Vegetarian Thanksgiving

[BlackSheep 3,615]

Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday (Food! Family! Football!), will be here before we know it. Any fellow vegetarians who want to share their favorite Thanksgiving dishes?

 

Many of the traditional dishes are vegetarian... cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie... omg, I'm getting hungry.

 

Stuffing, even if not cooked in a turkey, is normally made with broth. I have yet to find a truly great stuffing recipe - something flavorful and savory. Anyone have one?

 

Main courses? I've done Tofurky Roast and tofu loaf. One year I opted for no main course and won't do that again. I've also done these as my main course, once each, and would do it again. For microwave meals, they taste really good.

 

 

[princessmahina 8,267]

Ooh, one of my favorite topics. The only reason I even celebrate Thanksgiving is so I can make a huge meal. I already have the menu planned out:

Seitan En Croute

Pioneer Woman Mashed Potatoes

Pippa's Cranberry Sauce

Glazed Carrots

Skinny Bitch buttery green beans

Happy Bread

Sourdough Stuffing

PPK Mushroom Gravy

Dessert- Bittersweet Chocolate Cheesecake OR Chocolate Cassata AND apple pie OR pumpkin pie

I haven't hit on a stuffing recipe that's just right yet. I enjoyed the cornbread recipe from Susan at free vegan kitchen though.

I have links for a lot of these recipes, if you're interested in them :)

As for main courses, I've had great success with the veggie loaf recipe from Chloe Coscarelli and the seitan roulade thingie from fat free vegan. I like to experiment though, so I'm trying out the seitan en croute this year. Fingers crossed!

[shedemei 18]

Finding a really flavorful vegetable broth is key. I makethis homemade roast some years and use some of the broth for stuffing. It's very flavorful. Toss in some apple and crushed pecans, and it's pretty good. Every year I think of trying fake sausage, but don't.

I think the biggest improvement I could make would be to use better bread for bread crumbs. Like an awesome challah.

I love Thanksgiving for the sides. (except when people make me sad by putting marshmellows in the sweet potatoes. :( )

[princessmahina 8,267]

shedemei, that looks incredible. I've never had good luck with making seitan though. It always has a rubber consistency. Do you know what I'm doing wrong with it? (I know that's a little off topic, but I'm really desperate. I'm tired of buying overpriced boxes at the store)

[shedemei 18]

shedemai, that looks incredible. I've never had good luck with making seitan though. It always has a rubber consistency. Do you know what I'm doing wrong with it? (I know that's a little off topic, but I'm really desperate. I'm tired of buying overpriced boxes at the store)

That's actually the only seitan recipe I've ever used, and it comes out with a nice, unrubbery texture. If I had to guess, I'd say that the problem may be with the ratio of added gluten to other ingredient, or maybe too much liquid.

You might want to ask someone for advice that bakes a lot (I'm horrible at baking), since seitan is pretty doughy. They could probably tell you.

ETA: it is delicious! I've had several meat eaters enjoy it and ask me to bring it back to the Thanksgiving potluck. :) The mushroom gravy on the same blog is also really good.

[princessmahina 8,267]

That's actually the only seitan recipe I've ever used, and it comes out with a nice, unrubbery texture. If I had to guess, I'd say that the problem may be with the ratio of added gluten to other ingredient, or maybe too much liquid.

You might want to ask someone for advice that bakes a lot (I'm horrible at baking), since seitan is pretty doughy. They could probably tell you.

ETA: it is delicious! I've had several meat eaters enjoy it and ask me to bring it back to the Thanksgiving potluck. :) The mushroom gravy on the same blog is also really good.

Ha, thanks. I'll try my hand at this one and keep my fingers crossed. The main recipe I've used came from Chloe's Vegan Kitchen. I've had great success with everything else, but I'm starting to wonder if it's just a bad recipe.

[keen23 3,064]

Have you thought about doing a whole roasted cauliflower? Or a ratatouille?

[Maggie Mae 16,881]

I love Thanksgiving for the sides. (except when people make me sad by putting marshmellows in the sweet potatoes. :( )

I do not understand why anyone would do this. One year I made a curried sweet potato dish with maple syrup as a compromise. I thought it was excellent. Everyone bitched about the lack of mini marshmallow.

[shedemei 18]

I do not understand why anyone would do this. One year I made a curried sweet potato dish with maple syrup as a compromise. I thought it was excellent. Everyone bitched about the lack of mini marshmallow.

Me neither. I've had it (pre-vegetarianism) and I really don't care for it. Then again, I've never been a fan of fluffernutter or putting marshmallows on anything. Roasting? Yes. Roasting then making smores? Yes. Anything else? No.

At least vegetarianism gives me an excuse to avoid it. If someone ever uses vegan marshmallows I'm in trouble.

[Aurora rising 223]

A vegan friend of mine did a vegan "nut roast" for us once - it was amazing and so delicious. The recipe was a little bit complicated, but if anyone is interested I can dig it out.

[BlackSheep 3,615]

That "nut roast" sounds interesting! And the curried sweet potatoes... love me some maple syrup.

Try to change Thanksgiving traditions and it's the end of the world for some people. :?

Are vegan marshmallows any good? Heard of them, never tried them.

I haven't cooked with seitan but have tried it at restaurants. I've only cooked with tofu.

[Aurora rising 223]

It looked like this:

http://gggiraffe.blogspot.de/2013/09/lentil-and-walnut-roast-and-happy-days.html

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/3498/lentil-and-cashew-nut-roast.aspx

We had a wonderful gravy for it with vegetables and tomatoes, cooked very slowly and very long. Won-der-ful!

[Ex-Creationist 566]

Hi, everyone. Cooking is one of my favorite things, so it's fitting that this be my first post here. :)

My wife is a vegetarian, so I use low-sodium vegetable broth (Kitchen Basics is a good brand, IMO) instead of beef or chicken. It makes good sides, like Spanish rice. I haven't made cornbread dressing in a few years (since before I met my wife), but I can't think of a reason why the veggie stock wouldn't work. (It's your usual recipe with cornbread, celery, some eggs, stock, that sort of stuff.)

[shedemei 18]

Are vegan marshmallows any good? Heard of them, never tried them

Yup! IIRC they're actually the original marshmallows. I've made smores from them.

[AlysonRR 842]

I'm not a vegetarian, but my 13-yo daughter is. Because the rest of us aren't vegetarian, we do have a turkey or capon, but everything else is vegetarian.

Stuffing with onions, celery, mushrooms, ground walnuts

Mushroom gravy

Roasted or mashed potatoes

Curried sweet potatoes

Brussels sprouts

For the vegetarian entree, we're going to make either butternut squash lasagna, vegetable Wellington, or tofu cake (kind of like a tofurkey, but homemade) - I haven't asked daughter yet what her preference is.

[Ex-Creationist 566]

Mushroom gravy sounds delicious!

[shedemei 18]

Mushroom gravy sounds delicious!

I'm not really into mushrooms but I love mushroom gravy. When you chop them and cook them down they have a perfect texture for gravy. I honestly think it's more flavorful than the meat-based gravies I grew up with, but maybe that's just because I make it the way I like it.

This thread is making me excited for Thanksgiving!

[halcionne 4,468]

I'm not really into mushrooms but I love mushroom gravy. When you chop them and cook them down they have a perfect texture for gravy. I honestly think it's more flavorful than the meat-based gravies I grew up with, but maybe that's just because I make it the way I like it.

This thread is making me excited for Thanksgiving!

Me too, and I'm decidedly not vegetarian. But I love Thanksgiving and everything in this thread sounds so good. :drool:

[Ex-Creationist 566]

I didn't do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for myself the first holiday after I escaped from my insane family. (I live almost a thousand miles away. It's fantastic!) I was alone that year, so I made whatever I wanted (home are Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes with nuked peas).

This year, I'm happy to cook if my wife and in-laws want me to. If not, we can go out and I'll be just as happy. :)

[BlackSheep 3,615]

A delicious recipe for mushroom gravy... just substitute veg stock...

allrecipes.com/recipe/219091/chef-johns-mushroom-gravy/

[AlysonRR 842]

Mushroom gravy sounds delicious!

I made it one year and we all liked it so much that we continue to do it. Back then, I used pan drippings and giblet broth, but now it's caramelized onions deglazed with red wine (or sherry) and vegie broth.

[YoshiCat 299]

I have vegetarian guests, so I make all the side dishes vegetarian. It's easy, I just substitute veggie broth for chicken/turkey broth. One year I had a vegan guest and that was more of a challenge because I had to do it all without butter. But I made great mashed potatoes using olive oil; I know it sounds weird, but it works. I make mushroom gravy using several different kinds of mushrooms.

I think the best fake "turkey" is Q'uorn (www.quorn.us/food/cooking-from-scratch/turky-roast/). It really tastes like turkey and it even looks like meat.

[sawasdee 13,511]

I didn't do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for myself the first holiday after I escaped from my insane family. (I live almost a thousand miles away. It's fantastic!) I was alone that year, so I made whatever I wanted (home are Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes with nuked peas).

This year, I'm happy to cook if my wife and in-laws want me to. If not, we can go out and I'll be just as happy. :)

A Brit here. What is the difference between Salisbury steak and a hamburger? We don't have Salisbury steak in the UK>

[Ex-Creationist 566]

The Salisbury steak I made was based on hamburger, actually. I'm on my phone right now, so I can't grab a direct link, but I used Ree Drummond's recipe (her blog is called The Pioneer Woman and her food is amazing.

[BlackSheep 3,615]

I think the best fake "turkey" is Q'uorn (http://www.quorn.us/food/cooking-from-s ... rky-roast/). It really tastes like turkey and it even looks like meat.

I'll check this out, because I love Quorn's Gourmet Burgers. There are lots of good faux burgers out there, but these are the best in appearance, texture and flavor.