Dave and I chose to lay low for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. In just a few weeks my travel schedule will pick up with the book release and we thought ending the year in our home, alone with the cats, would be a nice way to gear up for a very busy early 2015. I was aching for my family in Illinois, Iowa, California and Florida, but I know it was a solid, pragmatic decision.
On Christmas Eve we actually did some food prep for the next day. I made a big pot of white beans destined for both a soup and gravy recipe.
I soaked the beans overnight so they cooked up beautifully in just 10 minutes (6 to 8 minutes, if you’re at sea level). In another pressure cooker Dave cooked up homemade seitan for the buffalo wings he planned to make the following day.
After all of that cooking, we wanted a simple, comforting Christmas Eve meal. I made Soy Curl Mac ‘n Cheese (p. 107, Vegan Pressure Cooking)
which was great with this big veggie salad.
The next morning, Christmas Day, we started with a warm, festive breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy.
Dave gave me Christmas Vacation moose mugs and we enjoyed So Delicious eggnog in them!
We had a very nontraditional meal (since we went traditional for Thanksgiving) of vegan Caesar salad and vegan buffalo wings.
Dave made the dressing, following a PPK recipe, and he dried the last of a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread to made croutons, baked in garlic and Herbes de Provence.
After our salad course, Dave headed outside – to avoid smelling the house up with seitan wings
– and soon we were noshing on these beauties.
We spent a quiet afternoon watching holiday movies and enjoying down time. I had the foresight in the morning to get a soup going with the white beans I prepared the day before + carrots, celery, caramelized onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, green chiles, liquid smoke, homemade vegetable broth, and spices (cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, black pepper). I let it simmer all day. For dinner we enjoyed the soup with cornbread waffles (I gave Dave a waffle maker for a holiday gift).
We had a nightcap, red wine, in our moose mugs.
It was a very, merry holiday! I hope yours was, too.
2 thoughts on “Vegan holiday eats”
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Happy Holidays! I also hibernated with my guy for Christmas and cooked and ate delicious food. The Soy Curl Mac looks especially great.
Isn’t hibernating the best, @veganinbrighton:disqus?! Happy new year!