Take some vegetarians, a vegan or two and multicultural guests. Add in some middle-aged maladies like high blood pressure and hardened arteries, and what do you get? An opportunity to rethink Thanksgiving dinner. We've got bake-and-serve options, as well entrées you can prepare yourself.
Here's another delicious option to make yourself. This torte from Zel Allen, author of The Nut Gourmet cookbook, makes an ideal vegan Thanksgiving dish. It gets a variety of textures and savory flavors from the combination of wild rice, mushrooms, nuts, and sage -- especially when served with a robust mushroom gravy on the side.
You can also make this the day before, store it in the fridge and reheat it on Thanksgiving day.
"Serve it on a footed cake plate and garnish the heck out of it with sprigs of fresh herbs and orange slices," says Allen. For the full recipe, see this blog entry.