Whether you’re a seasoned vegan or just exploring plant-based options, these World Vegan Day recipes are bound to tantalize your taste buds and hopefully demonstrate that vegan food can be so much more than salad! 

We’ve selected a few vegan recipes from the Zero Waste Cafe recipe book. Let’s dive right in: Warm Winter Soup, Quick Vegan Pesto, and Chocolate Snickerdoodles!

---

Warm Winter Soup

This recipe comes from Elsa Rodeck who is the editor at Voice for Arran and also an Eco Savvy trustee! She says; “simple and easy to make – the soup can provide meals for a week.”

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 x tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 1 litre veg stock
• 2 x tins mixed beans, drained and rinsed
• Half a savoy cabbage

Method:

• Fry the onion for a few minutes, and then add the carrot and celery, and lastly the garlic.
• Cover, and soften for 4-5 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, stock and beans and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
• Stir in the cabbage and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes or until the cabbage is cooked.
• As with many soups, this gets better after a day or two!

---

Quick ‘World Vegan Day’ Pesto

This is one of Ruth’s recipes. She uses nutritional yeast for cheesiness in this vegan pesto recipe. She says “For pasta just add to cooked pasta with a little of the reserved water you used for boiling and mix together. Nice topped with sundried tomatoes and/or rocket. Can also be used to make canapes – just spread onto pastry and bake until golden. Can also be used as a spread, dip or sandwich filling!”

Ingredients:

• 2 x packs fresh basil
• 3 big handfuls of spinach or a pack of kale (roughly remove the tough stems)
• 100g nuts such as cashews, walnuts, almonds or sunflower seeds for a nut free version (pesto recipes traditionally use pine nuts but they are very expensive!)
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
• juice of 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast 
• half tsp salt
• oil – use own judgement for consistency but roughly 3 tbsp

Method:

• Put everything except the olive oil in a blender and blend to form a paste, scraping down the sides as required. 
• Add the olive oil a bit at a time until you have a thick but pourable sauce. The flavour can be adjusted to your taste with more nutritional yeast for a cheesiness, garlic for bite etc.

---

Chocolate Snickerdoodles

These biscuits are delicious and very easy to make! We made them at one of our cookie baking workshops. Keep an eye on the food forum on facebook for upcoming events! 

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp almond/soy milk

For the sugar dusting:

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
• In a large bowl, sift flour, cocoa, cayenne, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a separate medium bowl, whisk canola oil, maple syrup, vanilla, milk, and sugar until fully incorporated.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing continuously. The batter will be stiff.
• Using the palm of your hands, roll about 3 tablespoons worth of batter into a small ball. Shape into pancake-like disks and cover one side with the sugar-cinnamon dusting
• On a sheet of parchment paper, place each disk about 1 inch apart, sugar side up. Bake for about 12 minutes.
• Makes 15-20 cookies, depending how big you want them.

---

There you have it—three delicious vegan recipes!! Whether you’re indulging in the Quick Vegan Pesto, savoring the comforting warmth of the Winter Soup, or enjoying the sweet delight of Chocolate Snickerdoodles, these recipes prove that vegan cooking can be diverse, exciting, and absolutely mouthwatering. Happy cooking and happy World Vegan Day!