A Vegetarian Thanksgiving

If you have been reading my blog for some time, you might remember that last year, I decided on not eating turkey on Thanksgiving. After watching Food, Inc., I swore off industrial farming and went down the local path for meat. And then, I went vegetarian. This year, I enjoyed all of the delicious side dishes and did not miss the turkey at all. Here are the three vegetarian items that I prepared for the Thanksgiving meal with my husband's family.

Easy Cranberry Sauce
I absolutely love homemade cranberry sauce, more on the tart side. This recipe comes from Savory Sweet Life. I adapted it by using turbinado raw sugar instead of the brown sugar and honey instead of the white sugar.

Toasted Almond Butternut Squash Tart
This recipe from Whole Living magazine was a huge hit last year, so I made it again. I used an all-natural pre-made pie crust and rolled it out to an oval right on the Silpat liner. My favorite part is the toasted almond layer under the butternut squash.

 

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups
Kiersten from Oh My Veggies inspired me to make these scrumptious little pieces of heaven (recipe from Domestic Fits). Roasting a pie pumpkin was super easy. I might have used just a little too much of the organic, fair-trade semi-sweet dark chocolate I bought, but I decided that you can never have enough chocolate. The tip to filling the bottom of the cups is to put about half of a teaspoon of chocolate in the bottom. With the back of the spoon, move the chocolate to the edge, hold the spoon, and move the muffin cup around with your finger. (note: this photo is from a previous batch when I used regular sized muffin tins)

>> What are your favorite holiday side dishes and/or desserts? Bonus points if they are vegetarian!