Monday, December 12, 2011

Vegan Holiday Potluck

On Saturday night, I hosted a vegan holiday potluck at my house. It's hopefully the second in a monthly series of vegan potlucks that my friends and I will take turns hosting. I made three recipes from Dynise Balcavage's Celebrate Vegan — Brown Rice Christmas Maki, Peppermint Bark, and a French Hanukkah bread called Rue de Rosier Pain D'Epices. You can see pictures of those dishes in last night's review post of Dynise's new cookbook. But this post will focus on what everybody else brought to the party.

We started the evening with a few libations. I made Peppermint Martinis using vodka and Stirrings Peppermint Martini Mix. And yes, I'm wearing my Xmas apron:

And here's a close-up of my martini. I was afraid the mix would be too minty, like drinking mouthwash. But it was the perfect blend of minty and sweet. The candy rimming sugar is also from Stirrings:

Leslie brought homemade Whiskey Wassail, a spiked cider made with apples, cloves, and a whole orange!

Stephanie (Poopie Bitch on the PPK) brought the Broccoli Quiche from Vegan Brunch. Oh my was this good! Plus, Steph is an expert crust maker. Look at those perfect little indentations!

Greg made Vegan Cheese Balls in Puff Pastry. These may have been ugly as hell, but they were actually delicious. Greg made a homemade tofu-based cheese, sprinkled in some bacon bits, and wrapped the balls in puff pastry. He also stuffed a few potatoes with the cheese mix.

Shay knows I love her Vegan Pizza, so she brought one of her famous pies topped with homemade tomato-shallot sauce, kalamata olives, vegan cheese, and spinach:

And because she's awesome, Shay also made Ratatouille!

Lara didn't have time to cook, but she stopped by Whole Foods and picked up a few dishes that might as well have been homemade. This Asian Noodle Salad had a sesame dressing and shredded carrots:

Lara also picked up some Roasted Acorn Squash with Garlic from the Whole Foods deli:

Mike never comes to a party without his prized Chex Mix, which is always chock full of nuts. I like picking out the macadamia nuts:

Most of my guests were vegan or vegetarian, but our friend Steve is actually on the paleo diet, which is pretty much the opposite of a vegan. He eats like a caveman, but he "cheated" at the potluck and ate a few of his no-no's: grains and sugar. We'll corrupt him one of these days ...

Steve brought a paleo-friendly platter of Raw Date Balls! These little balls were made with chopped dates, nuts, coconut, and cocoa powder. Shay quickly named them Shreddy Balls since some contain shredded coconut:

Besides bringing that awesome broccoli quiche, Stephanie also made tiny Vegan Egg Nog Cupcakes!

And Mike veganized his recipe for Snickerdoodles. Mike is a pescatarian, so he usually makes these with butter and eggs. But he went out to Whole Foods and bought Ener-G Egg Replacer and Earth Balance just for these!

As you can imagine, we were all stuffed after this massive meal. It's a good thing I'm going on Kris Carr's "Crazy Sexy Diet" in January. I'll need some detoxing after all of this!

13 comments:

ShinyHappyVegan said...

I am so jealous of your potluck! Everything looks so good :)

Caitlin said...

your potluck food looks AMAZING!! it's so great that you have so many vegan friends, and even ones that will veganize their recipes for your parties. this is what the holidays should always be- friends sharing delicious, cruelty-free food and having tons of fun ;)

Lauren said...

I need that martini. Like right now.

Karen Beth said...

This looks like SUCH a great time! Can't wait to get a copy of this cookbook!

xo,
Karen Beth :)

Babette said...

Wow, I wish I could eat all that. I'm dying to try that Chex Mix and I might have to get Vegan Brunch just so I can try the broccoli quiche.

POPshop & Spazz Records said...

Wow- everything looks great! The Martinis are gorgeous!

Lindsey Hardin said...

That looks like an awesome feast!

Anonymous said...

Omg the food looks amazing!! I need a martini like that right now!! Happy holidays!!

Allysia said...

What a kick-ass potluck! Us vegans in Regina got together for our 3rd official meeting, and it felt like an accomplishment that there were six of us present - one day we will have many members and huge feasts like this! :)

Erin said...

That is a seriously amazing spread! Every single thing looks fantastic.

tender b. said...

What a spread!

dreaminitvegan said...

Everything looks amazing and delicious. It also looks like you had a great time.

Don Gaines said...

Hey, this looks amazing! We've started a monthly potluck here in Little Rock! Any tips on keeping it interesting? We've had 3 so far I believe? It's a varied group of vegans & non-vegans, some there for health, some there just to hang out.