Looking for something a little different from the usual crostini hors d'oeuvre? How about a sweet potato — sliced into rounds, roasted, and topped with a zingy miso sauce. It's a flavorsome little bite to whet the appetite, plus it's perfect for gluten-free and vegetarian folks.

Party appetizer rut? Trying to impress the coworkers? Want to elevate date night to a whole new level? It may be time to break out the waffle iron. 

"Go ahead and lick the spoon — there are no worries when you bake vegan!" As a guilty spoon-licker myself, reading this made me laugh out loud. I had to concede the point. These are the exact same decadent, caramel-drizzled, chocolatey, creamy desserts we know and love, but made without a single egg or drop of dairy milk entering the picture. Chloe Coscarelli won Food Network's Cupcake Wars with her vegan Chocolate Orange Cupcakes (yes, the recipe is in the book!), and with Chloe's Vegan Desserts, she shows us that cupcakes are just the tip of the iceberg.

A simple puréed soup is something I turn to often, usually relying on a creamy tomato, but lately I've been relying instead on a lightly-spiced cauliflower soup. Cauliflowers are easy to come by and quite inexpensive at the markets (in Seattle anyway), so as you sit and wait for true spring produce (peas, favas, asparagus!), this is a good recipe to tide you over. 

Whether you choose the toppings or let your guests join in on the fun, pizzas and flatbreads are great crowd pleasers. I'm especially fond of socca, a chewy, crispy, gluten-free flatbread made from chickpea flour. As an appetizer or main course socca can be served plain or topped, like this one for spring. It features an herby, lemony pesto and fresh salad — plus it should even satisfy the worst dinner guest ever! 

You might never have known these desserts are vegan if we hadn't told you, proving that you don't need a lot of milk and butter to make a decadent dessert. Cashew cream, chocolate mousse, apple pie, hazelnut truffles... it's all here, and all surprisingly vegan!

Fruit crumble is usually pretty straightforward: combine flour, sugar, and butter and you've got a perfect streusel topping, right? But what happens when you can't eat regular flour, sugar, or butter (or nuts)? Suddenly, making a really good fruit crumble might not be so simple after all. Faced with such a predicament, I started experimenting with gluten-free and vegan ingredients (and eating many, many servings of crumble in the process!) until I finally came up with my new go-to, allergy-friendly crumble recipe. 

Looking for more feel-good recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth? Check out Healthy Desserts, the newest iPad and iPhone app from the food blog Green Kitchen Stories, which is full of gorgeous photos and recipes for an assortment of sweets, many of which are grain-free, vegan, or raw — and totally tempting.

This week in Gatherings from The Kitchn, we're sharing the details of an Italian Polenta Supper featuring lots of toppings, like hearty braised beef, on a bed of creamy cornmeal polenta. For a lighter, vegan-friendly accompaniment to polenta, let me suggest this spring vegetable ragout. Like the braised beef, it's rustic and uncomplicated yet completely dinner-party worthy. Make it now if you're already basking in the glow of peas and asparagus, or save this recipe so you can celebrate the moment spring arrives. More

Q: I've started planning Easter dinner for my family. We have 6 adults, two of them vegan. My plan is to do lamb chops for the carnivores and go vegan for the side dishes. My other challenge is that I'm on-call Sunday morning so I need things that can be prepared a head of time.