Vegan Dinner Guests? Keep the Panic Under Control & Show No Fear!
Only veggies? How does dinner exist with only veggies?
Arrrgh!
No butter, no cheese, no eggs, no meat…
Let’s try to stay away from a tofu-based main course - no need to add music and aroma therapy to my dinner ambiance:
Beans, beans, the musical fruit
The more you eat it the more you toot!
The more you toot the better you feel
So eat your beans with every meal!
...And the food needs to be filling! Since when are veggies filling?
OK, the internet knows all and if other people cook vegan so can I! The options, it turns out, are flabbergasting and if you are totally obsessed you can even cook vegan with a SECOND ‘special needs’ requirement added on! Gluten free? There are options! Diabetic? You bet! It’s a whole new world. Check out what I finally decided on…
Eggplant Pomodoro Pasta:
Recipe at EatingWell Magazine
The food was amazing! It had a wonderful antipasto zing and it was so fast and easy!
OK - I do need to find a better way to time the cooking of the angel hair pasta… but the topping was so good it kinda didn’t make so much difference (the pasta was only a little sticky. My guests may yet decide to take a chance on my cooking another afternoon!)
As a side dish I made salad. Don’t mock me but I hate salads that are nothing but green leaves and tomatoes. I like STUFF! Cucumber, jicama, broccoli bits, cauliflower bits, tomato, onion, radishes, 3 different kinds of herbs and lettuce, celery, carrots… If I’m going to mix raw veggies then I’m going to make it count. Problem is, when you go vegan you don’t get cheese. I’m off to online research again. There are a lot of versions of tofu feta but I really wanted a recipe where the flavor would sink into the tofu and not give a ‘half-finished’ taste. I scored big-time at Dreena Burton’s Plant-Powered Kitchen!
All in all, It was strange, It was filling, and I’ll do it all over again! Though I probably would buy the red wine vinegar… In case you were wondering, Raspberry vinegar tastes spectacular but turns your feta deep red/purple on the outside. Hmmm…
The salad was colorful!
Note:
1) We had leftover tofu feta and we carnivores ate it until it was finished even though we have ‘real’ cheese in the fridge! Love me them leftovers!
2) "Eat More Chikin" cows pic came from an add for Chick-Fil-A
3) Shocked chicken pic came from The BackYard Chickens Forum
While I am not a vegan and tend more towards vegetarian with occasional meat my favourite place to eat is a Vegan buffet almost every day for lunch, the stuff they can do with food, wow.
Agreed! I was very surprised to find so many appetizing options when I started my search! It made me rethink the idea of veganism, I'd totally discounted it believing the menu would be very limited.