Our family will have two young vegetarians at the table this holiday season. And as in many families, it will fall to mom to figure out how to come up with meals that are festive but don’t center on the usual turkey, ham, or prime rib.

To complicate the situation, both are allergic to dairy products and eggs.

Licensed professional counselor and registered dietician Mary Beth George of Kingwood has worked with many families with diet-restricted kids, so I asked if she could suggest a possible menu. She came up with some tasty suggestions, as well as a recommendation to check out Living Without magazine (which addresses most common allergens and food sensitivities). While she didn’t include recipes, using a web search engine to find recipes for dishes that sound like something your vegetarian or vegan will eat takes minutes and you’ll usually get several options for each one.

Here are George’s menu ideas:

Appetizers: Hummus with assorted vegetables and crackers; stuffed mushrooms; spiced pecans.

Soups: Roasted beet and fennel soup; pumpkin ginger soup.

Salads: Baby greens with dried cranberries, oranges, almonds and light vinaigrette; salad greens with roasted pumpkin and pecans with a maple vinaigrette.

Sides: Poached pears with cranberries and holiday spices; roasted root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, winter squash, beets, etc); quinoa, polenta with roasted red peppers.

Entrées: Butternut squash risotto; vegetable lasagna with mushroom sauce (or pesto sauce).

Dessert: Chocolate fondue with fruit, dried fruit, pretzels etc to dip in it; Bananas roasted with walnuts and a brown sugar glaze and topped with vanilla ice cream (coconut milk based ice cream is the best nondairy alternative); coconut macaroons.