Your Quick And Easy Vegan Fix For Christmas

Like it? Share it!

Today’s blog post was written by my friends from Bella Cupcake Couture. Amazing blog where you can find healthy and delicious recipes, that are easy to make.

When it comes to parties and family dinners, it is quite difficult to prepare vegan food that is good for everyone. Taking this into consideration, it is important to find recipes that are enticing and mouth-watering enough for guests to even consider having some of your vegan recipe. With that, here are some amazing vegan fixes for you to prepare for your Christmas dinner.


Easy Vegan Fix For Christmas:

Vegan Carrots in A Blanket

Looking for some finger food to start your Christmas celebration? When it comes to appetizers, you can never go wrong with Pigs in a Blanket. However, we are going to prepare a vegan version of this classic that we will call the Carrots in a Blanket. To start, you would need the following ingredients:

  • Medium-sized carrots
  • Frozen vegan puff pastry
  • Fresh dill
  • Salt and pepper
  • Oil

First, take out the puff pastry and let it sit inside your refrigerator to cool down for a couple of hours. Prepare your by cutting the carrots into even wedges and boiling it until it is soft. Then drain your carrots and completely cook them by frying them until golden brown. Remember to add salt and pepper to taste and mix the carrots with some fresh dill.

Set your oven at 430 – degrees F / 220 – degrees C to preheat while you prepare the rest of your recipe. Take your puff pastry and lay it out on a flat surface to cut as much even squares as you can. Take your carrot and roll in into every pastry square.

To finally bake, cover the baking tray with parchment paper and lay your blanketed carrots with enough space in between. Bake the carrots at 430 – degrees F / 220 – degrees C for about 15 minutes.


Easy Vegan Fix For Christmas:

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s pie is widely considered to be a Christmas classic that can never go missing for Christmas dinners. Typically made with meat, we offer several vegan substitutes that you can fill your pie with. For this recipe, you would need the following ingredients:

  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Soy mince
  • Button mushrooms
  • Soy sauce
  • Maple syrup
  • Dried basil
  • Dried oregano
  • Tomato paste
  • Frozen peas and carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Vegan butter
  • Soy milk
  • Salt and pepper to taste

To prepare the filling, first sauté some onion and garlic in some olive oil and add the soy mince. If you have ready-to-go soy mince, simply add it to the sauté. However, there are also variants that needs to be hydrated first so take about 5 to 10 minutes to soak the soy mince before frying. Once the soy mince is nicely soft and browned, add the minced button mushrooms and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes.

You can simply chop the mushrooms or put it on a food processor for a finer texture. While cooking the mushrooms, add some soy sauce, maple, syrup, dried basil, dried oregano, and tomato paste to the mixture. Lastly, add the frozen peas and carrots until everything is soft. Make sure to add salt and pepper to taste to finish up your vegan filling.

For the mashed potatoes that would go on top of your shepherd’s pie, boil the peeled potatoes until soft and fully cooked. Then, add in the vegan butter and soy milk to turn the potatoes in to a mash. You can use any tool you have to make the mashed potato as smooth as you prefer. Once mashed, add some salt and pepper to taste.

Now to complete your shepherd’s pie, preheat your oven to 390 – degree F / 200 – degree C. Then, add a generous layer of your soy mince to a pie dish and flatten the surface as much as you can. Then, add the mashed potato on top and place blocks of vegan butter before placing it in the oven to cook for 30 more minutes.


Easy Vegan Fix For Christmas:

Vegan Meatloaf

For another Christmas classic, we prepared a vegan recipe for the all-time meatloaf favorite. Here are the ingredients that you would need:

  • Chickpeas
  • Brown lentils
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Chopped celery
  • Flax egg
  • Vegan Worcestershire sauce
  • Apple cider vinegar
  • Maple syrup
  • Garlic
  • Thyme
  • Red onion
  • Salt and pepper to taste

First, mix together the wet ingredients – tomato paste, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and some salt to taste. Then, saute your garlic, red onion, and celery until soft and cooked and set aside. On a large bowl, put together all of your ingredients including the cooked celery, the chickpeas, lentils, breadcrumbs, flax eggs, tomato paste, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper and mix well.

Once mixed, put in on a food processor and let it run for a few times until the texture turns finer but not completely mashed. Make sure that there are still notable chunks of celery, lentils, and chickpeas.

Line a load pan with parchment paper and pour the meatloaf mixture onto the pan. Smooth over the surface and top with the tomato paste mixture before putting it in the oven to bake for 45 to 60 minutes. You will know that the meatloaf is ready once you stick a toothpick in the middle and it comes clean once you pull out. Also, allow the meatloaf to cool for about 10 minutes to allow it to firm further and become easier to cut and handle.


Easy Vegan Fix For Christmas:

Vegan Cheesecake

Cheesecakes are considerably one of the most popular desserts nowadays. Taking this into consideration, we have a quick and easy vegan alternative to this sweet delight. First, prepare the following ingredients:

  • Instant oats
  • Almonds
  • Unsweetened coconut flakes
  • Maple syrup
  • Kosher salt
  • Almond butter
  • Coconut milk
  • Granulated sugar
  • Cashews
  • Refined coconut oil
  • Pure vanilla extract
  • Vegan cream cheese
  • Fresh or frozen rasp berries

Make your crust by mixing oats, almonds, and coconut flakes together with some maple syrup, salt, and almond butter. Grease the bottom of your spring form pan with some coconut oil before adding the crust mix into the bottom of the pan.

To make the filling, mix coconut milk and sugar and put it on low heat until the sugar dissolves. Transfer to a different bowl and let it cool. With a high-powered blender, blend the cashews, cooled coconut milk, coconut oil, and vanilla until it becomes thick and smooth. Add the vegan cream cheese and blend the mixture for some more. Then, pour the filling mixture on the crust and let it chill in the freezer for at least 3 hours.

For the fruit topping, simply bring the raspberries and sugar to a low boil under low to medium heat until the sauce thickens. Take the chilled cheesecake and add the cooled raspberries on top to finish.

>> Want more baking hacks and tips? The pro bakers from Bella Cupcake Couture are happy to help you out. Go to www.bellacupcakecouture.com.

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, the mere idea of vegan food can be off setting for some. Taking this into consideration, it takes a bit more effort to make vegan food good and appetizing for something as special as a Christmas dinner. Hopefully this article was able to provide you with enough information as to how to make your appetizers and dessert ready for Christmas.

[mailerlite_form form_id=15]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.