Vegan Christmas

By Christine Smeeth

Vegan Christmas is a plant-based festive recipe book with more than 100 Breakfasts, Dinners, Lunches, Cakes & Snacks. There is a Party chapter for entertaining with drinks and how to make them. The book is aimed at the large, and growing, vegan community, as well as the diet conscious. All recipes are unique in that they have been specially produced to suit 1 - 2 servings. 

 

At the back of the book is a Christmas Craft & Gift chapter that will appeal to those wanting to make some gifts or furnish their home, at a reasonable cost, at this festive time.

 

This book is useful all year for special occasions, parties, birthdays and celebrations as well as for the everyday meal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christine Smeeth
• Release date: Dec 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393457206

Book preview

About this book...

When my granddaughter, Charlotte, first introduced me to vegan food and cooking, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about plant foods and the different vegan food products. Many of these foods I was brought up on as a child when money was tight, and home grown was cheapest and most readily available. However, at that time, the concept of a vegan and plant-based diet was unheard of. Yes, we grew cauliflowers, potatoes, swede, and cabbages but we did little else with them except boil them and maybe on Sundays, roast the potatoes.

With regular trips to a vegetarian, health food shop called Earthfare in Glastonbury, where the staff offered constant advice and help, I learnt some of the health benefits of a vegan diet and why many people turn to it. Now, and particularly since the Covid-19 outbreak, a vegan lifestyle has been acclaimed as a healthier alternative to our western diet, with less fatty meat that contains huge amounts of saturated fat. Of course, there are many unhealthy vegan junk foods and mock meats out there. However, in this book I am encouraging you to try cooking plant-based, with whole foods and a large array of colourful fruit and veg as a focus, which naturally lends itself to a healthier diet.

My aim in this book is to supply relatively easy recipes that are similar to those you already know. Some of these dishes are comforting, with familiar flavours. Others you may not have tried but are easy to make if you are in a hurry, particularly if you have guests at your table at Christmas time.

My other aim for this book is to cut down the number of portions to serve 1-2 people. I have seen first-hand the realities of being the only vegan at the dinner table, as I have often seen Charlotte struggling to cut down portion sizes of 16 to feed only herself, without having huge amounts of leftovers for weeks!

A few stocks in your kitchen cupboard like herbs and spices will always be useful and having them readily accessible makes it simple to flavour your meals as well as adding extra nutrition. I have two pages of suggestions for your store cupboard at the back of the book that you may find useful.

Towards the end of this book you will also find gifts to make, some stunning yet simple decorations to spruce up your home and some ideas to enhance your Christmas table. Many of the suggestions are either free or easy to come by and may become your future unique memories of that wonderful time of year when the Christmas rush quickens up to its crescendo, as it reaches fever pitch into food buying, preparation, decoration and parcel wrapping.

So, its December! The time of year when I wish I had started to make and create things back in early September, ready for that wonderful ‘homely’ feeling of a nostalgic Christmas. Those quirky craft making evenings where I would produce some stunning home-made Christmas decorations for just a few pennies and a bit of effort, has always been a dream of mine and never, until now, been achieved, so I have added a few of my ideas for decorations to this book. So, lock the doors, light the fire, have a glass of something on the side, add a few nibbles and relax. Christmas is about to get a lot less complicated and commercial and a whole lot more like the Christmases you remember.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Rise & Shine

Breakfast & Snacks

Breakfast Crunch

Breakfast crunch - porridge oats and nuts with yogurt on the top in a white bowl. gold and green bauble. red streamers and red and gold curtain background. Description automatically generated

You can, if you wish, double up the recipe and store the toasted oats in an airtight container for breakfast the following day.

Serves 1

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook: 20 minutes

You will need:

50g/1¾ oz/⅓ cup porridge oats

Small handful of pecan nuts

1 tbsp mixed seeds

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp vegan dairy free soft butter

2 tbsp vegan Greek yoghurt

How to make:

Grease a baking tray with the soft butter and sprinkle over the oats, nuts, and seeds. Blend well turning over the oats and seeds several times.

Pour over the maple syrup and place the tray in the oven 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 for 15 minutes. Turn over the oats and seeds again and return to the oven for another 5 minutes to brown, stirring once or twice. Too long in the oven and the nuts will burn and turn bitter so great care is needed at this stage of cooking.

Pour into a bowl and spoon over the vegan Greek yogurt. Well worth the effort!

Fruity Pancake

Pancake filled with fresh fruit is a filling breakfast. The addition of fresh fruits helps towards your 5 a day requirement of fruit and vegetables.

Serves: 1

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook: 10–12 minutes

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You will need:

95g/3¼ oz/¾ cup all-purpose flour

150ml/5 fl oz/⅔ cup unsweetened coconut milk, chilled

1 tbsp sunflower oil

Fresh, cleaned, and hulled fruit or frozen fruits of your choice

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp icing sugar

Sea salt

How to make:

Weigh the flour into a bowl and gradually stir in the milk. Add the salt and whisk to blend.

Place half a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and heat until almost smoking. Pour in half the batter and cook for two minutes turning once halfway through cooking. Remove from the pan and begin another pancake.

Lay fresh fruit on your first pancake, sprinkle over some maple syrup and roll up. Keep warm  in a low oven at 110°C/100°C fan/gas ¼ while you finish the other pancake.

Chia Seed Flatbread

The dough for the flatbreads can be made the night before, kept in the refrigerator overnight and the bread cooked just before you want to eat it. Hot bread for breakfast with maple syrup. Yum!

Makes: 4

Prep time: 10-12 mins

Cook: 8-10 minutes

You will need:

300g/10½ oz/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tbsp for dusting

180 ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup oat milk

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp sea salt

50g/1¾ oz/3½ tbsp vegan soft dairy free butter 

2 tbsp chia seeds, optional

How to make:

Mix the flour, baking powder, chia seeds and salt together in a large bowl. Combine the soft butter and milk together and heat in the microwave until the butter has melted. Do not allow to boil. Stir the milk and butter into the flour and knead to the consistency of a pliable pizza dough.  Allow to rest, covered, overnight in the fridge or for 30 minutes, depending to your timetable.

Lightly flour your work surface and divide the dough into four pieces while you heat a frying pan or skillet. Flatten the flatbreads and oil the pan a little if necessary. Lay on the flatbreads and cook until golden brown spots appear, turn over and cook the other side. The breads will keep for at least a month in an airtight container in the freezer.

Half & Half Loaf

Bread is such an easy thing to make. This is a small loaf, double up the recipe and put an extra loaf, wrapped, in the freezer. Ideal for winter weather if you do not have access to your local shop.

Servings: 1–2

Prep: 15 mins

Proving: 1¾ hrs

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You will need:

150g/5oz/1 cup all-purpose flour plus 2 tbsp for dusting

150g/5oz/1cup wholemeal flour

180 ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup lukewarm water

1 tsp dried yeast or 1 sachet of dried yeast for two loaves

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp granulated sugar

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

How to make:

Brush over the small loaf tin if you are using one or a baking sheet with a little of the oil if you are shaping the loaf as in the photo above.

Sieve the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the salt, sugar, and yeast. Stir in the remaining olive oil and three-quarters of the warm water. Mix, continuously adding a little more water until the dough is firm but sticky and comes together in a ball.

Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface or board and with your hands knead the dough drawing the flour from the sides to the centre. At this stage, your hands will be sticky with dough, keep kneading until the flour is incorporated and the dough becomes soft, the stickiness will disappear as the gluten in the flour is incorporated. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a cloth. Leave in a warm place for 1¼ hours to prove.

Remove the bread from the bowl. Place back on to the floured work surface. Knead lightly and place in the oiled tin or