Vegetarian Thanksgiving Extravaganza!

Thanksgiving marked two momentous occasions for me this year- it was my first meatless Thanksgiving and it was my first time cooking the entire meal all by my lonesome! Strangely, this was also my first Thanksgiving meal in two years. (Last year, we were vacationing in the Kingdom of Tonga and we made curry for dinner that night.)

A Thanksgiving dinner without turkey can be done. And more importantly, it can be just as awesome! I know, I know. The image of a turkey is the first thing that pops into every American head when they think of a Thanksgiving meal and many look forward to it all year round. Turkeys pop into my head too but these days I prefer to just have turkey decorations then to actually eat a turkey.

For our first vegetarian Thanksgiving, I decided to make stuffed acorn squash, as the main dish, to celebrate the autumn harvest. Fall foods are so hearty and wonderful plus the warm and inviting colors of apples, root veggies, squash, and the like, are just fantastic. (I’ve never met a squash I didn’t want to devour.) For the remainder of the meal, I prepared the usual, or traditional/classic, holiday fare. As a side note, by not making a turkey, meal preparation and cooking time was quite quick (plus the oven wasn’t occupied by a big fat turkey, for hours on end, so it could be used for other baked goods). By making many things from scratch and omitting meat, a lot of fat, added sugars, sodium, and the like are cut from the meal. Although that didn’t stop me from eating until I felt like popping! Several dishes, like the pie, ice cream, cranberry sauce, and rolls, I made a day or so before to save time so there was very little food preparation for me to do the day of.

The Dinner

stuffed acorn squash (with a bread stuffing containing seasonings, sun-dried tomatoes, dried fruit, and nuts)

mashed potatoes with vegetarian gravy

honey glazed carrots

green bean casserole

cranberry sauce

and homemade rolls

The Desserts

homemade pumpkin ice cream

pecan pie

Many people don’t realize how easy cranberry sauce is to make. The basic sauce has three ingredients- cranberries, sugar, and water- and it’s easy to modify. You can replace the water with apple juice. Add lemon or orange zest, a cinnamon stick, or whole cloves. The following recipe is for my own cranberry sauce I made this year, which turned out fantastically. It can be eaten on its own, on rolls, or, my personal favorite, on plain yogurt with granola.

Zinfandel Cranberry Sauce

2 cups White Zinfandel

1 (12oz) package of fresh cranberries

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup dried cherries

¼-½ cup fresh raspberries

1-2 tablespoons of crystallized ginger (optional)

Plop all the ingredients into a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring periodically. The cranberries will pop and thicken the sauce. Once thickened, remove from heat. Cool completely (it will thicken more as it does so) and refrigerate. Cooking time is only 15-20 minutes.