I’m probably stating the obvious here but Thanksgiving isn’t really a vegan friendly holiday. With turkey as the centerpiece of most tables and buttery mashed potatoes and meaty gravy to accompany it, you might wonder what’s left to eat? Sure, many families make green beans sans butter (mine often do), and there are cranberries (eck – the one fruit I can’t stand), and often times there are even nice big green salads. But if you want to do more than just hope someone will make a side dish you can eat, here are five great ideas to help you have a very vegan Thanksgiving. I’ll even post my famous vegan stuffing recipe for you to drool over (and hopefully try!) next week.
- Bring your own “turkey”: my two favorites are Tofurky’s Vegetarian Feast and Gardein’s Savory Stuffed Turkey. They are both 100% vegan and taste pretty amazing.
The best kind of Thanksgiving Turkey
- Veganize your mashed potatoes: make mashed sweet potatoes using coconut milk.
A Healthy Spin on Mashed Potatoes!
- Take the stuffing out of the bird: Try this delicious and easy vegan stuffing recipe that uses Sunshine Burgers and crisp apple slices. Yum!
Vegan stuffing with crisp apples and sunshine burgers - yum!
- Hold the butter: If you can, ask your family to hold the butter when making the veggie sides. Saute green beans with a little olive oil, salt and pepper (add some garlic if you want to spice them up). Or make a simple and seasonal green salad.
Fresh and lightly sauteed green beans are the best!
- A new kind of pumpkin pie: I don’t like pumpkin pie but I’ve heard that the Wholly Wholesome Bake at Home Pumpkin Pies are delicious (and of course, 100% vegan). If you’re like me and crave something a little less um, textured, change it up and bake some vegan chocolate chip cookies or use the ready made kind – my fave ready made vegan cookie dough is from Eat Pastry (but there are tons of choices out there!)
A new spin on Thanksgiving dessert!