a very veggie Christmas dinner

My husband and I celebrated Christmas with his family in Bancroft, Ontario. The two of us have been following a vegan diet, to the best of our ability, for almost 2 years now! Over that period of time, his family has become more and more accepting of this choice, and our family dinners always reflect this. When we're visiting, I usually try to add at least one dish to the planned meal for the evening. For Christmas dinner, I added THREE! We started with some "veg-nog" pictured here:

You can now purchase a commercial soy product called "Noel Nog" from major grocery stores and health food stores. I confess...I tried this product once and it was good. But I did so only AFTER making my own from scratch as per the recipe below. The commercial version certainly tastes more "authentic" but I believe it has more non-natural ingredients in it too... not to mention the fact that it's pretty costly. So it depends what you're looking for in your nog!

Vegan Egg Nog (recipe borrowed from TVA)

2 blocks very soft tofu OR 2 packages of soft silken tofu (10.5 oz)
2 cups soy milk or rice milk
4 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
¼ tsp ground turmeric
½ – 1 cup rum or brandy (optional)
Nutmeg

Thoroughly combine all ingredients (except nutmeg) in a blender and serve, sprinkling each serving with nutmeg.

As for dinner itself...


...we feasted on tofurkey, mashed potatoes, roasted turnip and a sweet green bean dish. I was pleasantly full, but didn't have the same full to the brim sensation that I used to get from turkey dinners (with all the side effects that usually followed!)

Tofurkey (from How it all Vegan)

1 lb firm tofu, ¼ inch thick

Marinade:
1 ½ cups boiling water
½ Tbsp dill
½ tsp rosemary
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp marjoram
½ tsp sage
½ tsp pepper
1-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp olive oil

Whisk above ingredients together.

Slice tofu into desired shapes, about ¼ inch thick. Lay slices in a baking dish, cover with marinade and let sit for 1 hour or more (the longer the better). Bake for 60 minutes at 350F, turning slices over at halfway point. Before serving, fry the tofu in a non-stick frying pan until both side are browned. Makes about 10 slices, depending on how you slice it!

Sweet Green Beans (from a random magazine)

2 lbs green beans, trimmed and halved on the diagonal
2 tbsp honey or agave syrup (or maple?)
2 tbsp butter or substitute
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup dried cranberries
1tsp grated orange zest
salt and freshly ground pepper

Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until tender crisp, about 4 minutes. Drain. Melt butter or substitute in a large pan over medium heat. Add beans, pecans, cranberries and orange zest, tossing to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 8.


-Annalise