Sharing your holiday table
Most of us will be sharing our holiday meals with friends and family that would rather have a turkey than a Tofurky. How will you be handling Thanksgiving this year as a vegetarian? There's nothing worse than showing up for a fancy meal and having nothing to eat but bread and salad while your tablemates heartily dine away on plates filled with meat dishes. The most important tip I can share to make sure that this doesn't happen to you this Thanksgiving is to be prepared in advance. Make sure your table is big enough for both a turkey and a Tofurky - both literally and figuratively!
How to be the perfect vegetarian Thanksgiving guest
If you are a new vegetarian or worried that Aunt Sue won't have a thing you can eat at her Thanksgiving table this year, here's a few tips to help you be the perfect, polite, and prepared vegetarian guest.
Sharing the Table: Simple Vegetarian Substitutions
On the other hand, if you dread having to cook two separate meals - one for the veggies and one for the non-veggies, check out my tips for making traditional Thanksgiving dishes vegetarian and vegan friendly by making just a few simple substitutions. No need to prepare two separate meals!
Hosting Vegetarians at Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving and the holidays are about coming together with family and friends and sharing a meal together, right? Remember this as you try to accommodate your vegetarian guests. No need to stress! Here are some tips to help you accommodate your vegetarian and vegan guests at Thanksgiving.
Where to find Tofurky
So you've decided to venture into the unknown and try one of those birdless birds with the funny name that you keep hearing about. Its not a bird, it's not a plane...it's Tofurky! But where to find one of these mysterious boxed creatures? Read on for my Tofurky shopping guide to find out where to buy a Tofurky. Obviously, Tofurky has the most ingenious brand name ever, but if you're curious about other brands of vegetarian turkeys, check out this guide to vegetarian turkeys. Photo courtesy of Tofurky.com
Thanksgiving Menu Ideas
Don't panic! There's still plenty of time to plan your vegetarian Thanksgiving menu. Check out this complete list of ideas for what to cook for your vegetarian Thanksgiving, including entree ideas, gravies, sides, stuffing recipes, and of course, lots of desserts, too! Or, if you're more of a visual type than a reader, 
scroll through this image gallery to check out dozens of pictures of vegetarian and vegan Thanksgiving menu ideas. There's links to the recipes as well, of course, but you can also just salivate at the pictures without reading the recipes.
Pictured: Vegetarian Quinoa Stuffing (above left) and vegetarian lentil Loaf (right)
Tofurky-flavored soda has arrived!
Burger King added a veggie burger to their menu nationwide, but that's been the only momentous moment in nearly ten years. Until now. I'm speaking, of course, of the new Tofurky-flavored soda that Jones soda, which has long offered a Turkey-flavored soda has officially introduced in honor of soda drinking animal lovers just in time for the holidays. Wow. Jones Soda has long been introducing bizarre soda flavors into pop-culture (you like that pun?), particularly around the holidays, when you can scout for green bean casserole and latke-flavored soda.
I should mention that this is a limited-edition soda, so enjoy it now while you can. It also comes in a gift pack, which includes a nifty Tofurky lunch box. Even cooler, they'll be donating a portion of each sale to animal charities. What a great gift idea!
Link: Tofurky-flavored soda ordering page
Related links:
What is Tofurky?
Tofurky Recipes
Chinese Sesame Noodles with Tahini
These easy sesame noodles have a nutty tahini and peanut butter sauce along with sesame oil and ginger for a tangy Asian flavor. Add a few diced veggies if you like, such as broccoli or snow peas or toss in some tofu to make it more of a full meal, if you're craving some protein. I added some red bell pepper and a handful of extra scallions to the mix. Super yummy!Baked Tofu, Nine Ways
Or, slice your tofu into triangles or slabs, and eat your baked tofu as an entree. Just whisk a few ingredients together, marinate for an hour or two and bake! Baked tofu is easy to make using a variety of dressings, sauces or marinades. Try using your favorite barbecue sauce or salad dressing, or, try one of these nine easy baked tofu dishes.Each of these baked tofu recipes is low-fat, low-carb, vegetarian and vegan, and of course, high in protein, as well.
Pictured: Lemon Basil Baked Tofu
Easy Vegan Tofu Lasagna Recipe
This is a basic recipe for a vegan tofu lasagna. With a ricotta-like filling made with tofu and layered with spinach, this basic tofu lasagna is oil-free, making it very low in fat, as well as healthy and of course, delicious. I usually add a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast to the tofu filling to make my vegan lasagnas a bit more cheesy, but then again, I like to add nutritional yeast to just about everything! You could also smother the top of this lasagna with a layer of vegan cheese if you miss cheese.If you like this vegan lasagna recipe, you might also want to scroll through these other vegetarian and vegan lasagna recipes.
Sweet and Sour Tofu and Veggies
If you've ever had a sweet and sour dish at a Chinese restaurant and wondered how they made it, this recipe is for you! This easy sweet and sour tofu with veggies will have your family thinking you picked up Chinese take-out! Steam some rice to go along with the sauce, or try it over cooked noodles. If you like sweet and sour tofu, you might also want to try this recipe for sweet and sour tempeh.
See also: More vegetarian Chinese food recipes
The Conscious Cook will seduce you
It's a small world. Renowned vegan chef and cookbook author Tal Ronnen (also known as Oprah's personal chef during her 21-day vegan experiment) and I once worked for the same company. But, as fate would have it, I never actually met him, as he was never in the office. He was always out and about at food conventions, or working with his fellow superstar celebrity chefs to help them develop their vegetarian and vegan menu items. What a busy man! He also catered Ellen DeGeneres' vegan wedding, and, well, you know how I feel about Ellen!
Knowing what his usual schedule is like, I can't imagine how he managed to find the time to create such an amazing new vegan cookbook. And just in time for the holidays, too! With such beautiful classy photos in a hardback edition, this one would make a great gift book. Check out my review to see why I am in love with this new cookbook. Also, try out one of Tal's gourmet recipes for fingerling potatoes with crisped dulse
I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hang on to it though, as I've been having trouble keeping it out of the hands of my omnivorous friends who keep asking to borrow it so they can salivate over the sensuously enticing photos. A fellow About.com writer (and omnivore) Donna also reviewed this cookbook, and gave it a fabulous review! Read her review here.
And if all that doesn't whet your curiosity or your appetite: Oprah endorses it. Nuff said.
Related links:
Homage to the pumpkin
I don't want to quit! Is it really any surprise then, that one of my favorite fall rituals is ordering a pumpkin pie latte just as soon as they begin appearing on cafe menus? It's really a testament to the mighty orange squash that it actually goes well with coffee. To it's credit, pumpkin goes well with so many foods. While we all love it in pies, pumpkin also appears in cookies, muffins, breads, cakes and soups. In Thailand, it's cooked with sugar syrup and stuffed with an egg custard for a sweet dessert or snack.
So, without further adieu, in celebration of everyone's favorite squash (and, well, Halloween), here are the best pumpkin recipes ever.
Link: Favorite Vegetarian and Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
See also: Thai pumpkin custard