Calling Vegetarians

By the way, whatever jokes are made about them, we all love nut roasts at Christmas time.

Talking of predictability: I was at two lunches last week and I had a little bet with myself that the vegetarian option would be either a quiche or a pasta dish. At the first lunch it was veg lasagne; at the second it was a tart, albeit a very nice one. At the lunch I attended today, it was a medley of mushrooms in a Stilton sauce in a filo basket - a pleasant surprise!

I have four grandchildren ranging from 7 to 21 years old. Not one of them has touched meat in their lives, and they are all fit and healthy, do lots of physical exercise, dance, play football, and are very rarely ill.
I would say that you should build the meal round the vegetarian and add meat for the others. I speak as someone who had a vegetarian cafe and a vegetarian guest house, for ten years each.
This is what I always used to say to those who used to say that they would be vegetarian but their partners could not give up the meat.
Eating vegetarian is not a problem for anyone now. I do not like meat substitutes.
www.viva.org.uk is a very good website where you will find lots of excellent recipes. Take it as an exciting challenge. You will enjoy a break from meat after Christmas.

I'll join you Nelliemoser.

The bowl of pasta & sauce offered as the vegetarian option in so many places is insulting particularly when it can cost £10 or more. I begrudge that kind of money for something I would knock up for my grandchildren if I was short of time.

I use Quorn fillets etc regularly but I would not want them for my Christmas dinner. As it is a celebration meal I want something more special and tasty and something that looks impressive and more festive.

I feel the "meat" alternative needs to be well flavoured itself if it is going to go with the traditional traditional Christmas veg which are themselves strong flavours. It also seems more festive than something you might eat every day.

Other veggies might be well acquainted with the difficulty in getting decent vegetarian meals out particularly at office Christmas meals.
Restaurants get so busy with traditional Christmas roasts that the vegetarian option can end up being pasta with sauce. The worst was one place offering spinach and ricotta Canelloni, doubtless out of the freezer.

I do feel that if you call yourself a restaurant you should be as inventive with the vegetarian food as the rest of your menu.

At the pub where we have our post Christmas choir meal, the offer one year was a small cheese and onion tart with mild creamy cheese, when others were getting salmon fillets or steak and kidney pies.

I will have words with them again this year when their "fixed price choose in advance menu" comes around.
"Well what would you like to eat instead of meat?
"Well I would like your establishment to present me with a menu of vegetarian choices that you have actually given some previous thought to. "

I will live in hope. It's darned hard to get vegetarian value for money at many places.

Do any other veggies want to join me in this rant?

Another vegetarian here and I'm not a fan of meat substitutes such as Quorn.

There have been lots of good suggestions including nut roast which is always my choice for christmas or any similar type of meal. I'd be just as happy with all the vegetables though.

She might not like vegetarian food that resembles meat. I became a vegetarian at the age of 14 and one of the things I disliked as a child about meat was trying to chew it. I didn't like the texture and have met another vegetarian who said she had the same experience.

DS, DIL and GSs have ditched the meat 90% of the time and they still enjoy a roast dinner without the roast meat. Have to say I was astounded that they have done that. So much interesting, tasty food that doesn't include meat.

One other thing, you can't roast vegetables in the juices of meat and then serve it up to a vegetarian. I use a light olive oil.

Thanks everyone - much food for thought. I feel sure now that I can come up with something that she'll enjoy.

And don't stir her food with the same wooden spoon that you used for the meat gravy! which I apparently absentmindedly did when preparing a veggie meal for DD and a meat meal at the same time

A Quorn roast would be easy for you and her meal would then look the same as everybody else's. She could then eat the rest cold if she is there more than one day.

It is not easy providing food for a vegetarian as you need to ensure there is no gelatine in the ingredients.

If you are having a roast, give her the same, just have plenty of vegetables and Yorkshire puddings. Don't forget the cauliflower with cheese sauce, roasted carrots and onions, yum. I would hate to see everyone eating a roast dinner and get dished up something entirely different.

If you are not cooking a roast, make a vegetarian meal and if you have to, just add a meat dish on the side for those who want some meat.

As apricot says you're not vegetarian if you eat fish.

But I see the OP's DGD does eat fish so that opens up a lot more options.

Oh and tinned sardines in tomato sauce

Darling daughter ds DGD are all veggies. I'm not but don't eat a lot of meat. Don't like fish or vegetables either.
Love prawns lobster oysters clams.
Very fond of caviar and smoked salmon and tinned salmon, but not fresh salmon.

my eldest DD and I are veggie and her 5 yo DD has announced she is vegetarian so there will be 3 of us this year! ( vs 10 carnivores!) I always do Sarah Browns cashew and Brazil nut roast with mushroom and sherry sauce it's fabulous. You can make it a couple of days in advance and just shove it in the oven for 45 mins on the day. I can send you the recipe if you can't find it anywhere. The meat eaters also like it on the side of their turkey etc. it is always a hit and has become a bit of a tradition in our family

Roasted beetroot and onions, with balsamic
Mushroom, spinach and chestnut pie
Fennel risotto with pernod ricard + rocket and dressing
Stuffed mackerel (apple and shallots + breadcrumbs) (or replace apple with gooseberries)
Roasted banana shallots in skins with grilled goats cheese
Chicory and blue cheese soup topped with crushed toasted walnuts and parsley
Orange, fennel and red onion salad as palate cleanser - a lovely inbetween course.
Sweet & Sour prawns with red and yellow peppers (Delia)
......
and I could go on.
Masses available on the internet, but all these are tried and tested in this household.

Ask what she likes, very many children don't like mushrooms.
By the way, you're not vegetarian if you eat fish and nobody ever suffered nutritionally by being vegetarian. Many have never eaten meat or fish in their lives.
Shops and restraurants all offer a huge range of veggie food. The days of omelettes or quiche ended about 25 years ago.

Please can someone else check the Mushroom en croute recipe is visible in the recipe section of FOOD.

Thanks

Do not panic! we seem to have lots of ideas.
This is a slighted amended version of Sarah Browns Mushroom brioche recipe which is her Mushroom mixture in ready made puff or flaky pastry

Mushrooms en Croute.

I have just posted the recipe for this my usual vege Christmas main course in the Recipes part of the FOOD short cuts at the bottom of the page of the page.

I would suggest you might want to make half of the recipe but it is a very robustly flavoured dish and it is likely non vegetarians will want to try it as well. Enjoy!

Nut roast every time for a traditional Christmas meal. Or some kind of veggie roast if your DGD is not keen on nuts. As others have said, there are dozens of recipes out there but my favourite is a layered nut roast using cashew and pine nuts with a chestnut stuffing as the middle layer. I did have a recipe for this years ago but lost it, so now I just kind of make it up and it comes out different every time, but always delicious!

My three children have also been brought up on a vegetarian diet from the beginning and although they have all tried fish and meat at various times, they have come back to vegetarianism. DGS is now being brought up without meat or fish as well. The is no reason to believe your DGD will suffer any deficiencies as a vegetarian and she will probably be even healthier for it.

My three daughters grew up vegetarian from day one. They are all still vegetarian, they are slim and fit and between the three have only twice had antibiotics and they are rarely I'll.

For Christmas we always have nut roast with spicy tomato sauce and the usual accompaniments. Lots of recipes on the net but I'll put ours up if anyone wants it.

I can't believe vegetarianism is still viewed as odd, all the big chefs produce excellent recipes - Jamie Oliver, Sophie Grigson, Madhur Jeffery, Rose Elliot - it's a much healthier way to live and better for the planet too!

Isn't she a bit young to be a vegetarian?

Our friends' daughter has been vegetarian from about the same age (and her mother became one too) and she seems very healthy. She has a toddler who doesn't eat meat or fish either and he seems fine.
DD's friend is vegetarian as are all her healthy, energetic under 10 year old children.

I don't think you need to worry too much about balancing her diet for one day - just ask her what she would like. The supermarkets will have some special Christmassy vegetarian dishes in - you could cheat!
It will be up to your DD to work out a long-term healthy diet for a growing teenager.

Well as I said Gagagran - do pm me! DGD and DD are superb cooks and have many, many wonderful recipes.

jings I had to smile at that! Very similar to DGD3 who decided to emulate her big cousin and go "veggie" until they all went out for the day and she decided to be part-time veggie and had a burger!!

Thanks everyone - the creative ideas are now flowing. I really want to make a big effort for my eldest DGD so she feels special. She seems to live on pasta or jacket potato at school and I know there are lots of lovely veggie recipes which she would like. I just don't know them!