As the holidays approach, people have begun to plan their festive get-togethers. They start to put up decorations and tidy their homes, and start to plan the meal for their guests. Everything goes smoothly until there is some news about some of the guests: they are vegetarians! Oh my! Therein lies a tough choice to make. Should there be enough non-meat side dishes to fill up the vegetarians’ plates or should there be a non-meat main dish?
Preparing a traditional turkey, ham, or prime rib as a main dish may sound less intimidating than creating an abstract meal for one’s guests, but it is not as daunting as the new task sounds. There are plenty of easy and delicious options that vegetarian friends and family will enjoy.
When it comes to holiday dinners, it can be difficult to make everyone feel included. When faced with this challenge, it is important to reach out to your guests with dietary needs and ask about their suggestions. This applies not just to vegetarians, but also to those who are gluten-free, lactose intolerant or dairy free, or to those who have other food sensitivity concerns like peanut/tree nut allergies, etc. Most vegetarians are content with eating mainly side dishes, but others may prefer to be included in the main meal. Senior Van Whyte, who has been vegetarian for almost three years, says, “I would not want to have [the host] feel the need to cater to me. I always just eat the sides that are vegetarian friendly and readily available for me.”
Vegetarian side dishes are already very common in nearly all holiday dinners, such as traditional mashed potatoes or steamed vegetables. A delicious meat-free classic that all of one’s guests will obsess over is baked macaroni and cheese. The dish is very easy to make, and will have all of the guests asking for the recipe.
There are a few common ingredients one would need to acquire to create this wonderful side dish, such as a twelve ounce package of macaroni, one egg, two cups of milk, two tablespoons of melted butter, three and a half cups of shredded cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. To begin, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, in a pot of boiling water, add in the macaroni, and cook for 5 minutes, or until the macaroni is cooked about halfway. While the macaroni is cooking, whisk the egg and milk together in a large bowl. Then, stir in the melted butter and shredded cheddar cheese into the mixture. After draining the water from the macaroni, pour the macaroni into a greased baking dish, and pour the cheese mixture over it. Sprinkle the top of the mixture with salt and pepper, and make sure that the mixture is pressed evenly over the macaroni. Lastly, bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top begins to brown. Allow the baked macaroni and cheese to cool for 15 minutes, and then it is ready to be served to hungry guests!
If one would like more of a main course to include their vegetarian guests, a wonderful vegetarian dish that all of the guests will love is a savory and exquisite eggplant parmesan with a crispy bread topping. To make this unique dish, one must acquire a few simple ingredients, including three cups of tomato puree, eight small eggplants, one pound of shredded mozzarella cheese, salt, pepper, basil, one cup of shredded parmigiano reggiano cheese, and two and a quarter cups of olive oil. To begin, pour a quarter inch of olive oil in a large pan. As the oil is beginning to heat up, slice the eggplants into long slices around half an inch thick. After seasoning the eggplant with salt and pepper, place a few eggplant slices into the oil. This step will likely need to be completed multiple times depending on the size of your pan.
Remove the eggplant slices from the oil after browning for 8 minutes or so (or until they are golden in color), and lay them on a paper towel to drain the excess oil. The next step is to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a 9 by 13 inch baking dish, pour one cup of the tomato puree into the pan. Then, arrange one third of the eggplant slices on top of the tomato puree, and sprinkle the slices with a tablespoon of basil. Next, add one third of the shredded mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano on top of the dish. After repeating those steps twice, to create layers, sprinkle all of the bread crumbs on top of the dish. Lastly, bake the eggplant parmesan for 45 minutes on the highest rack of your oven. Let the eggplant parmesan cool for 15 minutes, and then you can serve this delicious meal to your guests!