Today your mission is to check out some vegan Easter/Passover recipes! Guest Blogger Marisa Milller Wolfson (of Kind Green Planet) shares her perspective on this time of year.
‘Tis the magical time of year when we celebrate two miraculous occasions:
- Jesus’ resurrection and transformation into the Easter Bunny, who hides chicken eggs in tulip beds.
- The ghost of the prophet Elijah visiting Jewish homes to instill the fear of leavening into young hearts and minds.
Then, to overcome the trauma of the Jesus Bunny and the anti-leavening activist/prophet, we gorge ourselves on chocolate and macaroons. Those of us who care about animal suffering, heart health, and environmental degradation face further trauma if we aren’t able to block out thoughts about where that Easter ham or Seder lamb shank came from, how many greenhouse gases he/she produced, and which artery he/she will help to clog.
Or we can just choose to make vegan food.
I perused a number of vegan websites and found some Passover and Easter recipes and products that made this Easter-celebrating-pantheist-shikse-who’s-married-to-a-Jewish-farm-animal-lawyer’s-mouth drool:
** EASTER **
From Vegcooking.com:
Easter Pie
Easy, Elegant Easter Dinner with Mustard and Apricot Glazed “Ham”, Slow-Cooked Collard Greens, Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Chives, Scorched Carrots, and Apple Walnut Cake
From Vegweb:
Easter Ambrosia Salad
Easter Bunny Bread
From Veganyumyum:
Spring Crepes
From Vegparadise:
Curried Ham Polenta
Eggless Deviled Eggs
For the kiddies:
Paper mache, clay, and chocolate Easter eggs
Chocolate Decadence baskets and bunnies:
Gelatin-free jelly beans from Pangea:
** PASSOVER **
Jewishveg.com is a great resource with lists of websites with recipes
Vegcooking.com’s Vegan Passover Recipes include Aunt Charlotte’s Carrot Tzimmes, Apple & Date Mousse, Baked Stuffed Zucchini, Beet Casserole, and Traditional Charoset
VegSource’s Ashkenazic Seder includes Mock Chopped Liver, Haroset, Spring Vegetable Soup with Matzo Balls, Russian Potato Mushroom Croquettes, Mushroom Matzo Farfel Pie, Baked Root Vegetables,
VegSource’s Sephardic Seder, which includes Date Haroset, Lemony Leek and Mushroom Soup, Eggplan Matzo Mina, Turkish Eggplant Stew, Sabbath Rice Pilaf with Saffron, Sauteed Carrots with Almonds, Sephardic Orange and Olive Salad
Vegsource’s Passover Desserts, which include Pineapple Crumble, Orange Pudding, Macaroons, Butter Pecan Matza Crisps, No Bake Chocolate Matzo Roll, Apple Crisp, Very Fudgey Brownies
From Recipezaar.com, Curried Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Milk:
From Vegparadise.com, Almond Nut Loaf
and Poached Pears in Wine Sauce
Chocolate Decadence’s Passover disks and chocolate-covered matzohs
For a special Passover treat, watch the Post-Punk Kitchen Show’s Passover episode, where they make coconut cream pie with matzoh crust and matzoh ball soup.
Note that this matzoh ball soup contains tofu, which comes from soybeans, which aren’t kosher for Passover in the Ashkenazi tradition. Rice is also considered “kitniyot” and is a no-no. The kitniyot issue is illuminated here. Ashkenazi vegans can also choose to go the Sephardic route for their seder, which allows tofu, beans and rice.
Got your own Easter or Passover ideas? Pretty please, leave a comment below.
Marisa Miller Wolfson is the Outreach Director for Kind Green Planet, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching people about healthy, humane, eco-friendly living. She’s currently in post-production for her documentary about veganism and is co-drafting a city council resolution to lower NYC’s global warming “foodprint.” She also loves coaching people on plant-based living through Vegan at Heart, a free email mentoring program for treehuggers, animal lovers, and health nuts who consider themselves vegans at heart but not necessarily in practice.