HELP! A Planter is coming for Christmas!

If we are lucky (or unlucky) enough we will experience a warm to hot, hot, hot Christmas day making the traditional hot roast a little unbearable to eat, not to mention the kitchen an unbearable place to cook & prepare food in.

When it comes to celebrating a festive season down under we typically serve cold or throw a shrimp or two on the barbie to reduce the inferno heat in the kitchen. The omnivore festive feast menu in most households feature; prawns, oysters, ham, turkey, potato salad (with bacon), pavlova, ginger bread, pudding and mince pies. Oh and a handful of fresh ingredients such as leafy greens and fruit salads.

And then there is the vegan planters menu.

What vegans can’t eat

When a vegan planter is coming over for lunch or dinner what can you serve them that will make them feel somewhat traditional with the foods they are eating? We know a vegan doesn’t eat anything with a mother or a face so that rules out any dairy, eggs, poultry, leg ham and turkey. A vegan doesn’t eat fish or crustaceans either ruling out the Morton bay bugs, shrimp, prawns, oysters, lobster, salmon or anything ‘white’ that might be served up including the calamari pickle salad. More than likely they can’t eat the potato salad being served up either as this would have been mixed with an egg mayonnaise, oh and don’t forget about the bacon.

Note: Not all wines & beers are vegan friendly. You may need to read the label to note the ingredients and refining process on the bottle of bubbles because it may contains traces of milk, egg or fish products.

Is this all sounding like the vegan planter is going to cause more headaches over the festive season than you can cope with? We can assure you, the headache will only be caused by too much celebrating not the vegan at all.

There are over 1 million different varieties of food around the world, with the top 20 being:

1. Pizza
2. Sushi
3. Burgers
4. Ramen
5. Tacos
6. Cellophane noodles
7. Tofu
8. Croissants
9. Cupcakes
10. Tortilla
11. Spaghetti
12. Dim Sum
13. Udon
14. Brownies
15. Mousse
16. Paella
17. Roti
18. Pommes frites
19. Risotto
20. Lasagna

With over 1000 vegetables and double that of fruit not to mention over 20 types of grains in the world; the hard part is not what a vegan can’t eat but how to decide what they can eat; the options are endless.

What vegans can eat

The list is long; too long for this blog post but when you think about how & what you eat, I am sure over 50% of your ingredients are plant-based vegan friendly. Am I right? We are only limited by our imagination when it comes to food choices and if we look outside the [vegetable] box there is a world of tasty nutritionally dense plant-based foods waiting to be sourced, cooked and served up in your Planted kitchen.

Back to Christmas day…so you have a planter coming over and you are just not too sure what to serve up. Below are some foodies ideas that are simple to make and all made with the best of the best plant-based ingredients.

When it comes to cooking for Christmas day, less is more – you are most certainly not going to run out of food despite what you fear. Remember ingredients such as grains (rice, barley, couscous, quinoa etc), lentils and beans double (if not triple) in size when cooked so as much as we encourage left overs, don’t cook too much especially if the food is going to be served up outside; you don’t want to leave food exposed for too long due to food safety risks.

Christmas meal ideas

Entree

Sweet and sticky bao
Watermelon sushi
Vegan rice paper rolls
Cauliflower popcorn
Tofu lettuce cups (san choy bow)

Sides

Whole roasted cauliflower 
Vegan gravy
Dauphinoise potatoes
Roasted stuffed cauliflower
Crispy garlic Brussels sprouts

Mains

Vegan mushroom rolls
Smoky roast pumpkin pastry wreath with black olive tapenade
Seitan Roast
Mushroom wellington with rosemary and pecans
Sweet Potato Parcel

Salads

Layered pasta salad with pesto
Chickpea Caesar salad with crispy croutons
Hemp and pumpkin salad
Chargrilled vegetable salad with couscous 
Wild rice and Brussel sprout super salad

Dessert

Gluten free rum ball chocolate tart
Apricot and tahini bliss balls
Strawberry galette
Date and Pear Pudding
Ginger cupcakes

How to put together a vegan Christmas menu

If its going to be a hot Christmas day where it’s 30 degrees in the shade you are going to be wanting fresh hydrating foods that quench your thirst and make you feel light and refreshed. We suggest (from our list above):

• Watermelon sushi
• Vegan rice paper rolls
• Crispy garlic Brussels sprouts
• Vegan mushroom rolls (can be served cold)
• Layered pasta salad with pesto
• Strawberry galette
• Fresh fruit salad served with coconut yoghurt or a mango sorbet

The grazing menu

Every year I’m sure you say (along with everyone else) I am not going to cook as much, serve as much or eat as much and joke that your Christmas outfit should be Santas pants so you can expand comfortably in them.

The Christmas day food offering is generally enough to feed an army and despite the obvious food wastage & cost, its just unnecessary as why would you eat more than you normally would just because its Christmas day? Think twice and then think again when it comes to how much food you are going to buy and prepare for the festive day.

The grazing menu is small plates of deliciously diverse foods; a taste sensation for the mouth; highlighting a little goes a long way. Serve up:

• Vegetable sticks with dips (hummus, guacamole, beetroot, tzatziki)
• Tomato, red onion and basil pesto bruschetta
• San chow bow
• Sushi
• Dried fruit & nuts

All this can be eaten before lunch which in a way is lunch serve so you can see how easy it is to get carried away with vegan options for the Christmas menu.

Eat a cruelty free this year

We encourage you to embrace the power of plants this 2021 festive year; to make vegetables the main star on your plate and to celebrate the diversity and taste of plant-based vegan foods.

Writing a list….

Still unsure how to put together your festive feast? Where to shop and what to buy? Don’t hesitate to contact us should you need further guidance and inspiration, we have been preparing and eating a vegan Christmas for over 30 years.