Another calm cold day, cloudy this morning but with the potential for brightening up later. The snow on the railing melted off, but there’s still lots of it weighing the trees down. Mr Fixit was outside yesterday while I cooked Christmas dinner – on the right of this photo, behind the railing, you’ll see a large pile of wood that he cut off the lilac. Some of it broke with the heavy snow.
Much of my day was spent in the kitchen yesterday, and I am always grateful for this view: the mountains, the lake, the trees. I am grateful to live in a safe place, with light and warmth and abundant food. I am grateful that my family is around me and we are well. I am grateful for the ability to talk to my mum and sister via the internet, because they are a long way away.
Our Christmas dinner, traditionally for us eaten on Christmas Eve, was a Greek feast this year. Vegan pastitsio (pasta layered with a mushroom walnut tomato sauce and Bechamel sauce), lemon roasted potatoes, Greek salad (with tofu “feta”), olive rosemary bread, three new recipes (which can often be a recipe for disaster 😛 but in this case worked out great) followed by apple crumble and mince pies with whipped coconut cream. Oh yes, and apple cider and vegan nog too.
Everyone enjoyed the food, we played Mexican Train Dominoes after dinner while the food digested, and then the men finished cleaning up the kitchen.
Links to the recipes I used are here:
I tweaked the recipes to my preferences (no garlic and onions) and when it came time to baking the olive bread I just used a baking sheet rather than a Dutch oven and baked it like I would focaccia.
Have a wonderful Solstice/Christmas/Yule time. May you have a calm and peaceful turn-of-the-year and an optimistic attitude to carry you into 2021.
NICOLA KNITS 
Hello. Looks much like our backyard. The sun was out today but not a lot of melting. Very pleasant Christmas Day. Yes, be grateful for that.
What a feast ! delicious. Appreciate the recipes you attached. I ran off the pastitsio ? somewhat like lasagna.
I made a pot pie using jackfruit and it would be difficult to tell it is a fruit. Added some vegan “meat” . Some cranberries and all is well. Crust was puff pastry for the lazy.
Enjoy the rest of the day everyone. …
Hi – could you provide the link for the cookies on the orange plate? thx and happy new year! Love the window photos!
Those are mince pies. My pastry recipe is one I use from school days because the proportions are perfect and easy to remember. The mincemeat is a recipe I use every year – can’t remember where I found it. I’ll see whether I’ve published it on the blog before – if not, I’ll do my best to remember to write a new post about it.
Mincemeat recipe here https://nicolaknits.com/2019/11/17/sunday-comforts/
My pastry recipe is really basic – for 2 dozen mince pies I use 16oz wholewheat flour, 8oz vegan butter (the proportions are important, half fat to flour, as I was taught at school, and I use the sticks as they are less watery than the spreads as well as easier to measure) half a teaspoon of salt, and a little cold water to bind. Rub the ‘butter’ into the flour with fingertips, add salt and a little water, just enough to make the dough hold together, not too wet. This quantity easily makes 24 larger circles for the pie bases and 24 small circles for lids, and I even had a little left over for an extra small pie on the side. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 mins.