my plant-based thanksgiving menu
This year, I’m hosting Thanksgiving! As my family’s resident plant pusher, I wanted to design a menu that would be delicious, colorful, and most importantly - plant-based. I became a believer in plant-based nutrition after reading The China Study, Eat to Live, How Not to Die, and Proteinaholic (I recommend that you check these books out if you want to learn more). For over a year, I’ve been a medical assistant at Ethos Health, where we practice lifestyle medicine. We help patients change their eating habits and consequently, their lives. The transformations I’ve witnessed when patients make the leap to eating plants have been nothing short of wondrous.
Of course, knowing how good a whole-food, plant-based diet is for health, I want my whole family to adopt it! Throwing a tasty Thanksgiving is my sneaky way of pitching this conversion. I decided to share my menu here in the hopes that you incorporate some of these dishes too - and hopefully, make healthy dietary changes in the new year.
I’ll be using the below recipes. Just a note: for the most part, I don’t follow recipes exactly. I tend to skip any added sweeteners like maple syrup or sugar (I use dates for baking). I also don’t use oil and will substitute it with broth/water if a recipe calls for it, and use liquid aminos instead of salt for the lower sodium content. I like to incorporate flavors that I think will complement a dish well. Make Thanksgiving your own by adding your unique twists!
appetizers
For the appetizers, I plan to serve dips like hummus (plain and roasted red pepper) and baba ghanoush with crunchy vegetables and pita bread. I also want to start off the meal with a warming butternut squash soup.
mains
Of course, the main dishes should be hearty and packed with flavor. Having just made my first shepherd’s pie last week, I knew it was going on my menu. At my little sister’s urging, I added a plant-based “mac and cheese” (free of any processed vegan cheeses) that I’m excited to try. I may tweak the menu in the next couple of weeks, but for now, this should give you some ideas!
Veggies Don’t Bite: Ultimate Creamy Vegan Cheese Sauce (for mac and cheese)
Farro
Salad
dessert
Dessert is my favorite part of a meal, and always has been. Unlike when I cook, I stick to the recipe very closely when baking. I sweeten all dessert with dates, preferring to stick to whole-food ingredients. I’m excited to serve these, and I hope you’ll consider incorporating them too!
beverages
I plan to serve apple cider, tea, and coffee.
There you have it. I’ve been excited to plan this menu since I decided to host Thanksgiving - it includes over twenty different vegetables and a wide range of exciting flavors. This should convince you that plants aren’t boring!
I hope you enjoy a beautiful holiday with friends and family. Let me know if you have any questions or comments, and feel free to share some of your own ideas below.
