Lentil salad? Wild rice with mushrooms?
Linda C

Casseroles are hard, because of the vegan. You can't use any normal binders and thickeners: no eggs, no cheese, no cream, etc.

But you might consider something like polenta with roasted veggies. That would meet everyone's requirements, and the meat eaters are likely to enjoy it as well.

To fancy it up, pour the polenta into a buttered baking dish, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Let it cool in the fridge. Then use a large cookie cutter to make disks, which you can use as the base for the dish. They can be served that way, or gently pan-fried to heat them through and crisp up the surfaces.

No need to keep them round, either. Some of your specialized cookie cutters could make the presentation that much more interesting.

Since there will be lots of other starchy dishes on the table, like the potatoes, I was thinking something with more fresh vegetables. Cold or hot doesn't matter: cold would probably be simpler for me.

Can vegans eat butter? I assume not. In a cold dish/salad I can use olive oil.

Vegans do not eat any animal products at all. So butter, etc. is out. Some margerines are ok, but you have to read the labels carefully.

Depending on the individual preference, some use soy products that mimic what they don't eat, such as soydogs, soyburgers, and so on. Others just stay true to veggies and non-mimicing soy products like tofu.

Vegetarians come in various flavors, one of which is ovo/lacto. For them, eggs, dairy, butter, cheese, etc. are ok.

I'm sure your guests will appreciate the fact that you are making more of an effort than their own families, and anything you serve will work out just fine.

I know this is late, but I thought you might find it interesting. If anything, you can share it with your vegan friends. The creator of the popular Vegan Lunch Box Blog created this program that designs a recipe for a vegan casserole for you. Pretty cool!

http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio.html