<p>I am having young people over for dinner and many are vegans. I am thinking 3 bean chili. Any other ideas? I am doing it on Monday since I can prepare on Sunday. Our weather here is HOT still. I shop tomorrow a.m and I am open to all ideas. Thank You!</p>
<p>Hot?
Oh- vegan- half my ideas had cheese-
Asian food can be made vegan pretty easily- lots of tofu & veggies.
( you could still make chili and use garden burger type stuff if you want to have " meat" in it)</p>
<p>The chili is a really good choice. I would pair it with cornbread muffins, watermelon and a big green salad.</p>
<p>How about a taco bar (hard and soft) with tofu or veggie crumbles as options? My D had her grad party catered by Moes, and they offered a tofu choice that many (in addition to the vegans) loved, so we have been making our own ever since. You can find Daiya (vegan shredded cheese) just about anywhere as well…maybe have a quinoa salad too…</p>
<p>If it is hot, you could always do hummus hoagies. </p>
<p>I get hoagie rolls and have bowls/plates of hummus, onions, cukes, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, roasted peppers, etc. </p>
<p>The recipe that I can’t wait to have for a crowd will be this one:</p>
<p>1 onion, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tab of olive oil or canola oil
2 boxes of Dr. McDougal’s Lentil Soup 18.2 oz
1 15 oz can of chick peas
1/2 cup raisins or currants (I used currants and loved them)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes</p>
<p>6 T plain soy yougurt (optional)</p>
<p>Saute onion and garlic until translucent. Add rest of ingredients and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until mixture reduced and thickened.</p>
<p>I made this a day ahead, and reheated in my LeCrueset in the oven at 350. I served it over delicata squash baked at 350 for 35 minutes. It was soooo good. If I were serving a group I would serve over rice and have a mixed salad. </p>
<p>I would double the recipe for the number of people that you are having.</p>
<p>I am not sure I can get tofu…maybe. But I can get loads of veggies and beans, chick peas etc. hummus, etc. dips and bread. WIP,So with the hoagie rolls, I can get something like pita, you fill up with this lentil-hummus mix? I can’t quite picture it? What is the make up of the McDougal’s lentil soup…just cooked lentils?</p>
<p>Anyway, all the ideas are getting me thinking…Thank YOu!</p>
<p>[Recipes</a> for Health - Series - The New York Times](<a href=“Recipes for Health - The New York Times”>http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html)</p>
<p>Sorry - two different ideas. One would be the hummus hoagie thing, the second is the Morrocan Lentil Stew. </p>
<p>If you make the hummus hoagie - just spread the hummus on the rolls, then add all the stuff you normally use for a sub or hoagie. Another idea for a sandwich thing, is to buy blocks of tempeh and crumble it up and treat it like ground meat in a barbeque sauce.</p>
<p>Somebody recommended this vegan mac and “cheese” to me…</p>
<p>[Macaroni</a> & Cheese](<a href=“The Best Vegan Macaroni and Cheese You’ll Ever Make | VegNews”>The Best Vegan Macaroni and Cheese You’ll Ever Make | VegNews)</p>
<p>I think the awesomeness of this recipe is the only reason I didn’t commit suicide or develop some form of anorexia when I developed my dairy allergy.</p>
<p>WIP thanks for the update…lentils would be good, yes with rice and nuts and raisins…</p>
<p>That mac and cheese sounds interesting…but I would have to practice on that one…not for a group.</p>
<p>Vegetarian Times magazine’s website has a wealth of recipes and menu ideas. You can search by vegan recipes only, as well -</p>
<p>[Vegetarian</a> Recipes Search | Vegetarian Times](<a href=“http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/]Vegetarian”>http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/)</p>
<p>You could make spaghetti. There’s a recipe for “beanballs” in the Veganomicon cookbook that’s pretty good (if you want to, you can even make meatballs for the omnivores) and serve those with bread, pasta, salad…and that’s a pretty good meal. </p>
<p>I have a vegan latin american cookbook (Viva Vegan) and everything I’ve made from it has been great, if you wanted to go with that sort of a theme. Rice and beans, tacos, enchiladas, etc, I can type up some recipes for you. Tacos should be pretty easy anyway, with well-seasoned beans and lots of veggies, guacamole, and salsa. </p>
<p>Chili could be really good, too. I think it’s great that you’re being so accommodating in your cooking!</p>
<p>That Macaroni and Cashews sounds delicious, but I wish it weren’t called Macaroni and Cheese when it has no cheese in it. Recipe mislabeling confuses cooks and eaters. If the recipe were correctly labeled, people like me, who cook for people allergic to milk, would be more likely to cook it. If someone calls a food cheese when it’s actually nuts, that’s a disservice both for milk-allergic people and for nut-allergic people.</p>
<p>When we have our Solstice Party for our company at a fancy restaurant here in Portland, the chef does stuffed squash for the vegans.</p>
<p>Vegan bread, seasoned and toasted with olive oil and herbs.
Nuts, chopped and seasoned.
Chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, shallots.
In layers, in a butternut squash (or other tasty squash), slightly hollowed out.</p>
<p>Baked until done.</p>
<p>It’s so good even some of us non-vegans eat it.</p>
<p>If I had a bunch of teens and some were vegan I’d probably make grilled black bean burgers with pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato etc. and serve sides of sweet potato fries and regular fries, and some sort of slaw salad. You could probably make the black bean burger patties, the slaw and get the fries ready the day before. You could bake the fries if you don’t like to “fry.”</p>
<p>The other thing my teens and their friends like are Falafel patties to stuff into pita bread with cucumber sauce, chopped tomatos etc. I like Tabboleh on the side I just buy the middle eastern 'boxed" bulgar that already has the mint in it and I add crumbled feta cheese, fine chopped tomatos and fine chopped cucumbers tossed with some olive oil and lemon juice. The falafel patties and tabboleh can be made ahead.</p>
<p>I like your veggie chili also. Pasta with tomato or pesto sauce, tossed salad and garlic bread works, too!</p>
<p>Our good friends are vegan and they did a party and the food was great and no one noticed there was no meat or dairy. Their grandmother is armenian and she made delicious salads and dips. Hummus, baba ganosh, falafel. Add in a cucumber tomato salad and some sort of orzo or couscous salad and good quality pita bread and it will be delicious. There was also some sort of salad that was made with different kinds of olives.They also had a platter of grilled vegetables and a pasta salad made with a sun dried tomato vinagrette.</p>
<p>I would serve my slow smoked baby back ribs, my buffalo hot wings, and my shrimp tempura and show them the error of their heathen ways.</p>
<p>Seriously though, I’ve done a vegan Pad Thai noodle dish that was well-received. Used some mushroom soy sauce in place of the Thai fish sauce and left out the shrimp.</p>
<p>I was all ready to suggest my favorite vegan meal - red wine and dark chocolate - but am assuming your guests are <21 so this won’t work. </p>
<p>Besides all the mains that have been suggested, a good vegan dessert is always appreciated.</p>
<p>This lasagna is excellent and Vegweb.com is, imo, the best source of vegan recipes on the web. You can search it for my recipes–there aren’t many, but I guarantee they’re good.</p>
<p>Cheesy Lasagna</p>
<p>Ingredients (use vegan versions):</p>
<pre><code>2-3 jars of favorite spaghetti sauce
1-16 oz bag of spinach leaves
2-3 jars of tomato sauce
1/2 lb. carrots
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup canned low-sodium veggie broth
1 lb. herbed tofu
8 oz. vegan cream cheese
2 Tblspns. lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
12 lasagna noodles, cooked
1/4 cup nutritional yeast, optional
</code></pre>
<p>Directions:</p>
<p>Slice carrots and steam, set aside. Add olive oil to a large skillet, place over medium-high heat until hot. Add parsley and garlic, saute for 1 minute… Add carrots and veggie broth; simmer uncovered for 5 min. Add herbed tofu, vegan cream cheese, and lemon juice; stir well. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until fake cheesy stuff starts to melt.Stir in nutmeg (possibly you could add some about 1/4 C. nutritional yeast at this step, just to make it a little bit more cheesy!). Remove from heat; keep warm.</p>
<p>Place 3 lasagna noodles in bottom of 11x7 baking dish. spread carrot mixture over top, place 3 noodles on top of that and spread tomato sauce and spinach on top of those, repeat process until all noodles are used up… top with spaghetti sauce. Cover and bake 15 min. at 375 degrees. Uncover and bake an additional 20-30 min. until it is thoroughly heated… use your own judgment. Usually a lasagna takes about 45 minutes to cook thoroughly. this is the best lasagna i have ever made or had, or non-vegan… it is superb… your non-vegan friends will be wowed!!!</p>
<p>Serves a lot.</p>
<p>^What brand vegan cream cheese do you prefer? I want to try this recipe. I tried the tofutti brand, by itself which was unwise in hindsight, and am on the fence about it.</p>