Fun Christmas Food: pizza, snowman sushi, crackers and pita breads

The panforte is in the oven.  (A new recipe this year that I will share later.)  Sylvia is refusing to sleep.  I still have to wrap presents and tidy the house.  Meanwhile I am taking a little break to tell you about the fun I have had with my food this Christmas.

Take lunches for instance.  They are usually rushed.  But can still be fun.  The top photo is the snowman sushi we made at lunchtime yesterday. Capsicum and cherry tomato hat, spring onion scarf, carrot nose (of course) and nori eyes and mouth.  Plus a few toothpicks to keep him up.

This lunch was a few weeks back.  A rice cracker with cranberry eyes, cherry tomato nose, pretzel antlers and a few little BBQ Shape christmas tree crackers. 

Last night I made Christmas tree pizza.  It seemed an early way to do dinner after a day of rushing about the shops and working on the gingerbread tree.  I used my fast track pizza base , some pizza sauce from the freezer, a packet of grated cheese and some little cookie cutters to make some shapes.

The pizza looked better when uncooked and the bottom looked a little like Jabba the Hut.  No matter.  It tasted delicious.  It was fun.  That is what matters!

After dinner we went for a drive to look at local Christmas lights.  I have never done this before.  (Unless you count getting lost in search of the lights on the Boulevard in Ivanhoe.)  Sylvia, rugged up in dressing gown) thought it magical.  We loved Santa in the VW combie van above.

Today I have worked on the gingerbread house, made nut roast and cranberry nut rolls.  For dinner I used some pesto (recipe below) and cream cheese mixed up, chopped capsicum (leftover from pizza), sourdough flatbreads and pretzels to make flatbread Christmas trees.  (My pesto was a little strong but worked with the cream cheese and capsicum.  For a vegan variation I suggest using tofu instead of cream cheese.)

I will leave you with a chaotic picture of my kitchen table including a sneak peak of the gingerbread house.  I still need to fix the eaves.  So far no collapse.  (The house I mean, not me!)

I hope you are having a relaxed and happy Christmas eve and wish you the best for Christmas Day tomorrow.

As the pesto Christmas trees use both an idea that I bookmarked and a recipe for vegan pesto that I bookmarked, I am sending these to Jac for Bookmarked Recipes.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Christmas Eve and Festive Mushroom Pie
Two years ago: Christmas Eve reflections and a chestnut soup
Three years ago: Nut roast parcels and potato snowmen
Four years ago: Christmas Eve Pasta
Five years ago: Christmas Eve Pasta
Six years ago: Christmas dinner for two

Vegan Pesto
Adapted from Food 52 (by Gena of Choosing Raw)

1 cup (mostly packed) basil leaves
1 tsp lemon juice
2-3 tbsp nooch (3 was too much)
1/2 tsp salt (less?)
1/3 cup walnuts
1 clove garlic
6 tbsp olive oil

Blend and check seasoning.

On the Stereo:
A Christmas Ceilidh with Francis Hogarty Band and Friends