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Probably the one time of the year when being a vegetarian causes the most issues (both for myself as well as my friends and family) is the holidays.  Of course, I would never want to put any sort of added burden on any of my friends or family who have invited us over for a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, and thankfully, my choice of diet wasn’t too much of a problem this year. At Esther & Bud’s (Walter’s parents) house for Thanksgiving, there were more than enough veggie-friendly side dishes, and so passing on the turkey wasn’t too much of a problem. (It just meant more leftover turkey sandwiches for them!) Christmas dinner in Virginia was basically finger-foods: veggie trays and platters of cheese and cold cuts and bread for sandwiches. We bought some sliced portabello mushrooms, sauteed them, and used those for our sandwiches, and that turned out pretty well. (In fact, I think we should have made more — everyone wanted to try them!)

So, being a gracious guest at a holiday dinner isn’t really that tough (as long as there are plenty of non-meat side dishes to go around!) What’s got me worried is the future, when I’ll likely want to invite family & friends over to our place for a holiday feast. Since Walter & I are the only vegetarians we know, it’s pretty important to me, as a hostess, to design a menu that will appeal to both carnivores and veggie-heads alike. And so, since Walter & I decided to have our own little Christmas Eve celebration as well this year, I figured it would be a good opportunity to try my hand at making a vegetarian holiday dinner.

The Menu:

• One Quorn brand Turk’y Roast
• One pan of made-from-scratch stuffing (with cranberries & walnuts!)
• Two each: mushrooms, bell peppers, and tomatos — all stuffed with the above-mentioned stuffing and roasted!
• One pot of made-from-scratch mushroom gravy
• One Green bean casserole
• One Sweet potato casserole
• Corn on the cob
• and of course, Cranberry sauce!

The fake “Turk’y” roast was mediocre when we ate it (even with the mushroom gravy), but surprisingly, it made really tasty next-day sandwiches! The sweet potato casserole was really sweet and yummy, almost closer to a dessert than a side dish. And I’m particularly proud of the two most complicated items: the stuffing and the gravy both turned out really good!

I found this really useful website of vegetarian Thanksgiving meal ideas during my search for a good mushroom gravy recipe. (I used the one titled Shitake Mushroom Gravy, but substituted baby bello mushrooms.) I think next year I might try the Thanksgiving stuffed squash!

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