Warm Up Your Thanksgiving: 7 Plant-Based Soup Ideas

In our family the Thanksgiving meal is not complete without soup. The temperatures are often cold, if not frigid, so a hot bowl of delicious fall soup hits the spot to warm up. Today I'm sharing 7 soup plant-based healthy recipes.

A Plant-Based Thanksgiving- 4 of My Favorite Appetizers

           

Whether your family gathering is large or small, Thanksgiving is a time when lasting memories are made and the aroma of delicious traditional holiday foods ooze from the kitchen. 

Making a plant-based Thanksgiving can be a challenge, but it is not as difficult as you might think. 

Most Thanksgiving sides are plant-based or can easily be made plant-based.  The greater challenge is finding the perfect entree to replace the Turkey. 

I sharing some of my favorite recipes from Thanksgiving's Past to help get think plant-based and gluten-free if you, a family member or guest have special eating needs this Thanksgiving. 

Appetizers Anyone? 

If you are like our family, we like to convene about 2:00 PM, hang around with some appetizers (and drinks)🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 share some mingle time together, and then enjoy the Thanksgiving feast. 

In today's post, I will share appetizer ideas. 

Following posts will address the other parts of the meal: 

Soups, salads, sides, desserts and entree. 

Extraordinary Hummus Platter( recipe link) - Homemade hummus is always the best, but whether you decide to make your own (recipe provided for homemade hummus- recipe link) or use prepared hummus you can still make a wow presentation with this delicious hummus display. 

Avocado Vegan Caprese Appetizer  (recipe link)

A beautiful display of tomatoes, capers, basil, avocado and cucumbers. Healthy, tasty, and appealing. 

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms (recipe link)

These are a little more work but absolutely delicious. Could be a side dish or an appetizer. 

Indian Style Vegan Vegetable Pakoras (recipe link)- Baked not fried and oil free. Easy to make and your family will love them. Again, serve them with the meal or as an appetizer. 

What time does your Thanksgiving meal begin? 

Do you mingle with appetizers and drinks or get right to the meal? 

Be on the lookout for My next 4 posts which will share ideas for Plant-based Thanksgiving recipes: 

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• Thanksgiving Soup Ideas and Recipes
• Thanksgiving Salad Ideas and Recipes
• Thanksgiving Sides Ideas and Recipes
• Thanksgiving Dessert Ideas and Recipes
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Winter Squash In The Instant Pot- Fast and Easy

Do you love winter squashes but find them hard to cut and difficult to peel?  I either buy them pre-cut up or struggle to cut them. 

But no more!! I found a solution.

Updated Tofu (Egg-Like) Salad

Before I became vegan about two years ago, egg salad was one of my favorite things to eat. Honestly, I still love that creamy, comforting flavor—but as a vegan, I choose not to eat eggs anymore. Instead, I make a simple egg-free “egg salad” using tofu, and it’s surprisingly delicious.

This tofu egg-style salad is quick, easy, and made with ingredients you may already have on hand. I simply drain and mash firm tofu, then add turmeric for that classic yellow color, chopped parsley, capers, and a dollop of hummus instead of mayonnaise. Everything gets mixed together into a creamy, flavorful spread that really does remind me of egg salad.

 

It turns into a delicious "egg salad like" dish. I then like to top it with sliced tomatoes, baby spinach, and sliced red onion and eat it on a gluten free wrap. Sometimes I even add leftover cooked vegetables or other salad veggies (grated carrot, slices of cucumber, radishes etc. or I might eat it with gluten-free crackers. 

Have you tried tofu? It is sold in almost every supermarket in the refrigerator section usually near the produce. I buy the firm tofu (it comes in soft and medium as well) for this recipe and drain off some of the water. 

This is an example of a plant-based lunch that provides protein and calcium from the tofu, vitamins and antioxidants from the spinach, tomatoes, and red onion. 

Plant-based eating is good for your health and for the environment. 

Are you concerned about global warming? Eating animal foods is a major contributor to global warming.

Less Animal Meals; Less Greenhouse Effect

Did you know that the greenhouse effect helps trap heat from the sun, to help our temperatures remain tolerable. But the huge production of animals by manufacturers (meat, chicken, dairy) are giving off an abundance of methane gasses which significantly increasing heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing the earth to keep warming up too much.

An article in Stanford News (source) explains: 

"The worldwide phase out of animal agriculture, combined with a global switch to a plant-based diet, would effectively halt the increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases for 30 years and give humanity more time to end its reliance on fossil fuels, according to a new study by scientists from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley."

Eat less meat, chicken, eggs, and dairy to help halt global warming!! 

Eat less animal meals and more plant-based meals.

As more people start understanding the role that animal based eating is playing in destroying our atmosphere, perhaps individuals will start to make important decisions to eat a more plant-based diet- if not entirely but at least for a majority of meals. 

If you come from an ethnic background, your ancestors probably ate a lot of plant-based meals using rice, beans, quinoa, yams, potatoes, in soups, entrees, and salads.

Ingredients: 

4 ounces of firm tofu, drained and mashed with a fork

1/4 cup of chopped parsley

1 tablespoon of capers

1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric

1 heaping tablespoon of hummus

Cracked pepper and Pink Himalayan Salt to taste

Topping for wrap: 

3 slices of tomatoes

4 leaves of baby spinach

1 slice of red onion 

Directions: 

Add the mashed tofu to a bowl. Add the turmeric, capers, parsley, and hummus and mix well. Once it forms a spread, add it to a wrap and top with the tomatoes, baby spinach, and red onion. Close the wrap and enjoy or eat with GF crackers.

My Notes: 

Last May I posted a recipe for tofu egg salad but this is my updated  recipe that  includes hummus. I think it takes it to a whole new level. It holds together better and tastes better.

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Sharing on The Intrepid Reader and Baker for Weekend Cooking where any blogger can share a food related post.