Christmas in July

Every year I think how fun it would be to do a little Christmas in July... a nice hot roast Christmas dinner without needing to have the aircon pumping because it is sweltering outside. Just a nice cosy dinner on a cold winter night. And this year, I finally did it! I had a Christmas pudding in the cupboard that I had bought on sale after Christmas, and it needed to be used up. Plus it let me try out a couple of other new recipes from some of the vegan holiday books I had bought this year.

Cranberry Sauce from The Festive Vegan Table by Aine Carlin: Aine has a cranberry sauce recipe in her original cookbook, Keep It Vegan, which is the most amazing cranberry sauce recipe ever. This one is a simpler version of it, that doesn't need to sit overnight so you can make it on the day, just as long as it has time to cool. I used some of my frozen cranberry stash (I only find frozen cranberries in the supermarkets every few years, so I always buy several bags if it is a year they are selling them!). This is a nice and tart cranberry sauce (add a bit more sugar if you prefer things sweeter). Not the heights of the Keep It Vegan one, but a good choice if you don't have as much time and need simpler ingredients.
Rating: :)



Spiced Carrots from Vegan Holiday Cookbook by Katie Culpin: This book was written by one of my IG friends, which is very cool. I couldn't find any cute bunches of rainbow carrots, so I just used some mini carrots that I had found (not baby carrots, but about half the size of regular carrots), and they were all orange. They are tossed with a savoury spice mix and baked until soft all tbhe way through. A nice twice on the often sweet glazed carrots that tend to grace holiday tables.
Rating: :)



They were the two new recipes I tried. I was keeping it very simple and easy on myself. But our plates were still full! I also served a Vegie Delights roast (just glazed in olive oil and soy sauce), some tofurky ham slices, green beans, and Potato Squashers, a recipe from Eat Drink and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton that has appeared on my Christmas lunch posts for the last several years. They are delicious and my mum loves them. This all made for a very yummy plate.



And then... the pudding. For actual Christmas last year we had the vegan Coles Christmas Pudding. But afterwards I found a vegan Chocolate and Davidson Plum Pudding at Woolworths. And it sounded good. And it was good! It is probably the best Christmas pudding I've had in a while. The chocolate doesn't make it sweeter, just adds another dimension. I heated it up and served it with some vanilla So Good ice cream (as I didn't have any custard), and we also enjoyed the leftovers cold. I will try and get this pudding if they make it again for Christmas this year.





Of course, one of the greatest things about Christmas is leftover sandwiches! I made one the next day for lunch with some of the roast and the ham, spinach, mayo, and cranberry sauce.