Countdown to a Compassionate Thanksgiving

This holiday season, millions of families will gather together around the dinner table — with food as the  center focus.

Thanksgiving tradition is about celebrating life—and a growing number of Americans are choosing to do so by serving delicious vegetarian fare that everyone, including the turkeys, can be thankful for.

Here are some ideas to help you make compassion the centerpiece of your holiday dinner table:

Prefer to cook an entree from scratch? There are tons of great recipes online for stuffed tofu and seitan roasts, mock meatloaf, and hearty casseroles.

Once you’ve picked the main course, plan your side dishes around it. Many traditional Thanksgiving accompaniments such as mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and candied yams can be made vegan with minor recipe modifications. Cranberry sauce is usually vegan and you can even find “accidentally vegan” crescent rolls, biscuits, and fresh baked bread at the market.

The final (and, many argue, most important) element of a Thanksgiving feast is dessert. Traditional sweets can be made vegan with a few easy substitutions – in fact, these recipes are often simpler than the original! Here are a few of our decadent favorites: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate peanut butter pie, apple crisp, and chewy chocolate chip cookies.