First Vegan Party - a success!

My husband and I had a housewarming party last weekend and I was both excited and nervous to prepare a spread of vegan food for herbivores and carnivores alike. I decided to go primarily with finger foods - for easier grazing and since there was no table at which to sit and eat for the 20 or so guests we were expecting. I made a peach cobbler (non-finger food) the day before along with some apple chips and apple butter. But, everything else I made the day of (finishing just barely in time!)

Here's the table filled with the delicious treats:





















Here was the menu :
(Please click on an item to be taken to the post for the recipe)

• Cherry tomatoes stuffed with guacamole
• Stuffed Mushrooms
• Bruchetta
• Polenta with mushroom ragout
• Chickpea, artichoke, spinach dip
• Quinoa and Beet salad
• Fresh Veggies / Pita Chips with Hummus (store bought)
• Crackers
• Stuffed Grape Leaves (store bought - no meat!)
• "Texas Caviar" - bean salad (store bought)
• Chocolate covered (dried) apricots
• Peach Cobbler
• Mint Lemonade
• Apple water

(Guests were asked to bring a beverage - most brought wine)


Things I bought pre-made to make things a bit easier on myself: guacamole, pita chips, crackers, hummus, stuffed grape leaves, "Texas Caviar". COSTCO actually had all of these things and most were organic. I have been impressed at how many more organic/vegetarian/vegan options COSTCO is now offering. Maybe it is because I live in Portland, but I do feel like I saw more variety even before I left Texas.

So, I guess you may want to know some of these recipes.  For the  most part, I either created the recipe or used the following cook books:

1. The Supermarket Vegan By: Donna Klein
2. Quick-Fix Vegan  By: Robin Robertson
3. The Kind Diet By: Alicia Silverstone

 (For complete citation, please see footnotes)

 I think I will do each recipe in a separate post in order for more easy searching/filing. Links to each post are (will soon be) active in the menu list above.

The party was a GREAT SUCCESS and there were many compliments on the food - from vegans, vegetarians AND carnivores! Now, I don't think you can do better than that!


References:
Klein, Donna. (2010). The Supermarket Vegan. New York: Penguin Group.
Robertson, Robin. (2011). Quick-fix Vegan. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC.
Silverstone, Alicia. (2009). The Kind Diet. . New York: Rodale.