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Celebrate Passover with these delicious plant-based recipes

March 30, 2021

red tomatoes

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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World Animal_Protection US

By: Joe Loria, Meat Reduction Campaign Manager, World Animal Protection US

These delicious and nutritious plant-based recipes show that you can keep your commitment to eating less animal products and honor your religious values at the same time.

While many holidays have a way of putting extra pressure on those looking to eat less animal products and more plant-based foods, the annual Jewish observance of Passover may be even more of a challenge. It's not just a matter of finding swaps for traditional, animal-based foods. Passover, which lasts for eight days, also asks those who observe to abstain from grains, beans, and corn–three important staples for anyone looking to consume more plant-based proteins. The Passover dietary rules restrict the use of such grains because they can ferment and become leavened.

Those celebrating Passover do not eat any leavened foods because the unleavened matzoh reminds that the Israelites, fleeing slavery with Pharaoh's army at their heels, had no time to let their bread rise and hence ate flat matzoh instead.

These delicious and nutritious plant-based recipes show that you can keep your commitment to eating less animal products and honor your religious values at the same time.

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Matzoh Brei

2 whole boards of Matzoh
Half a cup of liquid JUST Egg
1 tablespoon of non-dairy butter or canola oil for the frying pan
Large bowl and frying pan

1) Pour half a cup of liquid JUST Egg into a bowl. Gently and quickly run boards of matzoh under water. Do not soak. Break up pieces of matzoh into plant-based eggs. Coat completely with the JUST Egg. Let stand for 2-3 minutes.

2) Heat one tablespoon of non-dairy butter or canola oil in a frying pan. Pour the matzoh/JUST Egg mixture into the pan.

3) Keep turning until the mixture is cooked through. Make as well done to one's liking!

4) Serve plain or with salt, sugar, or jelly.

Matzoh Lasagna

Two containers of Kite Hill Almond Milk Ricotta
5-8 boards of matzoh (depends on pan size)
24 oz. Jar of tomato sauce
2 cups of shredded plant-based mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon of olive oil

1) Coat 9x13 pan evenly with olive oil. Mix two containers of Kite Hill Almond Milk Ricotta, 3/4ths of jarred tomato sauce, and 1 ½ cups of plant-based mozzarella cheese in a large bowl. Ever so lightly sprinkle water on boards of matzoh and lay in the pan. You may need half of another board to fill the pan to the edges.

2) Now start layering your ingredients, beginning with your first layer of matzoh, then your sauce and cheese combination. Be careful not to break or crack matzoh boards. Repeat layering (matzoh, sauce, and cheese) until the top. For the top, lay down boards of matzoh, add remaining plain tomato sauce and sprinkle with half a cup of shredded plant-based cheese.

3) Cook at 350-degrees for approximately 35 minutes. Check halfway through since ovens cook differently. The plant-based cheese should be melted when it's done.

Plant-Based Matzoh Ball Soup

Broth

Large soup pot
4 stalks of celery
4 large carrots
1 large yellow onion
32 oz. vegetable broth

1) Fill a large soup pot with vegetable broth.

2) Peel a large onion and put the whole onion into the broth. Cook on medium heat. While this heats up, clean and cut up chunks of carrots and celery. Once the onion softens, add carrots and celery to the soup. Lower heat and simmer for approximately 1.5 hours or until everything is soft and you begin to smell the broth.

Matzoh Balls

1 cup Matzoh Meal
3 tablespoons of potato starch
1/4 cup oil
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt and/or pepper to taste

1) Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and refrigerate for 40 minutes.

2) When matzoh ball mix is ready, turn soup broth on high to a full boil. Form mixture into balls and drop them into the broth. The matzoh balls should rise to the top of the pot and expand, continue this process until the mixture is completely used.

3) Lower heat and cook for approximately 30 minutes.

(Please note: The matzoh balls will absorb much of the broth, so the amount of broth in the pot is much less than when you began to cook.)

4) Pour matzoh ball soup into a bowl and top with crushed matzoh.

Dark Chocolate Covered Matzoh Bark

1 cup of Melting Dark Chocolate or 4 dark chocolate bars
5-6 boards of matzoh
Half a cup of Pistachio nuts (or a different topping, ex: sprinkles, walnuts)

1) In a double boiler or microwave, melt dark chocolate until completely smooth. Gently run matzoh until water very quickly (10 seconds) to absorb a little moisture.

2) Lay the boards of matzoh out on a baking sheet or tin foil. Pour melted chocolate on the board of matzoh. Sprinkle the chopped pistachio nuts or another type of topping on the matzoh while the chocolate is still hot (other toppings including but not limited to sprinkles, walnuts, or cashews)

3) Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour or until chocolate hardens. Take out of the refrigerator and break into small squares and enjoy!

Matzoh Granola

3 boards of crushed matzoh (or whole wheat matzoh, pending preference)
Half a cup of coarsely chopped walnuts
A quarter of a cup of canola oil
2 tablespoons of light-brown sugar
Half a teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons agave nectar

1) Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Stir together matzoh, walnuts, canola oil, sugar, agave nectar, and salt in a large bowl. Spread out evenly on a baking sheet. Bake at 300 degrees until toasted, or approximately 25 to 30 minutes.

2) Let it cool and break into smaller pieces. Best served with your favorite non-dairy yogurt or plant-based milk and fresh fruit!

For an additional plant-based dish that doesn't use Matzoh:

Jello Mold

1 pack of plant-based jello (ex: Simply Delish)
1 can of whole cranberries
1 can of jellied cranberry
1 can of fruit cocktail (or any canned fruit preference)
½ cup crushed walnuts

1) In a large bowl, add the jello packet with hot water and follow the directions according to the jello box. Add a can of whole cranberries and mash. Add in a can of jellied cranberries and mix them all together. Drain the liquid from the fruit cocktail and add to the mixture. Continue mixing. Add in crushed nuts.

2) Best in a nonstick plastic mold (lightly spread vegan butter, Pam, or canola oil on a piece of paper towel to spread around the molding to ensure the jello doesn't stick) but can be put in any dish. Let rest in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

Now that you know some of your favorite Passover meals can be made plant-based try them out!

Looking to #EatLessMeat? We'll help you get started when you join Meating Halfway, a 21-day journey that'll guide you towards eating less meat!

For more information, please visit World Animal Protection's website here.

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Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.