Wanting to try a new recipe for Christmas dinner, something for a soul-food eating family. Any suggestions?

Question

Serious answers only. An EASY, but FLAVORFUL recipe is preferred, that is MEATLESS for any part of the meal (appetizer, entree, side, or dessert). Please include either a link to the recipe or type out the entire recipe in your answer. Thank you so much!

Thanks, but I'm looking for specific recipes, not general answers.

Again, I'm a vegetarian (that eats fish). The recipe has to be without any meat. Thanks!

Meg, your recipe sounds like something I can modify with vegetable bullion cubes.

Answer 1

Appetizer:
-Creamy ranch dip(serves 6):
recipe ingredients
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 tsp. Ranch salad dressing mix
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 green onion, chopped (about 2 tablespoons)

Combine cream cheese and milk with a hand blender or food processor. Add dressing mix and cheese and blend well. Stir in chopped pepper and green onions. Serve with assorted fresh vegetables.
Makes 1 1/2 cups, 1/4 cup per serving

Entrée(serves 4):
-Angel hair pasta with asparagus and cherry tomatoes
recipe ingredients
1 tsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 T. fresh parsley, minced
2 T. fresh mint, minced
2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 cups fresh asparagus tips
8 ounces dried angel hair pasta
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add garlic, shallot, parsley, and mint. Reduce heat to medium and saute’ until the shallot is soft. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes are a pulpy sauce. Stir in the asparagus tips and cook just until tips are cooked through and still bright green.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente’;drain well. Add pasta to sauce and toss until well mixed. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese when serving.

Side(serves 6):
-Spinach au gratin
2 10-oz packages frozen chopped spinach
2 oz. cream cheese, cubed
2 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup nonfat milk
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup chopped water chestnuts
2 Tbsp. sliced green onions
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
3/4 cup soft bread crumbs (1 slice)
1 Tbsp. fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp. margarine, melted

recipe directions
Cook spinach according to package directions in a large saucepan; drain in a colander and press out as much liquid as possible. Return spinach to saucepan. Stir cream cheese and feta into the hot spinach till cream cheese is melted. Stir in the milk, egg product, water chestnuts, green onion, and garlic salt. Spray a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Turn the spinach mixture into casserole. Toss together the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and melted margarine in a small bowl. Sprinkle over spinach mixture. Bake at 350*F for 40 to 45 minutes or until set.

Dessert(serves 12):
-Orange pound cake with orange caramel sauce
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 large orange
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, softened (no substitutions)
1 large egg
2 large egg whites

Orange-Caramel Sauce:
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350*F. Lightly coat a 9×5-inch loaf pan with vegetable cooking spray. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in medium bowl; set aside.

With vegetable peeler remove peel from orange; coarsely chop. Cut orange in half and squeeze 1/2 cup juice. Process sugar and peel in food processor, pulsing until peel is finely chopped. Combine buttermilk, 1/4 cup orange juice and vanilla in a small glass measuring cup. (Reserve remaining juice for caramel sauce.)

Beat butter and orange-sugar mixture in large mixer bowl on medium-high speed until combined. Beat in egg and egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 15 minutes; invert and remove pan.

Make Orange-Caramel Sauce: Meanwhile, combine water and sugar in small saucepan; stir with wooden spoon until sugar is moistened. Bring to simmer over medium-low heat; cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes until sugar dissolves. Uncover and cook until sugar turns amber, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and slowly stir in reserved orange juice (mixture will bubble vigorously). Return to heat and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Cool sauce and serve with cake.

I have more "chocolatey"delicious dessert recipes,if you want some,just say it! =)

Answer 2

My mother used to make this dessert on special occassions only, you'll see why after viewing the ingredients :o.
Still, it's an absolute hit for the Soul Food lover! Yummm :)
I couldn't post her special recipe, so I snatched this one from an on-line source, which looks to be very delicious also.

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

1 large can of Delmonte® Sliced Peaches
1 stick of butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla flavor
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 box of Pillsbury® pie crust mix - follow the directions to make the pie crust.

Instructions:

Mix peaches and other ingredients in a large dutch oven pot, and bring to a boil.
Pour ingredients into a large casserole dish.
Roll the pie crust into 1 whole sheet to cover the dish, or
cut it into strips and place over the peach mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook until golden brown approximately 1 hour

Best serve with vanilla ice cream.

Answer 3

Christmas Breakfast Casserole
7 slices white bread, crusts removed and cubed
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
6 eggs
3 cups milk
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

In a greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish, combine the bread cubes and cheese.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, mustard, salt and pepper; pour over bread and cheese. Top with bacon. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.

Bake uncovered, at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a knife inserted
near the center comes out clean

Note, you will need to register to us this site.

Answer 4

This makes a great appetizer and it is great this time of the year since it is a soup.

Southwestern Corn Soup
approximately 4 servings

2 cups frozen corn
2 cups chicken broth (or 2 cups water with 1 chicken bouillon cube)
1 8-ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 12-ounce can of V8 vegetable juice (the regular old-school V8)
1 bell pepper
1 diced jalapeno pepper (can use less if you don't want to make it too spicy)
Diced scallions (to taste)
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro

Put corn, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, bell pepper, scallions, and jalapeno in a large pot. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes. Add cilantro and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Serve.

Some like to add shredded cheese or sour cream when serving. I like mine straight up. You can also add left over diced chicken breast if you want a heartier soup, but it is equally as good without it. This soup can also be served cold or used as a corn-salsa dip if you make it without the broth and reduce simmer time to 8 minutes.

***Vegetable bouillon cubes will work. This soup is very versatile so feel free to modify it in several different ways. One thing I want to add is that the cilantro is a must...it makes a huge difference in the flavor.

Answer 5

Jerry Seinfeld's wife came out with a really cool cookbook called Deceptively Delicious and explains how to hide fruits and veggies in every day recipes. It's a great book! Make oatmeal raisin cookies and to appease them throw in some choc late chips; that way they can eat their cookies BUT it's better than just a chocolate chip cookie. Also, did you know that you can sub applesauce for butter in baking? That's another way to get some fruit in them! Another tip: if they like applesauce anyway, have them pick another fit that they like (strawberries, peaches, plums) and throw that fruit in a blender or food processor and puree that fruit...mix it with the applesauce for a yummy treat! (be sure to take any pits out of pitted fruit before processing though!) The key is to make eating foods they don't like interesting and fun...give them a sticker each time they try something new, and by all means don't push a new food on them...but they should at least have to try it...if they don't like it wait awhile and try it again. Sweet potatoes are SO healthy and can be made fun by making them into fries. They are naturally sweet and do taste like candy. (well kind of!) Zucchini bread and banana bead are good too, plus they are sweet tasting...very appealing to kids.

Answer 6

If you want to eat truly healthy, lose body fat consistently, normalize your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, prevent cancer, and even boost your brain health and energy levels, you may have heard all over the news that the Paleo Diet has been found to be one of the best methods of achieving all of these benefits compared to any other popular "fad" diets out there. Go here https://bitly.im/aMIdz

The truth is that the Paleo Diet will never be considered a fad because it's just simply the way that humans evolved to eat over approximately 2 million years. And eating in a similar fashion to our ancestors has been proven time and time again to offer amazing health benefits, including prevention of most diseases of civilization such as cancer, heart disease, alzheimers, and other chronic conditions that are mostly caused by poor diet and lifestyle. One of the biggest misunderstandings about the Paleo Diet is that it's a meat-eating diet, or a super low-carb diet. This is not true

Answer 7

I'm really into German cooking as my ancestors were German and I spent two years there when I was younger.

Try Allrecipes.com and the Food Network. They seem to have a lot of different recipes in all categories.

Answer 8

These might be worth a try...

Chocolate Mint Cookie Crunch Fudge

1 1/2 cup, granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 can (5 oz) evaporated milk
1/2 stick (1/4 c) butter or margarine
1 cup (6 oz) mint-flavored semisweet chocolate chips
16 round chocolate sandwich cookies

Line a 8" square pan with foil; grease foil. Mix sugar and cocoa in heavy 3 quart saucepan. Stir in milk and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Without stirring, boil vigorously 5 min. Remove from heat; add chips and stir until melted and smooth. Spread 1 cup in lined pan, top with cookies, then spread remaining fudge evenly over top. Refrigerate 6 hours until firm. Invert pan, peel off foil, invert fudge and cut in 1" squares.

************ or;
Christmas Surprise

1 pkg. white cake mix
2 c. boiling water
1 (9 oz.) Cool Whip
1 (3 oz.) pkg. raspberry jello
1 (3 oz.) pkg. lime jello
1 c. coconut

Prepare cake according to package. Bake in 2 well greased 9-inch cake pans at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pans for 15 minutes. Poke with fork at 1/2-inch intervals; leave in pan. Dissolve each package of jello separately in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour raspberry over 1 layer; pour lime over the other. Sprinkle each with coconut. Chill 4 hours. Unmold 1 layer onto serving plate; cover with 1 cup of
whipped cream. Place second layer on top of first; cover with remaining whipped cream. Decorate with red and green gumdrops to resemble holly wreath.

Hope these help but have a wonderful Christmas dinner regardless!

Answer 9

I am uncertain as to choice of recipe, so I'm including links to recipe sites that look appropriate.

http://www.blackvegetarians.org/recipes/soulfood.htm
http://groups.msn.com/VegetarianSOULFOOD/soulvegetarianrecipes.msnw
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/recipes_most_popular/

The first two look like the best options.

Answer 10

You may need both for your daily intake i wood express just as good as one another. Granta

Answer 11

Will depend on on the context really. Which is better as a snack - fruits personally. It's tastier and gives you that little bit of sweetness. Which can be better as a snack if you are trying hard to slice back on sugar and lose weight vegetables