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instead of sharing regular dinner ideas with you today, i’m excited to talk about serving a plant based thanksgiving meal. eight years ago when i told my family i was going to be a vegetarian the first question that asked was,”but what will you eat for thanksgiving?!”.well, we’ve all come a long way since then, but it’s still one of the most frequent comments i hear. since then, we’ve had years of delicious thanksgiving meals, sans the turkey, cheese and heavy cream.
years ago i heard someone talking about how many americans were emotionally attached to meat. hotdogs at ball games, hamburgers at cookouts, turkey at thanksgiving. for some reason, it struck me as odd. even kind of gross. i mean, i didn’t want to be emotionally attached to meat! i know there are lots of different feelings, beliefs and emotions surrounding food so my intention here is not to change or upset anyone, only to share with you the way we do things, why we do it and how it makes us feel.
so this year, you won’t find any turkey on our table, but instead a wholesome and hearty feast of plant based courses. they will leave us feeling fully satisfied, but not ‘over done’ and there will be no need to diet afterwards. we’ll be energized after our meal, instead of exhausted and in need of a nap!
below are several scrumptious thanksgiving courses, many are tried and true favorites around our household.
main course: this is the trickiest course to fix vegan and still make people feel like they had a filling fall feast. it’s easy though with these recipes!
- vegetable wellington redux (sans the goat cheese). this is a decadent course that truly feels like a special!
- ultimate vegan lentil loaf – a tried and true favorite!
- seitan roulade - from one of my favorite food bloggers, vegan yumyum.
- celebration roast – the ultimate in vegan sophistication, this roast is simple and delicious (just heat it up!)
side dishes: it’s easy enough to prepare veggies for side dishes, but the trick to thanksgiving is using seasonal spices & ingredients that makes the meal feel really special.
- mushroom gravy – the perfect gravy to go with biscuits, potatoes or veggie loaf.
- garlic mashed potatoes – with ingredients like rosemary and lentils, this is sure to be a hit!
- cornmeal ‘buttermilk’ biscuits - i promise no one will miss the buttermilk!
- roasted fingerling potatoes and brussel sprouts (brussel sprouts are my favorite).
- herbed creamed collards with sage and coconut milk.yum!
- herb spiced stuffing – i like to add apple sage field roast to my stuffing, too.
dessert: the best part of all!
- baked apples stuffed with cinnamon date pecan oatmeal
- vegan pumpkin pie – i like to make the gluten free one, it’s so yummy!
- coconut ice cream - my favorite plant based ice cream (doesn’t taste like coconut!).
what will you be serving this year? we would love to hear about your menu and favorite recipes!
wrap up: {holiday} {plant based} {recipe} {seasonal} {thanksgiving} {vegan}
with chilly nights in full swing, we’ve been craving warm dishes that soothe the soul. that means most of our meals this week were served in a bowl!
we follow a whole foods, plant based diet. the dinner ideas posts are a way for me to log our dinners, how we make eating this way easy, and hopefully inspire you to try some new things as well. they are always meat free, dairy free and often gluten free. you can follow the posts here, and i encourage you to share your favorite recipes with us as well!
welcome lovelies! my name is bonnie and this is where i roost. i hope you'll grab a cup of tea and make yourself comfy- we look forward to getting to know you! you can learn more about me and why i love to blog 
