Some menu advice / making sure a vegetarian guest is OK

[redcat]

Heh, sorry!

[Aeris]

This menu sounds absolutely brilliant, and delicious. I think it's so sweet of you to be taking her into account in this way - particularly the thought of wanting her to have 2 options for dinner. As a vegetarian myself, I'm touched when people choose to make sure there's even one entree so I don't have to make a dinner entirely of sides. When someone makes sure I actually have *options*..... oh, dear, that's just very very wonderful of you.

That's the thing I miss the most about being a vegetarian I think - having options. In a really really high proportion of holiday meals, catered meals, meals at parties - there's exactly one thing I can eat. Even at a lot of restaurants, I'm quite accustomed to searching the menu for my single option - and that's dinner, whether it sounds particularly appetizing or not.

The idea of having options is just LOVELY!

BTW, there is a AWESOME LOOKING butternut squash and goat cheese and sage lasagna in the most recent issue of Fine Cooking magazine, if you didn't want to do just a cheese lasagna. (Recipe calls for freshmade pasta sheets, but I'm sure that's not necessary.)

[apple]

Thanks everyone,

she does eat eggs and dairy - do I think I am fine.

Bacon cheeseball. 

1 pack of cream cheese - 8oz ( can use lowfat ... but why bother )
4 cups shredded cheddar
1 packet hidden valley ranch dip
real bacon bits

put cheeses and dip mix in a mixer and whirl away.

form into a ball and roll in bacon dip.

One time I rolled it in parsley .... and the nephews were quite perturbed. it is really very very good. I like extra sharp cheese.

This sounds delicious! My bacon-loving family would go ape for this.

I'm wondering, do you prepared this ahead of time, including rolling in the bacon pieces? I wonder if the bacon will get soft/soggy if I do that.

If is very sweet of you to go to so much effort to please the vegetarian. And also to include this recipe for us!

(I am not vegetarian, but I love vegetables and veggies dishes. I bet there are other people out there like me, who also would love your menu!)

[Miss Bee]

I am vegan and most vegans and lacto-ovo vegetarians I know do not sweat the wine thing.  Some do, but a lot, including myself, draw the line at wine and sometimes sugar.  (Yeah sugar's often not vegetarian either..)  So you should be ok serving wine. 

I think cheeses like cheddar should be okay, too. 
Your menu looks great!

[POF]

Thanks everyone,

she does eat eggs and dairy - do I think I am fine.

Bacon cheeseball. 

1 pack of cream cheese - 8oz ( can use lowfat ... but why bother )
4 cups shredded cheddar
1 packet hidden valley ranch dip
real bacon bits

put cheeses and dip mix in a mixer and whirl away.

form into a ball and roll in bacon dip.

One time I rolled it in parsley .... and the nephews were quite perturbed. it is really very very good. I like extra sharp cheese.

This sounds delicious! My bacon-loving family would go ape for this.

I'm wondering, do you prepared this ahead of time, including rolling in the bacon pieces? I wonder if the bacon will get soft/soggy if I do that.

If is very sweet of you to go to so much effort to please the vegetarian. And also to include this recipe for us!

(I am not vegetarian, but I love vegetables and veggies dishes. I bet there are other people out there like me, who also would love your menu!)

I actually make a freeze this all the time. The bacon never stays super crispy anyway. But other than on crackers it is GREAT on a bagel in the AM, used as an omnelet filling , stirred into hot pasta.

You can also roll in mixed sesame seeds or make little balls that you can eat individually.

The wine cheeseball is awesome ... I'll dog out that recipe as well ( uses chardonay )

[POF]

This menu sounds absolutely brilliant, and delicious. I think it's so sweet of you to be taking her into account in this way - particularly the thought of wanting her to have 2 options for dinner. As a vegetarian myself, I'm touched when people choose to make sure there's even one entree so I don't have to make a dinner entirely of sides. When someone makes sure I actually have *options*..... oh, dear, that's just very very wonderful of you.

That's the thing I miss the most about being a vegetarian I think - having options. In a really really high proportion of holiday meals, catered meals, meals at parties - there's exactly one thing I can eat. Even at a lot of restaurants, I'm quite accustomed to searching the menu for my single option - and that's dinner, whether it sounds particularly appetizing or not.

The idea of having options is just LOVELY!

BTW, there is a AWESOME LOOKING butternut squash and goat cheese and sage lasagna in the most recent issue of Fine Cooking magazine, if you didn't want to do just a cheese lasagna. (Recipe calls for freshmade pasta sheets, but I'm sure that's not necessary.)

Thanks - I also did not want her to feel she was eating something no one else was.... kwim ? I have made a similar goat cheese, butternut lasagna ... thats also a great idea.

[EduardosGirl]

That menu sounds ACE. Even my little lactose intolerant, vegan heart is beating faster at the bacon ball!

Someone's mentioned it upthread, but I would just double check if the cheese uses non-animal rennet. Some brands will market it as vegetarian cheese, but I've found some store brand cheeses just use it anyway.

[Jeckie]

BTW, there is a AWESOME LOOKING butternut squash and goat cheese and sage lasagna in the most recent issue of Fine Cooking magazine, if you didn't want to do just a cheese lasagna. (Recipe calls for freshmade pasta sheets, but I'm sure that's not necessary.)

Lurker here, but I just had to comment that that lasagna is to DIE for. I've made it three times and thought I might lose fingers from people going back for seconds (and thirds... and fourths...)

[Bethczar]

As an omnivore who loves veggies, it all sounds lovely. Would you post the recipe for the veggie lasagna, of is it a secret? It sounds wonderful!

[JillyJ]

That menu sounds awesome!  I have a cousin who is vegetarian and now whenever I host (even when she's not going to be there) I am super conscious to have vegetarian options all over.  No one else has even noticed the shift, but she really appreciates it.  Her family on the otherhand is still waiting for her to "outgrow it" (she's been a vegetarian for 8 years, since she was , and refuses to accommodate her.

[POF]

As an omnivore who loves veggies, it all sounds lovely. Would you post the recipe for the veggie lasagna, of is it a secret? It sounds wonderful!

Nope not a secret - I'll post after XMAS when I get 5 minutes.

[Amara]

That lasagna does indeed sound awesome and I did a search on it. Here it is:

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/butternut-squash-lasagne-goat-cheese-sage-breadcrumbs.aspx

[Bethczar]

As an omnivore who loves veggies, it all sounds lovely. Would you post the recipe for the veggie lasagna, of is it a secret? It sounds wonderful!

Nope not a secret - I'll post after XMAS when I get 5 minutes.

Thank you! 

[whiterose]

Yummy!

Just make sure there are no hidden carnivore elements- such as lard. Reaction from many vegetarians is not pretty.

Otherwise, menu looks delicious!