama salad, green beans with caramelized onions, and a delicious potato/sweet potato dauphinois.

[Derek Mehraban]

Edward:

Thank you for the topic on a vegetarian Thanksgiving. This was my first Thanksgiving as a Vegan, and I got quite a few questions from the relatives.

We all go to my parent's house for dinner. And mom did make an effort with some vegan rice and stuffing. Also, my wife made vegan pumpkin pies. There was plenty of yummy food.

I hope in a near future, we can plan a vegan holiday meal that is truly delicious and top to bottom vegan.

Until then. And until a vegan Christmas!

Derek