Vegetarian Christmas

Puffin

Hi there,

I’ve a friend coming for Christmas dinner who is an excellent person but REALLY difficult with food. She’s a vegetarian (dairy and honey are fine but no seafood, meat etc) and if also extremely picky ie she doesn’t like olives or capers and is highly suspicious of tofu, any type of vegetable protein, cous cous etc.

Does anyone have any ideas of something that is festive, non offensive to a trad Irish tastes but doesn’t have any meats in it?

And for those who reckon she hates food- she’s the first to admit she is far from a ‘foodie’ she is still a great person and we all have to eat. I would like to make an effort.

thanks

forbairt

Does she eat eggs ?

legspin

An Elwood Blues special methinks.

Puffin

yep, but (at the risk of being a real brat) i'll also be eating this and i won't eat a egg whole. i love cakes etc that include eggs, but the idea of a plain egg (ie poached egg) or an egg based dish (ie fritatta) just does not appeal.

sorry to be so difficult

forbairt

was gonna suggest a quiche .... but if the eggs are a problem for you then its out

Nature Boy

Does she eat fake meat? There are some nice roast things out there, some with stuffing an all...

daiixi

Why don't you just ask her for ideas?

monkeyfudge

I've always found a nice nut roast to be the perfect vegetarian xmas meal.

Tar.Aldarion

Find a good fake meat, oh baby.
Otherwise, ask her what she normally eats, also, check out the sticky at the top of this forum. The one with all the recipe links.

JJJJNR

What a complete downer for christmas, tell her to bring her own food if shes gonna be that fussy.

Milk and honey for crimbo dinner! LAUGH

sweet-rasmus

Puffin is looking for ideas, so if you have nothing constructive to say, keep it to yourself !

flikflak

Do a google search for veggie xmas dinners.

On thing that seems to be quite popular is a mushroom pastry puff thing. Check out the vegan family website for the recipe and a few ideas or vegweb.com for 1000`s of ideas of everyday things you could cook for your guest.

Peanut

Yeah roast potatoes, stuffing, some fancy veg (butter and herb carrots maybe) & nut roast should be good. Might investigate that myself

Macha

I know the Observer magazine is doing something on Vegetarian Christmas dinners today (Sunday).

Actually they put all their articles online:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2222944,00.html

Have a look around, they might have some other articles on it as well

Nature Boy

Might go for the Cashew nut roast this year
http://www.vegetarian.ie/xmasa.htm

Complete with bread sauce and loads of roasties and stuffing and cranberry sauce and and and and...

tristanc

If she's just coming for the one meal, I wouldn't worry too much about make sure she has the complete nutritional balance or what not

Pasta + sauce is obviously super easy (though that's pretty much protein-less).

A veggie pot pie - theres tons of recipes out there.

Make roasted potatoes/squash, toss a handful of seeds or nuts in with them, and serve with a side of rice.

tristanc

tristanc wrote: »

Pasta + sauce is obviously super easy (though that's pretty much protein-less).

I know you mean well, but if someone served me pasta and tomato sauce for Xmas day dinner, they'd be wearing it 3 seconds later. And I would never forgive them.
Even when I am served it at the work christmas dinner or at weddings I find it highly insulting.

Which is probably why it is a good thing I cook Xmas dinner.

barbiegirl

Here are a few links, some lovely recipes and I'm not a veggie

http://www.ivillage.co.uk/food/partyfood/Christmas/articles/0,,164360_167390,00.html
http://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/christmas.html

My sister in law has eggplant parmiganio as her Christmas dinner.

Hope it helps

seamus

Another vote here for roast spuds, roast veg and nut roast, with some veggie gravy. Savage. Salivating just thinking about it here...

You can also get a good butternut squash in Marks and Spencer.

Lands Leaving

Puffin wrote: »

is highly suspicious of tofu, any type of vegetable protein, cous cous etc.


thanks

Whats suspicious about veggie protein? Does it work for the mob? Is it secretly eating meat?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/vegetarian_and_vegan/veggiechristmasmenus.shtml

this has some good ideas

tristanc

Moonbaby wrote: »

I know you mean well, but if someone served me pasta and tomato sauce for Xmas day dinner, they'd be wearing it 3 seconds later. And I would never forgive them.
Even when I am served it at the work christmas dinner or at weddings I find it highly insulting.

Which is probably why it is a good thing I cook Xmas dinner.

Really? I cook it all the time - with veggies added and some sort of protein (red kidney beans or sauteed tempeh my favs).

tristanc

Moonbaby wrote: »

I know you mean well, but if someone served me pasta and tomato sauce for Xmas day dinner, they'd be wearing it 3 seconds later. And I would never forgive them.
Even when I am served it at the work christmas dinner or at weddings I find it highly insulting.

Which is probably why it is a good thing I cook Xmas dinner.

Sorry, just got your meaning - ie if everyone else gets some elaborately prepared dish and you just get pasta/sauce as the veggie option. It's definitely not an infrequent occurrence (as well as the 'you can just eat the sides or salad/bread' approach). I can't say I'm ever insulted - especially if I'm the only one with special food requirements, I feel like I'm putting the host out more than they should be going out of the way to accommodate me. If it's something like a catered wedding, that's just a crappy caterer if that's the best they can come up with.

I used to be able to accept this with good cheer but 16 years of pasta has layered on the resentment.

It's not really about feeling bad because of what everyone else got.
I don't envy a turkey dinner one bit. Its the fact it is a special occassion.
Of course in the normal run of things I appreciate even a plate of potatos from a friend, as it is display of kindness.

When it comes to weddings you know that the couple have sat down with the caters and chosen to neglect you, because they couldn't give a **** that you are fed, after making such an effort to be there for them on their day. I find that very disappointing.

embraer170

When it comes to weddings you know that the couple have sat down with the caters and chosen to neglect you, because they couldn't give a **** that you are fed, after making such an effort to be there for them on their day. I find that very disappointing.

That's pretty true!

forbairt

Moonbaby wrote: »

When it comes to weddings you know that the couple have sat down with the caters and chosen to neglect you, because they couldn't give a **** that you are fed, after making such an effort to be there for them on their day. I find that very disappointing.

Glad we put on a pretty amazing veggie option for ours then (though I'm not vegetarian) I did end up having it as well. There were 3 vegetarians there ... the caterers weren't too happy about it all but what they prepared was probably one of the best veggie dishes I've ever had

Well fairplay to you.
What was it?

neuro-praxis

Moonbaby wrote: »

When it comes to weddings you know that the couple have sat down with the caters and chosen to neglect you, because they couldn't give a **** that you are fed, after making such an effort to be there for them on their day. I find that very disappointing.

Ok, I understand your frustration, but let's not be sanctimonious here. You are not doing them a favour by coming to their wedding. They're paying for it all. You're an invited guest.

monkeyfudge

They slapped a spring roll on a plate for me at the office christmas party last Saturday as a vegetarian alternative... yay!

The salad starter had ham in it as well.

Macha

Just another plug for the Guardian (they are good on the veggie side of things )

This is another page of Christmas recipes:

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/recipe/0,,2225955,00.html

Nature Boy

taconnol wrote: »

Just another plug for the Guardian (they are good on the veggie side of things )

This is another page of Christmas recipes:

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/recipe/0,,2225955,00.html

Quite like the sound of the wellington and the pie...

tristanc

Moonbaby wrote: »

I used to be able to accept this with good cheer but 16 years of pasta has layered on the resentment.

Ah, I've not been suffering terribly long. My mother was very much a 'pasta for the veggies' cook for Christmas dinner, but most of those dinners I was a meat eater and my sisters were stuck with the pasta. Of course, they were super picky in general - one was a vegetarian who seriously didn't like vegetables. I'd joke about her that Doritos are technically vegetarian.

At this point, my mother has taken her pre-diabetes and high cholesterol seriously and Christmas dinners don't look like they used to, so I have no cause to complain.

tristanc

monkeyfudge wrote: »

The salad starter had ham in it as well.

Shudder. Even when I was a reliable carnivore, I found a salad with ham it detestable. I don't why, but it just seemed like an inappropriate combo even in concept.

monkeyfudge

All over Europe they love to stick tentacles in the salads... bleh...

Macha

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,2226096,00.html

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,2226098,00.html

And a few more...mmm...yum

vibrant

If you're still stuck, Marks & Spencers do a really nice vegetarian kiev, and also a nut roast (which was all right - I really prefer the kiev). It's in their refrigerated section about €5 for 2 kievs - perfect for a Christmas type dinner, as you can serve it with roast potatoes, veg, etc.

As an aside, I've gone RIGHT off pasta since I became vegetarian. So many restaurants only offer pasta dishes as a veggie alternative, I am bored to the back teeth of it. So the thought of some genius serving it for Christmas dinner truly appalls me. What would they do if the shoe was on the other foot and I served *them* baked beans and chips?

rockbeer

vibrant wrote: »

What would they do if the shoe was on the other foot and I served *them* baked beans and chips?

Ah, but you're a vegetarian, you're not supposed to care how it tastes - only how healthy and/or ideologically acceptable it is