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the charlatans
06-Feb-08, 17:02
Hiya
I have company coming this weekend and am looking for a few ideas as they are vegetarian. I'm not and they are okay with us eating meat in front of them (and i'm okay with them not eating meat in front of me!) so i'm wanting to do some dishes that are similar. Kind of like - a beef salad and a cheese salad. Salad bit - then add meat for me and cheese for them. Hope i make sense.

So far i've thought of curry dishes or pizza. Any other ideas please.

alanatkie
06-Feb-08, 18:40
A stir fry would be a good idea you can cook your meat in a different pan from the rest of the Stir fry.

Macaroni Cheese, Vegetarian Lasagne or use quorne instead of meat (not everyone's taste tho).

mccaugm
06-Feb-08, 20:41
:DYou can get quorn slices to "beef" up your salad. Quorn Spaghetti bolognese and Mushroom stroganoff are great. For good recipes go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/vegetarian_and_vegan/

the charlatans
06-Feb-08, 21:21
I can't bring myself to eat Quorn or tofu mccaugm - i tried it in my student days and yuck, not to my taste. Its like turkey or pork mince to me, wrong.
However, mrs vegetarian does eat quorn so i think i'll get some and cook it up at same time.

thanks for the link, i think i'll go for a vegetarian mexican - amigos its chilli time!

i'll have to make sure i use vegetarian stock cube for the soup this time. oops. shhh dinny tell her.

emb123
07-Feb-08, 08:53
I personally wouldn't recommend thinking "meat dish"with "meat substitute".

Some people actually manage to live very long healthy lives without eating a single bit of meat for years. You don't actually NEED meat!!

I'm not a veggie (although I still eat very little meat) but I used to be for a very long time and I used to be amused when people would put their hands up in horror at the thought of a veggie guest coming and - "what do they eat ?"

If you are going to do a veggie chili then it's possible to make excellent chilis without making them like a meat one but with soya/quorn mince. Do think of it instead as a vegetarian main course to provide all the nourishment and taste you need!
Portion size tends to need to be a little larger with veggie meals.

Try a nice chunky vegetarian chili it might even be good enough to put you off meat forever!

Here are a couple of recipes that look like they are thinking along the right lines.... (I generally make up my own recipes to be honest based on what is to hand and how hungry I am)

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=554690 (http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=554690)

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/006141spicy_vegetarian_chili.php (http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/006141spicy_vegetarian_chili.php)

And there are a number of desserts here:

http://www.scotveg.com/recipes/ (http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://www.scotveg.com/recipes/)


Chili, especially vegetarian benefits enormously IMO from and lots and lots and lots of tomato and especially tomato puree and also lots of different types of beans. I would be inclined to put plenty of mushrooms in as well, and I note that neither recipe makes much of a big deal about a bit more cumin which I personally consider essential to a decent chili.

Btw American translations:
eggplant = aubergine (Lidl only, Tesco don't stock them)
zucchini = courgette
cilantro = coriander

Personally I think a nice tangy sorbet would be great after a good chili then a cappuccino topped with cardamon or a Turkish coffee and shortbread.

-----------

additional thought - do try if you get the chance Tesco's Mexican style Bean burgers from the frozen food section, (personally I ignore the oven bake instruction and) just grill for roughly 7 minutes each side under a medium grill in a large burger bun with a little lettuce, onion, tomato and keychup. It will give you an idea of how amazingly good vegetarian chili flavours can be. Most supermarket do veggie bean burgers but Tesco did them first (after MacDonalds) and it galls me to admit that the Tesco ones are the best. They really are superb. I've given them many times to male and female non-veggie friends and family and everyone agrees that they are delicious!

mccaugm
07-Feb-08, 11:43
Don't you just hate it when you say your vegetarian and people ask you "Do you eat chicken?"

For the uninitiated

Lacto - Doesn't eat food that once had a face
Beta - Not strictly a vegetarian, they just choose not to eat red meat
Vegan - Doesn't eat or use any animal based products

the charlatans
13-Feb-08, 22:06
Well i've had my visitors been and gone. We had a nice weekend and Caithness was bonny in the sunshine for them.

We had a mega vegey curry on Friday night, and home made samosas - yum.
Mexican on Saturday - I did a side dish of chicken for my family (done in another pan for you extremists)
We went out to the Schoolhouse in Groats on Sunday for Sunday lunch and that was smashing.
Then on Sunday we had pizza. We had ham, and they didn't.

I was dreaming about meat all weekend. So now they have gone we had beef stew and dumplings.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not getting into the ethics of being vegetarian, fair play if you do that. I chose to eat meat, fair play to me. Fairs fair! I just wanted a couple of dishes that could be made into vegey dishes and meat dishes without using all the pans in my house and stressing me out totally.

Thanks for the help. Now this weekend is the extreme opposite. In laws coming who won't eat a dish if it doesn't have meat in it!!!!!!!!!! Am away to check out your recommendations.

sassylass
16-Feb-08, 04:54
I know your veggie guests have gone but my daughter told me about this website: wholefoods.com

She says the recipes she has tried are fantastic...(one can only hope ;))