Cooking for a Non-Vegan

[aliaslotte]

Hello. :)

I have a friend coming to stay next week. She is not a vegan.

I have pondered what to do - whether to buy non-vegan for her or not. At the moment, I am decided upon not doing so. I figured, she can always get something when she is here if she particularly wants to.

Nevertheless, I still have to cook and find some groovy recipes that she will hopefully like. [You never know, if I pull it off, she might even be swayed to adopting a vegan diet herself lol. :)]

Her list of no-goes is pretty small - couscous, mashed potatoes, chickpeas and sprouts. Add to that my no-goes - things like mushrooms, but I am also not a big lover of beans or lentils [although I will/do have them now and again].

Any ideas?

So far, I have just made a mental note of the Moroccan Tagine recipe from Vegan With A Vengeance. :)

Thank you.

[harpy]

Things with pastry - everyone likes those and you can buy the pastry. (Edited to remove mashed potato recommendation, silly harpy)

I wouldn't even mention that omnivorous food is an option, just give her something nice and satisfying and she's (almost) sure to be happy. Personally I would avoid fake meat but if you don't like legumes that could be a bit limiting.

[pusskins]

You could do a pasta bake? We make them ALL the time, especially when we have people over. Cheap, easy. You can throw what you want in it. If you want to know the basic recipe I use, let me know.

[Tish]

Pizzas usually go down well- you can make wee puff pastry ones, or pitta bread with tomato base sauce, various vegetables and the pure or tofutti cheeze singles slices broken up and chucked on top come out nice.

Lasagne too- could make it with vegetables or veggie mince and could make the white sauce either soya milk, butter and flour or could make a 'cashew cream' type white sauce- soak cashews overnight in soya milk, whizz them up with a wee hand blender or food processor, add nutmeg and salt, then chuck on top of the lasagne sheets.

What about a nice veggie curry or chilli/fajitas type thing? Or maybe even something like veggie sausage, chips and beans? :)

[Andy_T]

Cook/get something non-vegan? Absolutely not !!!
She will not die of malnourishment in a few days.
Start gentle ... Spaghetti veganese (that is the vegan vsion of Bolognese, just use soy 'minced meat")
you could get some veg sausages or burgers as a fallback option, but i would rather try vegetables.
Best regards,
Andy

[emmapresley]

DEFINATELY SOMETHING PASTA BASED. CHEAP, FILLING, EVERYONE LIKES ..oops..sorry caps.

everyone likes pasta!! :D

slow cook a really good rich tomato paprika based sauce..some good bread and a side salad and shell be happy, surely?

also..you can go for things like wedges, linda maccy sausages? tinned beans/ spaghetti? maybe its slack food, but it isnt too overwhelming or 'out there' and im thinking if you bake some buns and stuff how can it posisbly fail?!

[aliaslotte]

Thanks for all the tips. :)

I have a recipe for a choc chip mocha cake - from Vegan with a Vengeance - which I want to make for when she arrives. :D

I have a confession. I hate pasta. I probably should have listed that but I just never consider it as I've never eaten it. Maybe I am more fussy than I thought lol.

I love the idea of doing something with a fresh tomato sauce though. I got some TVP the other day - tiny, dried chunks - could I use that as 'mince' and if so, do I have to do anything in particular to it? Also, pizzas sound good - we could have fun making them and they are great food for eating with a film etc. Yum! :)

[emmapresley]

lol wut?! you hate pasta? hee

regarding tvp..i always found if i boil it up with some yeast extract or a stock cube or something like..vecon? then make the sauce and just drain and plop that in near the end.

also ciabatta bread..i suppose its kind of like pizza??

houmous? olives? nibbley bits. doritos. there's an amazing carrot pate i could dig the recipe out for. honestly its really good. stuff like that to dip into
my daughter loves that bread and just rub a clove of garlic on it and rub half a tomato on it then grill it up. we imaginately call it...


..tomato bread.

[aliaslotte]

I've done my shopping and have a few things in now, so I am feeling more confident. :)

- Vegetable pizza [I've got bases, the ingredients for a sauce, various vegetables plus some vegan melty cheese].
- Tomato/TVP wraps [with vegetables and rice].
- Vegetable sweet & sour with rice.
- And, if all else fails: vegetable burgers, chips & peas/beans. :)

Thank you for all your help. :)

[emmapresley]

i hope you have a lovely food filled fun time :)
let us all know how it went down with your friend??

[mimi]

Stir-fry and rice - just chop a load of vegies, maybe with some ginger and a chili too, and some tofu/tempeh/seitan. Fry in olive or vegetable oil for a few minutes till the vegies are soft - add a little soya sauce and perhaps sweet chili sauce. In another pan (before starting the stir-fry) put on some rice to cook too. Many variations are possible of this, e.g. try adding coconut cream, or pieces of avocado as well, or make it into a curry by adding indian spices with a little more liquid and cooking a little longer.

[RainInStarlight]

Pizzas usually go down well- you can make wee puff pastry ones, or pitta bread with tomato base sauce, various vegetables and the pure or tofutti cheeze singles slices broken up and chucked on top come out nice.

Lasagne too- could make it with vegetables or veggie mince and could make the white sauce either soya milk, butter and flour or could make a 'cashew cream' type white sauce- soak cashews overnight in soya milk, whizz them up with a wee hand blender or food processor, add nutmeg and salt, then chuck on top of the lasagne sheets.

What about a nice veggie curry or chilli/fajitas type thing? Or maybe even something like veggie sausage, chips and beans? :)

Yeah, I was going to suggest lasagne, or vegan curry as well.

[aliaslotte]

The pizzas went down very well. We did one with vegan cheese and one without. Both were yummy. :)

[harpy]

Excellent! Well done

[pusskins]

Good, good! Keep us updated :)

[Andy_T]

... Stuffed red peppers (stuffed with rice/vegan mince) go very well with tomato sauce ...

Best regards,
Andy

PS: Don't know when you tasted pasta the last time, you might give it a try. Maybe it has improved since you last had it...