Low-carb Vegetarian menus, recipes?

[raini]

My daughter and a friend are coming for Christmas. They are vegetarians and I'm planning meals for while they are here. I asked her to plan the meals, but she sent me a list of things they eat instead. They have rice, potatoes, bread and pastas, chips and crackers listed, plus fruits and a few veggies.

They don't eat eggs, but they do eat soy cheese.

I was hoping to be able to prepare foods that we can all eat and enjoy. So far all I can see us enjoying together is a few veggies! Any ideas? (Oh, yeah... her friend won't eat beans and doesn't like chili, so my vegetarian version of chili with black soybeans is out, as well as the taco salad.) oh yeah... and he's Type 1 diabetic, so I have to watch that, as well.

Any help would be appreciated!

[CyberAly]

cauliflower faux mashed potatoes are great! perhaps make it with some soy milk instead of cream?

and how does a diabetic handle being a vegetarian?!?!? i'd be going crazy trying to manage my blood sugar!

[raini]

Originally Posted by CyberAly

and how does a diabetic handle being a vegetarian?!?!? i'd be going crazy trying to manage my blood sugar!

I've seen this guy eat, and I have no idea how he does it!

Thanks! The cauli-taters would work. I might make mock potato soup, too... except I like bacon in mine! LOL

Okay.... I need 4 more days of ideas!

[cali_amazon]

So in theory I'm aspiring for carb moderation/low carb and flexitarianism (avoiding industrialized meat). Sadly I'm waivering from one to the other, but that's another story. I don't have recipes on hand, but here's ideas:

I would Highly suggest Indian/Persian vegetarian dishes. Veganize Vegetable Korma with cashews for example and make some cauliflower "rice". I'm a huge fan of Bhindi Masala (indian okra).

Spaghetti Squash or Pasta Slim or Siritaki noodles

Peppers or squash stuffed with a "stuffing" of diced veggies (possibly soy crumbles) and pine nuts. I usually use bulgar in mine, but that would depend on your WOE.

Nut loaf or other Nut based dishes (I'm allergic so I don't have specifics on this one, but check out a vegan recipe website and you'll find some).

If you eat soy, then there are lots of frakenmeats that are low carb: Soy Brats, Fake hotdogs, veggie burgers, quorn products etc.

Raw vegan recipes would also be a good option since that largely avoids beans (other than the sprouted version)

Flax crackers/Flax muffins could be an option.

Those are the ideas off the top of my head. HTH

[cali_amazon]

There's faken bacon so you could add that to the mock potato soup. The soups in general could be a theme of sorts.

[raini]

Thanks, Cali. I'm going to try to find some Indian recipes. I don't know if they will like them, but I know that I will!

[Minnas]

Sounds like fun! I love an excuse to try out new recipes and ideas.

I have found Seitan to be a wonderful low carb protein source that works very well in stir fry. I don't eat soy so I was thrilled to discover this option. Check packages. A couple of the different flavors are a bit higher carb from sugar but most are 2-3 carb a serving.

I agree with Indian cuisine. A little organic tofu (don't use it if it's not organic please!) thrown in and maybe some cashews to thicken sauces and you'll get a good bit of protein.

Some Middle Eastern dishes could work too. And of course you can do lots of salads and cooked veggie dishes and just add animal protein for those who want that. Almond milk is great in place of dairy (much better than soy IMO)

[AKmama08]

Linda Sue's meatless recipes...you might find something in there you can do:
Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes - Meatless Recipes

[Strawberry]

Baba ganoush and hummus (esp roasted red pepper hummus!) are delcious, and you can put out some crackers or pita bread for the non-lowcarbers and some veggie sticks. I actually like whole leaf pieces of baby romaine lettuce to use to scoop it up! I copied it from a friend born and raised in lebanon.

You could also do low carb wraps (meaning tortilla like bread wraps, low carb version) with veggies, black olives, and hummus for the protein.

Stir fries with veggies, tofu and seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, and white wine are really good. You can serve with rice for the non-lowcarbers. Nuts add some nice protein to the dish, as mentioned.

Spaghetti squash made into whatever pasta or spaghetti type dish.

Lasagna made with grilled eggplant instead of noodles, tomato sauce, and use vegan ricotta or even pureed soft silken tofu and cheese.

Portabella mushrooms as a base for pizza with soy cheese. And you can get creative with toppings like caramelized onions, or spinach and artichoke, etc.

Chili made with Morning Star "beef" crumbles (tofu based, but they are good).

Are they vegarian or vegan? i.e. for breakfast, would greek yogurt be acceptable to them? serve with fruit and granola and a nice drizzle of honey (obviously, you would leave off the granola and honey, mix in your own sweetner if needed)

For a really awesome dish- I've always wanted to make this: roasted pumpkin with vegetable stew. The dish does include 1/3 cup of flour for the sauce, but that it to stretch over 8 servings, so carbs are going to be fairly minimal coming from the flour.

Pumpkin Stuffed with Vegetable Stew Recipe at Epicurious.com

[Strawberry]

Also this recipe from Rachael Ray looks delicious - portabella bolognese!
Rachael Ray Show - Food - Portabella Bolognese

Use dreamfieds to serve with it - they will never know the difference.
And sub either the vegan fake "chicken" broth (most supermarkets have it) or just make a little extra mushroom stock from dried mushrooms soaked in boiling water.
And use almond milk instead of the milk.

[Strawberry]

Here's another one: Mushroom Bourguignon (Like Beef Bourguignon),

mushroom bourguignon | smitten kitchen

It does have a tiny bit of flour for thickening.

Rather than vegetable broth, I would suggest mushroom broth (again, made from dried mushrooms soaked in boiling water) to get the best flavor.

Serve over dreamfields linguine, or I would be tempted to buy the Deamfields lasagna noodles and then cut them in to thick strips to be like egg noodles.

[BikerAng]

You could make grilled portabello mushrooms for them (and if you want meat a burger for you)
Any type of salad
soups are great and easy to make vegan
If they eat soy, TVP is a great vegan meat substitute especially for tacos

[raini]

All the yummy mushroom ideas sound great to me, but I guess I forgot to mention that neither one of them like mushrooms.

I probably also forgot to mention that I'm allergic to wheat... leaves out a bunch of the pasta ideas. Now, the spaghetti squash idea is a good one. Think I'll put it on my grocery list.

The romaine used as scoops for hummus is a great idea. I've done it before and it was wonderful.

I may be able to locate the Shiritaki noodles. Haven't had them for awhile, but maybe one of the stores in town has them.

They mentioned that they like Garden Burgers, so we'll definitely have a burger night.

Thanks for the great ideas. I'm still working on it.

[Strawberry]

What exactly DO they eat?? I can wrap my head around a strict vegan diet, but these gals dont even like half the things vegans eat, like mushrooms and beans!

I would ask your daughter for some specific dish suggestions of what they eat for dinner.

[jezzie]

What a great thread. ... My menus are about 80% vegetarian.
Fortunately for me I love beans. Black beans, red beans, lima beans.

I use portabellas on whole wheat English muffins.

My vegetarian DSIL likes vegetable lasagna made w/Healthy Harvest.
(51 % whole wheat blend pasta) ... Me too. lol.

.

[Strawberry]

Perhaps it would work best to have "buffet" style meals for the family, so everyone can pick and choose the parts of the meal that work for their diet style.

Eg, Taco/taco salad night - all the taco fixings (diced tomatoes, olives, shredded lettuce, onions, pico de gallo salsa, guacamole, sour cream) with ground beef or seasoned chicken and cheese for the meat eaters and Morning star soy "beef" crumbles and soy cheese for the vegans. You can add taco shells or chips for those that eat them. Your portion can be a salad.

Soup and salad: A vegetable soup with salad. You can add toasted bread with soy cheese to make it more hearty for the vegans. You can add some meat to your salad.

Stir fry: Do a all vegetable stir fry. Add stif fried tofu strips for vegans. Have a separate pan of stir fried meat for the meat eaters to add. Can have rice available for those that want it.

Middle Eastern: Falafel (fried ground chickpea patties - you can buy it) with tahini sauce, hummus, baba ganoush, pita bread, middle eastern type salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onions, peppers,.....have feta cheese available separately, see if they make a vegan feta cheese) and then you can have veggie kabobs and meat or chicken kabobs done separately. (its actually easier to get vegetables on a kabab done to the right degree of softness if the veggies are cooked on separately kabobs from the meat) Or gyro meat if you can find it. Can have a rice pilaf with nut available if you want.

[goheels]

One of my favorites lately is to cut up in small pieces turnips, parsnips, and small quantities of butternut squash or sweet potato, sprinkle with pepper and sea salt and olive oil and bake for approximately 1 hour at 350. Absolutely delicious.

[Nigel]

try veggie web dot com, there are piles and piles of vegetarian recipes there.

If you buy the boca crumbles, you can make a great vegetarian meatloaf just like regular meatloaf except using boca instead of hamburger meat. I add in extra spices and some grated cheese to mine.

if you do a search, there are recipes to make meatballs out of walnuts (can't recall the exact name of the recipe) and I made them and they wre decent

stir fries are always good, serve over dreamfields spaghetti

good luck with this.

[Victrola]

Originally Posted by Strawberry

What exactly DO they eat?? I can wrap my head around a strict vegan diet, but these gals dont even like half the things vegans eat, like mushrooms and beans!

I would ask your daughter for some specific dish suggestions of what they eat for dinner.

Heh. I was wondering the same thing! I mean, you can get away with a lot if you're young and healthy, but eating nothing but starches sounds... not so good.

[straightscoop]

Sounds like you have a challenging situation! I highly recommend you check out the Vegetarian Times web site, there are a lot of great recipes there and many can be adapted to low-carb eating. You can also substitute Morningstar or Boca soycrumbles for nearly any recipe calling for ground beef, and it's pretty easy to find vegan cheese products in most grocery stores now.

I make awesome vegetarian gyros with either thinly sliced seitan or field roast (found at whole foods, it's sliced like lunchmeat), seasoned with a little sage, thyme, garlic and pepper and fried until brown. You can make soy-yogurt based taziki sauce to go with it. Give the girls pita bread but eat yours over salad or with low-carb tortillas. I also make sloppy joes with soymeat crumbles and low-carb bbq sauce.

Other ideas: Oatmeal or cold cereals for breakfast with soymilk and fruit, pumpkin bake with vegan cream cheese (found at Whole Foods or other health food stores). Eggplant parmesan made with a low-carb breading and vegan cheese.

[raini]

Originally Posted by Nigel

if you do a search, there are recipes to make meatballs out of walnuts (can't recall the exact name of the recipe) and I made them and they are decent

I've made the meatballs from walnuts... either with wheat thin crackers or other kinds of crackers. They were wonderful! Not sure I could stay away from those, though...

Lots of great ideas... I like the buffet idea, and will probably do that for a couple of the meals. I remembered a "cashew soup" recipe done in the Vita Mix and I'm trying to find that one. There are a few recipes for cashew soup online, but I'm trying to figure out what I used before because it was delicious.

I think that Christmas dinner will be a turkey breast for those of us who are not vegans, and a lentil loaf for those that are. DD said she and her friend love stuffing, so I can make that and make most people happy.

Tomorrow is "early ferry off the island" and shop-til-we-drop to finish up all the last minute stuff that needs to be done. I'm tired just thinking about it! (We just got done hosting a caroling party and dinner. I'd like to sleep for a couple of days!)

Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas. You guys have been a big help.

[raini]

Originally Posted by Strawberry

What exactly DO they eat?? I can wrap my head around a strict vegan diet, but these gals dont even like half the things vegans eat, like mushrooms and beans!
I would ask your daughter for some specific dish suggestions of what they eat for dinner.

Yeah, I could be a vegetarian and MAYBE even a vegan. But take away mushrooms and beans and there's not much left!

She did say they would like a lentil loaf, and they would like a vegetarian casserole. And even though she hates mushrooms, it's the texture she dislikes and not the flavor. So I can get away with using mushroom soup as a base if I need to.

Breakfasts will be a cinch... cold cereals, homemade granola, waffles. Lunches may be soup and sandwiches. One dinner will be lentil loaf, Garden Burgers for another, casserole one night, taco bar one night... and still deciding on the last night. Getting close to ready!

Thanks again for all your help!

[Nigel]

Originally Posted by straightscoop

Sounds like you have a challenging situation! I highly recommend you check out the Vegetarian Times web site, there are a lot of great recipes there and many can be adapted to low-carb eating. You can also substitute Morningstar or Boca soycrumbles for nearly any recipe calling for ground beef, and it's pretty easy to find vegan cheese products in most grocery stores now.

I make awesome vegetarian gyros with either thinly sliced seitan or field roast (found at whole foods, it's sliced like lunchmeat), seasoned with a little sage, thyme, garlic and pepper and fried until brown. You can make soy-yogurt based taziki sauce to go with it. Give the girls pita bread but eat yours over salad or with low-carb tortillas. I also make sloppy joes with soymeat crumbles and low-carb bbq sauce.

Other ideas: Oatmeal or cold cereals for breakfast with soymilk and fruit, pumpkin bake with vegan cream cheese (found at Whole Foods or other health food stores). Eggplant parmesan made with a low-carb breading and vegan cheese.

Where do you find seitan or do you make it? If you make it, do you have a recipe to share? I'd really like to be able to buy it, but I haven't located any in my area. Thanks in advance for any help.

[straightscoop]

I've never made seitan but I know it's made essentially of vital wheat gluten, which though a magic process, turns into a very meaty-like loaf and tastes nothing like flour or wheat. I've seen it in the produce aisle or dairy area at most major grocery chains, usually near the vegetables or tofu. I've alsp seen it in cans at health food stores and Asian supermarkets. However, there are many recipes online to make it yourself, and it doesn't look too complicated. Just do a google search for "making seitan" or "seitan recipe."

Originally Posted by Nigel

Where do you find seitan or do you make it? If you make it, do you have a recipe to share? I'd really like to be able to buy it, but I haven't located any in my area. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Strawberry]

I know Whole Foods has seitan. I got a sample there once.

Probably most health food stores would have it.

[oyvey]

Seitan is definitely available at health food stores, and occasionally in Asian markets (particularly if there's a large Chinese population. The seitan is often in the frozen section.). It's pretty easy to make (ah, vegan days!), basically you wet and knead vital wheat gluten. IMHO, homemade tends to have a better texture. That site I linked to has lots of excellent vegan recipes.

Sadly, seitan is not an option for the OP, who has wheat problems.

To the OP, I agree that the buffet style sounds good. No beans, but lentils are ok? That opens up a realm of Middle Eastern, Indian, and Italian possibilities.

Regardless, best of luck! What a challenge!