Easter is a celebration of resurrection and rebirth, so it is the perfect occasion for everyone – veggies and non-veggies alike – to enjoy a delicious meat-free meal. Check out our tips on what to serve and links to the best recipes.

Also included are quotes from Veggie Challenge participants who gave up meat for Lent, a link to a good article about a woman questioning the baked ham that has always formed the centre piece of her family's Easter dinner, and a crucifixion ad by PETA.

Image from Sonicwalker's Flickr site (creative commons).

Whether it is Christmas, Chanukah, Solstice, or Kwanzaa – enjoy a vegetarian feast. We have links to the best recipes, tips on what to serve, gift suggestions, and E-card links. Plus, how to avoid stress when vegetarians and meat eaters will be at the same meal.

Happy Halloween! We have gathered some healthy treat suggestions, tips for parents and links to several delicious recipes.

Most Halloween candies are over-packaged, chemical laden, and high in refined sweeteners. Some even contain hidden animal products (read the labels).

Avoid the junk by trying alternatives such as seaweed strips (many kids love these once they try them), peanuts in the shell, fruit cups, mini boxes of raisins, fruit leather sticks, dark chocolate, pretzels, holiday-themed stickers, temporary tattoos or noisemakers.

We offer a collection of Halloween recipe links including:  Bloodshot Eyeballs made from carved radishes, Perfect Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Pizza Mummies, Friendly Zombie Cupcakes, and Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

Continue reading for full details, recipe links and more tips. 

If you give up animal-based meat slices, cheeses and eggs, what's left? Plenty, you just need to get creative.

From easiest to hardest

Buying lunch – See our fast food page for what's available at the chains in the way of veggie burgers, pizza, burritos, falafel, etc. When visiting a sandwich deli shop, you can often just point to what you want in your sandwich. Many grocery stores sell veggie sandwiches, veggie sushi or healthy soups in jars.

Bring leftovers – It is very easy to make extra at dinner to pack for lunch the next day. This works especially well if you have a way of easily reheating it, or if it tastes fine at room temperature. Or you can get a thermos.

Simple sandwiches – Avocado, store-bought hummus, veggie deli meats, veggie burgers, tofu slices, veggie paté, nut butters, etc.

Hearty salads – Greens, beans or lentils, pasta, noodles, corn, taco, fruit, etc.

More involved sandwiches – TLT (Tempeh, lettuce and tomato), burritos, lettuce wraps, sloppy joes, portobello mushroom, panini, chickpea salad.

Lunch recipes – While recipes take time initially, you can make plenty for several meals at a time. Try a nice chili or hearty soup with crusty bread.

Click “Read more” for tips, vegan sandwiches, salad suggestions and lots of recipes.

This Canadian Thanksgiving enjoy a vegetarian feast. We have links to the best recipes, tips on what to serve, and how to avoid stress when vegetarians and meat eaters will be at the same meal.

	Tofu Club Sandwich Photo: Mike Crooker www.flickr.com/photos/tofu/

Question

I’m sick of taking peanut butter and jam sandwiches to school every day for lunch – please give me some new ideas!

One way to spice up that old classic is to try different nut butters and unusual jams. One of my favourite variations on the PB&J theme is to use almond butter and either strawberry-rhubarb jam, apple butter, or marmalade.

If you want to get away from all nut butters, however, there are still plenty of options.

The fastest option is to buy vegetarian deli slices (try either Tofurky or Yves). I’m a big fan of all the Tofurky flavours and like to add spinach, avocado, sprouts, Vegenaise (or other mayonnaiselike spread of your choice), and Dijon mustard to make a hearty sandwich.

Such deli slices can be pricy, and not everyone wants to increase the amount of processed foods in their diet. Beans and legumes make excellent alternative sandwich fillings. David and Rachelle Bronfman’s CalciYum! has several excellent dips that can also be used as spreads — the Hummus Bean Blend, the Liverless Liver Pate, and the Just Like Tuna Salad are all excellent.

But my absolute favourite in this book is the Spicy Bean Blend:

In a Queens Quay condo overlooking the Gardiner Expressway, the kitchen fills with the warm scent of cumin and coriander. Indian food expert Shashi Jain (who owns the condo) is demonstrating how to dry roast spices to maximize flavour [see recipe below]. "Roasting them makes them easier to grind and it brings out the flavour," she explains, passing around a small frying pan filled with coriander seeds so that everyone standing in her cozy kitchen can catch a whiff. She puts the roasted spices into an electric coffee grinder. "Spices are more flavourful when they're fresh ground like this," she says. "Just don't use it to grind coffee afterwards!"

After the spices are ground together, she pulls a box of store-bought spice mix from her cupboard and passes it around so everyone can smell the difference. Fresh-ground spices are the clear winner.

Jain is teaching a vegetarian Indian cooking workshop to a small group of eager students who scribble notes on the recipes handed out at the beginning of class.

Continue reading for the rest of the article, a spice recipe and another photo. Reprinted by permission from "Getting intimate with Indian food" by Alison Broverman, National Post, October 04, 2008. 

By Lisa

October 4th was a chilly, blustery fall day. But one park in downtown Toronto was full of hot, sweet, spicy treats. When I arrived at Grange park to set up the gingham draped tables I could not have predicted the incredible sights, smells and tastes that awaited us all.

I was blown away by the amount of effort each of the Totally Fabulous Vegan Bakers put in to carefully preparing their decadent delights.

Plant-based baking provides lots of reason to celebrate and no risk of deprivation!

The Bake off was a strong demonstration that it is possible to live a cruelty free lifestyle without giving up any of life's sweet indulgences. There was so much excitement in the crowd as they sampled each entry, I heard many people discussing recipes and presentation techniques. There was no question that plant-based baking provides lots of reason to celebrate and no risk of deprivation!

A big thank you to all the amazing volunteers who pulled this together, the incredible companies that provided us with fabulous prizes and everyone who showed Toronto that eating vegan is Totally Fabulous!

Here are the winners:

Most Comforting

Spice Route Cupcakes – Nicola, who also won best cake/cupcake (see below).

Vanilla cardamom cupcake with ginger "cream cheese" frosting and candied pistachios.

Best Presentation

Black Forest Cake – Kathryn

"This is my first-time attempt at veganizing my family's traditional Schwarzwaldian dessert!"

Most Creative

Shameless Tarts – Karen

Whipped lemon and avocado custard with a toasted nut crust and fresh berry topping. The ingredients are avocado, toasted walnuts, cashew milk, white flour, raw sugar, baking powder, safflower oil, lemon juice and rind, vanilla and salt. They are topped with a raspberry and mint leaf. 

Continue reading for more photos and prize winners.

On October 4th, 2008, join us for the first annual Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-off.

To celebrate World Vegetarian Day you are invited to The Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-off on Saturday from 1-4pm at Grange Park in Toronto. Admission is free.

Come down and participate in sampling the entries and voting for the fan favourite.

Celebrity judges: Stephen Gardner from Fressen and Urban Herbivore, Eden from New Moon Kitchen and Jae Steele, author of Get It Ripe, will evaluate the entries in each dessert category based on:

• Taste
• Texture
• Creativity and
• Presentation

All entries must be registered by September 26th. Show off your prowess in the kitchen by tantalizing the judges and your fellow Toronto Vegetarian Association supporters with your creative concoctions. This is your chance to break out the fancy apron and the veganized old family recipe, and vie for the chance to walk away with a huge blue ribbon.

Fantastic prizes will be presented to the winning entry in each category as well as a special prize for the fan favourite. Prizes include the chance to win one of four $50 vegan gift baskets from Whole Foods and a gift certificate from LAVA. 

Update: We now have additional prizes from: Green Earth Organics, Comondi, Sweets from the Earth, Soy n' Joy and Heart on Your Sleeve.

See Tips for healthier and faster baking and our recipes page for a list of the best recipe sites, including Recipe Zaar with 27,000+ veggie recipes.

Note: For some inspiring baking photos (like the one on the right) see Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

Late June is mulberry season in Canada. These juicy black berries grow in great abundance on trees in Toronto and many other cities.

Saskatoon berries are also available at this time of year. You can find these purple berries in parks growing on bushes or slender trees.

Foraging for wild fruit is one of the best ways to eat local. It not only helps you get fresh, exotic and unsprayed fruit at no cost but also reduces the energy and resources necessary to grow, transport and store farmed food.

Use fresh flour, nuts and seeds   
Whole flours, nuts and seeds should be fresh for the best flavour and nutrition. The oils in these foods can go off after being exposed to oxygen for a while. Buy from a reliable store, and smell and taste before using. If keeping them for a while, store in the freezer. See our Tips on buying and storing fresh whole foods page.

Use whole grain flour
If the recipe calls for white flour, try substituting half of it for wholewheat. Soft spelt flour can be used in place of white pastry flour. For flavour try adding some buckwheat or corn meal.

Reduce the sugar and use natural sweeteners
Most dessert recipes are very sweet. Try using less sugar. Also experiment with using natural sweetners such as maple syrup, rice syrup, or powered cane juice. Reduce the recipe's wet ingredients if using a wet sweetener in place of the sugar. (For a review of the different types of sweeteners and the controversy surrounding most of them, see From Sugar to Agave – How Sweet It Is?)

For chocolate recipes, try unsweetened cocoa or carob in place of sweet cocoa. Try semi-sweet dark chocolate chips or carob chips instead of the sweet ones.

Don't let the baking powder get wet too soon  
Once combined with wet ingredients, baking powder starts its magic of making bubbles resulting in light and fluffy pancakes, muffins and cakes. But there is a limit to how long it works. After you combine the wet ingredients with the dry, form your baked goods and get them in the oven without delay.

Make sure your baking powder is fresh
To test: place a teaspoon in some warm water. It should foam and bubble quite actively if it is fresh. It is best stored in the freezer.

One less mixing bowl
Many recipes call for two bowls to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately. To save having to clean an extra bowl, mix the dry ingredients on one side of the bowl and then mix the wet ingredients on the other side.

Use oil instead of butter or margarine
If a recipe calls for melting butter or margarine, it will save you time and trouble to use a light cooking oil instead. It is also healthier.

Reduce the fat content
Experiment with using less oil than the recipe calls for. Substitute something wet for the missing oil such as water, soy milk or applesauce. Instead of using an oil-based icing, try a low-fat frosting recipe, or use a glaze or nuts (see next tip).

Use a glaze or nuts in place of a rich icing
When baking a cake, try making a simple glaze out of a few spoons of sugar and the juice and rind from a lemon, lime or orange. Or sprinkle nuts and fruit on top of the batter instead of stirring them in. The nuts toast as they bake, releasing a nice flavour.

Substitute eggs with ground flax
Use 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds and 3 Tbsp water in place of an egg in baking recipes. See our egg page for more healthy substitution ideas.

Yesterday, the Toronto Star reported that University of Toronto has been selected as the most vegetarian-friendly place of higher education in Canada! They beat out nine other Canadian schools in Peta2's second annual contest. The number one in the U.S. is Northwestern University in Chicago.

Peta2 is the youth wing of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Recently, they stopped by U of T's New College residence dressed in pig suits to hand out the award, lunch and cake. Vegetarian and vegan meal options on campus include: Rosemary Grilled Vegetable Ragout, New Orleans-Style Blackened Tofu, brown rice pilaf, baba ghanouj, roast sweet potatoes, and more.

At a university with more than 63,000 undergrads, it can be a lot of work to meet the needs of the large vegetarian population. Peta2 reports that student group UTCARE (UofT Coalition for Animal Rights and the Environment) has been instrumental at improving food choices.