Yummy Vegan Birthday/New Years Party Recipes Please!

I'm a pretty well long-time vegan and I'm turning 26 this month and we are having a big party to celebrate, along with the new year of course.

My boyfriend and I love to cook, and I would LOVE to have some of your favorite party recipes to prepare for my guests! It's always nice to have new recipes to add to the artillery!

Any sort of vegan-friendly funky meal recipes, finger foods, yummy appetizers & desserts...and even cocktail recipes, would be greatly appreciated! :)

I'm really looking forward to your responses!

I love this vegan Beer Bread so much.

This Pistachio crusted tofu would make a cute veg appetizer.

I enjoyed these Chai Latte Cupcakes and Mexican Hot Chocolate cookies.

Good dessert recipes: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/recip e.php?CourseID=36

Good everything-else blog: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

It would be fun and easy to go with a middle eastern mezze (small plates/appetizers) theme. I love to make tabbouleh, hummus, falafel, pita, and baba ghanoush. serve with tomato wedges drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and parsley, sliced cucumbers, and red onions. you could also make a salsa/simple salad of these three ingredients by dicing and mixing them all together. serve a nice plate of olives, as well. veggie sticks are also great for dipping in hummus. all of these things are vegan and can be real crowd pleasers. store bought baklava for dessert makes a simple and fun end.

tabbouleh is a salad that is typically made with bulgur (cracked wheat)- i prefer to make mine with quinoa because it cooks so quickly and also adds a nice texture. you can buy it at trader joes, whole foods, or any other specialty/health food grocery store (not sure where you are located- sorry if i am over-explaining). while i usually make this recipe to taste, here are some general guidelines:

1 cup prepared quinoa (follow directions on box- 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook 15-20 minutes until all water is absorbed- * do not forget to rinse the quinoa first! it tastes dirty if you don't)

1 cup diced tomatoes, goopy parts removed

1/4- 1/2 cup finely diced red onion (depends how strong you like it)

1/4- 1 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley and mint (or just parsley). the amount here depends on how green you like it. traditionally, tabbouleh is mostly greens, but i prefer more of a quinoa salad type.

drizzle of olive oil- to coat the salad (I use lemon flavored olive oil- you could easily replicate by using some combination of olive oil and lemon juice0

sea salt and pepper to taste

slather some hummus/baba ghanoush on pita, add a falafel, top with tabbouleh- ENJOY.

hummus is also extremely easy to make at home (so long as you have a food processer) and i much prefer the fresh kind to any you would buy in the store- just look it up online- a good hummus contains garbanzos, tahine (sesame butter), olive oil, lemon, and fresh garlic. for a fancy finishing touch, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with paprike, top with fresh chopped parsley and some whole garbanzos.

falafel i usually just make from a mix that i buy in the store (read: just add water). however, i imagine it is fairly simple to make from scratch as well.

i will be attempting my first homemade pita bread tonight, but it sounds pretty simple. store bought pita bread is god awful once you have had the real thing (fresh from israel!). you could probably find a better packaged pita at a middle eastern grocery. it is not supposed to be hard and card-boardy like the kind you buy in the normal market- it's meant to be light and fluffy.

it's my birthday this month, too. have a good one!

Garbanzo-Tomato Curry

1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas, cooked (or 3 cans)
1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste--use less if using canned beans)
1 cup onions, thinly sliced or chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/8 tsp cloves
2 bay leaves
1 inch cinnamon stick
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (or use canned)
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
1 small green chili, chopped (optional)
2 tbps fresh coriander, chopped

"Saute" onions and salt however you normally do (I use a little wine).

Once softened and lightly browned, add spices, garlic, and ginger, and stir constantly for about a minute.

Add tomatoes and stir well, and then add beans. Add some water or cooking liquid from the beans--you want the liquid to almost cover the mixture.

Allow to simmer for 20-30 min, stirring occasionally and mashing up some of the beans, if desired, to make it thicker.

Add chopped cilantro and serve. It's very good served over basmati rice. Yum!

My old party standby was spinach artichoke dip.  I've long since lost the recipe, but it was basically: 1 pkg silken tofu, 1/2 can artichoke hearts, a BIG handful of fresh spinach, wilted.  Then add fresh minced garlic (or garlic powder), lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.  All you have to do is blend in a food processor!

I've also had good luck with veggie pate...the one I made was basically just random veggies and walnuts blended into almost a paste, but I bet you can find tons of good recipes online...from simple to fancy pates.

Once I also made "pinwheels" out of tortillas - spread with hummus, covered in marinated roasted red peppers out of a jar, rolled up, and cut into little pinwheels.  It was the easiest thing ever and I never got so many rave reviews at a party.

Also, I think several people have posted about roasted chickpeas lately, and that's an amazing party finger food.  Just get canned chickpeas, drain, rinse, shake 'em up with your favourite spices (I like "cajun" spice), and roast in the oven until they start to get brown and crunchy (I think it took maybe an hour or a little less at 400 degrees).  You are supposed to stir them every 10-15 minutes, but I forgot and the kinda-burnt ones were good and so were the still-kinda-chewy ones.

I also think mini-muffins or cupcakes would be fun...but that's out of my area of expertise. 

Good luck!  Happy birthday!

These ideas are all awesome, thank you! I love that they appeal to everyone, because I'm the only vegan I know really, haha.

I'm very excited to try out some of the recipes! I love curry :) and chickpeas!

I bet the vegan beer bread with the artichoke/spinach dip would make a great appetizer.

I'm also a HUGE fan of mediterranean food, so the mezze plate would also be a great idea, thank you!

Question for you pumpkin- How did you get the pinwheels to stay together? Sounds like a wonderful idea, but I can picture them falling apart pretty easy if I did them wrong :)

Mine just stayed together because the hummus was sticky enough...but other times I've made similar things with not-very-flexible tortillas I held them together with toothpicks.  You can even get fancy toothpicks I bet...like the kind with the little tuft of colored plastic on the end...

I made a test batch of hummus pinwheels today. I want to bring them to a work potluck later in the week. I made two kinds, roasted red pepper and fresh spinach leaves (festive colors!). I used my own homemade hummus and bought flour tortillas. I slightly warmed the tortillas so they were more flexible. I used about a 1/4 inch layer of hummus.

After rolling them up I sliced a few one inch sections off the rolled tortillas right after I made them and they were kind of loose, so I tightly wrapped the remaining partial rolls in plastic wrap and refrigerated them. Voila,several hours later they were easier to cut and didn't unravel. Now I'm leaving the remaining pieces overnight to see if they get soggy, I hope not because I will have to make them the night before.

Thanks for a great idea!