Christmas

AngelaRay

I know it's early but I'm thinking about Christmas.  So here's the deal.  I host a Christmas Eve dinner(my bday) for 9 adults and 5 kids.  We have Christmas Day here also with 20 adults and 7kids and it's a big breakfast followed by a day full of heavy apps.  I like to have Christmas Eve as a nice sit down fairly formal dinner and have always stuck with manicotti or lasagna. We now have 2 guests with a dairy allergy.  Should I still do the lasagna and have a spag. +mtball combo too? Should I do a pasta bar instead?  I don't really have any help w/food from any of the guests so I want it to be nice but failry simple since I have the 2 days in a row.  TIA

 

toothpastechica

We have vegans, vegitarians, lactose-free, peanut allergies, no red meat and celiac persons in my family so I hear you on the  balance between feeding everyone and still having it be doable for you!

I'm lactose intolerent so try and avoid dairy, so my question to you would be is it an allergy (go into cardiac arrest if they touch dairy) or an intolerence. And for both is it the lactose (which is found in the dairy fat) or dairy in general if theres allergies...Ask them because this makes a huge difference...there is lactose free cheese that can be used as regular cheese and I would recommend using that and making the same thing for everyone if they are able to eat it....I hate having to eat something different then everyone else if it can be avoided. Also maybe try and look up vegan or vegitarian pasta options as everyone would be able to eat those.

If they can't have lactose free products, I would suggest a pasta bar with a couple different sauces because people have such unique food needs (does everyone eat red meat? If not then the mtballs don't really help those people...etc)...maybe a pesto sauce, a white sauce, a tomato sauce with meatballs on the side that can be added if people want them and/or a meat sauce and then just one or 2 kinds of pasta with a green salad or ceaser salad?

6fsn

I've done pasta bars with a lot of success.  They hit a lot of tastebuds and weren't terribly difficult.  That said I think you could do something just as tasty that may be even easier.  If everyone is a meat eater a roasted tenderloin is simple, add something starchy (you can do mashed potatoes with olive oil instead of milk and butter) or just roast some potatoes.  Add a simple salad, veg, and rolls.  Maybe it's me, but that would be easier than a lasagna.

foxyroxy

Well, how important is manacotti/lasagna? Because if it important (because it is tradition or your fav birthday food or whatever), I say make it and then have a smaller portion of pasta with marinara sauce. Seems easy enough. Will you also have salad and/or bread?

If the main course doesn't need to be either of those two dishes, I'd make something new. There has to be a thousand special but simple dairy-free recipes online. 

kipnus

H and I have made our own variation of this recipe several times and our non-vegan/vegetarian friends love it! If everyone eats meat, you can just use regular ground beef for the meat layer, but the non-dairy "cheese" layer is really simple and tasty! We like to add extra veggies, like zucchini and mushrooms, into the marinara sauce. Also, Daiya is a really great brand of non-dairy cheese. They have shredded cheddar that will actually melt when it's sprinkled on top! 

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/italian-lasagna-vegan-style.html?page=1