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A Vegetarian’s Thanksgiving Meal

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As a vegetarian, my typical Thanksgiving meal is a bit different from the traditional turkey, turkey gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. When people cook for vegetarians, it can be pretty hard to think of what to feed them. I mean even the stuffing and potatoes usually have at least poultry fat. There are a couple of additions and alterations cooks can make to accommodate the different food choices of vegetarians.

Stuffing
As mentioned previously, about 99% of all the stuffing in the stores have poultry. It seems that the only alternative is homemade stuffing. If that is not an option, there is a particular brand that has no meat products. I buy this every thanksgiving. It is Pepperidge Farm brand. Unlike most stuffing, which is in a box, this one is in a bag. It is a little hard to spot but it is in most stores.

Chicken Broth and Stock
A lot of Thanksgiving recipes, including stuffing and potatoes, call for some form of turkey broth or stock. It is very hard to find vegetarian broth in traditional stores. They are usually bought at health food stores. The best brand that I’ve tried is McKay’s Chicken-Style Seasoning.

Gravy
Most store bought gravy contains meat drippings for flavoring. Again, look in health food stores for ones that don’t have any meat in the ingredient list.

Turkey
This is the easiest Thanksgiving entree to replace. A lot of people tease us vegetarians with Tofurkey, turkey made out of tofu. Personally, I have never tried it but it sounds delicious:)

For turkey, I usually buy Vegetarian Turkey from Worthington. They taste really awesome! I’ve seen these at normal stores. But again, they are usually found at health food stores. The Worthington turkey comes in two forms: canned, with gravy, and frozen, as one huge loaf.

If you don’t have any access to this turkey, there is another option. I like to cook Kellogg’s Special K Loaf. I know it sounds weird (Cereal in Loaf?) but it is really good. Not many vegetarians know about this. It’s pretty much a Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) subculture recipe. Remember that you can substitute the Kellogg’s Special K Cereal with just regular Corn Flakes. It’s cheaper!

Kellogg’s Special K Loaf

Sauté Until Soft
1/2 Cup Celery
1/4 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Chopped Onions

Separately Mix
2 Tbsp. Any Vegetarian Meat Broth (McKay’s Brand Recommended)
3 Beaten Eggs
1/4 Cup Ground Fine Pecan Meal (Optional)
3-5 Cups Special K Cereal (or Regular Corn Flakes)
1/4 Cup Milk
3/4 Cup Cottage Cheese
1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 Tsp. Garlic Powder

Combine sautéed ingredients and mixture. Let the cereal soak up the moisture a little. Loosely, place mixture into a normal cake pan. Do not pack it. Back 375 degrees for at least one hour.

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Posted on Sunday, November 20th, 2005

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 20th, 2005 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Home and Cooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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