Thanksgiving Dinner Vegetarian Style: What to Make

For most people, the turkey is the center of Thanksgiving dinner. For the animal lover, vegetarian, or vegan, eating turkey is not an option. Wild turkeys are beautiful creatures. If you would prefer not to consume turkey on Thanksgiving, consider the many other wonderful, flavorful dishes that make up the typical Thanksgiving dinner. When you think back to Thanksgiving dinners, you may be surprised to remember that your favorite dishes were actually vegetarian.

Pumpkin Pie

Starting with the best traditional desert of Thanksgiving Day dinner, pumpkin pie is vegetarian, but it can be made vegan by omitting the eggs and making a tofu-pumpkin pie instead. Vegetable shortening can be substituted for dairy butter. Search the web, or a recipe site such as allrecipes.com, for a delicious vegan pumpkin pie recipe if you or your guests are vegan.

Cranberry Sauce

Whether you like cranberry sauce made with real, fresh cranberries or if you prefer the plopped out of the can jellied cranberry sauce, cranberry sauce adds a special flavor to the Thanksgiving Day dinner.

Fresh, Warm Bread Rolls

The smell of fresh, baking bread on Thanksgiving Day is a must. If you have time, consider making your own rolls from scratch. Search for a highly rated recipe on a website such as allrecipes.com, and you cannot go wrong. You will be surprised at how easy and satisfying it is to make your own bread. Just think how impressed your in-laws will be!

Sweet Potatoes

The fall and early winter seasons would not be complete without the smell of warm sweet potatoes. Sweet potato casserole is almost delectable enough to be considered a desert.

Be sure to leave the marshmallows out of your sweet potato casserole if you are vegetarian or are serving Thanksgiving dinner to a vegetarian. Marshmallows are made from gelatin, which is made from animal connective tissue. If this is repulsive to you, then skip any gelatin products, including of course, jello.

Tofurky "Turkey"

If you must have the traditional turkey flavor on your Thanksgiving plate, consider giving Tofurky a try. Tofurky is a meat-free, tofu based food. It comes in a pre-sliced block, with the slices ready to be peeled off and put onto a deli-style sandwich. But, if you prefer to have a thicker slice of Tofurky "turkey" on your Thanksgiving plate, simply peel off several slices at once, and warm them up for a very traditional tasting faux "turkey meat".

The smoked Tofurky, which is actually smoked in a smokehouse rather than simply adding liquid smoke flavor to it, is wonderful. The taste is so good that no one will know they are not eating real turkey.