Anyone know a good Vegetarian Recipe to give as a gift in a bag?

Question

I am planning to give "Meal in a Bag" as gifts this Christmas. Where you put all the things you need to make a dinner in a bag including wine and possibly a good movie.

I have 2 vegetarians in my family and I'm not very familiar with many vegetarian meals.

Does anyone have any suggestions for vegetarian/vegan meals I can put together including a wine suggestion?

I plan to give a gift card for perish-ables so they don't feel rushed to have to fix their dinner right away. I'll also include instructions and "grocery list"

Answer 1

Risotto - I altered this from a recipe on VegWeb

2 cups arborio rice
4 cups broth (or water with bullion cube added)
2 tablespoons white wine
8 sun dried tomatoes, dry
1 cup chopped asparagus
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
1 cup hot water
1 chopped medium onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic

Directions:
Submerge mushrooms in hot water for 15 minutes. Squeeze out excess water and coarsely chop.

Saute onion in water for a minute. Add garlic and diced sun-dried tomatoes and wine. Cook until onion is soft. Add rice, stirring, for 1 minute. Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup broth. When it boils, bring to medium heat and stir constantly. When water is absorbed, add an additional 1/2 cup broth. Keep adding broth in 1/2 cup increments and stirring constantly. After 5 to 10 minutes of this, add asparagus and mushrooms. Continue until rice is tender, about 25 to 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

This is good because it comes with plenty of dry unperishables - mushrooms, dry tomato, rice, wine, and broth (if you get a can/cubes/aseptic pack of veggie broth).

You can serve it with a green salad. You could also include a dry hummus mix or a jar of olive tapenade, crackers, and a gift certificate for chopped vegetables.

I love this with my favourite Riesling - It's called Stoney Creek, and it's a very crisp, appley white wine.

Answer 2

You could do a gourmet pasta dinner. Imported pasta, dried porcini mushrooms, olive oil, sun dried tomatoes, italian black olives, chick peas (aka garbonzo beans), italian herbs. If it really must be an all-inclusive meal, then include a jar of garlic in oil (otherwise they'll use their own garlic). A package of biscotti for dessert.

A variation that would be a little less expensive (and a little simpler to prepare) is to drop the porcini mushrooms, olive oil and garlic. Include a jar of pesto instead.

Answer 3

I don't have any specifics, but you could include pasta, canned or dried beans, lentils, a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, a jar of capers, jars of olives, a vegetarian pasta sauce (Amy's makes several varieties of pasta sauces, and it's an entirely vegetarian company), a packet of rice.

To make it really special, check out www.veganessentials.com or www.veganstore.com for pantry essentials. A German company called Viana makes a line of vegan analogues, and while they're expensive, they're pretty good.

www.tastebetter.com has a section on vegan booze, so you can check that out for ideas.

Answer 4

Potato for baking or mashing.
Italian bread.
Garlic for roasting.
Various veggies + firm tofu for stir fry.