: Vegetarian and Animal Friendly Alternatives to Turkey for Christmas 2010

:
(418 Words)
You may have a vegetarian on your Christmas dinner list, and you will want to give them something special to eat as well. Of course, they will not eat turkey, but there are many great dishes that might be perfect for them, including the following.
Pasta dish
A lot of vegetarians enjoy pasta, and you can make this in many different ways. You can make some plain pasta with sauce if you want something easy. You can make it with a delicious pesto sauce. You can also make some sort of cream based sauce or garlic and oil mixture as well. If you want a nice baked dish then you can do a vegetarian lasagna or a baked ziti. You can make stuffed shells or eggplant parmesan. You will find quite a variety of dishes to make in an Italian cookbook.
Casserole
There are many delicious vegetarian casseroles that can be the hot main dish for a vegetarian at a Christmas dinner instead of a turkey. For instance, you can make a rice based casserole with cheese and vegetables. Many casseroles incorporate potatoes.
Vegetarian chili
A lot of people want something warm for Christmas dinner and a vegetarian chili can be exactly that and yet still be animal friendly. This may include beans, tomatoes, spices and other ingredients.
Meat substitute
You will find many products that are meat substitutes. You want to be careful about some of the more processed ones for health reasons, but there are a lot of them that are more natural. You can use these on their own or in recipes. They can be used in sandwiches or other meals. Many people also like tofu and you can even make a “turkey” out of it.
Sides
Many of the sides you will often see at Christmas dinners can be made vegetarian. For instance, you can make a soup that has a vegetable base instead of one made of meat or chicken. You can make stuffing that is not cooked inside the turkey. You can make mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes. Just make sure not to use chicken stock in the items or put meat into your vegetables.
It is important to take into account whether you have any vegans attending your Christmas dinner because then they will not eat any dairy products. No matter what, if you want your food to be animal friendly then you might want to consider dairy products that are organic or from farms where the animals are treated humanely.