Vegan friends coming!!?

Question

I have 2 friends that are visiting me next week, i offered to cook supper or them but they told me they are both now vegans.
I have no clue about vegan cooking so have decided to put some nibbles down instead.
Can anybody please give me ideas how to please them and what to give them to eat.
Thanks

Answer 1

I am a long-term vegan. I suggest just making some "side-dishes" and not worrying about an entree.

I often hear this question and it makes me wonder why people ask it. What is going on in their minds that they don't realize that they can heat up a can of beans, make a salad, and steam some vegetables and I will be perfectly happy? I think it is because non-vegans consider all these things as being side-dishes and the main dish is missing and so it doesn't feel right to them.

My normal meal is a series of "side dishes". I rarely make the recipes they have in those vegan cookbooks, which we have sitting on the shelf collecting dust. I just make single-food dishes, like when you order the vegetable plate at a restaurant.

Make 4-5 dishes of "side dishes", such as steamed corn (no butter on top), rice, peas, beans, broccoli, bread, salad, etc. Have some fruit for dessert. It is simple, easy and it is all vegan. It might not feel right for you, but if it is all vegan, your friends will be happy with it. Even if there is one food they don't like, they can still eat the others.

Surprisingly, you might find that your vegan friends are actually less picky about food than some of your omnivore friends. I like almost every food- no problems finding foods I don't like as long as they are vegan.

Read the labels on everything you make. If you get bread, make sure it doesn't have any animal ingredients in it.

The one thing you shouldn't do is to make some fancy dish with a lot of ingredients and not realize that one of the ingredients has some casein in it or something so then it isn't vegan. That will ruin the whole situation because then, the one dish you have prepared won't work.

Single food dishes are easy and simple and it's clear what is in it and what isn't. Read the labels for everything.

And relax, and make it a nice meal with friends where you talk about friends stuff instead of talking about food and veganism all the time.

Best wishes.

Answer 2

You can certainly still cook supper for them and make it vegan. Not hard at all really. You could do a creamed asparagus or broccoli soup.......just use soy milk instead of regular milk and use olive oil to saute the veggies first. After veggies are soft, add the soy milk, seasonings, garlic, etc... and blend it all up. You can also do a lentil soup, use plenty of garlic and maybe some vegetable broth :)

pasta is a no brainer. Fresh pasta cooked al dente, toss with olive oil, minced garlic, fresh tomatoes, basil and calamata olives! Delicious even if you aren't vegan :) Add in a tossed salad with vinaigrette and a good loaf of french bread with some herbed olive oil/balsamic vinegar for dipping! Dessert can be chocolate dipped strawberries! If you just want an appetizer, there's veggies with a hummous dip, bruschetta on french bread, vegetarian refried beans and roasted peppers and onions on tortillas, made into cheese-less quesadillas :)

Answer 3

Get a cookbook called The Candle Cafe Cookbook. It has REALLY good easy to follow recipes for all courses that I (a vegan) my non-vegan friends love .
My favorite recipe is the Carrot - Ginger Dressing. It's REALLY REALLY good and healthy and so easy to make and can be used on salads and rice or whatever you can think of - I put it on everything and always have it out at parties.

Answer 4

I think one of the easiest things would be to do a stirfry with tofu. Just buy some veggies and some *extra firm* tofu. Drain the tofu well to remove excess water. Chop the tofu into little tiny slices or cubes (no more than an inch thick) and same with the veggies. Use whatever sauce and spices you normally would like in a stirfry, but check the labels on the sauces to make sure they don't have animal products in them. (Sometimes they will surprise you.) Serve with rice.

Edited to add: if you don't know where to find tofu in the supermarket, try the produce section first. The 3 stores I go to have it in the general vicinity of the pre-cut fruit and veggies, salad-inna-bag, and dip.

Answer 5

Oh, it's easy to make a full vegan supper.. Just do Spaghetti!! It won't be too expensive.. it's super easy!! here's what you buy 1. BUy regular spaghetti noodles.. make sure they don't have egg, whey, cassien in them.. (Likely they won't anyway.. shouldn't be a problem, but you might want to read the ingredients anyway) 2. Find a loaf of sourdough type bread with no egg, whey, cheese, etc in it.. Might take a bit of looking, but you'll find one.. 3. Get a couple jars of Prego sauce without meat. Check the ingredients for cheese. You might have to look at one or two varieties, but you'll find one with no meat or cheese in it (Hint.. the "traditional" or "old world style" Varieties usually have cheese.. look for something like mushroom, or basil and garlic, etc,) 4. Go to the margerine section and look for margerine that has ONLY vegetable oil.. No whey, cassien, butter, or milk.. Smart Balance LIGHT, or Soy Garden should be fine 5. Go to the salad dressing section and look for an Itallian dressing without cheese in it. This might be tricky.. if all else fails, near the dressings, there's "Good Seasoning" packets of dry seasonings for itallian dressing. These are guaranteed to be vegan.. You just add your own oil (vegetable or olive oil! ) and vinegar. It's easy.. 6. Get some broccoli to steam, or a couple cans of green beans to heat up 7. Get lettuce,tomato, cucumber, celery, etc.. for salad. Just forget crutons, almost all have cheese in them.. The salad can have no meat or cheese, but any veggie you want to put in there is fine. My salads ae always lettuce, tomato, celery, cucumber and carrot. Sometimes I add kidney beans if the salad is a meal. 8. For desert, go to the ice cream section (Believe it or not).. Look for the small-pint size Haggen Daas ice creams.. Found it? Find one listed SORBET (not Sherbet or Sherbert).. This will actually be vegan! (check ingredients).. Or near the popcicles, you can find "luigi's italian ice" These are vegan and tasty. Take the bread and margerine and some garlic powder to make garlic bread. Boom, you have a simple, tasty (even you'll like it) totally vegan, full supper! Vegetarian= eats no meat of any kind, including fish Vegan, eats no meat of any kind, and also eats no dairy products (things made from milk) or eggs. For you: you can have parmesean cheese in a shaker that you can add to your spaghetti, you can make some meatballs in a seperate pan, as long as it doesn't 'Contaminate" their sauce LOL.. You can have meat bits ON THE SIDE that you add to your own salad....

Answer 6

you can make them some fried vegetable spring rolls..

you just slice the following into thin strips: a carrot,1/2 of a small cabbage, one small onion, about 6 cloves of garlic. add the cut vegetables to 1 cup of bean sprouts, and then put about 1.5-2 tablespoons of the mixture in a spring roll wrapper, roll, and seal the edges with water. then fry the rolls in vegetable oil until they are brown. you can serve the rolls with some vinegar for dipping.

Answer 7

Well, you could start off with a ceasar salad.

Salad, Chopped Chik'n and parmesan cheese.

(Chik'n is a meatless chicken alternative from Boca Burger)

You could aso make them Veggie Burgers.

(They do have Vegan ones)
With Vegan Cheese.
(Sold At Walmart)

And Refreshing Tea?

I'm a Vegetarian going on Vegan, and it sounds quite yummy to me. [:

Good luck!

Answer 8

Well, you could ask your friends for specifics as to what sorts of things they like.

Here is a website that has vegan recipes: www.vegweb.com

And really, a bunch of luscious sides is just fine. For more insight and some really easy recipes, check out Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard's "How it All Vegan!"

For tofu tips, check out my profile.

Answer 9

I had a superb vegetarian stew the other day when I ran out of meat. I stuck carrots, aubergine, baby potatoes, onions, parsnips, celery, leak and coriander in the pressure cooker with only a tiny bit of water and left it for ten or twelve minutes. The job man. You cloud just boil it too.

Answer 10

that's so nice of you that you're trying to be very accomodating (and not judgmental!!) to your vegan friends. kudos to you! :)

the first food that came to mind is a tofu quiche, simply because that's what i plan to make for lunch today :) it's really simple to make. go to http://www.vegweb.com and type in "quiche" in the search engine. there's several recipes, but the one i've tried is the tofu quiche w/ spinach and broccoli.

and if you're down to make dessert, then try this awesome chocolate cake http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6686 with some DELICIOUS chocolate frosting http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6224.

good luck and happy cooking! :)