Wednesday, December 27, 2006

CHRISTMAS FEASTING

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Tina in her favorite new spot!

We had a great time, ate too much (of course!), talked alot, and the power stayed on despite some high winds! Today (a beautiful, sunny, windy day) we're having miso soup for lunch, and something very light for dinner-- maybe another soup, like mushroom and barley!

Christmas Day was quiet with just the two of us for part of the day, and then my stepson Laurie came for a visit. For Christmas breakfast, I made some apple stuffed crepes (pictures didn't turn out, except for the following one)

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that I WAS planning on squirting decoratively with Soyatoo soy whipped topping, but it would not come out of the can! It worked that last time I bought it-- anyone else had this problem? (They also have a "Rice Whip")I'm going to take it back. I wish we could get the "Topping Cream", which evidently you can whip yourself. I'm going to suggest it to my HFS.

Anyway, I made my tofu crepes , but I used commercial soy eggnog instead of the regular soymilk. I had bought two kinds of storebought soynog for the first time-- Vitasoy and So Nice-- and didn't like either of them! I prefer my own version from my soy cookbook. So, I'm using up the rest of the commercial stuff in cooking. It worked well for the crepes, and I also made some eggnog-streusal muffins. I'll post the muffin recipe in a day or two.

We had dinner at my son's house-- not vegetarian, but I brought a Fieldroast "Celebration Roast" for us, which was very tasty!

Boxing day (December 26th) is traditionally our family day (makes it more flexible with all the respective inlaws!), so my two oldest daughters and their families, my mother, 3 vegan friends, my son and his wife (minus kids, as they were at their other parents'), and my stepson Laurie came to our house (my youngest daughter and her family and DH's son Sean were missing this year).

I served my seitan "turkey" and "pork roast" (rolled with fresh herbs and garlic), brown gravy, mashed potatoes, baked traditional bread stuffing, 5-spice cranberry sauce with almonds, spinach salad with roasted beets and oranges, pot pie with Soy Curls, vegetables and creme gravy, Brussel ssprouts stir-fried with red pepper and green onions, and my friend Fireweed's roasted root vegetable combo.


Below are photos (from various angles) of our feast:

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There were various non-vegan sweets there, but I made a couple for the vegans-- my Pumpkin Tunnel Cake , and Panforte (Update: recipe will be in my new book, coming out Aug 2011-- you can preorder it from amazon!), a delicious Italian dessert that is more like candy than a fruitcake. I veganized it (it's usually made with honey) and it will be in my next newsletter. Someone brought a bag of Mrs. Mays Almond Crunch, which I had never tasted before-- delish, and not too sweet! (Also no artificial colors or flavors; no additives or preservatives; GMO-free; vegan; wheat free !)


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Panforte from World Vegan Feast

I'd love to hear about your vegan feast!

All the best!
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10 comments:

harlemgrrl said...

glad you had happy holidays with family and power! fwiw, i've gone through a jillion of those soya cans without a problem so lets hope that your dud was an exception to the rule...

had dinner from a vegan restaurant so the feast was not my own, but you've inspired me to plan a dairy free meal for my friends and family next year :0)

Anonymous said...

What an incredible feast! You are amazing and your family is very lucky.

Amey said...

Fun!
I also made vegan panforte... I love that stuff so much! We've got about half left, so I think we'll eat it on New Year's too.

I'm so glad to read that you were able to have a lovely holiday feast, complete with electricity! Hoorah! I'm planning on looking through the recent newsletters for my next few recipes, so we'll see what I come up with!

Happy new year

Anonymous said...

That looks like an excellent feast. I hope you'll include your "pork" roast recipe in your seitan book, as well as the antichucos + kebab making techniques. I've had success sometimes with kebabs, other times they wind up too soft + gummy. Pork has disgusted me since I found a vein in my ham when I was a kid, but your "pork" will suit some marinades + rubs that wouldn't go right with other seitans. If we can keep you around to an old age I can only imagine what you'll be coming up with.

Bryanna Clark Grogan said...

Scullion-- I will be including alll of those recipes.

Anonymous said...

The soyatoo whipped "cream" in the can is a bit fussy. You have to set the can out of the fridge for 15-20 minutes before it can be dispensed. It solidifies at fridge temperature, and needs to warm up a bit before use. (I discovered this by following a link to their website from Food Fight's website)

Anonymous said...

Bryanna-- just wanted to make you aware that Soyatoo has been having some problems with the propellant-- they have instructions on their site on how to avoid a broken can: http://www.soyatoo-usa.com/us/faq/prepare/?CurrentStep=1

Apparently, they are working on the problem, though it's still no fun to pay nearly $5 for a greedy can of whipped cream.

Anonymous said...

I've now purchased 6 different cans of soyatoo and every time they stop working after the first 2 or so uses. I'm so sad because it seems like a dream product. Have you heard from anyone else about this??

Anonymous said...

I just LOVE your seitan "turkey" recipe. I used the batch to make one loaf and the remainder into cutlets. I found the chickpea flour under the name of "garbanzo flour". I can't thank you enough for that recipe. The texture is amazing and I made salsa "chicken" with it, along with jasmine rice.
I will keep trying more of your recipe.

Bryanna Clark Grogan said...

Thanks for the Soyatoo advice! I took the can back and the store gave me another, which worked fine. I did the 15 minute thing, but perhaps i broke the mechanism. I'll check out the website again!