Rules of Veggit

I invited some friends for new year's eve and I want to prepare a fancy dinner. My idea was more like a tasting menu with small portions of a bunch of different dishes to try more things, more than an entrée, main dish and dessert dinner.

Which are your favourite fancy dishes? We were thinking of doing themed portions of the dinner, for example one with different flavoured hummuses in Petri dishes simulating cell cultures (I work at a lab that is closing and I'm bringing home a bunch of unused lab equipment).

Ideally if they can be cooked beforehand and be easily heated or just be eaten at room temperature that would be great, but it's not a requirement.

So I went full veg around three months ago. I come from a family that ate a lot of meat growing up and I dont think too many people at my family were happy about it.

My very conservative grandparents were at dinner and I was very quickly put into interrogation/intervention mode from them as well as pretty much everyone else in my family. I felt like I was constantly defending myself, and at one point I just stopped responding to any questions asked.

My family is also religious and many people even joined in a discussion about the bible and about how the biblical law says that it is permitted, even encouraged to eat meat. I obviously ignored this behavior and continued to eat what I want, but couldn’t help feeling like I was put into a corner and attacked by my family.

I only wish they were happy that I am doing my personal diet my way and choosing to live and eat this way because I want to and it makes me a healthier person.

Oh and Ribeye steaks were on the menu, with no alternative offered. At least the sides were good!

me: im vegetarian them: really! why me: ethical reasons and also i don’t like the taste of most meat them: WHAT YOU DONT LIKE THE TASTE OF MEAT

i swear next time i mention im vegetarian i will say in sync exactly what they say

Hello, everyone!

My wife has been a vegetarian for 15 years now and I spend 6 days on, 1 day off vegetarianism throughout the week.

Normally I am the one who does all of the meal cooking because I have a lot of experience. This year I have to work on Christmas and every day surrounding it.

We would like to get an easy Christmas dinner meal kit or a full meal that we just heat up. Something that is more than just a standard weekday meal, or just thrown together here and there.

Tons of meal kit and meal prep companies offer amazing holiday meals. Issue is that I can hardly find anything that is vegetarian. We live in a rural area of Texas, so local places are not an option.

Does anyone have any recommendations??

I am NOT vegan. I am looking to do a faux Chicken parmesan using Tempeh and do in the air fryer. I've seen reference to cornstarch +water, AP flour +water). What will help this stick the best? I am not against doing eggs

I'm wanting to make a mock Panda Express Sweet fire chicken using tofu. Would extra firm tofu be the best choice to substitute the chicken with? I'm a tofu newb.

The recipe I am using lightly coats the chicken in cornstarch/flour mixture and pan fries it before tossing in a sweet chili marinade. I'm wanting to do the same thing with tofu.

Hi All,

What would be a good alternative for uncooked cubed ham? I have a recipe that's calling for it and not sure how to replace it. Buying and baking a fake ham roast for it seems excessive to me. Do you think a fake chicken substitute would work? I know the flavors might not be exact but think it might work. I'm challenging myself to work through a cookbook and try every recipe (it's a bean cookbook but not all recipes are vegetarian) but struggling with how to adapt this one.

I'm looking for an authentic indonesian cookbook for my mom. She's vegetarian, so a vegetarian book would be ideal, but she would be fine with a regular indonesian cookbook as long as it is authentic and has a good amount of vegetarian options!

The quorn chicken nuggets are perfect and my go to meal but their other meats are kind of gross. Any pork replacements you've found that don't taste like pork but still good?

Anyone here have a good recommendation for Vegetarian pepperoni? My partner and I transitioned to vegetarianism about 2 years ago, and while we’ve found we don’t miss most meats, he REALLY misses pepperoni pizza. We tried a brand recently that sucked. I’ve heard of Beyond pepperoni but can’t seem to find it in anything other than bulk restaurant cases. Any comparable recommendations that can be bought in smaller quantities? It’s his birthday soon, and I’d love to be able to make him a “pepperoni” pizza.

So every Christmas season I make candy cane brownies! Going to make them again this year, but was wondering if anybody had any other go to holiday dessert recipes??

My mother and mother in-law are wonderful. I'm very grateful to them for many things including how much effort they put into cooking for me and my partner when we visit. However they both always try to make us something "a bit different" as they say.

I have tried to politely tell them that whilst I will eat anything and am always pleased not to have cooked, I generally have the same palette as most people and they are free to give me the same as everyone else, just with the meat swapped for a vegetarian protein such as lentils or Quorn etc. or a premade substitute.

For example (we are British) they might make a standard pie and mashed potatoes for dinner. The meat eaters having something traditional like chicken and mushroom/ steak and ale but for me it will be curried sweet potato pie and a vegetable stock instead of gravey.

This has been going on for a decade now and I really can't stomach another morrocan fusion or basically raw piece of chunky vegetable.

I think they feel being vegetarian is unusual therefore I must love weird food generally. I suspect they also think just buying something premade and normal sounding is some form of cheating. Like they won't buy normal vegetarian sausages despite my hinting that's what I usually buy, it will be some unusual exotic twist in a sausage shape.

I really don't want to offend them, seem ungrateful or reveal that I haven't been enjoying their hardwork. They seem so proud of the things they have found or made for me, I hate that they make so much effort when it's not even what I enjoy.

Sometimes I feel like saying if this sounds so good why haven't you been tempted to make a meat version. I would obviously never say something as mean/ungrateful as that.

Any suggestions welcome.

We always have Italian food on Thanksgiving. This year we’re being really lazy, and making “Ravioli Lasagne”. Did you know you can bake raviolis in a casserole without boiling them first? Just make your layers, and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Add five minutes for frozen raviolis.

Do you have a Thanksgiving dish you eat every year?

Hi! My office is having a holiday potluck next month and the only main options on the sign-up so far are "beef" and pulled pork (we're in the south). I'm not a vegetarian, but even I feel that nothing but BBQ is a bit much. Found a recipe for a lentil & pearled couscous dish that sounds nice, might even try to figure out how to serve it warm. As vegetarians, would you appreciate this as an option? Would it be out of place for a holiday thing? I just thought something light would be nice.

When out for food I’ve often noticed many places list “x pesto dish” as vegetarian. Despite standard pesto not being vegetarian, a lot of people I’ve spoken to often never realised about the rennet. So with that in mind do you think restaurants like this would use an alternative or just like many assume pesto is vegetarian and flag it as such?

In my country eggplant is sold in every supermarket but it's still not a vegetable used a lot. Growing up I only knew moussaka, and with the help of this sub and a random wrestler cooking on social medias, I now know pulled eggplant and eggplant parmesan too. So I'm looking for something new to try.

My niece is bringing her boyfriend to our house for Thanksgiving this year and I am thrilled! I have met him once and he seems like a great kid, but I did not know he was vegetarian until just yesterday. I am not used to cooking a vegetarian menu, so I am scrambling to try and prepare some food options for him so he isn't stuck eating "just the sides" so to speak.

My wife and I have already purchased the ingredients for all of our normal items, but when I went through looking, it is surprising how many items contain meat or meat products (like chicken broth!!!).

Can anyone give me some ideas on a main entre option for him so he doesn't feel left out or like we didn't consider his dietary restrictions when we prepped. I am already going to make a vegetarian stuffing, and have a recipe for vegetarian gravy to go with it and the mashed potatoes, but I'm missing a main choice. My non vegetarian mind keeps gravitating towards a veggie burger (or something similar) but that seems weird. Cooking for my friends and family is my love language, please help!!!

The alternative option is I could ask her or have her check with him to see if he has any preferences, but I don't want to put that on him or make him feel awkward or like he is being an extra burden or causing extra work.

If youve made it this far, thank you for reading and thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Sincerely, Concerned and stressed uncle :-)

Edit: I'm more of a lurker than a poster so apologies if the format is off...

Thank you to everyone for the suggestions and your time! I spoke with my niece and the boyfriend and he said he would rather me not "make anything special" for him but he appreciated the thought. I told him there would be plenty of vegetarian options and that I will let him know when he gets here what is veg. I added a roasted Brussels sprouts side and also modified my green beans to remove bacon so they are vegetarian as well! Prep and Cooking is in full swing and I am so excited. T-minus 7 hours till dinner!

You all are awesome and I hope you have good quality time with your families if that is on your agenda for this weekend! Much love

So I used to have the little moosewood cook book and made the best stuffing one thanksgiving. I no longer have the cookbook but I would love to make it this year. I know this might be a long shot, but I thought I’d ask! Thank you!

i’m looking for a good vegetarian gravy for thanksgiving, but one that actually attempts to resemble real gravy (turkey, chicken, beef, etc.). i only ever see onion or mushroom gravy as alternatives but to me those taste too much like onion or mushroom and nothing like real gravy, besides the texture. they’re like what a veggie burger is to a beef burger, but i’m looking for the gravy equivalent of an impossible burger. obviously you can’t recreate the exact flavor of real gravy without meat, but do you guys know of any recipes or store bought gravy that are close to what i’m looking for? thanks :)

Hey everyone,

This year will be my first Christmas as a vegetarian. My family is supportive and cool about this but I am wary that they will not add a veggie meal or that the only vegetarian meal will not be fulfilling.

In your opinion and experience, would it be okay to bring my own meal ?

I don't want them to take this the wrong way and look "arrogant". Also, bringing a meal for everyone isn't something we do in my family/culture, only the host will prepare meals.

PS : English isn't my first language, sorry if I made mistakes !

Hello! I’m hosting Thanksgiving this week and I want to try making stuffed squash/pumpkins as the main. Does anyone have any recipes they’ve tried and really liked? I have some that I found on google but I prefer getting recommendations from people who’ve made it before :)

Thanks!

Went to the store today and everything marked up for the holidays (of course). The milk based cheese is ridiculous. My hubby and I went to the "natural foods" section and surprisingly the foods didn't seem marked up. The plant based cheese is the same price (since last time I was in the store) for Vivolife and Follow Your Heart, meaning it was LESS than the marked up milk based cheese.

What about the rest of you? Are regular groceries marked up but plant based foods the same price? Curious.

I'm vegetarian since only a few years now and wanted to know if more people felt the same way? While being totally ok for others to eat wathever they want?

I'm always scared someone would offer me to eat and I would answer I'm vegetarian, basically being seen as annoying or causing ambarassement to them cause if they knew they would have done something.

What would be a good dish to go with BP?

All of the vegetation options I’ve seen from meal delivery services are basically plates of beans & veggies. Is there anything with decent plant-based meats? I’m in Atlanta if that makes a difference.

I’m on a mission to find some decent dairy-free ice cream with no added sugar. Only thing I’ve found is so far is So Delicious Vanilla.

Any recommendations for brands that have flavors beyond just vanilla or chocolate with no added sugar?

I’m US-based and haven’t searched at any high end supermarkets like Whole Foods, Gelson’s, or Bristol Farms.

A little background, I'm fairly experienced in the kitchen and generally know how to season most of what I cook, including curries. But I'm curious to know which seasonings a typical Indian restaurant would use to spice their vegetarian dishes like a Masala or Chili Paneer.

I know Garam Masala is likely common, but I'm interested in drilling down to the individual spices that are usually used. If I wanted to do something like make a Dingri Masala with a fair bit of heat, and emulate how Indians do it, which individual spices would I be using?