Christmas food and recipes

[not2ez2bgreen]

It's nice that your Mom makes an effort to make something you can eat for dinner!

It's nice that you freeze ahead...leftovers are a foreign concept around here.....

[Enchantress]

We'll be having nut roast, roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, brussel sprouts, peas, gravy and cranberry sauce. I might make some bread sauce as well. I'm making a trifle for dessert too.

[VeganZee]

my husband makes the most amazing pie so we will be having soya mince and onion and mushroom pie in flaky pastry, with new potatoes, broccali and cauliflower (if we can find any thanks to this snow!!) peas and home made yummy vegan gravy and then I get to eat ALL the vegan christmas pudding I bought as no-one else in my house likes it! yay

[vorpal]

Veganomicon Moussakka, made the day before. Nnnooommmmmmm. With pine nuts on top I can't wait.

[TXvegan]

Lentil loaf
Curried green beans
Sweet potatoes mashed with raw brown sugar and spices topped with pecans
Mashed potatoes
Turnips and carrots
Olive tray
Cornbread
Maple Pecan pie from Fat Free Vegan

[Clueless Git]

Redwoods Turkey Style Roast with Cranberry and Wild Rice Stuffing.

I'm off to Marks & Spencers today to grab anything in the way of potatoes, veg and trimming that are pre-prepared and ready to bung straight in the oven.

Shall also be popping into Holland & Barrets, and then on to Veggie World, to grab some of their vegan tid-bits for boxing day at my parents.

I know that sounds 'tacky' but this is the first xmas that I've had spare money in my pockets in as long I can remember. Gonna be throwing some of that around to make sure this is also the first xmas, in as long as I can remember, that I don't spend all day cooking.

[cobweb]

^ woooo throwing your money around eh?
Doesn't sound tacky, sounds nice!

We'll be stuffing our faces (why do we have to do that at Christmas?) with Celebration Roast and a Cheatin Turkey, sprouts, carrots, roasties and stuffing .

[RubyDuby]

I'm going to my parents Christmas Eve. I mentioned getting a Tofurkey Feast and met utter silence. I guess I'll prep a lasagna tonight to bake there.

[megrainbows]

We are having,
redwoods celebration roast - turkey style slices and 'sausages' wrapped in 'bacon' slices
brussels, carrots, roast parsnips, roast sweet potatoes, peas, gravy, sage & onion stuffing

[Andy_T]

Had a lovely ginger-carrot soup, and then some roast tofu and salad (my veg roast is still in the mail, unfortunately :-(

Best regards,
Andy

[Glen Lambert]

We're having Tofu Roast from Sarah Kramer's La Dolce Vegan (p170).

It was full of win last year so gets a return visit this year.

[snivelingchild]

We went to eat with the bf's family, and his dad cooked some yummy stuffed cabbage leaves, made fresh guacamole, and had fresh and steamed veggies and olives. There was some non-vegan food too.

Then we went to see my parents, and my mom made stuffed portobellos, stuffed squash, green beans, fruit salad, roasted rosemary potatoes, homemade oat bread, homemade poppyseed bread, italian veggie sausages with red cabbage, and lots of veggies/hummus. Then, we had sparkly (alcoholic and non), hot tea, and she made a vegan yule log that was to die for!!!! Seriously it was the best desert I've had in my life!

[RubyDuby]

I is jealous.

I was just happy my parents liked the lasagna! which I forgot to take pics of...

[emmapresley]

i dont understand why it is that on christmas day even though the dinner is kind of just like a glorified sunday dinner that its so hard to stay conscious afterwards?

i had 832634562 million roast potatoes and some gravy..and i scowled at everyone elses lunch. and a fig roll for afters. which i enjoyed very much

[bexybexy]

I had the best ever food on xmas day as my first xmas as vegan. For breakfast I had a vegan fry-up with soya bacon, sausages and smoked tofu. Then for lunch vegan turkey with vegan sausages wrapped in bacon and I made a vegan xmas pud which my family of meat eaters said was the best they had ever tasted! Also for the first xmas ever I did not feel sick and bloated just comfortably stuffed and didn't put on ten pounds! It must be cos the vegan stuff is so much healthier!

[Risker]

Redwoods celebration roast
Redwoods mixed sausages
Nut roast
Roast potatoes & parsnips (mountains of)
Steamed carrots & peas
Brussel sprouts
Gravy
Bread sauce
Stuffing balls
Condiments: Cranberry sauce, French mustard, English mustard, Dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard, horseradish sauce

After the main course;
Christmas pudding
Cheezly selection pack with 3 different flavours & strong cheddar sheese with crackers, pickle, piccalilli, pickled onions etc.

Possibly also hot mince pies and mulled wine.

[Firestorm]

^^^That sounds really nice

[mythil]

Whatever my other half cooks up

[Blueberries]

This year I'm thinking of making this seitan loaf http://www.theppk.com/2011/11/seitan...kes-and-leeks/, not sure what accompaniments will be yet. Last year my mam made me a nut loaf (I only came home late on xmas eve, didn't have time to cook!). The year before I made the quinoa croquettes from VWAV, and the year before that I think I just had the vegetables, which is what I did for all my vegetarian years. I only started making fancy things when we started going to my aunty's house for Christmas dinner a couple of years ago!

[Puska17]

Herb stuffed cashew and brazil nut loaf, mountains of veg, I might try a cauli sheeze as well.
Pud is hopefully going to be the Chocolate Ganache Tart from River Cottage raw episode if the trial tomorrow tastes good.
Lots of homemade mince pies, and Booja Booja chocs

[twinkle]

Had 'Not-Christmas' dinner with my friends yesterday (it's a tradition we've had for 10 years with good friends we won't see on the actual day). Dinner was:

Chestnut and mixed nut roast in flaky pastry
Roast potatoes
Steamed sprouts
Boiled carrots
Homemade seitan and split pea sausage
Sage and onion gravy.

Pudding was chocolatey fruit and marzipan cup-cakes and chocolate-coconut hearts

It's been a good weekend

[Ladygold]

savory stuffed gardein turk'y
Mashed potatoes with butter and tofutti cream cheese
Bread
mixed vegetables
stuffing my partners makes
cranberries

Not sure about desert yet but planning to bring something vegan to share.

We are doing this with my partners family and they are pretty much either rude about veganism / vegetarianism or ignore it completely. This year I have decided to take care of my food needs and maybe bring a good book LOL

LG

[harpy]

We're taking the assembled ancient Britons to the Riverside Vegetaria again, so they can all have whatever they want (as long as it's vegetarian or vegan). Anyone else going there?

[deniselynn]

We like to get Chinese takeout on Christmas.

[harpy]

That sounds nice, Denise. Unfortunately it wouldn't work for my mother-in-law. My mother once bullied her into coming to our local (very nice and vegan-friendly) Chinese restaurant and I swear she didn't eat more than a spoonful of food except for the "toffee apples" for pudding which she seemed to like.

[Blueberries]

To me it's so strange that you can get take-away or go to a restaurant on Christmas day, here nothing opens on Christmas day, except a few newsagents might open for a couple of hours in the morning.

[mythil]

To me it's so strange that you can get take-away or go to a restaurant on Christmas day, here nothing opens on Christmas day, except a few newsagents might open for a couple of hours in the morning.

I never used to go outside on Christmas day. However, one year when I was spending it alone I decided to go and walk through town just to see how empty it was... There is no law (I think) saying you can't open on X-mas day so a lot of the non Christian people were open, usualy Chinese and so on shops.. Which is kinda odd.

[Blueberries]

It wouldn't surprise me if there was a law here, it's illegal here to sell alcohol on Good Friday.

[twinkle]

Spa is always open here in Leicester on Christmas day and I'm pretty sure I've seen other little shops on the same street open.

[Crusty Rat]

Thinking of doing a nut roast or something pastryish. My mum normally makes some kind of veggie stew with dumplings but last year we spent xmas with my OH's family and she and her mum made several rather fancy things and now I feel obliged to compete.

[Firestorm]

I bought Tofurkey Feast, I'm going to make stuffing, use Tesco bread sauce mix (or make some with Delia's Recipe like last year), wrap Redwood Sausages in Redwood Rashers and have it with the potatoes and veg my sister makes.
I'm going to spend next year practising nut roast/tofu roast/seitan roast recipes and make the most successful for Christmas rather than buying it again.

I usually have Redwoods Turkey Style roast with Wild Rice and Cranberry stuffing, but I have been in touch with the company and they have stopped making it (and the Beef roast with horseradish stuffing) due to poor demand

[Risker]

Redwoods celebration roast
Redwoods mixed sausages
Nut roast
Roast potatoes & parsnips (mountains of)
Steamed carrots & peas
Brussel sprouts
Gravy
Bread sauce
Stuffing balls
Condiments: Cranberry sauce, French mustard, English mustard, Dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard, horseradish sauce

After the main course;
Christmas pudding
Cheezly selection pack with 3 different flavours & strong cheddar sheese with crackers, pickle, piccalilli, pickled onions etc.

Possibly also hot mince pies and mulled wine.

We're now also having an entree of watercress and citrus fruit and I'm thinking about making a pate to go with the crackers. After all that I've booked two liposuction sessions.

[deniselynn]

We are going here http://www.sutaocafe.com/ for the vegan buffet. So excited!

[Andy_T]

This year I will get my delicious Vegusto "Festival day roast" in time hopefully!

Best regards,
Andy

[happysunshine]

Is was thinking I was doomed to a boring ho-hum holiday meal (I mean, the same as any other day of the year) when I ran across this book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006D312LE

... It has some amazing vegan dishes in it. It also has the history of how pumpkins were used in ancient spirituality to celebrate winter (and what we now call Christmas). I had no idea! I'm going to use some of those ideas for my annual holiday observance now that I know about them.

Anyway, some of the recipes I've made already (as a trial run for my Christmas spread) and they were so good I ate the whole thing by myself (blush). I think I'll make a large batch of those dishes for my family.

I'm in the process of trying the others. I'm sure they'll be fab too.

Just thought I'd share that little gem I found that got me out of the holiday "ho-hum" eating doldrums.

[Daffodil]

Im just having veg, no gravy. And as someone else is cooking this year I've kept it simple and said nothing mashed or roasted and no gravy. When my mum cooks she veganises it for me but I can't be bothered to go into it with someone not so close.

[Wildman]

I'm cheating this year with a Redwoods roast. It's the first year I don't have to cook for the whole family and with two crazy boys who probably wont eat much other than treats all day I just don't think its worth rustling up a gourmet extravaganza. I've also thrown the Christmas pudding out the window and opted for a trifle.

[happysunshine]

Hey Wildman,

You can always opt for a New Year's Day holiday meal instead (meaning the afternoon/night of New Year's Day) -- one that's simple, healthy, and that begins the new year with good vibes.

So, for you, if would be Christmas healthy eating, out the window; New Year healthy eating, bring it on!

Just a thought ...

[DeadTomato]

I am taking an incredibly lazy route to Christmas dinner since it's just me in my house that will be eating the vegan option unfortunately. I'm making up a stuffed seitan roast of my own creation which surprisingly isn't half bad, and along with that I will be having Redwoods sausages, whatever veg my Mum happens to cook up for everyone (I'm hoping for a ton of sprouts), and gravy of some description. For dessert I'm making chocolate fridge cake.

All the other vegan feasts on this thread sound delicious!

[harpy]

Yours sounds nice too DeadTomato!

Don't you think the others will try and pinch yours? A lot of omnivores seem to be fed up with their traditional Christmas food (so why don't they take the obvious way out eh?).

[DeadTomato]

Well hey, you never know, do you? My family tend to pretend they hate everything I cook on the principle that it's vegan, but the rate at which vegan goodies I leave in the fridge mysteriously disappear without me touching them suggests they're more open to the idea than they'd care to admit So if they do feel that way inclined then there is more than enough to go around

[harpy]

Should be interesting - don't forget to report back!

[Wildman]

That's a great idea happysunshine, start as you mean to go on. Also I'll have the time, nothing worse than being chained to the kitchen while your children are opening their gifts.

[diy-girlie]

Can't wait!

[happysunshine]

That's a great idea happysunshine, start as you mean to go on.

Yes, and it can be lots of fun if you have a few other people join you in this "Fresh Start Feast".

I mean, you can have all the yummy HEALTHY foods you would have had at the Christmas table, it'll just be a week later ....

[Glen Lambert]

Tofu Roast from Sarah Kramer's La Dolce Vegan. Going with a different filling this time though. Soya mince with walnuts, breadcrumbs, chopped mushrooms and onions etc etc. Takes an age to prepare though.

[airalien]

I'll probably have bread and muesli, hehe. I really need to start finding something to eat.

[teacup]

As I still want to convince my parents of veganism, I struggled a bit with finding a appropriate christmas dinner. But know I made my decision:

Entree: Carrot cream soup

Main dish: Filled peppers with dumplings, red cabbage and brown mushroom sauce

Dessert: Little biscuit tartlets with whipped cream (I found an awesome recipe for whipped coconut milk...) and berries

I hope it will suceed.... Otherwise I'll start a new try next year.

[happysunshine]

Okay, I did it ... I used some of the recipes from the book I mentioned earlier to round out my Christmas spread.

Heres' what we had:

Sprouted Pecan Wrap (using the sprouts as a "wrap" filled with veggies, avocado, pecans, and mango)
Pumpkin Chickpea Thai Curry (super yum ingredients with a dash of cashew butter) ... a recipe from the book
Baked Veggie Eggrolls (cabbage-wrapped asparagus, almonds, dates)
Apple Pumpkin Slaw with Ginger Mint Dressing ... a recipe from the book
Braised Kale with Leeks, Apples, and Pumpkin ... a recipe from the book
Sweet Bell Peppers stuffed with Black Beans and Garlic Raisin Chutney
Fresh Sliced Tomatoes (red and yellow); Celery sticks full of cashew butter
and for dessert, Pumpkin and Date Sweet Jewels ... a recipe from the book

The recipes are all simple, quick, healthy ... and delish!!

I TOLD you guys I was enamoured with this book. It's just the best! The dishes I made for the family all got major thumbs up. I'm going to try some other recipes for our New Year get together.

Anyway, here's the link for the book again in case you missed it before:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006D312LE


(And, no, I don't receive any compensation or anything as a result of sharing this info. I just want to pass on a great resource to my fellow vegans.)

Blessed Be, all of you!!

[harpy]

I see you really like pumpkin, happysunshine

There's a nice-sounding butternut squash recipe that would probably work with pumpkin too here