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Ask the Expert: Maggie Gilbert
My daughter wants to be a vegetarian. – UHC TV
I got a question, where someone asked, “My daughter wants to become a vegetarian. How do I cook dinner for our family without making two different dinners to accommodate our vegetarian daughter?”
There’s lots of ways to think about this. First of all, there are lots of different dishes that easily accommodate meat eaters and non-meat eaters without too much extra fuss. I’m just going to give you a couple of quick examples.
One would be sandwiches, or if you make panini, which I love to do. That’s really easy, because it’s kind of an assembly thing. Some people can do cheese, and maybe some pesto, or fresh vegetables in there. Others could add sliced turkey or other kinds of meat. It’s very easy and it doesn’t feel like you’re doing double work at all.
Another category that is pretty easy to do for vegetarians and meat eaters would be Mexican. Again, it’s assembly food. You can always have ground beef or chicken in, say, a taco or a burrito for the meat eaters, and then go ahead and have something like grilled vegetables or mushrooms that you can actually cook in some Mexican seasoning. So use the taco seasoning in the vegetables. That might be an option that the meat eaters like as well, or in combination with their hamburger meat.
That’s an easy way to have options, where things are assembled and everybody’s happy. It really works well for everybody at the table.
Another way to think about vegetarians is try having some nights where everyone’s a vegetarian and they don’t have to think of themselves that way. You don’t have to label it.
There are certain foods that are great without meat, I think. Spaghetti sauce: If you like mushrooms, cook a whole bunch of them. You can get varieties. You can use regular white button mushrooms or get all kinds of varieties. Clean them, chop them up and cook them slowly with onions. Then add your tomato sauce and what-have-you to mushrooms – however you normally like to make spaghetti sauce.
That makes a really delicious, meaty tasting dish. You can do the same thing if you’re making something like lasagna. Just leave the meat out, and see how good it is with vegetables and all kinds of other flavorful things. If you have lots of seasoning and great tomato sauce, I think you won’t notice that the meat’s gone.
That’s another way. Just don’t even think about that anybody needs the meat for certain meals. So that’s really good.
The third way is to try some meat substitutes. You really have to try and see if they work for you. They’re often based on soy products. Sometimes you can get something that looks like ground beef crumbles in the freezer section. It’s really soy. There’s no meat in it.
You brown that, for example, with onions in a little olive oil, and then you add some things to make your spaghetti sauce. And I bet nobody would know that isn’t ground beef, if that’s something you like. Try something like that. There are also patties and links – other things your vegetarian daughter might want to try. When you’re feeding the whole family, try the soy crumbles and see if everybody likes it.
That’s my best advice. I agree – don’t make two meals. Try to see if everybody can be happy with either option – where there’s meat or not meat, or just an option where there’s no meat. That’s what I would do, and I think it will work pretty well for you.
Ask the Expert
Cooking for Vegetarian Kids
Question: My daughter wants to go vegetarian. How can I cook without fixing two different meals?
Answer from: Maggie Gilbert, cooking expert
Is there a new vegetarian under your roof? No need to become a short-order cook. Creative menu options are all you need for vegetarians and meat eaters to eat happily together.
The content of these videos is for information only and is not intended to be medical advice. Refer to your health plan benefit guide for coverage details, and consult with your doctor to determine what is best for you.
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