Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

Let's take a look at a traditional Thanksgiving celebration. After the first toast you eat so much food that you can barely waddle to the couch. You sit on the couch for an hour or so and talk with family and friends. Then just as you start feeling a little better, you go back to the kitchen and stuff yourself some more. Well I have a way that you can eat just as much, without the unpleasant fullness after wards. That way is having a vegetarian Thanksgiving.

Instead of buying a huge bird and ending up with a skeleton at the end of the night, let's try a traditional tasting tofurkey. Sure it doesn't look like a turkey, in fact it simply looks like a burned cake, but it tastes just like real turkey. All it takes is tofu, chicken stock, vegetables, and any seasonings you would like to add. It is simple to find a tofurkey recipe on google. One of my favorite websites to find vegetarian recipes is www.vegweb.com.

Most types of stuffing are already vegetarian, but I like mine to have sausage in it. To keep the stuffing from bloating you so much after your third or forth serving, I would recommend using vegan sausage.

Casseroles are great for Thanksgiving get togethers! One of my favorite vegetarian casseroles is sweet potato. You have a huge free space to use whatever ingredients you want to. I prefer to use sweet potatoes instead of yams. I like to mix it up a little bit and add 1/3 cup of orange juice. And if you think it needs even more of a zap to it, you can grate orange peel either into the casserole or as a topping!

Maybe a Shepard's pie is more to your taste than a casserole. It's simple to make one without meat, or even a meat substitute. All you do is only mash half of the potatoes you have fixed for the dish. Spread the whole potatoes, I like mine with the skin still on, across the bottom of the pan. The whole potatoes will substitute for the meat. Then fix the rest the way you would with a real Shepard's pie.

Now that sounds like a great start to a healthy Thanksgiving meal. Throw in some home-made biscuits, pumpkin pie, and smother everything in gravy, and you're on you way to stuffing yourself on Thanksgiving. Of course, even after stuffing yourself you won't end up with the miserable feeling when it's time to clean up.