Christmas Day eats

Hello hello! Wow, I have not been keeping up with my blogging lately. I was feeling overwhelmed like I was falling way behind when I remembered that actually I do not have to meet any targets with blogging, it is something I do for fun and to share with my beloved little blogging community, and I can do it whenever and however I want. Which may sound obvious, but when you have a brain like mine sometimes you get fixated on imagined goals. Anyway, I have been working a lot and constantly tired and sore, but I have also been having some nice times playing some fun computer games and seeing Six the musical twice (with a third time already booked!). How have you all been?

Today I am going to share the food I ate on Christmas day. There will be another post when I feel so moved about other Christmas type foods I ate around Christmas, but this is for the day itself. I got some lovely presents, mostly a lot of books! Hurrah!

For breakfast I wanted something festive and satisfying enough to last me until it was late Christmas lunch time, without being too much. I settled on these lovely Gingerbread Overnight Oats from Life Made Sweeter. I downsized to one third of the recipe. This was incredible, it hit the exact flavour notes of gingerbread. So good! I used So Good Vanilla Soy Yoghurt instead of natural yoghurt, so I didn't add the vanilla extract. And I served it with pepitas, more yoghurt, St Dalfour's Black Cherry Jam, and fresh blueberries.
Rating: :D



Onto lunch proper, and I had planned for a very simple menu. For the centerpiece, I tried the new Coles Ham-Style Roast. It comes with a maple glaze for basting during baking. I was very suspicious when I took it out of the packet, it was so oily and seemed almost gelatinous in places? You need to score it in a diamond patter before basting and baking, and it just had a very strange texture.



Once it was baked, I was still suspicious of it. It seemed soft and far too shiny.



It was hard to cut into nice, neat slices, so I ended up just lopping off big thick ones. It had a pinkish centre, I guess because of being a ham-style roast. The flavour I can say was good, but I just didn't enjoy cooking it from a tactile standpoint, so next year I will stick the their traditional roast.



You can also see on the platter some potatoes, which are our traditional Potato Squashers from Eat, Drink, Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. Which brings me to a few other recipes I had made in the past (and already blogged about) and decided to add in here.

Frozen cranberries are almost never available here, so when they are I stock up and then carefully ration them out. So with my dwindling supply from a couple of years ago I made Cinnamon Citrus Cranberry Sauce from Keep It Vegan by Aine Carlin. This is my absolute favourite cranberry sauce recipe. You need to make it a couple of days ahead so the flavours can mingle and mellow, but that means it is ready to hit the table when it comes to the actual day.



Last minute I decided I wanted more green, and thankfully had all the things to quickly put together Cucumber Salad with Wa-Fu Dressing from Japanese Cooking by Miyoko Schinner. This is a very simple dish of tangy and sweet cucumber slices, which was a nice addition.



Of course I had to make a couple of new to me recipes!

Sweet Potato and Almond Couscous Salad from Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli: This salad has pearl couscous (which I just love), roasted sweet potatoes, cranberries, and almonds, which sounded like a perfect Christmas kind of salad. I halved the recipe, and I added the almonds just before serving to keep the crunch.
Rating: :)



Green Beans with Yuzu Vinaigrette from Just One Cookbook: This was super easy to make, crispy just cooked green beans with a lovely tangy dressing of yuzu and mustard. I was using bottled yuzu juice, so I just skipped adding the zest.
Rating: :)



All laid out for serving.



And plated up.



To drink with lunch I tried this new to me Ginger Beer kefir, which was lovely.



Dessert was a little mini Coles Matured Pudding (they happen to be vegan) and some Alpro custard. Served with some grapes and cherries. I like a very high custard to pudding ratio.



So that was Christmas day! But I know what you are really here for...

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Mirabelle is very headshy, so putting a santa hat on her was never going to be an option. Posing it with her was the best we were going to get!

Christmas Day

Hello! Today is New Year's Day here in Australia, but I still have Christmas stuff to share.

Behold our little Christmas tree! A few years ago we swapped out our huge one for a cute little table top one. I love it. I also have several ornaments from some of my favourite artists to hang on the tree as well. And out Angel still gets to go on top. I can't remember a Christmas without her.



This year I also ordered some special memorial ornaments for my girls and also for Possum. Just from one of those personalised ornament kiosks you see in shopping centres. This was pre-COVID is everywhere in Brisbane. Because our tree is very small, there isn't really space to hang them on it, so I got some ornament hangers so we could have them up on our bookshelves.





Now for some food. I took a low key approach to my Christmas breakfast. A vegan croissant I had bought a few days before filled with some mango peach jam, a bowl of Alpro vanilla yoghurt with mango and blueberry, and one of the cranberry muffins I had made a few days before for Litha. We normally have some orange juice as well on Christmas morning, but I tend to find straight up OJ a bit acidic for my tummy. So I mixed mine with some Mojo Ginger Kombucha and it was lovely!



Then it was time for presents! We are pretty low key as far as presents go at Christmas. I got some books, which I think is always a good Christmas present. And my mum also surprised me with a vegan chocolate hamper! It was from a place called Only Mine, which I had never heard of before. I haven't tried any yet because we are still working our way through some other snacks, but I will definitely report when I do!





But what you really care about is what was in those stockings for the cats! Well, there was a whole array of toys and treats. Behold!





After presents, we watching The Muppet's Christmas Carol before starting on getting ready for our late lunch. I had bought a whole bunch of roasts this year, and we decided on the Field Roast Pastry Wrapped Hazelnut and Cranberry roast this time. We'd had it before, so we knew it would be good.



Watermelon, Spinach, & Cucumber Salad from Cook, Share, Eat Vegan by Aine Carlin: Because Christmas is in summer here, we always make a salad to include on our Christmas lunch table. This year I chose this lovely fresh offering. The recipe actually calls for watercress, not spinach, but I couldn't find any and I had a bunch of baby spinach to use up. It was such a great salad, topped off with some delicious tahini sauce.
Rating: :)



Orange Roasted Carrots from Happy Vegan by Fearne Cotton: This was the other new recipe I tried this year, some lovely orange and maple glazed carrots. I was able to find smaller carrots so I could halve them and they looked cute.
Rating: :)



This platter features the sliced Field Roast, the last of my precious Tofurkey ham slices, and Citrus Cinnamon Cranberry-Sauce from Keep It Vegan by Aine Carlin, which I have made several times before and is my favourite cranberry sauce recipe.



Then we had the roasted carrots, steamed green beans, and Potato Squashers from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton, which have been a staple on a Christmas lunch table for several years.



Cranberry Ginger Cider from The Cafe Flora Cookbook: I also made this refreshing festive beverage! It is made by simmering fresh grated ginger in water, cooling, straining, then adding the ginger tea to some cranberry juice. My ginger tea simmered down a bit too much I think, so even though it was a concetrated flavour on its own it got a little bit lost with the juice. Though it still have a slight ginger punch. Or maybe it is just because I like my ginger to be super strong. But it was still lovely.
Rating: :)



Obligatory photos of the table and my plate!







Quite a bit afterwards, it was dessert time. This year I wasn't able to find a vegan Christmas pudding I wanted to buy. I didn't really feel like spending $50 on a huge vegan gluten free one from The Green Edge, and the vegan and vegan-friendly puddings in the supermarkets seemed to sell out weeks beforehand. So I dug into the freezer and found this little Sticky Date Pudding I still had hiding in there, heated it up, and served it with custard, cherries, and grapes.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I continued the tradition of tormenting cats with hats, but this year I bought an all new one that has lights in it! As you can see, Boo was monumentally unimpressed with this development. Sorry Boo, this is what Christmas is like in your new home!

Granola Round-Up the 2nd

Time for another recipe round-up of granola recipes from across a number of cookbooks! I really got into granola-making during my isolation (and the way Brisbane is going at the moment, I am preparing to go into isolation again if/when needed... seriously, you have to read about it to believe it), and I have continued making a new batch of granola every couple of weeks. Even during winter, it is quick and easy and I like it. Especially since I have found some decent vegan yoghurts I can enjoy with it. So, let's get crunchy. (Oh, an enjoy almost every photo looking the same, because I apparently really like to eat my granola out of the same bowl.)

Coconut, Date and Almond Granola from Keep it Vegan by Aine Carlin: This said a full recipe made 8-10 servings, so I made a half recipe, which was three servings. This has a lovely mix of almonds (it calls for a mix of whole and flaked, I just used all slivered), pumpkin seeds, desiccated coconut, and dates. While I halved the recipe, I still used the whole amount of cinnamon because cinnamon is the best. This was a nice granola, I was worried the dates might make it too sweet, but they were well spaced out with the crunchy oats.
Rating: :)



Peanut Butter and Jam Granola from 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman: I made a half recipe of this, which ended up being two servings a little over 1/2 cup each. I question the recipe that says a full batch would make 4 cups, the ingredients certainly don't add up to that. This is a mix of creamy peanut butter and the jap of your choice, I chose strawberry because it is the best jam. I found this granola to be a lot softer than other ones, it didn't go crunchy, and it also says it needs to be kept in the fridge.
Rating: :)



'Fig' and Grapefruit Granola from The New Vegan by Aine Carlin: I really don't like figs. The fresh ones give me terrible ulcers, and I am just not that fond of the dry ones for the most part. So I used dates instead in this recipe. I also used a ruby grapefruit as that is what was at the shops (also, pretty!). Oats are toasted with ground ginger and lemon zest for a lovely warming flavour. The granola is crunchy with nuts and seeds - I didn't have enough hazelnuts so I used a mix of them and almonds, but it also had pistachio, pepitas, and sunflower seeds in it. I made a full recipe, and got three serves. It says it serves 8-10, so I guess if you are just having a spoonful as a serve? Instead of adding the dates to the oven like the figs were meant to be, I just added them at the end oonce it had cooled.
Rating: :)



Apple Cranberry Granola from Vegan Yack Attack On The Go by Jackie Sobon: A great mix of dried apples, cranberries, almonds, maple syrup, and almond butter. My almond butter was not pourable, so I heated it gently on the stove with the syrup so I can mix it through. The big issue I had was that the oats and nut part of the granola needed more time in the oven to go golden. However as this recipe has you mix the fruit in from the start, it started to burn a bit! You can see the dried apple is pretty dark, though it ended up having a nice caramlised flavour. But maybe add the fruit in either at the end or in the last half of baking.
Rating: :)



Baconish Granola from Baconish by Leinana Two Moons: The bacony part of this granola comes from some coconut bacon. Added to a mix of oats, almonds, and dried cranberries. The recipe calls for coconut oil, but I used canola. I made a half recipe and got three serves. I liked that this had a nice, subtle smoky flavour that went really well with the maple syrup flavour and the cranberries.
Rating: :)



Cacao Nib Granola Clusters from Cook Share Eat Vegan by Aine Carlin: These are halfway to a bliss ball, but instead are baked. They are a mix of fruit and nuts. The recipe called for figs, but I declined to use them. I used a mix of dates, dried cherries, prunes, raisins, and dried appricots. I accidentally pressed a bit too hard when I was putting the blended mix onto the baking sheet, so it ended up baking pretty solid rather than in clusters. I had to break/chop them up a bit. These were nice, but boy were they super sweet. I served them over a pretty tart natural soy yoghurt, with some fresh fruit as well, but small doses only. They do make a good snack though!
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Results are back and the good news is that everything is stable! Her kidney disease hasn't advanced, and her thyroid is being controlled with her current medications. So we just continue on as is. Hurrah!

Christmas Lunch 2019

Hello friends, and merry holidays or happy hopefully day off or whatever this time of year means to you. Yesterday was Christmas here, and I managed to actually muster up some festive feelings, which was nice. The day started with my traditional Christmas morning bikram yoga class, then home to presents, and making Christmas lunch. It actually rained quite a bit, which was delightful! I'll have several festive posts to share, but today I am focusing on our Christmas lunch for this year.

We decided to keep things pretty simple this year. So instead of making a centrepiece or even buying some big fancy roast, we went with the easiest options of some Tofurky smoked ham slices and a Field Roast Wild Mushroom Quarter Loaf that I had lurking in the freezer. It was my first time trying the loaf, and it had such a wonderful mushroom flavour. We sliced the loaf and gave it a quick pop in the microwave as recommended on the packaging as the simplest way to heat up, and the ham was from the fridge.





Tarragon Pea and Spinach Side from Keep It Vegan by Aine Carlin: The first of two new recipes I tried for our meal. This is very easy to make, using frozen peas and a bag of baby spinach. The recipe says to cover the peas with water to simmer, and once the liquid has reduced add the spinach to wilt. This would have resulted in a super soupy dish, so I ended up draining off most of the liquid before adding the spinach. I realised that I forgot to add grated nutmeg (doofus), and I also decided not to add the optional soy cream. It was a really nice, savoury, green side dish. Perhaps next year I will try it with the cream, and also remember the nutmeg!
Rating: :)



Miso-Glazed Roasted Carrots from I Can Cook Vegan from Isa Chandra Moskowitz: The second new recipe I tried, from my newest cookbook. This recipe is super simple, and super tasty. I made a half recipe, for three side serves. I had five skinny carrots, that I cut in half crosswise before cutting in half lengthwise, just because otherwise they would have been too long to fit easily on our lunch plates with everything else. The glaze is easy to make. It says to toss the carrots in it and then put them on the tray. This left most of the glaze in the bowl, so I scooped out the glaze and rubbed it on the carrots. I left out the red peppers, and topped with chopped parsley rather than scallions. I roasted these for a bit longer, and at a slightly higher temperature than the book suggested to make sure they were nicely roasted and glazed.
Rating: :)



Potato Squashers from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton: These have been a Christmas Day staple at our house for years. Salty, hot, crispy, roasted potatoes. Who can say know? We always bake them for about five extra minutes on each side once they have been squashed, to make sure they are super crispy.
Rating: :D



Cinnamon Citrus Cranberry Sauce from Keep It Vegan by Aine Carlin: Frozen cranberries are hardly ever available here, but I had some in my freezer still from when I bought a heap of bags last year when Woolworths randomly had them (they didn't this year). This is my favourite cranberry sauce to make, and I've made if to previous Christmas times as well.
Rating: :D



Mum also made this lovely tomato and cucumber salad with balsamic dressing.



Our Christmas table.



And my fully loaded plate.



For dessert, I got these mini vegan friendly Christmas puddings from Coles. It was great having them in individual portions, as we could each eat ours when we felt like it and it was just a small bite, rather than having a huge pudding to share with leftovers. I drowned mine in some Alpro custard, because I like a very high custard to pudding ratio.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



While she may not look impressed here, Dim Sim had a lovely Christmas day. She got a fresh packed of Greenies, enjoyed running in and out of the rain multiple times to get rubbed down and hugged, had many sweet lap snuggles with me, and ate very well.