My meat eating friend, who happens to cook for a living, has challenged me to a cooking competition. I am the only vegan at the table, so i want to find something to make that can please all.

Any suggestions on a main dish that could be a winner?

If I can give you hopefully a helpful tip it would be to make a dish that meat eaters are used to eating, perhaps something that is more on the hearty side. They'll like it because it's a food/consistency they are used to. 

Whatever dish you decide to make, if it calls for melted cheese, see if you can get Daiya cheese the mozzarella or cheddar. It comes shredded and in my opinion really is the best vegan cheese I've had, melts easily, stretches and most importantly tastes good and can be bought at Whole Foods. It's soy free too if that matters at all.    

There are alot of vegan hearty dishes out there and in Alicia's book so make something along those lines for your first dish and meat eaters will love it! :-)
 

So I made the "Cuban Style Sweet Potatoes." (Just one serving). After I tossed the potatoes and put them on a plate, there was a bit of the "dressing" (EVOO, garlic, salt, pepper, lime juice, parsley) left in the bowl. So I took 1/2 cup of red quinoa and added it to the "dressing", 1 tbs of sunflower seeds, 1/2 avocado, 1/4 cup of fresh salsa. Tossed it all together and stuffed it into 1/2 of a whole wheat (warmed)pita. Had my Cuban Style Sweet Potatoes on the side. WOW!!!!! YUM-O!!! So wonderful. Probably will have 1/4 of an avocado next time, but I indulged after a vigorous 2 hour workout.

Give it a try, you will be in HEAVEN!!!

This is SOOOOO good!

I am going to find a yummy dessert I came up with inspired by the TKD PB cups. :)

 http://21daykickstart.org/celebrity/harper/index.cfm
I just tried the "Raise the Roof Veggie Lasagna" for the first time tonight.  It is delicious, flavorful, and extremely satisfying.  As I was eating it I actually thought that it would be a perfect dish to share with meat-eaters to show them that veggie cuisine can be amazing.

the cuban sweet potatoes are so good!!! I made them tonight with black bean chili over brown rice.  really good, they're also really good with a classic red beans and rice.  the flavors are great together.  the mushroom artichoke leek crostinis are one of the best things in the book in my opinion. I guess that's not really a main course though. to be really fancy get tal ronnens conscious cook.  i've made the homeade ravioli, really great.  the tempeh over rice was really good too, but a bit time consumming.  one of the best dishes ever is from giada de laurentis (although it's a fairly popular recipe) is butternut squash ravioli  with butter sage sauce.  easy to make vegan by subbing out butter for earth balance, cream can be cashew cream, or plain almond milk, and make one of the many vegan pasta doughs available.  fancy and fabulous!! one of my favorite winter dishes to make. 

Are you making a certain course? Can you do a starter? I just made the Mushroom, leek, pesto crostini tonight and I'm just sayin'.....WOW! Totally gourmet and delicious! My 6 year old had two and usually she's making faces at my vegan dishes. Elegant, filling, and sooooo good. That's the favorite thing I've made out of the book so far.
oops, i just read that it should be a  main course. oh well, but try the crostini anyway...everyone!

I ended up making the Pecan Crusted Seitan... and everyone loved it except for the person I was competing with, who refused to try it because it wasn't real meat!

It was a big success though as two people that came over agreed they were going to try to flirt for a month to see what they thought. :)

I will have to try that crostini sometime soon, it sounds good!

I'm so happy to hear you made a "meaty" dish. It's great to hear the get together went well!

At first I was thinking about a stirfry, but that seemed to not be all that creative or challenging. When we sat down to eat, I said, "wow, this tastes and feels exactly like meat!" everyone laughed at me... apparently I have just forgotten... but regardless the taste was fabulous.

I think next time will be a Bake-off.. =)

Sounds like somebody was just being a sore loser...couldn't handle the fact that something without meat that he/she didn't cook would be any good.  Way to show that person that vegan food can be fabulous (even though they were too "big" to try it).

It wasn't Anthony Bourdain, was it?

Ha ha ha, no no, but he may think that he is Anthony Bourdain!

I was not impressed that he wouldn't try one bite. So closed-minded of him. It made me feel better when everyone else bugged him about it.

Kitty - Just noticed your note on cheese. Will need to find this. I am in Canada, so may be a bit trickier. Fingers crossed.

I have a bunch of awesome vegan recipes on my blog you could look at for ideas.
http://www.littlehouseofveggies.blogspot.com
GOOD LUCK!!!

Thanks, there are some good ones on here... will have to give them a try!

I agree with Noel- the "raise the roof veggie lasagna" is fantastic!  My meat eating hubby loves it!  I brought left-overs to work and now my co-workers want me to make a pan to bring in.  My mom said that's all she wants for her  birthday - my lasagna.  Please try it, you wont be sorry.