Easy Ways to Veganize Your Christmas Dinner

What if Christmas doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. - Dr Seuss

Holidays are not about the presents, decorations or the food. They are about spending time with those you love, and your family and friends will love you no matter what you serve for a holiday meal! So why not start a new tradition? A vegan Christmas Dinner. It is delicious, healthy, easy and not a single animal will be killed in the process!!

I am going to show you easy changes for each part of a traditional meal.

Appetizers and starters are so easy when it comes to vegan based options. Here are some great ideas for home made recipes, but serving simple treats like fresh veggies with hummus or tortillas and salsa will be loved by all your guests.

Turkey or Roast Beef:

• There are so many ready-made options in the stores today. Gardein is one I use and it is so easy and delicious. For real convenience, you can even buy it with the stuffing and gravy included. Other brands include: Beyond Meat, Tofurky, Yves, Trader Joe’s, and many others.

• If you would like to serve home-made options, try my Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms or my Stuffed Pepper recipes here. There are also thousands of other recipe ideas all over the internet.

Side Dishes:

• Mashed potatoes are easy to prepare without animal products. Use either vegan butter or olive oil in place of butter. Adding roasted garlic or fresh herbs like Rosemary or Thyme is another great flavor booster.

• All of your veggie dishes can easy be made using vegan butters, oils and fresh herbs. Your friends and family won’t taste any difference! Here are some easy recipes that include all of the traditional fav’s along with some new ones to try.

• Stuffing is another dish that tastes even better when you take out all the animal products. Replacing meat broths with veggie or mushroom broth is easy and add loads of veggies, herbs and vegan butter or oil. Here is my favorite recipe, but the great thing about stuffing is you can add just about anything you like.

• Gravy may seem like a difficult thing to make without using animal products but it is so easy and tastes even better than the traditional gravies. You can either make it yourself or many stores offer Vegan Gravy options. If you prefer a home made version here is a great recipe that I make myself.

  - 2 C of chopped fine mushrooms – any type you like
  -  2 cloves of garlic, diced small 
  -  ½ onion diced small
  -  2 C of mushroom stock (or vegetable stock)
  -  ¼ C of AP flour
  -  2 Tbsp of oil (or vegan butter)
  -  1 tsp each: salt, pepper and thyme (dried-if using fresh use triple the amount)

  DIRECTIONS:
  -  Heat up the oil or butter over medium high heat in a large saucepan.
  -  Add mushrooms, onion and garlic and sauté for 4-5 minutes (or until soft).
  -  Add flour, salt, pepper and thyme. Cook for 1 minute.
  -  Slowly whisk in stock and cook for about 2-3 minutes (until it thickens).

Vegan desserts have come a long way! You can now buy just about any type of dessert made without animal products. Here are some of my personal favorite recipes and pre-made products that will put the delicious finishing touch on your meal.

After putting together your first Vegan Christmas dinner, you will see how simple and delicious it is. Your health, the planet and especially the animals will thank you!

Remember if your store doesn’t carry vegan items, always ask them for it. Our food dollars control what is offered.

Skip the Turkey This Christmas

Most of you would never eat your dog or cat for Christmas or any other meal, and we condemn, sign petitions and protest those who participate in the dog or cat meat trade. And yet tens of millions of beautiful, intelligent turkeys are killed and served at holiday tables every year.

Turkeys are smart animals with loads of personalty just like your pets. They love to have their feathers stroked and even do a dance when they see a person they recognize. And just like your cute little puppy or kitten, turkey’s develop a strong bond with individuals who spend time with them.

I am not going to go into the horrific details of how these birds are treated for the short five months of their lives, but I will say that it is NO different than the cruel and disgusting treatment of dogs in the meat trade or the elephants and rhinos in the ivory trade. I will tell you all baby turkeys are subject to excruciating mutilations without any anesthetic of having all “non-essential“ body parts cut off - beaks, toes, snoods (the fleshy red protuberance that dangles over turkeys’ beaks and is used to attract mates). Sadly, their painful and traumatizing death comes as a relief to the torture they endure while crammed into sheds that allow them only a couple of square feet of space. In fact, just in the US alone, millions die while being transported to the slaughter houses - they are kicked and thrown, their legs and wings are broken off, all so families can eat their single holiday meal.

Understand this, there is NO such thing as a humane slaughter. These animals do not want to die and the processors who kill turkeys have no interest in being kind in anyway. Their mandate is to make money spending as little time as possible with the kill and processing. There is nothing humane about inflicting violence and death on animals just because people like the taste of their flesh.

Humans have zero biological need to eat meat, dairy or eggs! So what can you do? The simple answer is to STOP eating and serving turkey or any other meat. Whether you’re looking for store-bought, order-online, or make-your-own options, it’s easy and delicious to veganize your favorite holiday main dishes. There are literally millions of vegan recipes on the internet. I have tons of recipes in the Food section of this blog and they are all very easy and delicious. At some point in the not too distant future, you will not have the choice, as the water, earth and air will be of such poor quality, raising animals for food will be impossible.

Our compassion towards animals does not need to be taught, we simply need to stop un-teaching it!