Snacks. Penguins made out of olives. Wasabi peanuts. Smoked oysters.

Stuffed mushroom caps can be made in advance and then popped in the oven, and are super nummy...

Sadly the penguins have cream cheese, or I'd totally make those. I also adore stuffed mushrooms! Maybe I can find a recipe that doesn't rely on butter for the sauteing.

Wow, homemade chicken pot pie and salad sounds dreamy!

When you say "appetizer," are you thinking of a formal sit-down first plate, or of nibblies to have before you sit?

For a party we're having this week, I'm making a few vegan nibblies:

- Mimi Smartypants' artichoke heart dip, which is made with silken tofu and a can of plain (not marinated) artichokes. It is good, so good that my distinctly non-vegan mother has requested it for family gatherings. (I'm self-linkng to my suggestions rather than Mimi's because mine contains the crucial info: cut the artichokes crossways before putting in the food processor or blender, or you end up with bristly whiskers throughout. Yuck.)

- roasted red pepper bean dip. I'm winging this: roasting, skinning, seeding a couple of peppers and banging them into the food processor with a can or two of rinsed drained white beans, a leaf of basil, plenty of lemon. There's a recipe here, but it calls for cream cheese; I don't see why it needs dairy in it, when plain ole bean dip is so delicious and red peppers can only add to that.

- candied almonds with smoked paprika. (This is a sloppy cheater's method for making a small batch without dirtying two pans.) Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil in a saucepan, toss two or three handfuls of almonds until coated, then toss with smoked paprika and toast over medium heat. When they just barely start to smell nutty, skooch the almonds to one side, and in the clear side, drizzle a spoonful of water and a generous spoonful of sugar; let it bubble until the grainy sugar disappears. (You may need to crank the heat.) Coat the almonds in the syrup, sprinkle generously with kosher salt or sea salt, and toss over medium heat until they're toasty and dry. Mmmm.

- tapenade with something acidic: tomato, or a squeeze of lemon. Serve with crackers. Mmmm.

Dessert ideas:
- sorbet topped with macerated fruit, maybe with dairy-free cookies on the side. If you don't want to [make/buy/botherwith] dairy-free cookies, you can add some textural interest buy offering candied ginger on the side.

- Baked fruit. This time of year, I like to buy pears as hard as little fists, pare and half them, put them in an earthenware dish with a splash of lemon or brandy and a sprinkle of brown sugar and bake them until they're soft but not slumped. These can be made ahead and warmed either in the oven or the microwave, or they can roast happily along with your chicken pot pie.

You can sauté just about anything that calls for butter in olive oil, stew. That's what I do when I have dairy intolerant people come over.
That said, my favorite, "sit around, have first drink, mindlessly shove snackfood in your mouth" go-to food is red pepper hummus with pita chips. I know that doesn't exactly keep in the line of a chicken potpie and salad, but DAMN, always satisfying.

msali makes a good call: in most stuffed mushroom recipes, you can saute everything in olive oil. If the recipe calls for cheese as a binder (as so many stuffed mushroom recipes do), you can add an egg to bind and plenty of extra seasoning (fresh herbs would make a huge difference here, even if it's just parsley!) to make up for the loss of the cheese's umami.

Dessert: Cinnamon-roasted pineapple. Allow half a pineapple per person. Wedge the pineapple and cut the flesh away from the rind. Cut away the woody core. Cut the pineapple into biggish cubes, about 1" to 1½" in size. Put them in a roasting dish. Drizzle with honey, maple syrup or sprinkle with brown sugar. Add cinnamon to taste.

Roast in a medium hot oven for about 20 minutes. Half-way through give it all a big stir round. At this point you can add more cinnamon if you think it needs it.

Serve with crème frâiche, ice cream or soya ice cream for the non-dairy guest.

Oh, and you can prep all the pineapple in advance and store it in the fridge in a big lock-and-lock or similar.

Or, hey, if you're looking for something you can buy rather than make: fig jam on fancy crackers, served with a pile of nuts and a pile of dried cherries (or cranberries or dates or whatever). It's simple, it's delicious, it's elegant, and --- come to think of it --- it would make a very classy, if somewhat restrained, dessert.

On preview: mmmmm, piiiiiiiiineapple!

For appetizers: a bowl of cashews, pita chips and hummus, or nothing.

Dessert: raspberry sorbet with a couple lemon cookies (no dairy). If that is too spring-y for you, do baked pears.

Crud, does cake mix have dairy? Probably.

Good luck. I'm sure whatever you do will be great.

Definitely nibblies, not a formal app.

I think I'll go for some crab-stuffed mushrooms, some kind of nuts (maybe spiced pecans; I have a fab recipe.), and hummus with pita chips. I have pitas in the freezer I'd love to use up!

I have some canned tart cherries I can use to make an easy granita, and maybe serve with Angel Food cake? NOM.

Thanks for the inspirations!

Stewie, can I come over for dinner?

Yep! Also, I canned the tart cherries myself...so there's that.

I'll be there in five with a bottle of wine and some whuffles.

Peeled radish for the penguin fronts.

OK! Hummus is done, melding its flavors in the fridge. Next up is the pita chips and then the mushrooms.

I made a double batch of the hummus so that I can take some to a party I'm going to tonight. Awesome! Also, I bought a big can of roasted piquillo peppers and only used half. The other half went into the freezer for a later making of romesco.

Cherries are blended and in the freezer, chicken is cooking in turkey stock from Thanksgiving in the crockpot. NOM.

This sounds like such a lovely dinner! Good solutions, and you should BRAG about the home-canned cherries. So impressive and, I'm sure, delicious!

Stewie, were the "Halloween scabs" also dried by you?

no, no. i did get them in michigan, though.

And...now I'm puking and have called off the dinner. Dammit.

Oh, how awful! Here's hoping you feel better soon, and can enjoy some of the food as you recuperate. Granita should feel good on your throat once your stomach settles down.

Ack! Feel better!

Thanks, Elsa, Miko. The sad part is that I'm 3/4 of the way done with an awesome meal. I'm thinking, though, that if I can stop being shaky, it won't be too terribly difficult to convert the chicken pot pie base into chicken soup.