November 17, 2008

Help! I have at least 2 Vegetarians coming for Thanksgiving

I wrote in my previous posts about Thanksgiving - that I love it so. It is my favorite holiday and I enjoy every aspect of it. I have been cooking for this day for years and years, but this is the first time I am going to have 2 vegetarians for sure and maybe 3. This excites me, and concerns me just a tad. I don't want the vegetarians to feel like they are having a bunch of side dishes on their plate - that they were just an after thought. I looked at Gourmet Magazine's Vegetarian Feast menu passingly a few weeks ago and at first glance it looked like a list of side dishes. Now that I have 2 vegetarians on my guest list - I am going to look at that menu again much closely, and that should help me decide how I am going to approach this new curve ball that was thrown at me just this morning.

What I know or sure as of now:

Those who eat turkey will have turkey, and those who don't will get something in its place - what exactly ... I don't know yet.

I thought Tofu something - not tofurkey - but maybe, I'll treat tofu the way I treat the turkey.

For those of you who are turning up your nose as you read this - trust me - tofu can be delicious. The charm of tofu is that it takes on whatever flavors you add to it very happily and readily. It is like potatoes or pasta or even chicken. Its has a blank taste profile and can't wait for some fabulous taste spectrum to be thrown at it, and it will sop it up so willingly.

As of now, tofu is a contender. How I will prepare it, if I prepare it - I don't know.

The other thought I had was a vegetarian lasagna-but I have to consider oven space. I have one oven to work with and am not sure if I can dedicate so much room and so much time that a lasagna will take.

Another pasta maybe?

That's certainly a possibility.

As I write this I am also envisioning individual squash stuffed with something like Israeli couscous and vegetables; or barley and vegetables. This is looking more and more like the thing that I am probably going to do.

This back and forth is exactly what I enjoy about planning my menu.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

Have you had vegetarians at your Thanksgiving Table?
Are you a vegetarian yourself? What do you like for Thanksgiving?
Were you ever caught by surprise and found yourself with guests that did not eat meat? What did you do?

Please tell me what you are thinking?

Until I eat again!

1 comment:

samantha227 said...

A friend once made a really great Persian casserole from ---
New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies (Hardcover)
by Najmieh Batmanglijom.
Maybe you can find something yummy in there.