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Now Open!                                                              

In our April update, we reported the anticipated opening of superfood eateries (268 Adelaide St. W., 647-827-9656), a plant-powered, gourmet, fresh food haven. We are pleased to announce that superfood eateries has indeed opened its doors! Located at 268 Adelaide Street W., “superfood eateries is the world’s first gourmet, handcrafted, chef-inspired takeout to serve completely organic, plant-strong, living foods, superfoods, and beverages for grab+go, delivery and catering.” To top it off, ingredients are locally sourced whenever possible, and come in biodegradable and compostable packaging. Their website is also up and running, so check it out for more information and to see a full menu, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter for daily specials.

New Locations                                                                        

We have big news from Jus de Vie (1627 Bayview Ave., 647-351-5433)… or should we say Cold Pressed Juices! One of Toronto’s favourite sources for cold pressed juice and delicious fresh eats has changed their name, and will soon be changing location. Formerly located on Bayview Avenue, as of the beginning of the month Jus de Vie has closed the doors of this location and will be opening two new spots as Cold Pressed Juices in mid-May. “74 Saint Regis Cres., North Toronto shall house our new Production Centre. Our juice program, healthy salads and wraps can be ordered here. A 5% discount is available for pick up, while delivery is available at extra charge. Our Juice Boutique will be hosted at the Moksha Yoga Studio at 577 Wellington Street West, Toronto. Here you can find the products you have come to love, including ready made juices, wraps, salads, custom smoothies, shakes and preordered juice programs.” And as always, their delicious juices can still be found at Druxy’s Famous Deli at Princess Margaret, Sunnybrook, and Newmarket Hospitals. While their new website, coldpressedjuice.ca is still under construction, for more information watch this space and follow them on their Facebook and Twitter pages. And don’t forget- Toronto Veg Card holders will still save 15% off juices and shakes at Cold Pressed Juices!

Celestial Beauty (408 John St., 905-319-2822) in Burlington has moved! Formerly at 422 Pearl Street, this all vegan salon has moved to 408 John St. “Salon services and a Beauty Boutique we carry Vegetarian & Vegan, cruelty-free bath and body products, Cosmetics, Vegan Makeup brush sets, Zoya nail products, gift baskets and more! We offer make-up application and lessons, manicures, pedicures and waxing. Walking distance from Kindfood too!” Watch their Facebook page for the date of an official open house!

Bello Bio (2308 Queen St. E., 416-587-4432) is moving! The only Food Shoppe in Toronto exclusively offering Certified Organic, 100% Vegan products from Italy, is moving to 511 Mt. Pleasant Rd. “Our new premises will feature a food shop and Toronto’s first Vegan Italian Eatery… We will have seating for 35 + and will feature Organic Vegan Italian cuisine such as pasta, pannini, salads, roasts, cutlets, desserts etc as well as organic coffee, teas and infusi (you’ll have to come to our new Eatery and Food Shop to see what this is). We will have a great take-out menu as well.” And, Toronto Veg Card holders will still save 10%! The store on Queen Street East will be closed down gradually during the month of May and as such will be on reduced hours. Stay tuned on their Facebook page and website for hours updates and the opening date of the new location!

Live Organic Food Bar (264 Dupont St., 416-515-2002) has had a second location in the works for a while now and the anticipation is killing us! But it seems we won’t have to wait much longer. The new Liberty Village location at 134 Atlantic (at the corner of King) will be opening in the first week of May. Stay tuned to their Facebook and Twitter pages to find out the day of the grand opening!

New Nutrition and Wellness Services

Our Natural Diet is a new web-based service operated by diet & lifestyle consultant, Quinny. “ournaturaldiet.com is a website mainly designed to help people who suffer from illnesses that have not been treated effectively by conventional medicine. My goal is to provide you with all the knowledge I have gleaned throughout my own personal journey of healing and all the information I have researched and studied on natural health.” Services include nutritional analysis, health consultation, raw vegan diet application, cleansing and water fasting – and you can save 10% with your Toronto Veg Card. Quinny also answers health questions on her blog, and you can follow her on Facebook.

New Breakfast Option

Belmonte Raw (1022 Queen St. E., 647-340-1218) has announced that they are now serving breakfast! Now open from 7:30am-7:00pm, an official breakfast menu is still in the works, but now you enjoy their fresh organic juices, smoothies and meals earlier in the day. “Our most popular juice is our Uplift Juice; made of the best organic Cucumber, Parsley, Spinach, Apple, Lemon, Ginger, it’s great for anti-inflammation, to alkalize the body, and to boost the immune system.” In addition, they are also now open on Mondays.

On Brief Hiatus

Cakes By Jill (416-882-6418) will be closed for business for the next few months.“I’m on a maternity leave at the moment and am taking a break from cake-making. I hope to be creating more frozen goodness by this coming July or August 2013. Please check back then!” We will continue to provide updates on veg.ca, and you can also check in on Jill’s website. Congrats Jill!

The post Vegetarian Directory Updates – May 2013 appeared first on Toronto Vegetarian Association.

Photo care of roncesvallesvillage.ca

Roncesvalles Avenue is known for its collection of independent grocers with fresh produce. But did you know you can also stock up on all the convenience vegetarian products you could ever need at Evergreen Natural Foods?

When you walk into the front of the store, at first you may think it’s mostly natural beauty products and supplements. But quickly venture in further and you’ll find it’s a fully stocked health food store carrying an enticing array of vegan products. I was surprised to find a really extensive frozen and refrigerated section, with a lot of vegan products I don’t find as commonly around Toronto. Things like Tofutti pizzas, a really, really large assortment of Tofurky variations, and vegetarian taco rolls.

But Evergreen Natural Foods is not all about the packaged convenience foods. Evergreen Natural Foods also sells numerous items in bulk, like flours and legumes. And I was even able to pick up a bundle of fair trade bananas too!

If the diversity of food wasn’t enough to lure me back, the fact that I can save 5% with the Toronto Veg Card certainly seals the deal.

Discount: 5% off

Veg Status? Not entirely veg, but has an enormous collection of vegetarian and vegan products

Where? 161 Roncesvalles Avenue

The post Discount Profile: Evergreen Natural Foods appeared first on Toronto Vegetarian Association.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups spelt flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 cup coconut oil
• ½ cup water
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups wild blueberries
• 1 cup chopped dates
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup chopped almonds
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla
• ½ a lemon, zested

Directions:

In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt and flaxseed and fully incorporate.  Cut in the coconut oil using a fork or potato masher and fully incorporate.

Next, make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the water and vinegar.  Using your hands, knead the dough until all the liquid is completely incorporated.  Divide the dough so that one piece is 1/3 the dough and the other 2/3.  Next, with the larger piece, on a well-floured surface using a well-floured rolling pin roll out the dough into a 1” thick crust.

Place into a 9” pie plate.  Trim edges if needed. Roll out the remaining dough into a 9” top crust.  Set aside.

Next in a large bowl add the remaining ingredients and mix.  Evenly distribute the blueberry mixture into the pie crust shell.  Now top with the top crust.  Pinch the corners of the crust all around the edges to seal the blueberry mixture in.   Using a knife cut three holes in the top crust of the pie.

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  Serve with your favourite coconut ice cream.

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The date palm tree is cultivated for its succulently sweet fruit.  Found in dried, fresh, crystal or syrup form its uses are unending. The date fruit is the most widely known use of the date palm tree, however there are an array of additional uses as well.  The tree is also tapped for its sap which is made into sugar and molasses, its leaves are harvested and eaten as vegetables and its seeds are ground and used for bread.

Dates are a very good source of potassium and antioxidants, rich in iron, protein and fibre and contain significant amounts of trace minerals like copper, manganese and magnesium.  When consumed they also provide a more stable increase in blood sugar levels than other sweeteners like sugar.

Dates are used in many culturally diverse cuisines from Moroccan to Libyan to South Asian.  Anything from couscous dishes, to tagines to curries are fair game and date friendly.

Some other delish date delicacies include eggplant “bacon” wrapped dates, almond stuffed dates, date glazed tempeh and fresh dates with cashew cream.  Of course who can forget what dates are most infamous for: sweet treats.  Date nut bread, date squares, date tarts, date puddings, date truffles, date sweetened smoothies and Grandma’s famous oatmeal cookies with date filling often come to mind.

Dates are also a great way to satisfy that sweet tooth and provide more pep to your step without all the additional processed sugar, fat and energy crashes that desserts often bring.

Enjoy your date(s)!

The post How about a date? appeared first on Toronto Vegetarian Association.

Social Dinner Group

The Social Dinner Group will meet at By the Way Cafe on Thursday, May 16th at 7 pm (400 Bloor Street West, between Spadina and Bathurst). RSVP to tvadinner@veg.ca.

TVA Reads

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Listen now!

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There will be marble cupcakes, macaroons, donuts and more, including treats from Through Being Cool Bakery! And you’ll support a great cause: inspiring people to choose a healthier, greener, more compassionate lifestyle through plant-based eating.

All proceeds support the TVA.

When? Saturday, April 27th from 1 to 4 pm

Where? TVA Resource Centre (17 Baldwin Street, 2nd floor). We regret our location is not wheelchair accessible, although weather permitting, we may set up on our patio downstairs.

The post Celebrate the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale at TVA appeared first on Toronto Vegetarian Association.

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2013 Vegetarian Food Festival Assistant

POSITION OVERVIEW - The Festival Assistant will assist with the planning, production and delivery of the 2013 Vegetarian Food Festival.

S/he will be the front line person for all festival inquiries, and will carry out follow-up communications with festival vendors and other stakeholders to support the Vegetarian Food Festival. S/he will work closely with the Executive Director and Festival & Events Coordinator. Opportunities to participate creatively in programming or marketing the festival will be explored with the Festival & Events Coordinator.

An enthusiastic, proactive vegetarian self-starter will thrive in this position. This role calls for excellent organizational skills, strong communication skills, and proficiency working with Mac OS X-based computer systems.

QUALIFICATIONS - The Festival Assistant will be required to:

• Plan and carry out projects and tasks from start to finish with well-defined objectives; continuously monitor the success of these projects and tasks; and identify ways to improve.
• Read and understand information presented in a variety of forms; write and speak in order to engage volunteers, clients and members of the public; and share information using a range of information and communications technologies.
• Assess situations and identify problems; be creative and innovative in exploring possible solutions; check to see if a solution works; and act on opportunities for improvement.

In addition to the duties listed above, this position will incorporate exciting and challenging growth tasks and learning opportunities.

The Festival Assistant will have the unique opportunity to develop his/her project planning, communicating and problem-solving skills in a welcoming and supportive vegetarian-friendly environment, as well as to as interact with and coordinate a wide range of communities involved in health promotion, compassion for animals, and environmental sustainability.

REQUIREMENTS - The successful applicant must:

• Follow a vegetarian diet (free of meat, fish and fowl or the flesh of any animal, with or without the addition of dairy, eggs or honey).
• Demonstrate the capacity for self-directed work, and be able to work well under minimal supervision.
• Have excellent organizational skills.  (Experience coordinating events or projects strongly preferred.)
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Be highly responsible, mature, and willing to accept personal accountability.
• Have an enthusiastic and positive attitude.
• Be proficient in the use of computers for word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail and internet.
• Be proficient in the use of Macintosh-based computers (Mac OS X).

This Festival Assistant will be required to have a professional outlook, as well as strong communication and customer service skills. Marketing or event coordination training would also be an asset since the individual will be involved in planning and marketing a major event (attendance >25,000) and publication (distribution of >50,000).

JOB RELATIONSHIPS

• Reports to: Executive Director and Festival & Events Coordinator

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• This position may require some hours on evenings and weekends, including the Annual Vegetarian Food Festival on September 6, 7, and 8^th.
• This position will be based primarily from the Toronto Vegetarian Association’s downtown office.

HOURS OF WORK

• 35 hours per week, mostly during regular business hours; some evenings and weekends.
• This is a 15-week contract position starting May 17 and ending in September 8, 2013.

Compensation Type:     Hourly
Amount:      $13.00 per hour

TO APPLY:

• Send your résumé and cover letter to summerjobs@veg.ca quoting JOB#13FA in the subject line. Please demonstrate to us in your application how you meet the qualifications listed above.
• For more information about what we’re looking for in your application, please review this page on creating an effective résumé.
• MS Word or Adobe PDF attachments only please.

Deadline to apply is Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The Toronto Vegetarian Association welcomes diversity in the workplace and encourages applications from all qualified applicants. We regret that our office is not wheelchair accessible.

We thank all applicants in advance for their interest; however, only those invited to an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please.

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