Other assorted Christmas Eats and the New Year

Yesterday I shared the main event, but there were lots of other assorted Christmas eats as well to show you.

Pfeffernusse were always one of my favourite things about Christmas, but the ones available here aren't even vegetarian (they have gelatine), let alone vegan. One of my friends who lives in Germany sent me some vegan ones when he was back home last year! They are so good, I just love them so much.



I had actually bought this during Christmas 2021, but never used it. It languished in my freezer until I finally made if for a cleaning out the freezer lunch in December. It was even still in date! I didn't see this in Coles this year, so I guess it was a one and done. It is a vegan selection including sweet and sour candy canes (which are kind of like very thing spring rolls, and had a lot of capsicum in them), jackfruit star toasts, and cauliflower and pumpkin balls. The 'candy canes' were not good, even without the capsicum issue they just were not very crispy or tasty. The balls were quite sweet, but not bad, and the jackfruit toasts were adequate. I wouldn't buy these again, even if they did put them back next Christmas.



For Christmas Eve I returned to my semi tradition of making nachos!

Vegan Nachos from Happy Vegan by Fearne Cotton: The star of the show here is a vegan cheesy chip recipe you also need to make first (though it says you can sub shot bought vegan cheese). This is a lovely cashew based dip. I made this the day before, as I was working on Christmas Eve morning and I wanted to be able to just throw everything together. The nachos also have refried beans, avocado, tomatoes, and salsa, plus coriander. I left out the fresh spring onions and pickled chillies. Rather than making these as a double layer nachos, I used a larger container for a single layer. I also double the amount of refried beans so I could use up the entire can (I used Old Elpaso brand). The recipe calls for plain soy yoghurt, which I could use, but instead I used some of the Made With Plants Sour Cream, which is my favourite sour cream. The tortilla chips, refried beans, and cheesy sauce are baked to get all warm and gooey, and then it is topped with all the fresh ingredient.
Rating: Nachos :), Cheesy Dip :)





I also made us a lovely platter for Christmas Eve dessert.





Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) calls for lots of snacks! I was excited to try these Turkey and Stuffing chips, but the flavour was just a bit flat. I find that chip flavours rarely live up to the promise.



And some lovely dips! I've had both of these before, and I really enjoy them. Especially the sweet potato one.



Stollen and Rum Balls are also an important part of festive snacking.



As are festive toasted sandwiches. This has some of the leftover cranbery sauce with some Leftfields Brie and Made With Plants smoked ham in it.



I always make a salad for dinner on Boxing Day, because I am generally craving some vegetables after a day of snacking.

White Bean Nicoise Salad from Cook The Pantry by Robin Robertson: I love nicoise salad. For this one I used the option of roasting the potatoes (because why wouldn't I?), and I used some frozen green beans to make it pantry friendly because I used all my fresh ones on Christmas Day. This also has cherry tomatoes, olives, and cannelini beans in a wonderful tangy dressing.
Rating: :)



And a little sneaky post of New Year's Day food. I worked on New Year's Eve, and even though I finished at 1pm I was wrecked. Plus I had to briefly wake up at 4.30am on New Year's Day to give Boo a specifically timed medication. So I did not feel like making pizzas or platters. I could have ordered in some vegan pizzas, but I didn't feel like it so we ordered in Japanese food and I was snug in bed nice and early. I also did not make pancakes for breakfast on New Year's Day. See above feeling wrecked. But I still did make an easy dinner. I used to make all the black-eyed peas and greens recipes fod dinner on New Year's Day, but I have expanded that now to any sort of beans and greens.

Pan-Fried Butter Beans & Greens from Sweet Potato Soul by Jenne Claiborne: This is so simple! I love butter beans, and these are pan-fried until crispy. Then you sautee some greens. As we can't get collard greens here, I used kale. The flavours are very simple, so jazz up with salt, soy sauce, or hot sauce (if that floats your boat) at will. I served it over some brown rice and topped it with some avocado.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



You definitely deserve a kitty photo after making it through that giant post (it's cool if you just skimmed the pictures to get down to this part). Eloise's turn with the Santa hat! OK, I probably could have gotten it on her head, but putting it above her head on the floor like this was just too cute and funny. She is also modelling her Meowwww catnip sun, which was one of her Christmas presents.