Holidays and special occasions
Here is a lovely selection of easy vegan brunch recipes and menus that require minimum time in the kitchen, so you can relax with your guests! Brunch evokes images of leisurely eating, casual elegance, and celebrations large and small. This time of year is filled with occasions that call for a gathering—Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and graduations. The much-awaited arrival of spring and summer alone gives ample reason to celebrate. Photo of Tofu Scramble with Jalapeño and Cilantro by Ellen Kanner. Read More→
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These vegan Passover Seder recipes and menus (great for vegetarians too) focus on the fresh produce of early spring — very fitting, as the holiday has connotations of renewal and rebirth. Though there’s flexibility in what may be served for the meal itself, there are also many restrictions. Ashkenazic Jews avoid, aside from bread-related products, many other grains and legumes. For Sephardic Jews, leavened wheat products are avoided, but rice and other grains can be used, as well as legumes.
The biggest challenge for vegans is how to create eggless versions of egg-y classics like matzo balls. No worries, VegKitchen’s vegan matzo balls (with a gluten-free variation) are awesome. Both traditions have lately embraced the use of quinoa during Passover week. And since Passover once had a strong seasonal festival aspect, spring’s bountiful produce is most welcome.
Ashkenazik (Eastern European) Passover menu
- Passover Mock Chopped Liver
- Passover Haroset
- Spring Vegetable Soup with Vegan Matzo Balls
- Spinach, Leek, and Potato Matzo Gratin
- Quinoa Pilaf
- Carrot-Apple Pudding
- Fruit Compote
- Chocolate Matzo Brittle
- Passover Pineapple Crumble
- Hasselback Potatoes
Additions to the menu: Serve plenty of matzo throughout the meal. Though this is an abundant menu, you may also wish to add a seasonal green salad and a simply prepared green vegetable such as asparagus or broccoli.
And for using up all that leftover matzo, the breakfast classic, matzo brei, in a vegan rendition:
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Sephardic Passover menu
- Sephardic Date Haroset
- Sephardic Vegetable Soup with Vegan Matzo Balls
- Eggplant Matzo Mina
- Sautéed Carrots with Almonds
- Sweet and Sour Artichoke Hearts
- Chocolate Matzo Brittle
- Sephardic Wine and Fruit Pudding
Additions to the menu: As with the Ashkenazic menu, serve with plenty of matzo. A colorful green salad and a simple steamed green vegetable such as asparagus or broccoli would be a welcome additions to the plate as well. A platter of fresh pineapple and grapes served with the matzo brittle and/or fruit pudding is a nice finishing touch.
The Seder Plate, Vegan Version
During the course of the Seder and the meal that follows the reading of the Haggaddah, a plate of matzos is served, as is plenty of Passover wine. Central to the table is the Seder plate, a round dish with designated spots for placement of the symbolic foods to be sampled during the reading of the Haggadah. The foods are not eaten from this plate, but everyone gets a sampling of the foods to be tasted from separate platters.
Karpas: A mild green vegetable or herb, such as celery or parsley. This symbolizes the new growth of spring. A small leaf of romaine lettuce or other mild green might be used. It’s sometimes dipped into salt water or vinegar as a reminder of the tears shed by enslaved Jews.
Maror: A bitter herb, usually horseradish for Ashkenazic Jews or a bitter green such as escarole or endive for Sephardic jews. This represents the bitterness of slavery suffered by the Jews in Egypt.
Haroset: This mixture of nuts, wine, and apples, as Ashkenazic Jews make it, or nuts, wine, and dried fruits, as Sephardic Jews make it, has a brick-like color to symbolize the bricks used by the Jewish slaves to build Pharoah’s cities.
Hazeret: Another bitter herb or green, such as watercress or chicory. Some believe that two bitter herbs should be tasted, though this component of the Seder plate is optional.
Two components of the Seder plate that vegans obviously skip or replace: zoreah, the shank bone, and Beytzah, a hard-boiled egg. To fill all the spots in the vegan Passover plate, the former is sometimes replaced with a roasted beet, and the latter, a boiled potato (more for its shape than any symbolic similarity).
- Here are more tips for keeping the Holidays and Special Occasions healthy!
- For lots more features on healthy lifestyle, please explore VegKitchen’s Healthy Vegan Kitchen page.
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Here are easy, tasty vegan barbecue recipes (great for any vegetarian, too) for grilling vegetables, tofu, tempeh and seitan. Create your own BBQ fireworks with alternative protein foods and vegetables that take on an entirely new taste dimension on the grill. Grilling is more art than science. It may take a few rounds to get the knack of working with whatever grilling equipment you have, be it a fancy gas-powered unit or a simple barbecue pit in the ground. Remember, though, that expensive equipment is not necessary to create a tasty outdoor meal. Print This Post
The holiday season can be stressful for anyone with strict dietary preferences (vegans, vegetarians), food intolerances and allergies (gluten, lactose) and the generally health-conscious. No one, in fact, relishes the idea of gaining the fabled seven pounds that the average American puts on between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. I’m not convinced of this statistic’s accuracy, but it’s become so emblazoned on our consciousness that just the fear of those extra pounds makes it a force to be reckoned with. Read More→
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When our sons were young, one of our favorite spring-to-summer rituals was to pack up a knapsack (or a cooler, as the weather heats up) and head for a picnic spot. In fact, if we wanted to take the boys for a hike, we would always call it a picnic, otherwise we would have never been able to get them out the door! Read More→ Print This Post
As every child knows, Hanukkah is pure fun and joy. It hasn’t the solemnity of major Jewish holidays, nor a trove of symbolic foods to be eaten at a central feast, save for potato pancakes, or latkes, which are a must. And the candle-lighting ritual—adding one more candle each night for the eight nights of Hannukah—and dreidel games are eagerly anticipated by children as well as the child that lives in all of us. Read More→ Print This Post
