Great Meals for Your Vegan Wedding Reception

Great Meals for Your Vegan Wedding Reception - Let's face it. When your friends and family get the invitation to a vegan wedding in the mail, the omnivores among them are going to cringe. When it comes to their food, people often find it easy to get set into a routine and don't always welcome new choices. But, they are willing to suffer through what they probably think is going to be an evening full of dry salad and celery stalks just because they love you. And, if you follow the ideas in this menu, you'll be able to return that love and surprise them with vegan fare so tasty, you might even convert a few of your guests!

Cocktail Hour

If you have the right drinks, you could serve practically anything as hors d'oeuvres. But, the first course will set the tone for the evening. And with the right hors d'oeuvres, you can pleasantly surprise you friends and family and get them excited about what's coming next, and make them sorry that they went to McDonald's before coming.

Fried Eggplant bites

It's hard to hate anything that has been deep-fried in vegetable oil. And greasy foods go really well with drinks.

Florentine Stuffed Mushrooms

Really, any sort of stuffed mushroom is always a big hit. These are just my favorite kind. They're filled with cous cous, garlic, spinach, onions and bell peppers. Plus a little thyme for measure. If you plan on hiring a caterer, they'll know what's in season, so I would let them have free reign over your mushroom stuffing.

Spring Rolls

These are always a popular choice, because omnivores are used to eating their meaty cousin - the egg roll. And, they're fried, so they're guaranteed to be a big hit.

Vegetable Sushi

These are great. You can put virtually any sort of vegetable in these guys. You could even opt for vegan imitation crab meat which is hard to distinguish from the real stuff. Avocado and cucumber make really popular ingredients as well!

Summer Rolls

These are a healthier version of egg rolls wrapped in rice flour wrappers instead of deep fried dough. They traditionally contain shredded Napa Cabbage, mushrooms, carrots and been sprouts but you can really stuff any number of seasonal vegetables in these guys to make an interesting addition to your hors d'oeuvres array.

By the time your guests sit down for dinner, they will have gotten over their fear of vegan cuisine. And, thanks to the healthy nature of vegan cuisine, even though they've gobbled up as many vegan appetizers as they can get their hands on, they've still got room for more. And lucky for them, you have some more yumminess waiting for them.

Leek and Corn Stuffed Peppers with Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto

Just typing that made my stomach grumble a little. This combination of veggies and starches is filling and tasty. And you can mix up the recipe any way you like depending on what vegetables are in season.

Portabello Mushroom Bake

This dish looks and tastes great served over a bed of rice. Portabello's have a meat like quality that omnivores love. In this recipe, the mushrooms are baked under a blend of powdered almonds, Braggs, garlic, rosemary and oregano and then topped with onions so that the flavor is locked in. Yummy.

Vegan Tourtiere

This is a vegan option for a traditional Quebecois dish. A combination of onion, mushrooms, breadcrumbs and spices are baked in a torte. Serve this hearty dish with a small seasonal vegetable salad.

And now for dessert. Thanks to all the egg and milk substitutes on the market today, there are a wide variety of desserts available to vegans that even carnivores will love. Simply replace the animal products with you're favorite vegan substitute and you can once again enjoy your favorite goodies. I'll leave you with a list of vegan versions of my favorite desserts:

Ambrosia

Chocolate Tofu Pudding (best served in martini glasses)

Strawberry Shortcake (lots of vegan whipped cream options out there)

Fresh Fruit Sorbet (you don't need to meddle with this one)

Deep Fried Sweet Potato Balls

Enjoy!