Feast to thanks: celebrate the season with a Thanksgiving spread that's as easy as it is elegant

Vegetarian Times, Nov-Dec, 2005 by Mary Margaret Chappell

If there is one holiday when it's great to be a vegetarian, it's Thanksgiving. After all, it started as a harvest celebration, held to appreciate the bounty of the fields.

To this day, everyone's Thanksgiving dinner is heavy on the veggies, from melt-in-your-mouth sweet potatoes to good ol' green bean casserole. (Some of us even love those French-fried onions that go on top!) But those are the predictable dishes. This year, surprise and delight family and friends with individual vegetable-filled cornucopias. These spectacular, and symbolic, entrees taste as good as they look, especially when they're served with a rich gravy. Traditional side dishes such as potatoes and Brussels sprouts get sophisticated--yet easy--makeovers, turning them into French-inspired potatoes Anna and a quick-cooking saute. And when it comes to homemade bread, an old-fashioned Southern recipe for Angel Biscuits gives you light, yeasty rolls in under an hour. Round out the menu with a tangy, blue cheese-spinach salad and a cranberry tart, and even the staunchest defenders of the turkey tradition will be saying, "Bye-bye, birdie."

menu

Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad with Cider Vinaigrette Angel Biscuits * Garlicky Brussels Sprout Saute Roasted Vegetable Cornucopias * Holiday Gravy Best-of-Both-Worlds Potatoes Anna * Cranberry-Pear Lattice Tart