Beltane Feast!

Saturday was Beltane, but I had a busy, fun day with friends — an outdoor birthday gathering for my friend Jen's birthday and Beltane celebration on Zoom with some other friends. So I decided to have my personal Beltane feast on Sunday! 

Beltane (aka May Day) is the halfway point between spring equinox and summer solstice, and it's the time to celebrate the Earth's fertility. Where I live, Beltane is the time when temps are finally getting bearable (I hate the cold!), and I can start wearing shorts. I live for shorts season. It's also a time when the garden has been planted, and we're just watering it and waiting for it to grow.

I've been using the Llewelyn's Sabbats Almanac to plan my holiday feasts, so I picked two recipes — neither of which were vegan — and veganized them. This Roasted Beet Salad was my fave of the two!

The recipe called for goat cheese, but I subbed Violife Feta. It was my first time trying it, and it was sooooo good. It really has the same texture and taste as dairy feta! The beets are roasted and coated with a red wine-olive oil vinaigrette. Plus, there are red onions and some tasty salt-and-pepper roasted walnuts. I will make this salad again! I love a well-planned, fancy salad.

I made this Pesto Pasta with Follow Your Heart parm in place of the dairy cheese the recipe called for. I typically make low-oil pestos, but for this one, I used the full half-cup of oil. What a treat! Also, I couldn't find Italian basil this time of year, so I used some Thai basil from the Vietnamese market. They carry it year-round, but it's purple, so my pesto is darker than usual.

Happy Beltane!