Vegetarians - help needed???????
 

HELP! MIL has just told me that some of my Boxing Day guests are newly turned vegan and I need some advice about what to cook for them. I've also got some vegetarians coming and I'm assuming that vegetarians eat vegan food but that vegans don't necessarily eat vegetarian food - is that right?? :dizzy:

Boxing Day meal is a running buffet - from noon to 9pm - about 70% of it is traditional 'finger food' and the other 30% is hot - casseroles or curries - served with jacket spuds or rice. Most of my prep is done on Christmas Eve with only basic heating up and salad preparing done on Boxing Day. What I DON'T particularly want is to separate the vegan and non-vegan food - I'd like it to appeal to everyone if possible. So, basically:

a) Any ideas for yummy Vegan finger food?

b) Any ideas for two or three hot dishes which will go nicely with rice or jacket spuds? (Something that can be eaten without using a table and just with a fork preferably.)

I'm fairly flexible when it comes to ingredients (so long as I know in advance) - I'm not great at pastry - and, if possible, could you supply recipes.

Thanks

Vegans do not eat meat, fish or any dairy (no eggs, milk, cheese) and NO honey if they are strict.

Check www.vegsoc.org - Vegetarian society and they will say if a recipe is vegan or not. Check also the vegan society also go to BBC website for food and the goodfood website (the magazine)


Ratatouille should be good with rice or spuds

A veggie chilli with red kidney beans

All manner of curries

Mushroom rissotto

Quorn is not vegan I think they bind it with eggwhites

Click on the following

http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/yule.html

http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/christmas.html

http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/christmas.htm

http://www.veganvillage.co.uk/fddrnk.htm

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/recipes/

http://www.viva.org.uk/recipes/rose.html Rose Elliot recipes


Hope these help!

A few more

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...20/ai_68913307

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/vegetarian...ganmenus.shtml

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/speci...incodemayo.htm

http://vegetarian.about.com/b/a/256568.htm

The link below is for Tartex Mushroom pate which is ok for Veggies and Vegans. Careful when buying any other cos it may have cream in it. I guess a health store would stock it - Holland and Barret do anyway.

http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-...il/753440.html

Originally Posted by Sarah Ann:
I've also got some vegetarians coming and I'm assuming that vegetarians eat vegan food but that vegans don't necessarily eat vegetarian food - is that right?? :dizzy:

You assume wrong :p I like a bit of cheese in all my food! ;) :p

If they are newly vegan they'll probably have caved in by Christmas anyway. :devil: :lol:

I've stopped panicking now! :rolleyes:

Veggie - Cheese isn't a problem - its my favourite and I'm getting in loads! :p Sorry - I meant that theres nothing in Vegan food that Vegetarians would find unacceptable... but it doesn't always work the other way round.

No honey... oh bother - I use honey quite a lot. Which reminds me... I'll need to find a dessert without dairy in it.

I'll definitely make ratatouille - with olive oil instead of butter - might put in some butterbeans for texture and I think maybe a mild mixed vegetable curry made with vegetable ghee - I've got some in the fridge.

Thanks for all the links - I shall work my way through them. Just had a look at a few and its really interesting!

Do you have any particular favourites which are vegan-friendly? You know - the kind of tried and trusted stuff which I can't go wrong with - especially for the cold buffet bit.

Houmous for dips?

Oh - yes! Good idea!! I can get stuck in to that as well.... :drool:

And Guacamole and salsa are good.

There is also a smoked aubergine dip called Moutabal (sp?)


http://www.arabicslice.com/moutabal.html here is one but not smokey I don't think


http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/da...el_73803.shtml

Originally Posted by peacock 2:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/da...el_73803.shtml

Yum! I just made this - just for research purposes of course - and its on my Boxing Day list for certain!!! :drool:

Good!

I have had it in Lebanese restaurants. It is lovely!

By the way- we had a South American theme to our book club yesterday and I was going to get some salsa and Guacomole. Because of the blasted weather I only went across the road to a shop and the only guacomole was mixed with houmous. I did not like the combination somehow - it tasted weird!¬

guacamole mixed with houmous sounds vile.

I like to go a bit greek and have some tzatziki ooh and stuffed vineleaves and piles of olives.

:carrot:

dunno why i put the carrot in, i jus like it.

oops just realised tzatziki is dairy, sorrryyy!!

I think I've got my list now. Not sure if it is particularly Vegan but, TBH, its the best I'm going to do given that I've got other guests to cater for.

Buffet:

Tomato, pepper and cannellini bean bruschetta
Aubergine 'caviar' on brushetta
Peacock's smoked aubergine dip
Guacamole
Smoked pepper Hummus
(all served with wholemeal pitta fingers and julienned veg)
Winter Tabbouleh (but with normal molasses rather than the pomegranate molasses).

Roasted mediterranean veg with a Harissa dressing over couscous (served cold as a salad)

Hot dishes:

Spicy Ratatouille with butter beans in
Mixed vegetable curry

D'you think this is an okay menu? Balanced enough?? I can't think of a pud except for fresh fruit salad but I'm working on it. I like all this food so if theres leftovers it won't be a problem. :drool:

Sarah Ann - it all looks to be vegan - as long as you don't use cheese or butter. Well done!

I think a fresh fruit salad is a good idea! You could get some vegan cream/yogurt or icecream maybe to go with it (with 'normal cream etc etc for those as wants).

Or Maybe just have an 'exotic' mix of fruits and marinade them in a liquer (mind you, there is always someone who does not want alcohol).

If they turn their noses up - they are not fit to be your friends/family etc!

Vegan chocolate cake - it's all carbs and fat :T

http://www.boutell.com/vegetarian/cake.html

Oh yes I had forgotten that you could do choccie cake veggie style.


Maybe pop some raspberries in the middle if you are doing 2 'sandwich' cakes and put em together - maybe using veggie marg instead of butter cor butter cream (use more cocoa powder and some suger.

However you have to be careful with mar - the hard stuff often has fish oils in it and the soft stuff - if light in fat has gelatine in it.

Sarah Ann - when it is all over I want you to lie down with a very stiff drinkie!

Another thought is to roast some mixed nuts and dust them in paprika or a curry blend or splosh with a bit of balsamic or soy sauce.

Originally Posted by peacock 2:
If they turn their noses up - they are not fit to be your friends/family etc!

They're not - they're DH's - they're distant relies (2nd cousins?) that I've never met them before.

Ah HA! Alcohol!! I'll add a splosh of kirsh to the fruit salad. :p

That chocolate cake looks yummy - what do you think I can sandwich it together with? (Its got to be appealing to the masses as well.)

I was going to make this anyway so I might use the cherries for that chocolate cake and make this (dead easy) for the non vegans.

That spicy nuts idea is good - do you think I can make it in advance and keep it in an airtight container?

you could put jam in the cake.....? a bit black forest gateaux-ey

I am sure you can. My friend makes the m the night before our book club but has not made them in a while. I must have a word with her!!!

By the way if you use cream (dairy) then neither of the cakes will do for vegans.

I mentioned a non-buttercream to sandwich the cake together. If you get some soft marg and check there is no milk product or gelatine in it. Tomor is I thnk a Kosher jewish and vegan marg - a hard one.

I think there is one called pure or pura that you can get from supermarkets or health shops.

If not then just spread the middle with a jam - one of the balkan ones that has masses of fruit or a tin of fruit pie filling or something. Or maybe there is a chocolate spread that is vegan? We used to get a lovely dark choccie spread that I think was vegan (I wasn't even veggie then)

FOrgot to say - depending how strict the vegans and veggies are - they may not want to drink alcohol or have any alc in anything. A lot of wine is not veggie friendly cos of the isinglass (fish bladders) but I am not really sure about liquers. wil have to check and get back to you.

Peacock is naughty and drinks whatever regardless!!

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/alcohol.html

Here we are - you should be ok Sarah Ann

Bum! I have jsut found out that drinking port is unacceptable! Mind you as I said I carry on drinking regardless......

Originally Posted by peacock 2:
Sarah Ann - when it is all over I want you to lie down with a very stiff drinkie!

I do almost all the prep on Christmas Eve and my neighbours pop in on their way home from work because they know there'll be fresh mince pies out of the oven and a glass or two of wine - I always end up completely :dizzy:

On Boxing Day itself DH makes the bread and lays the table while, I wash salad and load up the plates. Then I cook rice, bake jacket spuds and pop stuff in the oven/microwave to warm up as necessary. I try and keep it as easy as possible.

Well I still think you deserve a lie down and a stiff drinkie - perhaps with DH???!

My mum has a rest now as 1) Brother does the cooking on the day with my aunt hindering him at every turn

and

2) she is not mobile much now and has to sit down to do any thing.

I would help but it is a case of too many cooks when my aunt is around (she is not a cook but is an "expert" if you see what I mean and would have to be surgically removed from my brother's side.

We all still laugh at when my brother was trying to remove some feathers from the goose with pliers (they were tough). He couldn't do it very well so she thought she would offer her eyebrow tweezers.........

DH asked if they needed anything special to drink and was told that they drink wine - and anything else which has got alcohol in it. Bit worried about this because they are coming up from Kent. They haven't asked us to book a B&B (even though we offered) and I have a nasty feeling they are intending to stay the night - which should be interesting because so are quite a few others.

Sorry - meant that the second choc torte would be for anyone who wanted it - pretty much like all my food. I'm not going to report them to the vegan society if they decide they want cream on their pud!

Goose - yuck! Best off using eyebrow tweezers but goose is really not nice.

Oh - we get Pura - the soya one. I use it in cooking all the time because DH thinks its got a more creamier, butterier flavour than butter. :rolleyes:

Well my family all seem to like goose (even fussy SIL and her daughter) and my bruv loves cooking spuds in the fat.

I am the only one that does not have it. I usually have something with polenta or cous cous thogh I keep whining for quorn sausage toad in the hole.

Wow Sarah what a great menu and that's just for the vegans! You deserve a large glass after that.

Thanks CG - I love entertaining and we don't have the time to do a lot of it so I really enjoy my Boxing Day buffet thing.

Sorry Peacock, I found goose was very fatty - maybe its the way I tried to cook it. In fact there isn't much in the animal protein line that I do really enjoy anymore. I'm slowly shifting our diet to being less meat based and I know it would be very easy for me to change to a vegetarian diet but not necessarily for the right reasons plus I would be imposing my views on DH.

I have nothing really worthy to add to this conversation, am only here to say that I made my avatar a jar of goose fat because the thought of it makes me want to gag (I was sure there was a spewing smilie but I can't find it so you'll just have to pretend it's there).

Blimey, sounds bloody fantastic!

Woohooo SarahAnn! Lookey here for another cake idea - scroll down to refridgerator cake.


http://www.vegansociety.com/html/foo.../christmas.php


I know what you mean about goose being fatty - probably why my bruv likes it so much!


God knows why I am surfing recipes - I am due to various scans etc at 3 today and must drink water and there is confusion cos on the back of the form it said to fast before having the scans then the letter I got said only to drink loads of water. I rang for clarification but I am not sure the receptionist knows what she is talking about. Anyway I guess it won't hurt if I don't eat until afterwards (mind you I will be cranky until then and will want to eat the furniture!!).

Wanna - Here's the barfing smilie :barf:

BBL - I also do a lot of non vegetarian food which I find a lot easier. :)

I've made an executive decision - now I'm going to make five hot casserole type dishes, instead of my normal two or three, I've decided to make them over the next couple of weeks and freeze them - just to make things a bit easier on Christmas Eve.

MIL, bless her, has offered to make the pastry stuff - a gigantic pie, a few quiches and a load of those yucky vol au vent things with cream cheese/cranberry mixture in (which all of DH's family love) - but I still get to make the sausage / cheese and onion rolls and mince pies. :)

Its under control.

All round to Sarah Ann's then. Room for a big one??

From lots of previous experience.... if its a scan of your ovaries then you need to be empty but VERY full up with water. Whatever you do DO NOT tiddle beforehand otherwise you'll have to sit there, fill up again and wait for it to filter through to your bladder. Which, when you are waiting for it, seems to take forever.

Oooohhh - Wild Mushroom and Creamy Spinach Filo Tartlets look nice!

That fridge cake looks very easy - and very yummy. Okay - thats on the list as well. Now I need to find some sort of (easy) cake / dessert that hasn't got fruit or chocolate in it. Not necessarily vegan though.

Sarah, I love to cook, lately I just feel rushed.
Clearly you are some kind of culinary goddess, I am not worthy.
:chef: :chef: :chef: :chef:

:rofl: I love cooking - I find it very relaxing. Our annual Boxing Day thing is normally lovely just so long as I've got everything well planned and under control. (And as long as we keep an eye on DH's brother with the booze.) It also means that we get invited out to dinner a lot during the rest of the year. :lol: :lol: :lol:

A few years back DH and I bought a chippy and I quickly found out that I do NOT like cooking for a living.