Need vegetarian menu suggestions for casual dinner party

[Anonymous]

If we are doing veg group dinners we usually do the Mexican thing as mentioned above, but my husband usually makes amazing refried pinto beans for the protein and I sometimes use the veggie crumblers and cook it as you would ground meat.
I have also done calzones, which are pretty easy if you have a pizza stone.
Roast veggies with pasta and a Caesar salad.
Veggie skewers that have been marinated in italian dressing and grilled. Serve with fresh italian bread. Maybe grill some marinated tofu or veggie sausage too.

[Anonymous]

Mediterranean night- make some falafel from a mix, cut up some fixings like cucumber, tomato and grab some hummus and babaganoush and pita.

[Anonymous]

Pasta - either warm pasta, or a cold pasta salad. Salad, garlic bread. If you feel up to it, you can make two sauces - one meat, and one vegetarian. Lasagna's also a lot easier to make than people think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted this recipe for lentil barley stew in another thread. This is a good recipe that can be an entree for a vegetarian (my omnivorous family had this for dinner a couple of nights ago) or a side for the omnivorous along with a meat entree: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/360688.page#4673557

For the person looking for a protein source, barley has a fair amount of protein.

lentils also have protein.

I'm the PP who brought up protein, but that was in response to the potato and vegetable soup. Lentil barley stew is completely different and a good suggestion.

I was just pointing that often when nonvegetarians make vegetarian meals, they forget about protein (note all of the pasta suggestions). As someone who doesn't eat most types of meat, I don't eat a lot of pasta. I prefer brown rice and beans type meals or tofu/TVP stir fry type things. I think that is why I like all of the taco/wrap suggestions. But perhaps that is just personal preference. You can build protein into a pasta meal, but it usually means a lot of cheese. And cheese and pasta makes for such a heavy/rich meal.

Another suggestion for OP is something nut-based. You can actually buy nut rolls or make a nut meatloaf. Or if that is too much effort, make a salad with walnuts, sunflower seeds, and cranberries, and have pita bread and hummus or pita bread and a cucumber yogurt dip as a side/appetizer. You can have meat add-ons (like grilled chicken) for the salad for the others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pasta - either warm pasta, or a cold pasta salad. Salad, garlic bread. If you feel up to it, you can make two sauces - one meat, and one vegetarian. Lasagna's also a lot easier to make than people think.

Sort of a pet peeve of mine is when people use pasta as the vegetarian option. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most vegetarians don't actually eat a lot of pasta, and yet at so many functions, the vegetarian option is either raviolis or some sort of pasta dish.

Beggars can't be choosers, though, and I'm not saying I don't appreciate that people try to accommodate vegetarians. But I would love for people to realize that there are so many other very simple non-pasta vegetarian options that are tasty and healthy.

[Anonymous]

We did a vegetarian "tapas" meal the other night at home. It wasn't real tapas, since I was doing it to get my kids to try more vegetables, but it was easy and fun. Our menu wouldn't be great for your party, but you could do a tortilla (easy to make ahead and tastes better the next day), olives, cheese board, some marinated (do ahead) and roasted veggies, marcona almonds, hummus or another spread, and lots of good wine. All stuff you can eat standing up while talking and catching up.

[Anonymous]

Here are a couple of my favorite go-to vegetarian dishes:

Wild Rice Gratin with Kale, Caramelized Onions and Gruyere (from Smitten Kitchen)
Baked fennel (Jamie Oliver)
Roasted red onions with basil (Nigella Lawson)
Roasted Moroccan-style vegetables with couscous (just roast some root vegetables on high heat for approx 40 minutes, add spice like sumac or za'atar) and add to couscous
Asparagus and goat cheese tart
Curried lentil stew served with rice (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/362489)

These recipes, or variations of them, can be found on Google. They can also be cooked ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Budget Bytes has a delicious recipe for Chipotle Black Bean Burgers - you can make them/assemble them ahead of time and just oven bake them for 25 minutes before you need them. Honestly super easy and delicious. We are not vegetarians but are addicted to them with some sliced avocado.

Recipe pl.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/05/chipotle-sweet-potato-burgers/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta - either warm pasta, or a cold pasta salad. Salad, garlic bread. If you feel up to it, you can make two sauces - one meat, and one vegetarian. Lasagna's also a lot easier to make than people think.

Sort of a pet peeve of mine is when people use pasta as the vegetarian option. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most vegetarians don't actually eat a lot of pasta, and yet at so many functions, the vegetarian option is either raviolis or some sort of pasta dish.

Beggars can't be choosers, though, and I'm not saying I don't appreciate that people try to accommodate vegetarians. But I would love for people to realize that there are so many other very simple non-pasta vegetarian options that are tasty and healthy.

As a vegetarian, I would much rather eat pasta than nut loaf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta - either warm pasta, or a cold pasta salad. Salad, garlic bread. If you feel up to it, you can make two sauces - one meat, and one vegetarian. Lasagna's also a lot easier to make than people think.

Sort of a pet peeve of mine is when people use pasta as the vegetarian option. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most vegetarians don't actually eat a lot of pasta, and yet at so many functions, the vegetarian option is either raviolis or some sort of pasta dish.

Beggars can't be choosers, though, and I'm not saying I don't appreciate that people try to accommodate vegetarians. But I would love for people to realize that there are so many other very simple non-pasta vegetarian options that are tasty and healthy.

As a vegetarian, I would much rather eat pasta than nut loaf.

Heh. Same here. I think nut loaves are tricky with nut allergies, too. And yes, there ARE nut-allergic vegetarians- I'm one