The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook

Introduction

ENTERTAINING for ABSOLUTELY EVERY OCCASION

LET'S GET THE PARTY STARTED!

The reason I wrote this book is simple: I love to cook for holidays and special occasions. Every holiday. Even holidays I didn't grow up celebrating and even occasions that I don't especially believe in. Any excuse to bring people together around food is good enough for me. Everyone needs a reason to take a break from normalcy. We have an innate primal urge to celebrate. I am sure there are studies about it from Neanderthal days. If not, there should be.

I also wrote this book for everyone who's ever asked what to serve to the vegans in their lives that is more than just salad. And for every vegan who has ever wondered what to serve to their family at Thanksgiving that would knock their turkey socks off. This book is full of crowd pleasers. Food that is familiar to the occasion, with a fun vegan translation. Food that will bring everyone together.

But this isn't your average entertaining book, where you pull it out once a year and the rest of the time it's being used to press tofu. I want it to be your best friend, sitting on the counter, gossiping with you as you cook along. Here's how to use it.

MENU PLANNING

I didn't set the chapters up as formal menus because I find that limiting. Instead, you should look at each holiday section as a little cook-zine celebrating what makes that day or part of the year special. This way, you have a lot more recipes for each occasion and the ability to pick and choose what you'd like to serve. Of course, I do give a little guidance on what works well together. But menu planning can be as simple or as daring as you like!

On the simple end, for a nice dinner, just choose a few dishes from a chapter, say, a soup, a salad, an entrée, and a dessert. Boom, done. If you need help deciding, ask your favorite people for their favorite dishes or ingredients or type of cuisine, and get inspired from there.

Maybe you're looking for a finger-foods party, in which case just pick a bunch of apps. You don't have to stick to the chapter of a particular holiday. You can certainly mix and match, pulling, say, an hors d'oeuvre from the Oscars section into your Easter spread. There's no reason not to! Maybe you want Smokin' Hot Dates at your New Year's or on Halloween. Maybe you want lasagna, for, hmm, let's see, everything? Simply browse the index organized by "meal type" and see what piques your interest. Speaking of which…

ANYTIME MEALS

Guess what? You can cook any of these holiday recipes anytime and just call them lunch or dinner. Although I wouldn't suggest serving Zomberoni Pizza Faces (here) anytime other than Halloween (unless you really want to), you can certainly serve Curry Pork Fried Rice (here) for dinner or just enjoy scones (here) on any old Sunday.

When it comes down to it, you can treat this like a regular cookbook. Serve the hors d'oeuvres at your friend's baby shower, make jelly doughnuts just because you can, throw together a veggieful salad with your farmers' market ingredients, and of course make a potato salad every day of the week just because.

ENTERTAINING HIGHS & LOWS

When I see magazine articles promising "Tips for stress-free entertaining!" I laugh to myself and hope that the article inside is about ordering in, or maybe a party where you're serving only hummus. I hate to break it to you, but it can be stressful to entertain. That's why right around Thanksgiving you actually see couples in yoga pants arguing right in front of the red Russian kale at the market, completely blocking your access.

But stress isn't a reason not to do things. And to help you along, here are a few tips to make things easier. And also keep in mind: not everything has to be perfect. I like my lasagna a little burnt sometimes. It's food. Have fun!

A WORD ABOUT DRINKS

Books have limited space and I didn't want to fill this one with fluff. There are a few drink recipes here and there, but I figure, why waste space with another margarita recipe? Those recipes are easy enough to find by looking at AllRecipes.com or Epicurious.com and picking the highest-rated one.

OTHER OCCASIONS

I hope that this book gets you through other occasions as well as the ones listed here! For birthday celebrations, use any of the cupcake recipes (but maybe garnish with sprinkles instead). For baby showers, use the new mom's favorite ingredients in hors d'oeuvres. For Diwali, serve those samosas and curries! There's a world of food in this book—cook from it to make every event special to you!

HOSTING TIPS for the HOPELESS

1 Find out if there are any guests with allergies (real or imagined). If the "ingredient swaps" in this book don't offer the solution you're looking for, then be sure to research online. If there are too many special requests and your casserole is becoming a Rubik's Cube of allergens, choose a different dish. But remember, not everything has to please everyone; just make sure there are options. Don't give up on your seitan in cashew cream because of only one guest.

2 Once you've got that down, plan the menu two weeks in advance. I know that's like a looong time. And I don't mean to actually start cooking anything. I just mean, familiarize yourself with the recipes. See if any specialty shopping needs to be done. Maybe you can order that truffle oil online, or perhaps you'll swing by the Asian market for that curry powder on your way home from work. Which brings me to my next point.

3 Read through the recipes and see that you'll have everything you need. You don't want to have all of your veggies chopped and then have to improvise on that 9-by-13-inch casserole. Or what if you only have one springform pan and two different recipes need it? Horror of horrors! Planning well in advance will allow you to buy as needed, or borrow from friends, or maybe persuade yourself to try another dish altogether.

4 Follow the "Make Ahead" rules here like they're a religion.

5 Make sure that the day of the event you've got time to shower, get dressed up all nice, and do any of the things that make you feel good! Once you've done that, you can reheat the casseroles, take the plastic wrap off the salads, fill up those punch bowls, and do it all looking flawless and fabulous.

6 Have snacks ready! I personally don't think that pretzels from the store are a great pregame snack, even if they have Paul Newman on them. Chips and stuff are nice to supplement, but have an hors d'oeuvre or two (like a finger food and a dip) at the ready when guests arrive hangry.