This is a great thread because going into the Festival and Holiday season there are challenges in entertaining and also having other over.
I am new to Mcdougal but I have been Dairy free for 20 years. Here is what I do when my family comes.
Make dinners everyone can assemble the way they want.
taco nights piece of cake to Mcdougal and let others go for the animal stuff.
Burger nights ( so easy to accomodate other people and eat my homemade veggie bean burger often I just skip the bun )
throw in some homemade potatoes or fries and you are set.
Pizza nights ( we make mini's and everyone puts what they want on it. ) Mine has been Vegan for years and no one notices or cares.
Baked Potato Bar
Pasta Night
Huge salad options so anyone can make what they want and you do your thing.
For going to others homes I call ahead and I just ask what they are planning in a nice social way. Then I just let them know I will make a delicious salad to bring along. I usually show up with some hot baked potatoes and salad ( I bring a bottle of my homemade dressing) to help the host out. I eat great and I don't have to agonize about getting sick the next day. This has never never failed me.
For restaurants I look at the menu ahead of time and call sometimes. I often request that we end up somewhere that I can have a baked potato , hashbrowns and a salad bar. Thats my GOTO. I second the suggestion above Call ahead and you can get some pretty great stuff by selecting a chinese or mexican restuarant, even a steakhouse. I have ate some pretty great Vegan food just ordering sides or calling ahead and asking them to steam things etc.
Now parents and siblings eat everything loaded with cheese and milk. I can not eat a single recipe they make but we have entertained eachother in peace and posterity for 20 years. My mom constantly buys spaghetti sauce ful of milk. It irritates me to no end because I don't want to offend her and I am happy to just bring my own spaghetti sauce. She also makes gravy full of stuff I can't have that is why I usually have a jar or two of good sauces and products when I fly to visit. I know every jar that I can have in a normal grocery store so a quick run to get a few things and I can stay at my families house for a week and eat vegan.
Now keeping the oil out is tricky but since my family knows I am eccentric that helps.
Also my one child has fructose intolerance so grandma can't buy all that stupid corn syrup garbage. This helps alot as well. They still don't get that my kids don't drink their calories but they live a few hours away so its all good.
I should mention that I have some friends who can't believe we have no milk in our house. They bring a cooler when they come over to our house for dinner.
What goes around comes around so its all good . We have been dear friends for 10 years.