Vegan Christmas?

[Tiffany Mikkelson]

So this morning I went to a buffet with a group of people. :-) Only problem was they didn't really have any vegan options. Pretty much all they had was salad and some mixed fruit. Yeah not really worth the price they charge.  I ended up eating a lot of salad and a few items with dairy and probably egg in it. I was kind of bummed out that they didn't have vegan options. Another down side of living in the Midwest in a smallish town. :-( I guess next time I'll have to plan ahead and see if they can put something vegan out. 

So for snacking it was pretty easy as I just mostly ate the cookies I made last night. I don't normally have sweets so it's kind like a "it's there so I got to eat it." situation. :-) 

Supper was a different story. I made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with caramelized pecans, stuffing, cranberry sauce, a lettuce salad and "chicken wings" with maple/orange gravy apple cider I spiced myself and cookies for dessert. The gravy, potatoes, and stuffing originally were not vegan so I made some tweaks to make them vegan. 

I was not impressed with supper at all. The sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes just seemed off. Although the pecans were tasty. :-) They became my new favorite nut last year. I love getting them in the shell and then I shell them myself. It's such a stress reliever. I had never made cranberry sauce before, it was okay. I definitely like jellied better. Even my salad was not so great. Although nothing can beat the salads I ate at brunch. They were so crisp and fresh. So many toppings as well. Then on to the main event. The "wings" were okay I could taste how they really should have had the BBQ sauce. I think they might have been better if I used it. I did like though how it had a real chicken texture to it. I was really surprised by that. Of course the gravy was delicious either way. I put some on top of my stuffing which ended up dry. :-( I am pretty sure I cooked it to long or didn't put enough vegetable broth in it. Of course the cookies were awesome. If you read my last post you would know how great I think they are. Ha ha. The only thing though that may not be considered vegan was my dressing on the salad. I can't stand homemade dressing. There is just something to it that I don't like. So I got bottled and who knows what the heck kind of sugar they use. I have yet to find a decent priced good looking hopefully good tasting Italian dressing  that specifies the kind of sugar they use. 

So that was my Christmas when it came to food. Other than that my Christmas was eh. It's the first year in a long time I had to spend most of it by myself. If the people I had brunch with didn't invite me I would have spent Christmas with just my cat and hermit crab. So I was grateful for the offer even though it cost a fortune. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas. 

As follows is a picture of my meal. 

[Ashlee Piper]

Firstly, love the colors of your post.  So cheery!  For what it's worth, when I first saw the pic, I thought, "YUM."  It looks great, and you should feel proud.  Your first big vegan holiday meal is no small feat.  Something I found about direct vegan swaps in traditionally non-vegan recipes: They either work or they don't.  Soymilk, Earth Balance, etc, all taste a lil different and have different consistencies than dairy, so sometimes things will taste 'off.'  Moreover, your taste buds are going to change as you move through this journey.  This realization was very apparent when I was home for the holidays the past few days.  My mom is a super cook and made some vegan stuff.  It was tasty, but wow did it seem too salty or too sweet to me.  That's mostly because my taste buds have dialed back the sweet and salty I crave in my foods.

For your potatoes, have you tried roasted garlic cloves, vegetable broth, and a bit of tahini (sesame seed paste)?  You can even pop some leftover hummus in there to use up the hummus and give a nice savory flavor.  Smoked paprika is a total flavor saver.  Whatever you do, just keep trying and experimenting.  Looks like you're already making some seriously tasty stuff, even if you are your own harshest critic. :) 

[Tiffany Mikkelson]

Yeah, as much as it wasn't as tasty as I had hoped I am pretty proud of the time I took to make something like this. :-) I'm hoping by next year I'll have the meal down pat. :-) I just can't imagine holidays without mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes and stuffing. 

That's a great idea I should try garlic cloves in my mashed potatoes instead. I had used powered garlic as I didn't think of cloves. I was actually thinking after I ate them that broth would have been a better way to go. Thanks for the ideas.

I don't know if I have ever had sesame seed paste What does it kind of taste like? Well I'm sure not many have tried it plain so I guess what does it normally go in? 

Sadly I really am a hard critic on myself as I take pride in my cooking. Back in the day I had wanted to be a chef so it makes me sad when something doesn't turn out right. ha ha.