Samhain and Yule 2019

Following on from my post last week, here are my food celebrations for the other two sabbats that have already been and gone this year. If you missed the last post, have a quick read to see what they are all about and what they mean to me.

Samhain (April 30th, 2019)

Samhain in the Northern Hemisphere is October the 31st, which everyone knows as Halloween (which has its origins in Samhain). Samhain is considered the new year of the wheel of the year. You can have a lot of fun with food for this, there are traditional foods but you can also go the fun Halloween route if that is your thing. Though given that it is not Halloween here for another 6 months I generally just go with something more traditional.

Punk-Kin Pasta from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer: I got the idea to make this from Bianca's blog, she always posts about her sabbat feasts and I often search on her blog for some witchy food inspiration. This is a simple but tasty little dish, with a very easy sauce made from a tin of pumpkin puree. I did thin it out a little but adding some pasta water, a splash of oat milk, and a sprinkle of stock powder. The sauce also has sauteed chunks of sausage in it, and I used Field Roast Apple Sage. An excellent combination. Sprinkled with a bit of FYH Parmesan. I used 250g of pasta, which was enough for 3 serves.
Rating: :)



Jen's Raisin Soda Bread from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer: I had planned on making some sort of cute fancy dessert, but ended up going for something simple with a quick soda bread recipe. This is quite dense and doesn't rise as much as some other soda breads that I have made. I had planned on using currants instead, as I am not the biggest fan of raisins (I just find them very sweet), but then I discovered that I was out of currants and only had raisins. This also has caraway seeds in it, though I misread and only added 1/2 tsp instead of 1/2 tbs. This was good with a bit of butter, and as the recipe said was even better the next day.
Rating: :| but only because of the raisins, otherwise would be :) if it had currants (or even sultanas)



Yule aka Winter Solstice (22nd June, 2019)

Normally Yule is the sabbat where I make the biggest effort food wise. I love making either Christmas or winter menus from my cookbooks, and I had planned to do something similar this year. But then I was working late on the actual day,and I then I was super sick. So I went for very simple, and even then it had to wait a week. Oh well!

Portobello Pepper Steak Stew and Caulipots from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: I am a huge fan of the caulipots recipe with AFR, which is mashed potato and cauliflower. Not because of any caloric concerns, but just because it is tasty and a fun way to get some cauliflower into your life. The book has several flavour variations, and while I had made all of them I hadn't actually ever made the original one. But now I have! And I topped it with this lovely warming stew, that has slices of seitan and portobello mushroom. It is meant to have red and green capsicum, but I used carrot and celery instead. And I left out the chili flakes. This had a lovely, savoury flavour. Really it was only three serves with the caulipots. I have saved a bit of the leftover stew to make a wrap out of at a later time (it is currently in my freezer), which Isa suggests and a fun way to enjoy it as well. This was a great combination, served over some baby spinach.
Rating: Stew :), Caulipots :)



Baked Apples from The Joy Of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau: This is a very simple recipe. I halved it to make two apples as I was only serving two people, and I used granny smith apples. Apples are cored (but still leaving some flesh at the bottom) and half-peeled, filled with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, ad baked. After baking the apples were lovely and soft, and the filling was very runny! I served it with some So Delicious Snickerdoodle Cashew Ice Cream (my favourite ice cream).
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Speaking of witchcraft and Samhain and Halloween, have a black cat! She is pretty magical! Did you know that even to this day, black cats are the hardest to adopt out because people some people still think they are bad luck? I have met several people who say that black cats make them nervous. Obviously this is ludicrous! So give a black cat a home, or at least a pat if they want it. Black cats are awesome!