Vegan Charcuterie Board!

A couple weeks ago, on the day of the New Moon, I invited a few friends over to make vision boards and set New Moon intentions. But you can't have your witches over without a few snacks.

I could have just sat out some vegan cheese, crackers, and wine, and that would have been lovely. But sometimes you just want to go all out for no good reason, and this night was one of those times. So I whipped up this awesome Vegan Charcuterie Board!

There's Miyoko's Smoked Farmhouse Cheddar with olive oil crackers and multi-seed gluten-free rosemary crackers, vegan sausage slices, berry jam, strawberries, grapes, raw pecans, curry cashews, peppadews and pickles, green and kalamata olives, and dried, sweetened orange slices. The sausages were homemade seitan sausages that I'd made for a recipe and frozen the leftovers. I love keeping seitan sausages in the freezer for times like these!

Earlier in the day, when I was telling a co-worker that I was creating a charcuterie board for dinner, she asked, "How can vegans have charcuterie?" Well, this is how! Though a traditional board is made of mostly meat and cheese, you can easily make a vegan board with a few simple ingredients.

Must-haves:

• Vegan cheese (a good aged cashew cheese wheel is best!)
• Crackers (2-3 kinds)
• Vegan meats (sliced sausages, vegan pepperonis, and folded vegan deli slices are all good bets)

Great add-ons:

• Mixed, roasted nuts
• Pickles
• Fresh fruit
• Dried fruit (the Trader Joe's dried orange slices are gorgeous and totally edible)
• Hummus with veggies/crackers/pita
• Jams/jellies (plus sliced baguette for serving)

That's it! Just make sure that you have some great wine (or even mediocre wine!) to wash it all down.

I have to share this too. I told the girls I was making a charcuterie board, and Pam wanted to bring something complementary, so she came armed with bread and Miyoko's Cultured Vegan Butter and a bottle of Bread & Butter wine. Clever!