Food

This spice cake is the perfect accompaniment to any holiday gathering. It’s not only deliciously perfumed with orange and a heady mixture of spices, reminiscent of gingerbread, but also perfect for those who have food sensitivities, as it’s gluten free and vegan. You can use your favorite brand of dairy-free yogurt for the frosting, but keep in mind that, for this recipe, the thicker the better. For added thickness, you can strain your yogurt through some cheesecloth set in a colander placed over a deep bowl. Depending on how loose your yogurt is, it may take up to overnight to drain.

Puréeing ripe persimmons into a creamy dressing makes for a sweet and juicy salad without excess oil. Persimmons are a seasonal treat with a local heritage. Native to the southeastern US and Asia, but able to be grown in Canada, and now grown around the world, much of what’s available in this country comes from California, Spain, and South Africa and starts appearing in markets in late fall and early winter. The most common cultivars are Fuyu and Hachiya persimmons, and either can be used for this recipe. Just keep in mind that Fuyus are ripe when firm whereas Hachiyas are ripe when their skins are begging to break and their tongue-tying astringency has turned to sugar-sweet juice. The only downside of being so juicy is that Hachiyas can be tricky to slice at that point, so if you’re going for presentation, choose Fuyus instead. If you can’t find persimmons, use sliced grapes. And feel free to top this salad with dukkah for a nutty, crunchy touch. 

In this plant-based stuffing, fresh herbs and dried fruit replace the depth of flavour usually infused by chicken juices, so use fresh thyme and rosemary if possible to maximize the flavour return. By baking the stuffing in a shallow dish, the bottom stays wonderfully soft and moist while the top becomes addictively crunchy, as opposed to an in-bird stuffing that ends up monotonously mushy.

Our delicious rice side dish will complement any main course. Standard holiday fare typically includes fluffy mashed potatoes, but our rice medley is a perfect update. Bonus: it’s vegan! 

Cookies are a holiday staple, and these are sure to become a fast favourite. Experiment with your favourite nut or seed butter here to make it your own new family tradition. 

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this roasted vegetable appetizer platter. High quality ingredients, a variety of textures and colours, fresh herbs, and a flash of lemon make it shine. 

Spooned over hearty fall greens such as kale or chard, this delicious side dish can also double as a main meal; its flavours absolutely pop with our zesty herb topping. The beets are packed with amazing nutrients, plus they’re delicious served hot, at room temperature, or cold. 

Root soups are hearty and healthy go-tos during the colder months. A couple of often overlooked roots, rutabagas and turnips are sometimes thought to be bitter. One quick way to take the bitterness out of these roots is to add a bit of sweetness. In this recipe, we’ve upped the ante with sweet potatoes and carrots to create a delicious soup with an abundance of healthy ingredients—plus plenty of flavour for everyone.  

This plant-only recipe may look like it required a lot of fuss, but it comes together easily. Tender zucchini is loaded with a hearty and satisfying bean mixture and then finished off with a drizzle of cheesy tasting sauce. 

This stuffed eggplant is built upon layers of Middle Eastern flavours: smoky freekeh, tender chickpeas, and a herbal tahini sauce. The quick-pickled raisins add a sweet vinegary pop. 

At Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich, there are always people walking around selling large pretzels, says Canadian expat Chris Gilles, who moved to the city in 2018. The large pieces of golden, twisted pretzel dough come topped with coarse salt for a savoury crunch with every bite. “They don’t come with any dipping sauce,” Gilles says, “but you could dip it in sauce if you had ordered something else”—say, the honey mustard or stone-ground mustard you might have with your bratwurst or sauerkraut balls. But don’t feel bad if you prefer to break from German tradition and dip them in caramel or tahini instead!

Traditionally made with bratwurst and fried, these plant-based balls are baked and made with tempeh and mushrooms for a savoury, satisfying chewy interior and a crispy exterior. You can also use your homemade plant-based bratwurst as a stuffing in place of the croutons, but it seems a shame to go to all that work shaping them just to pull them apart.

Schnitzel usually means tenderized meat coated in egg and breadcrumbs and deep-fried. The German version is often pork, while the Austrian wiener schnitzel has to be veal (it’s a rule). But this version of schnitzel would have even Julie Andrews singing its praises, thanks to the tender tofu that skips the fryer. Schnitzel can be served simply with noodles coated in (plant-based) butter with lemon wedges, but lingonberry sauce (reminiscent of cranberry sauce), tomato sauce, or mushroom gravy are also Oktoberfest regulars.

The trick to these plant-based sausages is rolling them in rice paper wrappers before steaming and grilling them. The rice paper creates a translucent coating similar to sausage casing, but without pork. These are best served with grainy German mustard (preferably stone-ground) and sauerkraut (look for unpasteurized versions or make your own), but they’re also great sliced into pieces and cooked into a tomato-based barbecue sauce with curry powder—a traditional currywurst!

If breakfast oatmeal is your jam, you’ll happily spoon up this oat-infused hearty chili. It comes together quickly enough to add to your weeknight dinner routine, but soaking the steel-cut oats ahead of time is key to having them cook more efficiently. Toppings run the gamut of avocado, sour cream, broken tortilla chips, cilantro, or grated cheddar. 

The stars of this delicious curry dish are yellow and orange fruits and vegetables, which are high in a form of carotenoids called xanthophylls. These compounds have more of a yellow pigment as opposed to their orangier cousins, the carotenes. While a powerful antioxidant, xanthophylls are mostly associated with maintaining good eye health.

Here, the breakfast favourite, granola, serves as a crunchy topping for this salad featuring seasonal delights, including sweet butternut and apple. The maple-date dressing is sure to be kid-approved. You can add cooked lentils to move it from side dish to complete plant-based meal. If desired, swap out butternut for pumpkin or sweet potato and add a creamy touch with feta or soft goat cheese. 

What better way to celebrate healthy eating than with cake? Thanks to a healthy dose of orange fruits and vegetables, this cake is chock full of carotenoids, a compound that converts to vitamin A in the body and is essential for proper immune health and good eye health. 

As indulgent as it sounds, this dip is loaded with nutrient-rich functional foods that help support a healthy immune system. Black beans are a great source of protein and fibre, while raw cocoa powder contains compounds that have been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on our bodies. 

Gearing up for a family movie night at home? Don’t let cravings get the best of you. Instead, sit down with a bowl of this ultra-satisfying sweet-crunchy snack mix. Crispy chickpeas are coated with cocoa-cinnamon, making them an irresistible find at the bottom of the bowl. There is enough protein and fibre here to make this a satiating any-time-of-day snack option. 

This two-tone shake is a fun and nutritious pick-me-up any time of day. Spinach is a functional food hero thanks to its diverse nutritional composition that promotes health beyond basic nutrition. Beetroot not only provides an eye-popping colour but also lends a good source of fibre to this drink, which, in turn, contributes to a healthy digestive tract.

Sweet baby peppers serve as a nutritious delivery method for this pesto-like dip. You can also spread the dip into celery crevices. Soft tofu is a dairy-free way to give the dip a creamy texture. The peppers can be stuffed up to a day in advance and kept chilled.

Here, the perennial kid-favoured mac and cheese gets a plant-based makeover. One of the key ingredients in this recipe is cauliflower. This standout superfood is all the rage at the moment, and for good reason. Cauliflower is rich in glucosinolates, sulphur-containing compounds with potent antioxidant properties.

This riff on everyone’s favourite childhood sandwich is a delicious snack on a sultry summer day. It’s like ice cream but with fewer calories and a more advantageous nutrition profile. And there’s no ice cream maker required!