Vegan Thanksgiving 2023
Thanksgiving was never a holiday I was very excited about until recently. There are tons of historical reasons to avoid it and, well, I’m vegan. However, over the past few years, especially during covid, I have learned how to cook and am on a mission to convince everyone that vegan food is delicious! What better day to do this than on the day of the year that is known for its gluttonous meat consumption! My goal is to have my guests happy, full, and still feeling healthy by the end of the night!
Going into making this meal, there were a few considerations along the way for a more sustainable and healthy approach. One, if an ingredient could be found organic, we will go organic. Two, traditional or not, I chose dishes that are in season. And three, whenever there is an option to cook with oil, more often than not, I will substitute the oil for a water saute.
Ok, let’s dive into this year's menu!
Soup:
Every year I like to do some surefire hits, but also try some new recipes for Thanksgiving! Because there is nothing better than experimenting on your friends and family! As one of my loved ones is a raw vegan I try to bring in raw dishes here and there. So, this year we will be trying this Butternut Squash and Carrot Raw Vegan Soup. I personally feel that a butternut squash recipe is a requirement for Thanksgiving, so we are checking this one off early!
Main:
I am Italian so for my main dish, instead of some meat thing, I like to go with a pasta option! Sticking with the squash theme we will be doing a classic Spaghetti Squash with Chickpeas and Kale dish.
Potatoes:
Twice baked potatoes are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, and I normally make them packed with vegan cheese each year, but this year I wanted to go a little healthier and do a sweet potato version - Loaded Sweet Potato Skins! I particularly like this recipe because it has the guilty pleasures, but it is also full of good veggies and beans!
Side Dish:
I have done the traditional veggie side dishes in the past, but this year I’m itching for a more Asian influence. My best friend is Vietnamese and we both love squishy food, so we fell in love with this Taro Root Cake we made for Asian New Years one time, but I keep finding excuses to bring it back. Fun fact, we couldn’t find Taro so we used Purple Yam, which turned out completely delicious and had the extra bonus of the cake being purple! So, this will give a new color to our dining room table!
Stuffing:
What Thanksgiving isn’t complete without a proper stuffing? For this we go raw every year with this fabulous Raw Thanksgiving Stuffing, which is mostly made from nuts and a mix of mushrooms and veggies. We recommend that you make it the day before to properly let it marinate.
Dessert:
I am obsessed with this Pumpkin-Spiced Apple Pie. It is legit the best pie I have ever had, and it includes both pumpkin and apples, giving it the best of all worlds! If you are going to do one dessert, I recommend this one.
There we have it! I have a day of cooking ahead of me, but hopefully a few days of leftovers to enjoy after! Please feel free to try all of these or some of them and let me know what you think!
