A Very Merry Vegan Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving! Food, food, family, more food! That's what runs through my mind at the mere mention of this holiday. Growing up my thanksgiving has always looked a little different - it's been with a vegan twist! Thanksgiving dinner has looked like a Mexican taco bar, enchiladas, tofurky, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread, green beans, cranberry sauce, and more. A completely vegan dinner menu may look daunting and while it does present a few challenges it is so very feasible! The first step is to create the menu you want. Either minimize the amount of discrepancy and pick a menu that doesn’t utilize too many substitutions or be ready to take the substitutions to town! Let's go with option 1 for now. Mexican and Italian cuisines offer flexibility as the main substitution would be for cheese- mexican cheese on enchiladas or grated parmesan cheese over pasta. Mexican options include vegan enchiladas, a taco/burrito bar, and stuffed bell peppers. Italian includes vegan lasagna, pesto pasta, fettuccine (with plant based meat substitutes), ravioli, and vegan caesar salad (dressing is vegan) with some minestrone soup. You could always go the Indian/Punjabi food route and make some tofu paneer, pani puri, rajma, and vegan samosas. Option 2! Substitutions! The classic turkey dinner turns into the classic plant based turkey roast (brand:Gardein, tofurky, and Trader Joes) from Whole Foods dinner. Sides consist of the favorites but with a twist: vegan mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and vegan gravy, sweet potato casserole with vegan marshmallows, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing, cornbread, and dinner rolls.
My thanksgiving menu was 100% vegan!
Appetizers:
-Charcuterie board: vegan dips, crackers, oat chocolate bars, olives, babybel snacking cheese, and Nurishh cheese cubes.
-Fruit and veggie tray with vegan ranch dipping
-Trader joes apps (Vegetable Bird’s Nests )
-Homemade hummus and small pita bread rounds
Main Course:
-Taco bar from chipotle-vegan cheese instead (sofritas, beans)
-Enchilada bake with vegan cheese is homemade using daiya shredded cheese
-Tofurky from Whole Foods
-CHI-CHI’S cornbread with jalapenos added in
-Mashed potatoes with vegan butter from Chive (Michigan) or Whole Foods
-Mushroom Gravy from Chive (Michigan) or Whole Foods
This was the biggest hit, even the kids were going back for seconds and thirds! They said it tasted exactly like turkey gravy
-Sweet potato
-Cranberry Sauce from Chive (Michigan) or Whole Foods
Dessert:
-Dutch Apple Pie by Marie Callender’s
-Cherry pie from multiple grocery stores (depends on location)
-Pumpkin pie from Whole Foods
-Chocolate chip, cranberry orange zest and coconut carrot muffins from Whole Foods
-Pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies by SWEET CREATIONS by Michele.com
-Chocolate chunk cookies from multiple grocery stores (depends on location)
-Apple Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread by SWEET CREATIONS by Michele.com
Where I got my products:
Chive (located in Farmington, Michigan)
SWEET CREATIONS by Michele.com in Laurel Park Place (Livonia, Michigan)
Whole Foods
Trader Joes
Something for fun, when I was researching vegan thanksgiving options I wasn’t familiar with, I came across a whole vegan turkey!! I obviously was bamboozled so I went deeper into the turkey stalking route. There is a cavity in the turkey for the stuffing-which is included, as well as the gravy. The turkey needs to be baked in the oven as it comes cold and feeds 10-16 ppl. There's reviews that the stuffing is dry/unflavorful so you'd need to season it up a little. It is $129.99 however, it would definitely break my bank so unfortunately I will not be trying it anytime soon! But it's a very cool concept regardless. (from fakemeats.com)