{"id":1413,"date":"2015-11-08T11:35:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T17:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vegetatingwithleslie.org\/?p=1413"},"modified":"2017-04-20T14:24:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T20:24:51","slug":"lets-talk-no-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vegetatingwithleslie.org\/?p=1413","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Talk (No) Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vegan
Vegan Stuffed Pumpkin — happy for you and happy for our turkey friends!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThanksgiving dinner’s sad and thankless.
\nChristmas dinner’s dark and blue.
\nWhen you stop and try to see it
\nFrom the turkey’s point of view.” – Shel Silverstein<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are vegetarian and the rest of your family and friends are not, you will likely come to that moment when you need to figure out how to serve an important . . . say, holiday . . . meal.<\/p>\n

For many years, I prepared two meals. Difficult. I like to cook and take pride in good results. Cooking without tasting is like, well, driving a car with your eyes closed. Don’t much want to go there.<\/p>\n

One year I decided to bite the proverbial bullet. I relented on my principle of no manufactured food and bought a soy “turkey”, a brand which will remain unnamed. Shaped like a ball with twine around it, it looked like a basketball. It even had its own little package of (no)turkey gravy.<\/p>\n

I made everything else my family loved: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries, breads, desserts. Then there was the (no)turkey.<\/p>\n

Back in the kitchen, I arranged my (no)turkey as nicely as one can arrange a basketball on a platter. It still had the appearance of a basketball but a nicely arranged and decorated one. Everyone was waiting. I brought it out and placed it on the table. Stunned silence. Finally one of my sons spoke. “Really, Mom?”<\/p>\n

Another of my sons, old enough to know better, did what one usually does with a basketball. He “passed” it to his brother, who unfortunately missed it. It landed on the floor, and my beagles, who would eat anything without even sniffing, rushed toward it…stopped, sniffed, and walked away!<\/p>\n

OK, so that didn’t work. After that year, though, I was determined to find a delicious, festive vegetarian Thanksgiving entree. These Stuffed Pumpkins sell out every year in my (former) cafe. The perfect entree for a veggie crowd, they are also an impressive side dish for people who require a real turkey.<\/p>\n

STUFFED PUMPKIN<\/b>
\n Pumpkin and Stuffing <\/b>(serves 4+ as a meal, many more as a side)<\/p>\n