Un-Turkey
With Thanksgiving only a few days away (how is that possible?!?), I was looking around online this morning for potential recipes for a non-meat dish that I could bring to the family gathering. We have many, many vegetarian side dishes, so I’ll definitely get enough to eat (no chance of going hungry in my family, vegetarian or not). Still, one of my favorites, the stuffing, is not vegetarian-friendly, so I’d like to find a vegetarian stuffing recipe…maybe something with butternut squash?
Anyway, as I was browsing, I came across this funny post on Eat Me Daily…it’s basically pictures of scary faux-meats, attempting to take the place of the beloved turkey at Thanksgiving. I think they’re definitely right– it’s much smarter to just have lots of yummy vegetarian side dishes than to attempt to bring in a vegetarian turkey substitute. Molded seitan turkey? Shudder.
Hope your Sunday is off to a great start. I was up at 5:45 and grading by 6:00. So much for the whole “day of rest” thing.
Happy Sunday!
I have a Vegan dressing recipe which I plan on using on Thanksgiving day. I will post it on my blog in the next day or so in case you are interested in checking it out. I am also not worried about going hungry as my mom makes tons of vegetarian side dishes.. but she makes stuffing and I won’t eat that…
I am going to add you to my blog roll to keep up with you and I hope you do the same
Oh, I will definitely check that out! Thank you!
I will definitely add you to my blog roll!
Hi Anna!
Aunt Patti told me about your blog, and I am loving it! Ezra and I are at 6 1/2 years vegetarian, and LOVING it! Although we didn’t become vegetarian because we stopped liking meat, so Thanksgiving always brings back memories of delicious turkey!!
And, I couldn’t help but comment on this post. We have bought a tofurkey for the last two years. As sickening as it sounds. 
We so rarely buy fake meat (after all, what is the real point of being a vegetarian if all you do is eat fake meat?), but we *do* actually give in to the tofurkey. 
ha! The texture is a little odd, but with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, it makes for a delicious thanksgiving mouthful.
I’m excited to read about what you decide to do!
Emily
Hey Emily,
The only tofurkey I’ve had is the lunchmeat version, and I actually didn’t find it bad at all! I have a soft spot for fake meats, which I try to control, because I know they’re not very good for you.
Will you guys do tofurkey again this year? I’ve been really browsing recipes for what I want to bring…there’ve been a few different ones that have caught my eye…
Yes – We’re going to try the quorn one this year. I have no idea – they are okay. The taste is there…nothing can replace the texture of real meat. I don’t have very many good Thanksgiving recipes. I’ve only been cooking my own Thanksgiving meals for two years, and so I just look up a bunch of recipes on allrecipes.com, then try them, then wait another year to try it again. Have yet to settle on any really good recipes. We had this for dinner tonight: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/7574?section=, and it was excellent. The squash stuffing would be a delicious side dish in and of itself. It was fairly simple too, except that it required like 5 different pans!!
Other then that, I’m going to make up my own sweet potato recipe this year (with a glaze, cranberries, and walnuts), and we’ll see how that goes. Besides that, we will have green beans w/ toasted almonds and sesame seeds, a heart-stopping corn casserole, fresh cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, rolls…the standard starchy Thanksgiving fare. Oh, and something for dessert, but I haven’t decided what yet.
I’ll be interested in how that quorn turkey turns out. I’ve used some of their “chicken breasts” in recipes before, and they’re not half-bad. Ryan even likes them!
That meal y’all had tonight looks awesome! I’ll definitely be checking out this website for ideas. What a great resource!
Have you ever gone to fatfreevegan.com? That’s another veg website I’ve used in the past. Her recipes are usually very good.