Being Vegan at Christmas feels like it could be a bit challenging, as obviously following a vegan diet means you don't eat several food groups and Christmas is all about indulging yourself with lots of yummy festive treats. I'm going to be completely honest and admit that I first tried to go vegan last October (2017) but I gave up after a couple of weeks, partly because I was starting to see lots of Christmas goodies in the shops and I felt like I was going to be 'missing out'. Fast forward to March/April (2018) and I had a very big health incentive to become vegan (more on that to come in my next post!) and I did proper research which helped me to realise that being vegan doesn't mean you're missing out, it means you get to enjoy a whole new set of treats and yummy food which you actually realise are often a lot tastier than their non vegan alternatives!
This Christmas I made sure I was following some vegan groups on Facebook and lots of vegan Instagram pages (I will be doing a post soon recommending my favourites) as these pages are fantastic at sharing the best vegan supermarket buys - I screenshot a lot of what I see them share and then go on a hunt around the different shops to see if I can find any of them :) I ended up with a lot of screenshots this Christmas as veganism is becoming so much more accessible now and there are so many amazing options in the supermarkets, rather than the days when such good vegan goodies would only be available in health food shops and local markets.
My Christmas goodies began with a surprise delivery of these INCREDIBLE salted caramel vegan brownies from BadBrownie as my christmas present from my lovely brother, sister-in-law and little nephew. I hadn't come across this company before but was really impressed when I went on their website and saw they had a vegan section. I can't explain how delicious these smelt when I opened the box and the salted caramel was oozing slightly from the sides! They are quite rich so the little squares they're cut into are just perfect for allowing you to really enjoy them without them feeling too sickly. It's safe to say it didn't take us very long to get through them!! They did arrive with a leaflet explaining they can be kept in the fridge or frozen to make them last longer though :)
I love 'nibbles' at christmas time; I like to have them on Christmas Eve, then for leftovers on Boxing Day and sometimes for a few days after that too hehe. I found that Co-Op and Sainsburys had the best party ranges this year and they were all the same prices as the vegetarian & meat alternatives. I went for: vegan cheese, ritz biscuits, houmous, mini vegetable tarts, chutneys, southern fried fake chicken strips, moroccan fritters, vegetable spring rolls and red pepper & chipotle falafel.
I was really pleased with how the flavours of all the party food complemented each other and we had a good old selection of crisps on our dining table too which made perfect grazing snacks! One of my favourite discoveries this Christmas is that original pringles and twiglets are both accidentally vegan :)
Vegan cheese is definitely one of the harder things about a vegan diet as so many vegan cheeses have quite an odd flavour. I've found that Violife are my favourite so I was really excited when I started seeing people sharing this cheese board; it felt like all of my christmases had come at once hehe. It was pretty difficult tracking it down though; I saw most people get it from Asda or Sainsburys but neither of my local stores had it. I was very lucky to finally get my hands on it in a Holland & Barrett in a small local town, I couldn't believe it when I spotted it in their fridge! The yellow is the regular 'mild' cheese which is my all time favourite, the 'cranberry' is a new favourite which I think is delicious on ritz biscuits (it's got quite a sweet flavour) and the 'blu' I'm still undecided on; it's got quite a smokey flavour which is very different to the regular cheese I would normally choose, but it's still yummy.
Baking is one of my favourite things to do at Christmas and I decided to spend my Christmas Eve watching the Polar Express and then baking some gingerbread and also chocolate orange chip cookies. I shared some behind the scenes baking peeks on my Instagram stories (including my emergency glass of wine when I thought we'd lost our rolling pin when we moved house in the summer haha!) and I'll definitely be sharing both of these recipes at a later date in their own posts, so keep an eye out for those :) The decorations on my gingies definitely aren't the most pinterest worthy, but they were so much fun to do (whilst watching Home Alone 2 on christmas eve evening) using a vegan piping bag and clementine sparkly icing sugar from Sainsburys.
I'm not normally the biggest fan of roast dinners and in the past have always had something like quorn sausages or fake nuggets with my roasties and veg. I wanted to make something a bit more fancy for my first vegan christmas though and decided to try a nut roast. I prepared it all on christmas morning in my festive pjs whilst munching on vegan chocolate coins, drinking orange juice with lemonade and dancing around the kitchen to heart extra christmas - it was one of my favourite Christmas mornings I've ever had :)
I didn't get the best photo of the nut roast on christmas day, but I was really chuffed with how it turned out - I used red lentils, carrots, mushrooms, red pepper, thyme, cashews and walnuts, and then I wrapped puff pastry around it. It might not look the prettiest but I think it's one of the yummiest things I've made as a vegan and I had enough for left overs on boxing day and the friday after too :) When I had it as leftovers I had it with ketchup instead of gravy though which I have to admit I do prefer.
For our Christmas day dessert we had these dark chocolate salted caramel pots from Asda and my goodness, I don't know how to do them justice with just how good they were! It was a layer of dark chocolate ganache then the salted caramel was hidden as a layer underneath, and honestly these were one of the best things I've ever eaten in my whole life - I really regret only buying one set! They were such a bargain too; Asda really is one of the best places for vegan food.
I've saved the best to last - my vegan christmas chocolate stash! I bought a christmas tin from poundland to keep them in as a substitute roses/celebrations/quality street tin so I didn't feel like I was 'missing out' and I collected lots of festive vegan chocolates over a couple of months to make sure I had the best stash possible. Moo free is my favourite vegan chocolate; it's got such a nice taste and tastes more like milk chocolate than any other vegan chocolate. The strawberry and orange creams were a bargain find in Aldi which are absolutely delicious and so similar to the ones in Roses & Quality Street! The free from truffles were from Asda and were the most expensive, but they were also by far the best. I've never had white vegan chocolate before so was chuffed the strawberry was in a white chocolate shell and they were all absolutely delicious. I haven't tried the mint indulgence bar yet, but I'm hoping that will make a good substitute for After Eights :)
It's safe to say I have a very happy belly after all of these scrumptious treats! I realise I'm sharing this after Christmas, but I've seen some of these items are still available in the shops for New Years and a few of them have gone into the sale too (I managed to pick up another Moo Free selection box for £2 half price in Holland & Barrett today woop!)
Did you have any yummy vegan food this christmas? I'd love to hear any recommendations :)
Love Holly x
