That vegan ham looks so gooooddddd...and I don't even like ham..never did...but I can imagine it would make a great bbq for the summer....
I got invited to my S.O.'s family for Easter dinner......
I love them, but they are all meat eaters, and I am not Christain.....
BUT, on the plus side, my uber yummy vegan baked beans I made at my daughter's Bday party was such a hit, that Auntie practically begged my to make them again...
I'm quadupeling the recipe.
"Uh, we don't eat meat. It's kind of like a professional courtesy." -Maggie, Home on the Range
Hello! As some of you know, I write for vegie mag Lifescape. I'm starting on a feature for December's issue about what veggie/vegan people will be eating for Christmas dinner around the globe!
So I'm looking for people who who live in all different countries, or people of all nationalities who live in the UK, US, wherever!
You may not even celebrate Christmas and have another time that you celebrate more - what would you be eating to celebrate then? Or maybe you just eat a normal dinner at Christmas, what's that normally?
We want to show the world how diverse eating vegan can be, and celebrate the different cultures that are around us.
I'm starting on it this week however, as am going Japan next week (eek and yay!).
Thanks guys, would be cool to feature my Vegan Forum buddies!
Last edited by alexia; Aug 24th, 2006 at 11:25 AM. Reason: Flutterby asked me to change the title so it is clearer what the subject is about
Last year we had "haggis" which was great, with stuffing and all the usual veg. Dessert was fruit (various dark coloured berries) and Swedish Glace ice cream. On Boxing Day we had lasagne. To be honest, I'd be happy with a sandwich as Christmas is no different than any other time for me but my boyfriend likes to cook.
"Do what you can with what you have where you are."
- Theodore Roosevelt
Cool, thanks Red Wellies! Wow, so why 'haggis'?! Are you guys from Scotland or just fancied something different? Was it a soya meat kind've thing? x
I'm in the US and Thanksgiving is a completely food-centered holiday celebrated here. I usually make several things to take wherever I eat for the holiday, since the traditional foods aren't vegan, as a general rule. I always bake rolls so that I know that I'm getting bread that doesn't have milk. My "entree" is buttercup squash that is cooked, mashed and then layered in a casserole with stuffing that I make from stuffing cubes (basically unseasoned croutons), sauteed onions and celery, pumpkin seeds and veg broth to moisten and herbs. I then drizzle the top with oil, sprinkle on some pumpkin seeds and bake again. I also make apple pie because I make really good pie and I can make crust that doesn't have lard. I also often take some roasted veg. Sometimes I take some tofurky, but generally not since I always liked the side dishes best anyway. Most everyone offers a green salad, so I'm really well fed with this stuff, and I get to share really good vegan food with friends and family members.
In case you're unfamiliar with traditional Thanksgiving food, the meal generally consists of baked turkey with bread stuffing cooked inside the bird, or at least made with poultry broth, mashed potatoes (containing milk), a casserole of green beans and cream of mushroom soup, cranberry relish (in many households this is replaced by a disgusting gelatinous cranberry blob that is cut in slices where the can made indentations), corn and rolls with butter. The traditional dessert is pumpkin pie which is a pie filled with a pumpkin custard which, of course, is loaded with eggs and milk.
It seems that most Christmas dinners in the U.S. consist of mostly the same foods as thanksgiving, except that they serve ham instead of turkey and cookies instead of, or in addition to, pies.
Last year was my first as a vegan so I went with some PETA recipes. They were really good!
We had a nut roast, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, and apple pie.
LV, your squash sounds yummy!!
You are not required to complete the task of repairing the world, neither are you free to abstain from it.
--Pirke Avot
Here in Italy they eat pretty much non-stop for three days And it's meat all the way I'll probably make a nut roast, or perhaps a pastry based dish and take it along - I fear my bf's family are too traditional to even contemplate swerving away from their stuffed pig's trotter on Christmas Day (yes that is truly what they eat - a heart attack in the making)!!! I'd like to go away with my bf, go skiing or something, so I don't have to deal with any of it. I can't bear the consumerism, and I'm not even vaguely religious, so getting away from it all would be my dream. Good luck with your article.
The centerpiece of Finnish christmas table is usually a ham (the bigger the better .. yuk) but I`ve heard vegans here replace it with some kind of a loaf, seitan slices etc. I happened to find this (excuse me, the site has some non-vegan things but you don`t have to make them): http://virtual.finland.fi/xmas/?p=4⊂=3
Those casseroles work nicely without eggs and using soy milk and margarine and so on. I haven`t managed to find a recipe in English for a bit unusual potato casserole they make here (especially in this area, Häme) but I could try to explain it: Cooked potatoes are mashed while still hot, add a bit of water and some flour when the mash is around 50 degrees celcius or so. Put the mixture in the oven (still around 50 degrees, you aren`t supposed to bake it yet!) and add some more flour after an hour (the starch turns into sugar and gives the stuff it`s flavor). Taste it after maybe three hours, it can be "ready" then but it can take even ten hours. Add some soy milk etc., salt, syrup if you want to, pepper and maybe some margarine and pour the whole thing into the casserole you want to bake it in (take a bigger casserole than you think you would need or you may end up having a messy oven ). It should be about as thick as yoghurt. Bake for 2 hours in 150 degrees celcius (it doesn`t hurt to bake it a bit longer, just make sure you don`t burn it).
I usually have some Vegan sausages and make sure the rest of the food is Vegan friendly. Aargh! The perils of living in an omni house...
When I get my own place I might experiment with different world foods, but a roast dinner is really satisfying
Thank you all sooooo much! Wow, what a response and from all over too! Ok I'm gonna get scribbling. Are you all ok for me to use your wording in the feature? Anyone not want their name mentioned? For those who are strictly forum nickname people, can I have your real ones? And does anyone have any cool pics of themselves or their food?
Argh it's making me hungry reading about all that vegan yumminess! Incase you were wondering what I have for Christmas dinner, it's noramally Redwood's Celebration Feast with all the trimmings. I might make a cake for dessert this year too..
I'll usually have a large nutroast aswell that the whole family will share (veggie or otherwise). With that we'll have loads of roast potatoes, perhaps some roast onion, steamed vegetables (carrots, peas, cauliflower, brussel sprouts (yuck!)) and gravy. Lots of mustard, mint sauce and cranberry jelly to go with it all aswell.
Oh, and the most important thing, lots and lots of alcohol.
"Do what you can with what you have where you are."
- Theodore Roosevelt
Tofurky and vegan stuffing all the way!
Wow I love lifescapegood luck with your article.I am very much with Fiamma on my thoughts about xmas!
I liek it as its one ofthe times of year I see friends/family,but the food and presents,and religion parts of it do not appeal!
I have nt got anythign interesting to add I am afraid! my mother and vegetarianism do not go,I usually take my own nut roast and she makes sure the veggies are cooked withot the meat.the upside of bieng vegan at xmas is, you dont usually end up 7lb heavier,as opposed to if you ate all the chocolate/puddings/fatty meats and more than your fair share like most people!!
Your article got me thinking about Christmas Alexia - I hadn't really given it a thought! I put the idea of going away to my boyfriend and he seems up for it -yay!!! So we may rent an apartment in the Dolomites and take the dog with us. There is always so much going on there around that time, and you're surrounded by some of the most stunning mountains in the world. Plus the lakes are all frozen which makes for some beautiful walks. We'll probably stay on for New Year too - I can't bear all the expectations placed on people at that time of year, and it would be great to escape from it all. A nut roast might be a bit ambitious in an apartment though, never know what kind of state the oven will be in, if there is one! I'll probably go for something a bit more ordinary, not forgetting the mulled wine of course For me what counts is the person I'm with, not what I'm eating or the presents I get. If I can get the apartment rented, the vegan ingredients in and my boyfriend convinced, it will be all I could ever wish for.
Feel free to use my wording if you want! I can send you a pic too if you want.
Hello there
Even though an athiest married to an athiest, we LOVE Christmas!!!
For the family part really - my parents always come over fromIreland and we all have a Vegan week - they are great and have never asked for real turkey at Christmas. Last time we had my hubbies vegan Yorkshire puddings to start (he is Northern - something they always have there?!) with cranberry sauce and gravey- then Redwoods Celebration Roast and Roast Beef with all the trimmings, roast parsnips, carrots, brussels with chestnuts, dried peas, dried butter beans (irish thing!) sweetcorn, sweet potato, roast potatoes etc...
Then vegan Xmas Pudding from my auntie made to an old Irish recipe (but ammended for us 'funny' folk) with soya custard. I made a vegan iced Xmas cake too. Yum Yum Big Tums!
You have my permission to use my words ... I've always wanted to be published . All kidding aside, my name is Leah and I think that your article will be awesome. Is your magazine available in the U.S.?
Nickysr - I'd love to try Yorkshire Pudding ... is hubby's recipe posted on the forum?
Korn - what's your meal like at Christmas? Norway would be a cool place to add to my feature Thanks for showing me a thread about Thanksgiving another time.
So, people in America, do you generally celebrate Thanksgiving more than Christmas? Like is it more special? xx
lvhockshart - yep you can get the mag in America, I'll find out the shops and places for you... You can subscribe online too of course. Thanks for your input!
Fiamma - a pic would be great thanks! My email address is alexiaweeks@hotmail.com
Sugarmouse - Where are you from?
Thanks to everyone that's contributed. Mucho love x
We have a big meal on 21st December as it is Winter Solstice.
We always have some omnis to visit on December 24th so we usually do some veggie sausages and baked vegetables, with vegan ice cream for afters. We don't like cooking for lots of people and this is an easy meal to do.
On December 25th we go to my mother's house where we are all vegetarian , usually have something like vegetables n a roast nut loaf. On December 26 we go to my partners family who are omni, so we have pressure cooked veggies and they have meat on the side and we have veggie burgers.
We don't have any alcohol at any of the meals as about half of the guest and hosts are teetotal.
See my local diary ... http://herbwormwood.blogspot.com/
Hi, there are none special vegan/vegetarian traditions linked to certain types of celebrations, so we made that thread by combining threads about 'celebration food'. There are many posts about Christmas there...Thanks for showing me a thread about Thanksgiving another time.
Christmas? It's August, and I don't even what I'm going to eat tomorrow!Korn - what's your meal like at Christmas?
I'll probably just make vegan version of the traditional dishes, things like mashed potatoes, stuffing, different veggies, desserts like trifle and pies and cookies....everything will be pretty much the same minus the turkey
This is my post from the other thread Korn posted - you're welcome to use it if it's any help. I'm in the UK.
This year I am working on Christmas (and New Years Day!), so I don't know what I will be eating. I may well be eating Christmas dinner on my own, in which case I'll just have to see what I have in the house
Can anyone think of ideas for Christmas dinner which don't contain nuts or mushrooms? I'm debating between going with the more 'traditional' format of a 'main' dish to go with potatoes, veg etc., or doing something different, and I'm looking for ideas to do as a main thing if I decide to do it that way. It looks like I might be feeding 1 vegan (me), 1 vegetarian (husband) and 8 omnis, four of whom are allergic to dairy products, one is allergic to mushrooms and one is allergic to nuts... I'd prefer something I can make rather than a meat replacement product.
Last year for Christmas (before I was vegan, though the recipe could be made vegan) I made 'crepe galette', which was layers of pancakes with alternating layers of lentil bolognese and spinach and cream cheese baked in a cake tin and sliced like a cake to eat, with a roasted red pepper sauce, plus steamed veg, potatoes, etc.
If you want something that will go with roast veg and gravy then how about making a pie of some description? Everyone loves fat and puff pastry is a good choice, but shortcrust is just as good (possibly better with gravy as less likely to go soggy quickly). Personally I'd go with a nice mushroom, red wine and leek pie, but I'm sure you can figure something out
"Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock
I just made a chestnut and cranberry casserole which turned out well and could work as a Christmas dish, so thought I'd share:
1 leek, sliced
1 tbsp oil
450g/1lb peeled chestnuts, fresh or frozen
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 courgette/zucchini, quartered and sliced thickly
4 sticks celery, chopped roughly
50g/1 3/4 oz raisins
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro)
1 cinnamon stick, broken
425ml/ 3/4 pint vegetable stock
225g/8oz fresh cranberries
2 tbsp demerara sugar
soy sauce to taste
freshly chopped coriander (cilantro) to garnish
Cook the leek in the oil until softened but not browned, then add the chestnuts and stir over the heat until defrosted, if frozen. Add the pepper, courgette and celery, stir fry for one minute, then stir in all the remaining ingredients except the cranberries and sugar.
Bring the casserole to the boil, then simmer gently for 10-15 minutes. Add the cranberries, continue to cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and add about 2 tablespoons of sugar. Stir in extra soy sauce to taste.
Serve on a bed of boiled rice, topped with chopped coriander.
Thanksgiving really isn't a big thing at our house but it's coming up and I'm really craving some "holiday" food. I really want to try a nut roast. They are so many recipes, I don't know which one is best.
Peace, love, and happiness.
mmmm holidayssssss. i cant wait to make my nut roast with all the trimmings. extra stuffing, roasted or mashed potatoes, candied carrots, maybe some green beans, gravy, yorkshire pudding........and chocolate cake for dessert!
*drools* hahaha.
"you dont have to be tall to see the moon" - african proverb
Hi all. Back from my hols in Japan - was great! Vegan food out there is sooooo nice (when you can find it..). So I'm about to finish up my feature on Vegan Christmas dinners, which was what the thread was originally about (so cool it went on from there) but I was wondering if anyone out there had any pictures they could email me of the food.... Got tons of wording for the feature which is brill but not a single picture! Or maybe one of themselves at Christmas... Thanks and I'd really, really appreciate it forever!! xx
okay so this is what were having for our thanksgiving dinner:
nut roast
stuffing
yorkshire pudding
gravy
candied carrots
green beans OR creamed corn
mashed potatoes
and chocolate cake for dessert.
"you dont have to be tall to see the moon" - african proverb
This year we are going to my b/f's cousin's house for dinner. We went there last year as well, and our host and hostess went to so much effort to make sure everything was veganised for me (except for the poor turkey ). This year I'm sure it will be the same. I'm going to be taking a vegan apple pie with a can of my Soyatoo Whipped Cream to put on the table for dessert.
wow, I only just saw this, and have spend a couple of hours reading through it!
this cold weather here just lately has really put me in the mood for the kinds of foods mentioned here.
I have made 'tip top tofu loaf' (extra seasoning though) and a nut loaf out of the HIAV/GOV/LDV books, and some stuffing too which I think was either out of those books or might have been Eva Batt Vegan Cooking, and all have been great. What I want to try sometime soon is making a sort of layered loaf... what I was thinking was to make up the nut loaf, and press it to the three sides of a loaf tin and reserve some for the top later on; then fill in with half the tofu loaf mixture, leaving a valley in the middle for a line of stuffing; putting in the stuffing as a line down the middle, then filling in over it with the tofu mix and then finally covering the top with the remaining nut mix. I will try it soon, hope it will turn out lovely! I think it will look interesting in slices too. I have seen a 'chicken-style' loaf available in the shops which would work well too, probably in place of the tofu mix.
I'm going to serve it with gravy, roast potatoes, sliced green beans, and possibly some cauliflower with a mild cheesy-style sauce (I'm thinking Randomgirl.com's Cheese Sauce out of HIV or GOV).
I've never made so many things at once though and I'm not sure how to co-ordinate cooking the roast and the potatoes at the same time!! I would have to check what temps each want and see if I can do them both at once or perhaps make the loaf first and heat it up to serve??
I will probably try it this weekend and post back to let you know how I get on
roast potatoes can be basically thrown in at any temp jamie. just go along with what your nut roast calls for and then throw them in with it, stirring them around every 20 minutes or so. they take about 40 minutes to cook anyhow.
good luck with your dinner!
my thanksgiving dinner was sooooooooooo good. me and steev cant stop eating it. its so delicious day after day lol. ugh!
"you dont have to be tall to see the moon" - african proverb
roast potatoes are an art. The temperature isn't really a problem as long as it's above 180. There's lots of other things you can do to roast potatoes thou other than throwing them in to ensure they're the perfect consistancy and texture for your liking. Personally I go for really crispy on the outside, steamed on the inside.
"Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock
How do we make a perfect roast potato Mr Flibble?
mr flibble, i am not a perfectionist and my food always turns out mouth wateringly delicious. no they are not an art. all you have to do is chop them up, add herbs/spices and oil or vegan butter, and throw them in the oven. (i never intended you just throw in potatoes without anything added. obviously) i usually do it at a high temperture until theyre cooked through, which gives me a crispy outside and a buttery inside. since nut roasts usually require high tempuratures, that is why i suggested to just throw them in with it. nut roasts usually call for around 400 degrees and thats what i cook my roast potatoes at anyways. hence why i just throw them in with my nut roast. or throw them in if i just want roast potatoes. delicious food doesnt require alot of planning and scrutiny, especially something as simple as roasted potatoes. so yes, add the ingredients of your liking, throw them in the oven and stir them occasionally to make sure theyre cooking through properly.
ive never tasted roasted potatoes that ive liked better than my own so i highly doubt im doing something wrong here by just throwing them in the oven lol. if you know what youre doing when youre cooking, you can throw anything in the oven at the required temperature and have it turn out delicious. you just have to know how to cook. and i definitely dont have a problem in that area.
relax.
"you dont have to be tall to see the moon" - african proverb
What herbs do you use Tina? I am cooking christmas dinner this year and i want it to be extra tasty. I have no problem cooking roast potatoes just wanted to do somehting a little differnet for the family.
there are lots of herbs that would work really well puffin. my usual roast potatoes just have garlic, parsley, pepper and oil/butter. but its fun to throw in some rosemary, chives, or thyme. any herbs that have a savoury flair to them would go wonderfully!
"you dont have to be tall to see the moon" - african proverb
I suggest cumin.
Peace, love, and happiness.
The US Thanksgiving is coming up, and I am wondering what your plans are.
- Are you making anything?
- Are you eating together with nonvegans?
- Any other celebration activities?
Here's what I'm doing: My family is going to my grandparents house and there will be a few extended relatives there. My grandmother is making some nonvegan items (t*rkey/stuffing probably some other things), and I called her and told her that I will make a bunch of dishes to bring. My vegan bf will be coming with us, and my brother is vegetarian, so I definitely need to do some of the cooking, which is good because I love cooking for everybody.
Here are some ideas of what I want to make:
huge raw salad (my bf eats mostly raw)
cranberry walnut stuffing
bowtie pasta with spinach pesto
some type of Indian curry dish, or some lentil dish
chocolate chip cookies (requested by my brother)
and I'll probably pick up a loaf of bread or some rolls, whole wheat.
Last edited by flutterby; Dec 1st, 2006 at 09:59 AM. Reason: this was the 1st post in a similar thread
I eat nutritional yeast by the spoonful.
Traditionally my parents, brother and I drive three hours to visit my dad's extended family in Turkey Creek, Florida. It is just about how it sounds. Lots of good ol' southern food, none of which I can eat. Last year I brought two sides and a dessert, and picked at some of the other things and ended up plenty full. But this year I'm thinking of staying home and spending it with my boyfriend and a couple friends. It'll pretty much be the same...lots of non-vegan food and me bringing a couple things. I'd much rather stay here, but I'm worried my parents will be really disappointed if I don't go with them. Rawr...
Thank goodness we don't have thanksgiving here. I couldn't cope with that AND christmas
Silent but deadly :p
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