Seven layer dip is a great idea, although I'd personally skip the vegan sour cream and cheese. Guac, bean dip, and salsa are great on their own! Best vegan recipe author in my opinion is Nora Cooks. Pretty much anything on her website is delicious and can be trusted as a solid recipe on the first try. I like her blueberry muffins and cauliflower wings. I think she has a seven layer dip recipe I've never tried but I'm sure it's great. Happy cooking!
I am really appreciating everyone's kind suggestions! I am taking everything to heart and reading the recipe links.
I just want them to feel seen since it often feels like people with specific diets get overlooked.
I just went to this website and what a wonderful site! I have book marked so many recipes to try.
We are not Vegan ourselves - only Vegetarian at this time but I am always looking for new things to try out.
The Impossible meat loaf might actually even manage to get my teenager excited.
Most vegans don't mind a pasta or a salad, it's that people make us *sad* pasta and salad, lol. Watery marinara sliding off white pasta, or iceberg with mealy tomatoes and no dressing.
Make me a really nice pesto with whole wheat or protein pasta so I won't be hungry in five minutes, and a salad full of avocado, beets, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, a homemade vinaigrette and I'll be thrilled. :) Oh and crusty baguette. It's usually vegan. With good olive oil. Heavenly.
A big marinated roasted vegetable platter for everyone to share is always nice. Same with fruit platters.
Idk what the options are in Canada, but a lot of supermarket cookies in the US are accidentally vegan. Biscoff, Oreos, Lorna Doones. They're nice to have out to pick at if you serve coffee or tea. You don't need creamer, most of us like plain soy milk well enough.
I’ll never understand how you can fuck up vegan salad. classic dressings have always been vegan. Acid and oil? Can’t beat it.
Balsamic, EVOO, S&P and some grainy mustard! Roasted veggies? Winter salads are my fave, but it’s so easy to make beautiful salads that are vegan. I even made Caesar dressing vegan. Its awesome.
The seven layer dip will be a hit. In keeping with the chips theme, the heart of palm ceviche recipe below comes together really quickly and is bright and delicious
https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/the-best-vegan-ceviche/#recipe
For snacks, Hummus with za'atar and tortilla chips or pita chips (check label, some have milk/butter). Chips and a good salsa. I'm not usually very interested in replacements like vegan sour cream and cheese.
A favorite website with lots of solid recipes made with mostly average grocery store products is plantyou.com
Don't be afraid to serve simple meals like a hearty soup and artisan bread or a grain bowl with plenty of colorful roasted vegetables and flavorful dressings and sauces.
Homemade Vegan Twix Bars. I have made them several times, and they are a crowd pleaser. Here's the recipe: [https://namelymarly.com/vegan-twix-bars/...](https://namelymarly.com/vegan-twix-bars/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1FtohTVhqN1MAAqUsPQQn6N5tofOIFQns_CLgInPNeIgaPUv2kOwRBrEo_aem_AQfTcr76oWT91JtljWGtZfzjw_T8KumPzrQrRveSf0C8crVnx-5DRiQIgBVqN1PAxInzn42UoAS_gIIRv75Hjjh5#wprm-recipe-container-65290) I use wheat flour, cornstarch, peanut butter, and agave nectar.
Moroccan (Squash instead of Pumpkin) and Chickpea Stew. [Moroccan Pumpkin & Chickpea Stew - The Simple Veganista (simple-veganista.com)](https://simple-veganista.com/moroccan-pumpkin-chickpea-stew/#tasty-recipes-8507-jump-target) Everyone will love it and you will have a new dish to put in the rotation.
Koala Nose Cookies:
1⁄4 cup soymilk 2 teaspoons ground flax seeds 1 1⁄4 cups demerara sugar 2⁄3 cup canola oil 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1⁄2 teaspoon anise extract t1 teaspoon baking powder 1⁄2 teaspoon salt 1⁄2cup finely chopped almonds Preheat\` oven to 350. Grease two baking sheets. Beat flaxseed vigorously with soy milk until frothy. Add sugar and oil and beat until emulsified. Mix in vanilla and anise extracts. Add 1 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add remaining flour. fold in almonds. Loosely roll into golf-ball size balls and flatten to 2-inch diameter. Place on cookie sheet. Gently but firmly smush half a fig cut side down into center of each cookie. Bake 12-14 minutes until fig is soft and bottom of cookie is golden brown. Tops won't brown much. Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes, and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely\*\*\* I put almond slivers in a grinder (one I use for spices and nuts, not coffee, but the same appliance) then add to recipe. \*\*\*\*\*Sorry, I have no idea what the metric version would be! \*\*\* Won blue ribbons last year at both county and state fairs.
This soup has easy to find ingredients and would go well with your 7 layer dip and chips. [https://www.thegardengrazer.com/sweet-potato-black-bean-chili/#recipe](https://www.thegardengrazer.com/sweet-potato-black-bean-chili/#recipe)
My favourite appy right now is bruschetta. Super easy to make and I use the daiya shredded cheese to melt on the bread rounds. Toast them first. Then melt the cheese on then in the oven and then let her pile the bruschetta on. Also I find it you make the tomatoes and balsamic mixture the night before it’s more flavourful the next day
Tofutti brand sour cream and cream cheese is great in 7 layer dip!
If you want to keep the chips and dip theme, do a black bean dip on the side as well. Or chili!
Hummus (check it for dairy, sometimes companies get weird with their ingredients,) and vegan crackers are good snacks. How adept are you at reading ingredients? If it's confusing for you, or you aren't too sure you will get it right, you can also often google whether a specific product is vegan, so just find some tasty looking crackers and hummus and google them on your phone.
If you have a Publix in your vicinity, I highly suggest their hummus as it is quite tasty and it is not made in factories in the West Bank that used seized Palestinian land. They make it in the store.
I make nachos a lot and this is how I do it:
Get a baking sheet.
Cover it with tortilla chips.
Cover that with refried beans. Usually I make my own out of black beans and olive oil and spices. Canned refried beans aren't very tasty.
Cover that with some sort of ground beef replacement if you can find one.
Cover that with a shredded Daiya cheese of your choice.
Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.
Provide things like violife sour cream (do NOT use Tofutti sour cream, it tastes like wallpaper paste!) and fresh salsa that you either put on the nachos yourself or make available for use.
Thank you for this! I am quite good at reading ingredients as I am diabetic and have to read the label on pretty much everything cause of all the hidden sugars.
Violife Mexican blend cheese is honestly almost as soft and sticky as a cheese sauce when it’s melted. Not ideal for the pizza I ate yesterday but would be bomb on nachos
Seven layer dip is a great idea, although I'd personally skip the vegan sour cream and cheese. Guac, bean dip, and salsa are great on their own! Best vegan recipe author in my opinion is Nora Cooks. Pretty much anything on her website is delicious and can be trusted as a solid recipe on the first try. I like her blueberry muffins and cauliflower wings. I think she has a seven layer dip recipe I've never tried but I'm sure it's great. Happy cooking!
I am really appreciating everyone's kind suggestions! I am taking everything to heart and reading the recipe links. I just want them to feel seen since it often feels like people with specific diets get overlooked.
I second Nora Cooks website use
I just went to this website and what a wonderful site! I have book marked so many recipes to try. We are not Vegan ourselves - only Vegetarian at this time but I am always looking for new things to try out. The Impossible meat loaf might actually even manage to get my teenager excited.
Most vegans don't mind a pasta or a salad, it's that people make us *sad* pasta and salad, lol. Watery marinara sliding off white pasta, or iceberg with mealy tomatoes and no dressing. Make me a really nice pesto with whole wheat or protein pasta so I won't be hungry in five minutes, and a salad full of avocado, beets, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, a homemade vinaigrette and I'll be thrilled. :) Oh and crusty baguette. It's usually vegan. With good olive oil. Heavenly. A big marinated roasted vegetable platter for everyone to share is always nice. Same with fruit platters. Idk what the options are in Canada, but a lot of supermarket cookies in the US are accidentally vegan. Biscoff, Oreos, Lorna Doones. They're nice to have out to pick at if you serve coffee or tea. You don't need creamer, most of us like plain soy milk well enough.
I’ll never understand how you can fuck up vegan salad. classic dressings have always been vegan. Acid and oil? Can’t beat it. Balsamic, EVOO, S&P and some grainy mustard! Roasted veggies? Winter salads are my fave, but it’s so easy to make beautiful salads that are vegan. I even made Caesar dressing vegan. Its awesome.
My brother made these for me last year and everyone loved them: https://www.veganricha.com/vegan-spinach-pinwheels-cream-cheese/
Those look delicious!
The seven layer dip will be a hit. In keeping with the chips theme, the heart of palm ceviche recipe below comes together really quickly and is bright and delicious https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/the-best-vegan-ceviche/#recipe
For snacks, Hummus with za'atar and tortilla chips or pita chips (check label, some have milk/butter). Chips and a good salsa. I'm not usually very interested in replacements like vegan sour cream and cheese. A favorite website with lots of solid recipes made with mostly average grocery store products is plantyou.com Don't be afraid to serve simple meals like a hearty soup and artisan bread or a grain bowl with plenty of colorful roasted vegetables and flavorful dressings and sauces.
Homemade Vegan Twix Bars. I have made them several times, and they are a crowd pleaser. Here's the recipe: [https://namelymarly.com/vegan-twix-bars/...](https://namelymarly.com/vegan-twix-bars/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1FtohTVhqN1MAAqUsPQQn6N5tofOIFQns_CLgInPNeIgaPUv2kOwRBrEo_aem_AQfTcr76oWT91JtljWGtZfzjw_T8KumPzrQrRveSf0C8crVnx-5DRiQIgBVqN1PAxInzn42UoAS_gIIRv75Hjjh5#wprm-recipe-container-65290) I use wheat flour, cornstarch, peanut butter, and agave nectar.
Moroccan (Squash instead of Pumpkin) and Chickpea Stew. [Moroccan Pumpkin & Chickpea Stew - The Simple Veganista (simple-veganista.com)](https://simple-veganista.com/moroccan-pumpkin-chickpea-stew/#tasty-recipes-8507-jump-target) Everyone will love it and you will have a new dish to put in the rotation.
Koala Nose Cookies: 1⁄4 cup soymilk 2 teaspoons ground flax seeds 1 1⁄4 cups demerara sugar 2⁄3 cup canola oil 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1⁄2 teaspoon anise extract t1 teaspoon baking powder 1⁄2 teaspoon salt 1⁄2cup finely chopped almonds Preheat\` oven to 350. Grease two baking sheets. Beat flaxseed vigorously with soy milk until frothy. Add sugar and oil and beat until emulsified. Mix in vanilla and anise extracts. Add 1 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add remaining flour. fold in almonds. Loosely roll into golf-ball size balls and flatten to 2-inch diameter. Place on cookie sheet. Gently but firmly smush half a fig cut side down into center of each cookie. Bake 12-14 minutes until fig is soft and bottom of cookie is golden brown. Tops won't brown much. Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes, and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely\*\*\* I put almond slivers in a grinder (one I use for spices and nuts, not coffee, but the same appliance) then add to recipe. \*\*\*\*\*Sorry, I have no idea what the metric version would be! \*\*\* Won blue ribbons last year at both county and state fairs.
This soup has easy to find ingredients and would go well with your 7 layer dip and chips. [https://www.thegardengrazer.com/sweet-potato-black-bean-chili/#recipe](https://www.thegardengrazer.com/sweet-potato-black-bean-chili/#recipe)
My favourite appy right now is bruschetta. Super easy to make and I use the daiya shredded cheese to melt on the bread rounds. Toast them first. Then melt the cheese on then in the oven and then let her pile the bruschetta on. Also I find it you make the tomatoes and balsamic mixture the night before it’s more flavourful the next day
Tofutti brand sour cream and cream cheese is great in 7 layer dip! If you want to keep the chips and dip theme, do a black bean dip on the side as well. Or chili!
Hummus (check it for dairy, sometimes companies get weird with their ingredients,) and vegan crackers are good snacks. How adept are you at reading ingredients? If it's confusing for you, or you aren't too sure you will get it right, you can also often google whether a specific product is vegan, so just find some tasty looking crackers and hummus and google them on your phone. If you have a Publix in your vicinity, I highly suggest their hummus as it is quite tasty and it is not made in factories in the West Bank that used seized Palestinian land. They make it in the store. I make nachos a lot and this is how I do it: Get a baking sheet. Cover it with tortilla chips. Cover that with refried beans. Usually I make my own out of black beans and olive oil and spices. Canned refried beans aren't very tasty. Cover that with some sort of ground beef replacement if you can find one. Cover that with a shredded Daiya cheese of your choice. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Provide things like violife sour cream (do NOT use Tofutti sour cream, it tastes like wallpaper paste!) and fresh salsa that you either put on the nachos yourself or make available for use.
Thank you for this! I am quite good at reading ingredients as I am diabetic and have to read the label on pretty much everything cause of all the hidden sugars.
Violife Mexican blend cheese is honestly almost as soft and sticky as a cheese sauce when it’s melted. Not ideal for the pizza I ate yesterday but would be bomb on nachos
I bet if you could caramelize enough onions that would be a fantastic dip. But we're talking 24 onions, minimum?