An overview of the Vegan Easter meal I had with my non-vegan family; with recipes for putting together your own springtime holiday spread!

This year, for the first time in almost a decade, I was home for Easter! It felt like a special treat to be able to spend one more holiday with my family, and share another vegan holiday spread too!

After the adventure of cooking up an epic Vegan Christmas Dinner last December, I came away with many lessons learned on how to put on a plant-based holiday spread (you can read all about it on the post Vegan Christmas 2018). So for our Easter spread we kept it fairly simple. We were able to squeeze in all of the cooking that morning, mostly in the span of a couple hours, to sit down for lunch a little after 1pm. There was plenty of food to go around, with leftovers to enjoy the next day, and everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. I know I thought it was all delicious!

VEGAN EASTER MENU

Here is a compilation of all the vegan food we prepared on Easter Sunday. If you’re looking for inspiration to cater a special springtime meal for non-vegan family and/or friends, I definitely recommend all of these recipes!

NIBBLES

My sister’s fiancé picked up some vegan and gluten-free treats for us to nibble on while we were cooking. We dug into some garlic herb crackers dipped in hummus, and some vegan chicharrones. My mum also cut up Korean pears for a sweet refreshing treat.

MAIN DISH: STUFFED SQUASH

Niomi Smart’s Hasselback Squash With Leek And Apple Stuffing was a big hit as the centrepiece of our Easter spread. My sister actually suggested we give this recipe a try, after seeing Niomi’s YouTube video. I love Niomi’s recipes, and am a big fan of squash, so I was eager to give it a go.

My mum had picked up a very small (and adorable) butternut squash for us to use. I also had an acorn squash from my recent Hungry Harvest delivery. So I thought I’d make use of them both! This recipe makes A LOT of stuffing. We stuffed the hasselback butternut squash, filled both halves of the acorn squash, and still had stuffing left over for the table. It’s a fairly straightforward recipe, but feels quite fancy for a special occasion.

SIDES

• Roasted Cauliflower, Pistachios, and Cranberries – When I visited San Diego last month, my host had cooked me up a meal using fried cauliflower, pistachios, and figs. It was so delicious that I knew I had to try to recreate something similar once I got back home. This dish simply required a chopped cauliflower to be tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper, and placed on a tray, with some shelled pistachios added on top. We stuck the tray in the oven for about 20 minutes on 375F. Once the cauliflower was browned, we took it out and added the cranberries. 
• Roasted Asparagus – My sister got an email the week leading up to Easter of the New York Times Cooking Easter recipes. As we were looking through it, this roasted asparagus recipe caught my eye. I had received asparagus in my Hungry Harvest delivery and been saving it for Easter. This recipe was a simple and delicious way to use it.
• Golden Cornbread – You may be sick of seeing my cornbread recipe in every holiday round-up post that I share on this blog…but I’m not tired of eating it! I’ve made this recipe so many times now that it’s quite quick to throw together. I made a batch before we left for church Sunday morning, so that we had one side already done.

EASTER PUDDING

• The Minimalist Baker’s Carrot Cake – I’ve made this carrot cake recipe for a few special occasions over the past couple of years, and it turns out perfectly every time. I just prepared the batter and stuck it in to cook while we were eating lunch. It came out a little bit after we had finished the main meal and were ready for dessert.
• Banana Ice Cream – I didn’t have time to make icing for the carrot cake, so at the last minute decided to whip up some banana ice cream right before serving the cake. I used around three frozen bananas (frozen in pieces), and added a splash of almond milk to give a bit of creaminess. A few minutes in the food processor is all it took to create a creamy banana ice cream that contrasted perfectly with the warm carrot cake.