What kind of meals do you prepare on thanksgiving and/or christmas?

This will be my first vegan and animal free holiday.. which means no gravy, butter or turkey..

Do you just have the vegetables or prepare something different?

I just make the quorn fake turkey(I don't feel like cooking a big thing) I make gravy with vegetable broth, flour and a bot of seasoning. I cook vegetables in with the faux turkey and it comes out great. For me it is not really about the turkey but about family.

There are a lot of great things to make. Just find some good recipes.

perogies and cranberries, or veggie pizza, sometimes fake meat.. if your interested in fake meat recipe check it out in my blog ca.360.yahoo.com/ddherbals

Here's a sample from the site:

Broccoli In Garlic Sauce


Ingredients:

1 lb. broccoli florets
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 yellow bell pepper chopped
1 large carrot sliced
3 small shallots sliced
1 stem green onion sliced
1 陆 cups water chestnuts
Sea salt & cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

Sauce:

1/4 Cup spring water
2 tablespoon olive oil
5 cloves garlic whole
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
2 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon whole grain flour of your choice
5 cloves garlic sliced thin

Preparation:

In a blender whiz all but the last two ingredients on the sauce list until smooth and set aside. Cut broccoli florets in 2-3" pieces. Place broccoli, bell peppers and carrot in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam 2-5 minutes or until the broccoli becomes bright green. While preparing the vegetables, place a heavy non-stick skillet over medium heat, add flour and thinly sliced garlic to brown. Stir frequently as this burns very easily if left unattended. Add the blender mixture to the skillet and whisk until smooth and thickened over low heat.

In non-stick skillet, saute shallots, green onions and water chestnuts in 1 tablespoon water to heat through. Add broccoli then sauce and stir well. Salt & pepper to taste.

What I had last year for thanksgiving was--
* spaghetti squash
* "cream" of potato soup
* veggies (corn, peas, and spinach)
* mashed potatoes
* a carrot cake
---and Lot's of beer

Basically I prepared them how any meat/dairy/egg eater would but instead of using animal crap I just substituted everything with vegan stuff (like soy milk & vegan butter)
In the cake--
I followed an old recipe that my mom had but instead of eggs,
I used 1/4 cup of silken tofu (for each)
Soy milk instead of cow's milk.
and made a "cream cheese" topping with tofutti's cream cheese stuff. -- http://www.tofutti.com/index.shtml
It was really cool because other than the turkey (sigh) almost everything else at thanksgiving was vegan. My whole meatie family (and boyfriend) loved it.
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Oh and just because you are a vegan doesn't mean that you can't have gravy, butter, or turkey-like things :]

Here are some already made sauces and stuff (like gravy) from the vegan store(online):
http://www.veganstore.com/vegan-food-ite...
If you'd rather make the gravy yourself, you can always do a search to get some recipes, here are some recipe sites you could try:
http://www.vegcooking.com/
http://vegweb.com/

You can use vegan margarine instead of butter, here is one:
http://www.earthbalance.net/product.html...

As for turkey... I don't know how you feel about "tofurkey", but here is a link to the site:
http://www.tofurkey.com/products/tofurky...
Also, here is a recipe for home-made tofu turkey-- if you'd rather do it that way:
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7691.0

I honestly don't remember what I had for christmas... probably more beer...

Good luck and uhh.. happy holidays-- in a month and a half. :]

we have turkey for Thanksgiving and enchiladas for Christmas.

This is going to be our first holiday season as strict vegetarians.
I have considered making a big pan of roasted potatoes (the kind where you toss potato chunks with spices and olive oil and chopped onion) and maybe adding some chopped Tofurkey sun dried tomato sausage to that. I also am liking the idea of crispy cornbread stuffing made with veggie broth. Some home made whole grain bread with fresh preserves... seasoned green beans... corn... sweet potatoes made with brown rice marshmallow fluff and loads of pecans (I mix shredded coconut in with the yams - so good!)... a big green salad tossed with dried cranberries and walnuts and some sort of sweet vinagarette (I know that's spelled wrong)... and you can't forget pumpkin pie and apple pie and even zucchini bread...oh my gosh I am getting excited just thinking about all the wonderful things I can create and still eat healthfully!

P.S. Earth Balance butter is better than the "real" stuff and it's not only vegan but made from non-GMO expeller pressed oils that are GOOD for you.

P.S.S. Here are some holiday recipes from Farm Sanctuary - we'll be adopting a turkey through them this year instead of eating one!
http://www.adoptaturkey.org/resources_re...

THere's always "Tofurkeys" which are pretty easy to find around that time of year (Check health food stores). I believe they are vegan

Uhm.. you can EASILY make gravy without any animal products (I do it all the time) you just have to find a good recipie..

YOu can find a margerine that is completely free of animal products (Try Smart Balance Light or Soy Garden.

My favorite for thanksgiving is a little hard to explain.. See, alot of SEventh-day Adventists (a religion) are vegetarian.. They have these stores called "Adventist Book Centers" and at those stores (and a few other places) you can find something called "Smoked Turkey" made by a brand called "Worthington".. It does have egg in it, maybe some dairy, but I'm not picky about.. But it is my favorite turkey substitute.. It can be sliced in thin slices like bologna, and I take a slice, put some stuffing on it, roll it up and lay them in a casserole dish. When the whole casserole dish is lined with little veggie turkey rolls, I pour a mock-chicken-style gravy on top and bake.. SOO yummy..

You can do the same thing with a vegan turkey slices (smart deli?).. You can still have stuffing if you find the right brand... mashed pottatoes and gravy can easily be done vegan, and so can bread..

There are substitutes for butter and gravy. If you like tofu, have a tofurkey. If not you can make stuffed squash, savory crepes, any number of main dishes instead of turkey.

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving (non American).
A stir fried rice and vegetables and a sausage or other meat/fish substitute.

My favorite is Tofurky. When you buy the whole kit, it comes with gravy, sometimes dumplings, and a whole mess of goodies. You can also buy extra gravy and things for your mashed potatoes and such. There are cooking and serving suggestions that come with the Tofurky kit. Personally, I like to cut up big chunks of root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, potatoes, onions, garlic, etc on the bottom of the pan and lay the Tofurky on top of them. It makes basting easier and it helps the heat to circulate around the Tofurky for even cooking while in the oven. I usually make some cranberry sauce and wild rice with dried fruit. It goes nicely with the rest of the dinner. I am leaving the "Tofurky" link below so that you can find one near you if you are interested in trying this out:
http://www.tofurky.com/

I hope that helps. Happy cooking!