Eating vegan can be a challenge, but it doesn’t mean that you need to skip out on holidays or eat food that isn’t good. With a little bit of research and some variation on popular recipes, you can have a delicious vegan Thanksgiving dinner! From entrees, side dishes, and beverages – Thanksgiving can be a delicious treat for the whole family regardless if they eat animal products or not.

So you don’t eat turkey? No problem! Here is a great recipe alternative that tastes delicious.

Tofu Not-A-Turkey

6 pounds tofu

Stuffing:

• 2 cups cubed corn bread
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 cups cubed whole wheat bread
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Basting:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup sesame oil

Approximately one hour prior to cooking, mash tofu and put it into a colander lined with a clean towel. Make sure the colander is over a bowl so that the liquid can be caught.

For the stuffing, sauté onion and celery using the sesame oil. Mix seasonings into the bread. Combine all of the stuffing ingredients, putting in only enough vegetable broth to cause it to moisten. Add nuts if you want (they're optional).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Create a hollow center in the tofu with your hands, fill it with the stuffing, and press down firmly. The tofu should then be flipped onto a baking sheet greased with oil. Then remove your towel on the tofu. Baste your tofu with approximately 3/4 of the soy sauce and sesame oil before covering with foil and baking for one hour. Remove foil, baste it again with the rest of the basting mixture, place it back in the warm oven, and bake it without the cover for twenty minutes or until it is golden. Transfer to a plate and serve with some gravy.http://www.gentlethanksgiving.org

Gravy is a cinch to make vegan style!

• Few dashes of soy sauce
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• 2 cups of water
• 1/2 tsp. mustard
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• Pepper and sea salt to taste
• 1 Tbsp. of vegan butter
• Few dashes of garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of flour (depending how thick you want it)

Boil all of the ingredients in a pot, and then cook on medium-low until it's done.

Goes excellent with turkey, stuffing, and many other things and will serve several people. http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=12302.0

Old Fashioned Sweet Potatoes

• 2/3 cup of maple syrup
• 4 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch bits
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 5 tablespoons of soy-based margarine
• A Pinch of ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (if desired)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put potatoes in a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish. Combine the sugar, margarine, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt in a small saucepan with medium heat. Boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Pour mixture over the sweet potatoes and toss them to coat. Cover the dish well with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Uncover them and continue to bake until the potatoes are tender and syrup thickens a little bit (baste occasionally) about 20 min. Raise the oven temperature to 500°F and top sweet potatoes with pecans. Bake until nuts begin to brown or about 3 minutes.

Here is a great suggestion for a delicious alternative to pumpkin pie.

Pear and Apple Crumble 8 servings

This one is great served warm and over vanilla yogurt.

• 2 Tbs. of natural granulated sugar
• 4 medium bosc pears, cored and sliced thinly
• 1/4 tsp of nutmeg
• 1/3 cup of finely chopped almonds
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:

• 2 Tbs natural granulated sugar
• 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup of wheat germ
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 Tbs. safflower oil
• Nondairy vanilla frozen ice cream or vegan vanilla frozen yogurt, (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine fruits with the next 5 ingredients and stir together to coat evenly. Pour into lightly oiled 9- by 13-inch baking dish or pan.

Combine the first 4 topping ingredients in a small and toss them to coat. Drizzle in oil and stir it until coated evenly. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit mixture. Bake for 35-40 min., or until fruits are soft and topping is golden. If desired you can serve warm in bowls over the frozen dessert.