A very veggie Thanksgiving

Being vegetarian on Thanksgiving is like being an Eskimo in Florida—you have to adapt to survive.

As a kid, my parents always joked around about our turkey, which they affectionately named “Tom.” Every year they would bring out Tom, going into detail about the turkey he was before he became our Thanksgiving feast. Being that I'm a vegetarian now, you can probably guess I didn't enjoy these conversations very much. It probably didn’t help that I had the strange dream of someday having a pet turkey.

Since the end of my Tom-the-turkey-eating years, I’ve gravitated towards carbohydrate options—potatoes, rolls, stuffing and pie.  I would have eaten vegetables too, but in a meat-dominated extended family, those usually have bacon hidden in them.

I’ve sampled Tofurky before… never again. I don’t think food should pretend to be meat. Either it’s meat, or it isn’t, but it can’t be some ambiguous substance in between. Despite my distaste for Tofurky, the stuffing they include is drool-worthy.

After the stuffing, pies are usually my go-to. I’ve been known to consume a majority of a pumpkin pie by myself on Thanksgiving, eating the leftovers the following day.

One of my favorite post-Thanksgiving breakfasts is a warm pumpkin chocolate chip pancake, which I make from leftover pie. All I do is prepare pancake mix as usual—with a little more water—then take the filling from the pie and mix it in before cooking.

Even as a vegetarian, I manage to stuff myself past my breaking point.

To avoid overeating, I wait at least 15 minutes before second helpings… and the multiple helpings afterward. I drink enough water to feel full before I even started eating, which is just a recipe for an exploding bladder to accompany my food baby.