What to give a vegetarian on a "whole food" diet for lunch?

[SteveHadTheRightIdea]

I'm struggling a bit.

This friend has had some serious health problems and this diet seems to be helping him.

He's coming for lunch at the weekend and I want to make him something nice. He is lovely and would bring his own food. Not at all demanding or fussy.

As I am neither vegetarian, nor am I on a whole food diet, I'm a little clueless!

Any ideas much appreciated.

Meera Sodha's books are superb - and some of her recipes are free on the Guardian site. I would think you could make just about anything she suggests.

Fajita bowl sounds perfect. You can make brownies with banana, that would be delicious?

Oh thanks verticality. I'll look her up.

Thanks so much everyone. Loads of lovely ideas. Now I think about it, I'm fairly sure he's gluten free, but I'll ask him. Just don't want to quiz him.

That sounds delicious OP.

At this time of year, I'd be tempted to do a salad. I do a nice avocado and pine nut salad, that is essentially a green salad with chunks of avocado and pine nuts on top of it with a nice homemade french dressing.

Serve it with some Parmesan crisps - essentially fresh grated Parmesan sprinkled in round shapes onto a non stick baking tray and put in the oven for a few minutes until they melt and crisp up. Always look so pretty for minimal effort!

Or if you think that won't be filling enough, do a serving of sweet potato chips. Cut a sweet potato into rough chip shapes, toss it in olive oil and bake at 200 for 30 or so minutes.

One Green Planet is good for recipes.

Personally, when i first went Vegan i was sick of salad. It sounds nice if you are a meat eater.

Chick pea/lentil, spinach, mushroom curry would be an easy go to.

But one green planet has recipes to suit everyone.

I'm a vegetarian who loves wholefoods! I'd do a lentil and butternut squash curry or chickpea and spinach curry with brown rice. There are thousands of recipes online.

Buddha bowl?

Ratatouille

Garlic mushrooms

Sauté potatoes

Rice-stuffed peppers

Cinnamon raisin-stuffed baked apples for pudding.

foodlifecooking.weebly.com/satay-sweet-potato-bosh-bowl.html

This is amazing - my vegan dh’s favourite.

The blogger’s picture looks a bit average - you can make it look a lot fancier than that.

Probably better to quiz him now than spend time and money on a meal he can't/wont eat

My favourite is red dragon pie, basically it's a shepherd's pie but with aduki beans instead of mince. If, like me he doesn't eat mashed potatoes it could be served as a casserole with rice and additional veg.

I'm vegan and the Bosh channel is fantastic. Every recipe has been amazing. What I would do is bits and bobs though. A nice quinoa salad, olives, new potatoes, hummous, jars of sundried tomatoes artichokes etc then he can help himself.

Here

cookieandkate.com/best-quinoa-salad-recipe/

cookieandkate.com/best-quinoa-salad-recipe/

Don’t know what whole foods are but I assume it’s healthy real food. Last night I made wholemeal cous cous (indistinguishable from White cous cous) with a can of chick peas, chopped cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumber, feta, parma ham, parsley and basil with a dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper. You need quite a lot of dressing/seasoning as the cous cous soaks it up. Absolutely delicious. Replace Parma Ham with roast chicken/salmon etc if you wish. Filling, nutritious and took about 10 mins including chopping!

Ooh I had olives in there too!

And defo quiz him. I have a child with an allergy in a special diet and am eternally grateful for those who quiz and cater. He’ll be grateful.

And you could replace the gluteny grain for quinoa or similar.

A fresh fruit salad for Pud is my go to vegan thing - it’s delicious and yo can offer cream/vegan or normal ice cream on the side if you like but people can choose just fruit if they wish. I squeeze an orange or two for juice and even sometimes lob in some cloudy fresh apple juice from a bottle.

It's lovely you want to make him a great lunch, and great suggestions on this thread.

I think though that it would be best if you come up with a couple of options and check in with him as to which he'd prefer. At least you know then that it will be suitable, and offering a couple of options means you won't be quizzing him.

I like brown rice and also couscous (you can get Kamut or spelt). Don’t like quinoa. Serve with a dhal or curry, griddle haloumi with a salad, brown pasta with a nice veggie sauce (or lasagne yum).

I’d ask which foods agree with him and which don’t. Garlic can be a bit difficult for some tums.

If gluten free then I’d do a big thick veggie frittata, salads, and get a gluten free loaf (too hard to make for me). Lots of lovely fruit and yoghurt for desert and I’ve heard for flour free cakes (I don’t know what’s in them but assume they are gluten free).

I guess I’d make sure there was choice - so a few salads (greens, potato, tomato & onion, olives, sweet corn & pepper...) with a couple of ‘main’ items (frittata, ratatouille, grains etc).

Roast chicken/salmon for a vegetarian??? Fish sauce on a Thai salad? Since when did fish, or indeed chicken, become a vegetarian option? The clue is, if it had a face, it is not veggie.

I agree with others, make lots of meze or tapas style dishes, so he can choose. Quinoa or rice salads, chickpeas in various formats (hummus, falafel, sautéed with merguez spice or just sumac) lots of sautéed or roast vegetables, potatoes and dips etc.