Vegetarian celebration foods?

[herbgeek]

My husband went vegetarian a couple of years ago. Typically, when I feel like having meat, I'll just make some for myself and a veggie burger for hub. Tonight is New Years Eve, I usually cook at home anyways. In the old days, I'd grill a nice steak or make some decadent lobster bisque and call it a day. Something "fancy". But I have a hard time coming up with fancy vegetarian food. So I'm just making a bunch of courses, hoping we'll be full before we get to what used to be the entree. So far we've had crostini with brie and red pepper peach jam, a salad with roasted pears and blue cheese, and a 5 onion soup. Twice baked potatoes are in the oven, and an asparagus saute is on deck, with little pastries.

For those of you who are vegetarian, what do you make for special occasions? (My body really doesn't react well to soy foods, so meat analogs are out).

[Rosemary]

That all sounds delicious to me!
We like enchiladas, spinach lasagna, samosas, empanadas, calzones.. none of those are difficult, but they do take some time and aren't weeknight fare.
A favorite vegetable dish is brussels sprouts, pear, and onion roasted.
Deborah Madison has some amazing vegetarian lasagna recipes. I've made one with greens, walnuts, and a bechamel sauce that was outstanding.
A simple green salad can be made fancy with special fruit, glazed nuts, or a delicious cheese. A cafe in Tucson made a wonderful salad with kumquats, glazed pecans, and goat cheese.

[lmerullo]

I can commiserate. I changed to a vegan diet last May, and some times a celebration meal is not the same without the meat foods.

Sushi says celebration to me. Some soups can be nice when served specially - here I'm thinking of a squash soup in a hollowed out shell, etc. I

Pastries!

[rosarugosa]

Herbgeek: That actually sounds wonderful to me. I frequently prefer getting a few appetizers and skipping the entree.
We ate out the other night, and DH had lasagna made with eggplant, where the eggplant replaced the pasta. It was made with a bolognese sauce, but no reason you couldn't substitute a marinara sauce.

[Rogar]

My top of the line "fancy"vegan food is lasagna. There is a variety of vegetable variations and the best I've found uses cashew ricotta cheese substitute. I've never quite homed in on an excellent vegan meatless loaf, but have had a couple that were decent. I get some vegan gravy mix and usually have sweet potatoes or mashed cauliflower to go along with a vegan meatless loaf. Stuffed portobello mushroom is on my list to try. Portobellos have something like a meat texture.

[Teacher Terry]

Spaghetti without meat.

[HappyHiker]

My husband went vegetarian a couple of years ago. Typically, when I feel like having meat, I'll just make some for myself and a veggie burger for hub. Tonight is New Years Eve, I usually cook at home anyways. In the old days, I'd grill a nice steak or make some decadent lobster bisque and call it a day. Something "fancy". But I have a hard time coming up with fancy vegetarian food. So I'm just making a bunch of courses, hoping we'll be full before we get to what used to be the entree. So far we've had crostini with brie and red pepper peach jam, a salad with roasted pears and blue cheese, and a 5 onion soup. Twice baked potatoes are in the oven, and an asparagus saute is on deck, with little pastries.

For those of you who are vegetarian, what do you make for special occasions? (My body really doesn't react well to soy foods, so meat analogs are out).

Frankly, your celebratory dishes make ME want to celebrate! We like Indian food a lot, so often make something spicy with lentils or spinach...and falafels are yummy but not too special for a celebration...wracking my brain...nope, not coming, brain running on empty. too much Proseco last night???

[herbgeek]

Spaghetti without meat.

Ha- this is our "made it through Tuesday" celebration meal every week.

[Teacher Terry]

I make a really good homemade spaghetti sauce that cooks in the crockpot for 12 hours. When someone doesn’t eat meat I remove theirs before adding meat.

[Zoe Girl]

Sounds very tasty, i like to take a reguar meal and add dessert with chocolate. My other facorite is indian food with all the dishes, special rice, raita, dal, saag paneer, roasted eggplant, yum!

I agree with lasagna and the assorted appetizer foods.