Make Vegan-friendly Thanksgiving Dishes

A recent report in VegNews magazine estimated that vegetarians now make up six percent of the population and counting. It is not a huge number, but it is enough to impact the menu options that meat eaters will have to consider putting on the table for their vegetarian guests this Thanksgiving.

If the idea of making additional side dishes for your vegetarian guests seems exhausting, then you're thinking about this the wrong way. You can make easy substitutions in your favorite recipes that will please the herbivores at your table and your carnivorous guests will never even know (unless you tell them!).

Before you can cater to your guests, you'll need to know what kind of vegetarian they are.

Lacto-ovo vegetarian- These vegetarians are not bothered by food that contains animal dairy and eggs. Note that some cheeses contain animal rennet, which means it is not vegetarian. Check the ingredients listed on your cheese to make sure it is either rennet free, or uses vegetable rennet. There are some vegetarians who prefer to refrain from eggs, considering it to be death in the same sense that pro-life proponents believe that abortion is killing.

Vegans: Vegans are the strictest kind of vegetarians. Being a vegan impacts a person's lifestyle more than any other form of vegetarianism. Vegans eat no forms of animal products at all, regardless of whether the animal needs to be killed to produce the food. This means all meats, stocks, animal lards and cheeses containing animal rennet are off the table, as are all eggs and animal-derived dairy products, such as milk, cream, and butter. But most vegans also
refrain from eating honey (produced by bees) and refined sugars and wines, because some brands use animal byproducts during filtration.

Often, lacto-ovo vegetarians make and enjoy vegan foods and eat them often, so making some vegan side dishes will likely be appreciated by all vegetarian guests, no matter what their "level" of commitment.

It may seem like a lot of foods are off-limits, but if you plan ahead, you might come to find that it isn't so hard to cook for vegans after all. Let's start with basic substitutions in Thanksgiving classics.

Mashed Potatoes: I know what you're thinking. "Wait a minute, potatoes are a vegetable… how can they be considered un-vegetarian?" Remember what goes into making them though: milk or cream and butter, off limits for vegans. Fortunately, soymilk makes an easy substitution for milk. Use the same amount of soymilk as you would if you were using dairy. Vegan butter is also easy to come by these days. Smart Balance is sold in regular grocery stores nationwide and is a healthy substitute for everyone at the table; just make sure you pick up the one labeled "vegan." These changes won't hurt the flavor at all, but if you are concerned about it, add leeks, garlic, green onions, or herbs to the mixture for extra flavor.

Green beans with bacon: No bacon is necessary in a green bean dish when you whisk together minced garlic, fresh squeezed lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, some salt and pepper and toss it with fresh steamed or roasted green beans.

Dinner rolls: Some breads sold in the supermarket contain animal byproducts and some don't. It's often hard to tell which brands are safe, because ingredients are given such long, foreign sounding names. Try scouring the PETA "I Can't Believe It's Vegan" list, http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan.

Veg-gravy- Usually, gravy is made with drippings from the turkey. Instead, try making this delicious, flavorful, easy and vegetarian brown gravy recipe. Reduce equal parts mushroom and onion broths for 30-45 mins or until it thickens. That's it!

Pies: Most pie crusts contain butter or lard and sugar. You could easily use vegetable lard and raw sugar in your pie crusts. If you aren't so handy with the pie crusts, skip the Pillsbury and go crust free. Instead of a cherry or apple pie, make a fruit crumble using raw sugar, vegan butter, spices and oats.