Mexican Dinner Party Suggestions Please
I've very recently become a Vegan (straight over from being a full dairy, egg and meat consumer) and I wonder why it took me so long to do so because it feels such a perfectly natural way to live. But I do have a small dilemma that I need assistance with.
Every year I have a gathering of female friends for a "girls only" Mexican dinner to celebrate Frida Kahlo's birthday (yes, I'm a bit late this year). The men folk stay home and look after the children while we whoop it up and drink margaritas and eat Mexican treats.
This year I'd like to prepare traditional Mexican dishes, but only in Vegan form. I used to do a chicken soup and a chocolate chicken dish with many different side dishes. but I simply cannot face ever handling a chicken's body ever again.
Can anyone suggest recipes that they know have worked successfully and have been enjoyed by non-vegans as well.
Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated.
Regards
"Newly Converted and Never Going Back" RadSue :)
Hi, The "Cheesy" Bean and cheese Enchiladas recipe that is on here is outstanding! I made it with only 1 onion and 2 cans of beans then put the green chile enchilada sauce on it. I have made this for family and non vegan friends at work and it is always a huge hit! Good luck!!
I'm seconding the firegammon's enchilada suggestion, though I don't know how "authentic" it is. I used a can and a half of black beans and a can of garbanzo beans and added mushrooms, spinach, and corn. It makes a HUGE amount! I did more of a casserole-style with it, and it filled 2 9" x 13" casserole dishes!
I love Mexican food. You can make veggie fajitas! (Try using portabello mushroom strips instead of meat.)
Don't forget black beans and spanish rice!
Chips, guac and salsa are a must...
You can also make black bean, veggie and/or guacamole tacos....
and you can make some veggie enchiladas too...The fake cheese ones may be OK, but I would avoid meat and cheese replacers altogether.
Mexican's easy to make vegetarian and vegan. Have fun!
(Of course, margaritas are great too!)
The Frida Kahlo birthday party is a fantastic idea, at any time of the year. Frida loved celebrations - birthdays, Mexican holidays, baptisms, and welcoming people into her home as well so your fiesta is so appropriate.
I consulted my Frida Kahlo cookbook, called "Frida's Fiestas," for you. It includes "more than 100 recipes for the traditional foods that Diego loved to eat and Frida loved to prepare." It was a gift, a lovely book that includes beautiful photographs of Frida, food and traditional Mexican table settings. It is by no means veggie-friendly though.
Still, the menu for her birthday included this vegan dessert.
Sweet Potato-Pineapple Dessert
4 1/2 pounds yellow sweet potatoes
1 medium pineapple, peeled and chopped
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups pine nuts
Cook sweet potatoes until tender. Let cool. Peel and mash into a puree.
Puree the pineapple. Drain and measure out 3 cups. Combine with sugar in large saucepan. Simmer until mixture is thick and syrupy. (220 degrees F/104 degrees C on a candy thermometer). Stir in sweet potato and cook, stirring, until it pulls away from the pan.
Pour onto a serving platter and garnish with pine nuts. Serve at room temperature.
Like OperaChic I too love Mexican food. Could be my being a born and bred Californian! haha
My favorite recipes are:
Tortilla Soup
Tortilla Casserole
Lime & Chili Sauted Veggies (can be made into taco's, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, salads...)
Salsa Rice
Seitan & Sauce
Tortilla Casserole is awesome! I adapted it from my mother's version that was full of cow.
Enchilada Sauce (I prefer the green kind)
Corn Tortillas cut into 4 strips per each
Refried Beans
Black Beans
Whole Green chilies (canned kind)
Soy Cheese
Layer it in the order listed two or three times and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Simple, easy and most everything from the can works just fine.
Lime & Chili Sauted veggies is simply that. Cut up veggies and saute them in a squeeze or ten of lime juice with chilies or chili powder. I love onions, bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower. Serve it with corn or flour tortillas or make enchiladas. Heck layer it in the tortilla casserole! Stuff it into tamales. Versatile and delish!
Salsa rice is just that. Make a batch of rice and when it is done simply add in 1 cup of either deli salsa or home made!
Seitan and Sauce is something I make with leftover seitan though you can certainly make it deliberately. Dice up one onion and two cups seitan, saute on medium till onion is done to your liking. Add in enchilada sauce. You can also add black beans or refried beans, or both! Serve this as the 'meat' in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and / or tamales.
You could definitely use seitan in a mole sauce as the 'chicken'. Try some things out before the party and then make your decision. Please let us know what you actually make too!
Make fajitas using seitan.
There was a thread on here a couple weeks back all about authentic vegan tamales.. they sounded awesome.
yeah I did black bean and green chili tamales and they were YUMMY. just search for "tamales"
If you list your old recipes here we can also attempt to veganIZE them if you want.
Mexican - my favorite!!! Can I come??? ;D Congrats on your new lifestyle! I'm impressed that you were able to make the change all at once. It took me over 15 years to finally transition from vegetarian to vegan!
Lots of great suggestions already. Here's an easy one that I make often (and again last night!) that my meat-dairy-egg-eating husband LOVES (and so do I!):
Green "Chicken" Enchiladas
1 cup yellow onion
1 package Morningstar Farms Chicken Strips
1 cup corn
12 corn tortillas
2 15 oz cans green chile enchilada sauce
1 10 oz pkg Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Sautee onion in oil on medium-high heat until transparent.
- Add chicken strips and corn to onion until well heated.
- Spread 1 can of enchilada sauce along the bottom of a 9” x 13” baking dish.
- Wrap tortillas in a dish towel and microwave on high for 1 minute. (Keep tortillas covered while working). (Or fry them if you like to do it old school style!)
- In baking dish, dip one tortilla into enchilada sauce, covering both sides in sauce. Lightly sprinkle cheese in center of tortilla, top with corn & onion mixutre and 2 chicken strips, roll up and move to side of baking dish, seam side down.
- Continue until all tortillas and filling are used.
- Poor remaining sauce over all enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.
- Cover with foil, and bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake on lo-broil about 5 minutes until cheese is lightly browned (watch closely so it doesn’t burn!)
For Red "Ground Beef" Enchiladas (which are just as yummy), substitute soy taco meat for the chicken, red sauce for the green and cheddar for the Monterey Jack.
Let us know what you end up making and how it went! :)
Hi, radsue! Congrats on your move to veganism! For a Mexican party, you've got to have homemade salsa and guacamole with chips. I also think tamales would be great. Here are a few other ideas:
Anne's Favorite Tortilla Soup http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=10020.0
Authentic Mexican Rice http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=9100.0
Rockin' Roasted Vegetable Burritos http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6006.0 (my own recipe and very tasty, if I do say so myself)
Black Bean & Couscous Salad http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Bean-and-Couscous-Salad/Detail.aspx (veganize by using vegetable broth or vegan chicken broth--I also use only 1 can of beans, reduce the oil, and increase the vinegar)
Annie's Fruit Salsa & Cinnamon Chips http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Annies-Fruit-Salsa-and-Cinnamon-Chips/Detail.aspx
Good luck with your party! Please post back and let us know how it went.
A BIG THANK YOU everyone !
I'm going to try these ideas over the next couple of weeks and pick my favourites for the dinner party.
I'll let everyone know what worked and what I modified.
I really appreciate the quick response and the great ideas. I'm feeling a bit alone at the moment because I am the only Vegan I know, it's all new to me, and I'm still navigating through the emotional minefield of telling friends and family (although, the response so far has been relatively positive).
This website has provided so much to me so far, I am really grateful for it.
Regards
Kate (aka RadSue)