Ganymeder

When I first went vegan, I was asked several times what we’d do around the holidays – as if eating flesh, eggs, and dairy were prerequisites for a happy holiday!

I offer as an example our Christmas feast for this year (2008).

We had Celebration Roast with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots, and brussell sprouts with mustard sauce. Everything was incredibly easy to make and find.

I had been toying with the idea of making a vegan mushroom strudel, but then I saw the Celebration Roast at my local conventional grocery store. I was dying to try it! I’d heard rave reviews about it on the Vegetarian Food for Thought podcast.

The Celebration Roast was absolutely delicious! The flavor was divine – something of a roasted vegetable flavor. The gravy complimented it nicely. Since the gravy had no fat, my Mother in law (who is on a restricted diet) was even able to eat some. The carrots and brussell sprouts were steamed, and the mustard sauce was something I’ve improvised before. I make the sauce similar to white gravy, but use mustard and lemon juice and less margarine. I used soy milk instead of cow’s milk.

For dessert I made a pecan pie, but since I don’t care for pecans I also made brownie a la mode for myself. The brownie recipe is super easy (I made both desserts last night). I heated the brownie for about 30 seconds in the microwave and topped it with So Delicious vanilla ice cream and sprinkled it with slave free cocoa.

It was yummy.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this and maybe will try some of these recipes in the future. I don’t think I’ve ever had such an enjoyable meal that was so easy to prepare. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

I wasn’t going to post anything specific to the holidays this year, but this craft was too cute to pass up. Christopher’s second grade class did this as a Holiday project, so I can’t take credit for the idea. I did “veganize” the ingredients though.

What you will need:

1 quart soymilk or orange juice container (or a single serving one)

scissors

white frosting

graham crackers

assorted colorful candies

You can get the basic idea from the photo. Cut the container to the appropriate size. You’ll be using the slanty top for the roof of your “house.”

Frosting is to be used as the mortar of the house. You can either put it on the back of the individual pieces of graham cracker and candies or you can just spread it over the house. We did a little of both.

Break off the graham crackers to the appropriate size and mortar into place on the container. Our soynog container had a round hole for the top to screw on. We used that as the chimney. The more colorful the candies, the more colorfully you can decorate the “house.”  We used jellybeans, hard peppermint candies, smarties, and lollipops.

Have fun with your creation!

*Please make sure all the ingredients are vegan: meaning no animal products such as milk, cheese, whey, eggs, or honey. Also, please do not use any slave chocolate or slave cocoa products. The ingredients for the project are easily found in almost any grocery store if you just read the ingredients.

While in the Nanowrimo chat, another poster recommended I read Little Brother by Corey Doctorow. I’d heard of his work before through the “I should be writing” podcast by Mur Lafferty, so I was curious. My fellow chatter described the book as a modern day 1984. I think they were pretty close.

While not quite as extreme as the society envisioned by Orwell, the book raised questions about our not too distant future. Technology is more advanced, but not so much that it’s unbelievable. High school kids still deal with peer pressure, cut classes, and play games both online and off. A terrorist attack happens and suddenly the heroes of the story, high school kids, are caught in the middle.

In November I had promised myself I wouldn’t start any new books. I wanted to use all my free time for my Novelling and nano related activities. Once I downloaded the book, I put it on my palm and thought (mistakenly) “I’ll just take a quick look at the intro.” BIG mistake. The story grips you from the very first paragraph. I couldn’t put it down. Every time I had a spare minute, I wanted to find out what was happening in the book. Marcus, the hero of the story, has to decide what to do when the Republic (the United States), through fear, becomes the oppressor. The book deals with really tough issues, but mostly the book is about freedom. Freedom from tyranny. Freedom of information. Freedom of expression.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book, apart from the plot, was the information given about Creative Commons and various Independent bookstores around the country. The book was an adventure story, information portal, and future warning all wrapped up in one. You can even get the book for free in various formats, though after reading it I’m sure you’ll want to buy a print copy both for yourself and to support the author. You can also purchase it as a DRM free audiobook.

No matter what format you prefer, start Little Brother as soon as possible. You won’t be able to put it down!

I know it’s December so I should probably be writing about the upcoming holidays, lessons learned, New Year’s resolutions, and so on. But I’m not going to. So there.

It struck me that Nanowrimo and Vegan cooking have a lot in common. It might not be immediately obvious, but there are definite similarities. In Nanowrimo you have an extremely limited amount of time to do an enormous amount of writing, and in veganism you cook with only plant based foods.

While veganism might initially seem limiting to someone on the typical omnivorous diet, it really isn’t. You have an incredible selection of things to choose from the plant kingdom – hundreds and thousands of fruits, vegetables, legumes as well as tasty condiments. By freeing yourself from habitually drowning things in dairy and animal products, you force yourself to think outside the box. Why use bacon, cheese and sour cream on a baked potato when you can top it with salsa and cilantro instead? Why drown your pasta with a heavy cream sauce when you can make a tasty basil walnut pesto?

Nanowrimo also seems limiting due to the short time period, but because you have so little time to write you give yourself permission to write whatever you want. Just make sure you meet your daily word goals. The deadline allows you to free yourself from your inner editor. You become creative in ways you normally wouldn’t allow yourself. Plot bunnies such as flying saucers abducting Victorian ladies don’t seem so far fetched during the November novelling craze.

What’s my point? Well, perhaps everyone should learn to think outside the box by limiting themselves. When you’re less limited, you tend to fall back on familiar patterns and not bother thinking of something new. You never know what you’ll come up with unless you try. So my suggestion this holiday season is… try. Try something new and different, and don’t be afraid to think outside the box.

During the holidays, people love to keep up family traditions and share them with those they love. Too often, though, we seem to get caught up in the tradition instead of what the holiday is actually about. Everyone knows that, but sometimes it’s easy to forget. If a tradition gets in the way of family and friends, then it’s time to come up with something new.

Ever since I was a little girl, my family ate a great big turkey on Thanksgiving, and we exchanged gifts on Christmas. When I went vegan in my late twenties, people would ask me questions like “What are you going to do for Thanksgiving? Christmas?” When I answered that I would be making Dish X for the holidays, I would get mixed reactions of shock and amazement. All too often I would hear comments about how it wasn’t Thanksgiving without a turkey. As if the important thing was sitting down at a table around a dead bird and picking the carcass.

We’ve tried different strategies for the holidays, and we try to be considerate of the people we’re spending them with. So sometimes we’ll invite someone over to our house for a Vegan Thanksgiving dinner, and sometimes we’ll eat alone and then go out afterwards. But no matter what we do, we always have a good time. We started a new tradition several years ago for Thanksgiving where we would sponsor a rescued turkey from Farm Sanctuary. On the fateful Thursday, we would have his or her photo on our table as the centerpiece. We would pile all the delicious vegan dishes around it, from Roasted Root Veggies with a Phyllo dough crust and balsamic maple sauce to the sweet potato pie and (vegan) Cornish pasties. We’d eat until we were stuffed and sleepy and almost always left the dishes for later.

Another holiday tradition that we’ve enjoyed involves the “Thankful Turkey.” We create a poster of a turkey without the tail feathers. Then, at mealtimes throughout the month of November, we’d each write something we’re thankful for on a paper feather and tape it to his tail. By Thanksgiving day, he’d be covered in colorful feathers. We’ve always enjoyed watching his tail grow.

This year, we were especially fortunate to be invited by my inlaws to have a completely vegan Thanksgiving at their new home. My mother in law is an omnivore, but she looked up recipes, consulted, and cooked a fabulous feast that we all enjoyed. Afterwards, she shared the recipe for the Seiten turkey and gravy that she found, and she raved about how it was so simple and easy. I brought the apple pie and soy vanilla ice cream for dessert. Everyone left the table pleasantly stuffed, and a good time was had by all.

For Christmas we have the usual tradition, but when it comes to gift giving, well – we try. The truth is that we’re rotten at giving people gifts. Even when I think that I’m getting someone the perfect thing, it almost always turns out to be wrong in some way. Enter our life saver – the gift card! Easy to mail, easy to pick out, easy to spend. I know it’s not as flashy or personal as something wrapped in a shiny box with a big bow, but what are you going to do? Some may argue it’s lazy, but I say that if you can’t pick a good present for someone after thirty something years, then go for it. Who wouldn’t like to go on a free spending spree?

Again, the tradition of giving gifts is not what the holiday is about. But we try to keep up the traditions that make everyone happy. Still, if someone asks for you to not buy a gift, I humbly suggest you listen to them. Respect their word. If you really feel the need, you can bring them something tasty you baked. If you’re strapped for cash, you can always give them a gift certificate for your time. Maybe something along the lines of “Good for one brownie baking session.”

I think it’s important to remember that traditions are about bringing people together and making them happy. If a tradition is divisive or stressful, it’s time to try something new. Above all, enjoy yourselves by doing something nice for someone else this holiday season, even if it’s just telling someone “Happy Holiday!”