My Big Fat Vegan Passover Seder

"What do you mean, you don't eat no meat?.... That's ok, I make lamb!"

Quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding

For my first seder that I prepared on my own, I thought I'd have my family and a couple of friends, and it would be a small festival.  But, as I put the word out, many people were looking for a seder, some had never attended one and wanted to know more about Passover, and others were just curious what a vegan seder would be like.  Next thing I knew, I had twenty guests in my home!!!

Seder Table -- Seder plate, matzah, and small glass of wine for Elijah the Prophet

My 5 1/2 year-old niece painted the seder plate.  She painted all the spots on the plate except for the spot for the shankbone, "Because we don't eat meat."  Cute.  In place of the bone, I placed a few beets on the plate, and a vegetarian friend brought his very own "tofu shankbone."  Traditionally there is an egg on the plate to represent the spring; instead we had a flower.

Passover has become a holiday of excessive processed foods, cottonseed oil, fat, and too many eggs.  Clearly, this is not the case in my home.  This is a Vegetable and Matzah Casserole from The Vegetarian Pesach Cookbook by Roberta Kalechofsky:

Matzah farfel, layered with sauteed eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, and peppers, covered with more whole wheat matzah farfel and tomato sauce.

Russian Potato and Mushroom Croquettes from Debra Wasserman's The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook:

I also served matzah ball soup based on the Post Punk Kitchen recipe, using tofu instead of egg to hold the balls together (I observe a sephardic Pesach, so I do eat soy and other kitniyot).  Mrs. Feinberg's Kugel, one of my favorites, made from sweet potato, apple, and carrots also made an appearance and was polished off quickly!

And you cannot ever ever ever forget dessert!!!!  One friend brought one of the infamous box mixes of brownies, but she used flax seed instead of eggs.  It came out quite good!  This is the No Bake Chocolate Matzoh Roll from The Vegetarian Pesach Cookbook.

And, what kind of holiday is it if the pets don't get to participate?  Here, my dog Curves eagerly finds the afikoman, or hidden matzah! :)

It should be the youngest child who finds the afikoman, not the youngest dog, right?  My mischevious dog Curves.

Have a joyous Pesach, and please, go easy on the eggs!