<p>I’m vegetarian and will go to a potluck where there definitely will be real turkey. Still, there will be plenty of vegetarian food for me to eat.</p>
<p>I am wondering why your S is losing weight since becoming vegetarian. Heck, I want to know his secret. Since I became vegetarian more than a year ago, I’ve stayed the same weight, darn it. It’s not as if vegetarians live off of lettuce. Pastas and similar foods can be vegetarian and depending on hwo they’re made, high caloric.</p>
<p>It could be a coincidence, new to college, lots more activity and walking than in high school maybe? If he’s not getting enough protein, he could be losing muscle mass, which weighs more than fat.</p>
<p>Thanks for the recipe, momof2inca. I’ve been looking for something like that for a long time.</p>
<p>I’m so happy to see this thread. My nephew is a freshman at a college near us and will be coming for T-day since his parents live overseas. I’m thrilled because I love him dearly, but he’s also a vegetarian and I want to have something that he’ll like to eat but that is also somewhat special for a holiday- like having stuffed turkey. It’s good to hear all the ideas/recipes etc.</p>
<p>Tofurkey? Does not sound too appetizing to me. Why eat fake meat if the whole thing about being a vegetarian is to avoid meat? oD had a vegetarian BF, so I made sure that we had plenty of vegetable side dishes and some stove-top prepared stuffing for him for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Kids’ favorite protein dish was garlic-marinated mushrooms baked on a cedar tray (yes, there are cedar trays that go in the oven). BF is long-gone, replaced with another who eats fish, so we have a Thanksgiving salmon now - very Northwest-like.</p>
<p>Good for your son and his new convictions. D was a vegetarian before going to college this year, and became a vegan. She has also lost weight between that limited diet and all the walking she is doing. She couldn’t afford the loss either, so I hope she plateaus soon.</p>
<p>She will be home for fall break this weekend and I will try a couple vegan things (husband is veg, I’m omnivore) but she’ll have to fend for herself otherwise…She always ate side dishes, bread, salads before. As 3tuitions said, vegan is much harder than vegetarian…</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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<p>Fake meat is convenient, helpful when some at the table are meat-eaters (i.e. you can grill veggie burgers and regular patties at the same time rather than create an entirely different main dish for the vegetarian) and a good source of protein (if soy). Some of the fake meat is pretty close to the real deal, too. For example, I bet most meat eaters wouldn’t mind ground veggie “hamburger” in their spaghetti sauce or tacos. Some of the “chicken” is very close in texture, with chicken it’s usually the sauce or spices that give it the taste. I like the “sausage” breakfast patties quite a bit. The “bacon” has a long ways to go and hasn’t been improved on since I started trying it 15 years ago. And the Tofurky, like I said, not a huge fan of it.</p>
<p>When my younger son tried being a vegetarian (he only lasted a few weeks) he really liked those veggie sausages. I’ve had seitan in stir-fries and it’s pretty good. There are also tofu-dogs. Speaking of which my brother lived with a vegetarian guy who had a four year old son, who came home from a birthday party once, saying, “They had the best thing to eat. They were called hot dogs. They were a little like tofu-dogs only they tasted soooo much better!”</p>
<p>Momof2inca, I like veggie burgers, and yes, they are convenient. I just can’t understand why tofu has to be shaped like turkey or chicken when you can have it as grilled tofu (yum). I also grill whole portabella mushrooms to use as “burger patties” for my vegetarian friends. I do not care for “organic” food (ever seen inorganic sugar?), but I like whole foods, not strange mixes of ingredients that sound like they came straight from the Aldrich catalog.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m pro-vegetable and pro-vegetarian. But if any of my Ds gets a vegan boyfriend, they are on their own with cooking.</p>
<p>I agree with Barrons
Cook the usual turkey-but perhaps if you usually cook stuffing inside the turkey- cook some in a seperate dish & add some side dishes that are heavier although most traditional ones are fairly heavy anyway- Lots at Thanksgiving that are filling- green beans in cream sauce- mashed potatoes ( he could have mushroom gravy instead of turkey, squash, pies, rolls…)</p>