Wednesday 28 December 2016

Christmas day food, reflections and quicklinks

We are back at home after Christmas at my parents' home.  The suitcases are unpacked and we are having a quiet day after a busy time of feasting, family, swimming, lights and presents.  Here is a rundown with a few Christmas recipe links at the end of the post.

Christmas Day food starts early.  On Christmas Eve I baked nut roast, cranberry nut rolls, chocolate mince pies, panforte, and pizza.  In the above photo I had not yet made the panforte.  It always seems to get made in front of Carols by Candlelight on the telly.

The pizza was for dinner on Christmas Eve.  Sylvia had one with tomato and cheese.  We had one with tomato sauce, cheese, feta cheese, roast pumpkin and lightly microwaved kale.  I was most pleased with it.  We had leftovers that went into the freezer and were a nice easy meal when we got home from my parents' last night.

Christmas morning started in a blur when Sylvia woke at 4am to check what she had been given by Santa.  It took a while to get her back to sleep.  At a more reasonable hour we had breakfast (freshly squeezed orange juice, cranberry nut rolls and Swiss cheese) before heading down to Geelong.

We took the (vegan) gingerbread house that Sylvia and I had made.  I had hoped to write more about it but had an mishap while measuring the flour and the gingerbread seemed a bit dry.  Sylvia helped with lots of the piping and it looks cute.  We are planning to eat it on New Year's Day.

We opened presents at home and then there was more present giving at my parents' house.  Sylvia laid her presents out on the campbed.  You can see she was well and truly spoiled in the nicest of ways.  She didn't ask for too much but wanted lots of diaries.  I was pleased to read an article about how diaries inspire children to write.

E and I also received some lovely presents between us - perfume, books, chocolates, cordless chargers, a CD and a mug.  Here he is holding the hamper of bikkies, jams and tea that my brother gave us.

It was 38 C on Christmas Day but we had a traditional roast dinner and plum pudding.  With the air conditioner on!  As usual I had nut roast instead of turkey and ham.  My niece amused me with a huge serving of cauliflower cheese and gravy that looked like ice cream with chocolate sauce.

But it is not all traditional at lunch.  My mum also made pavlova and a black forest cheesecake.  I can take or leave a pav but a cheesecake makes me go weak at the knees.  This one was scrumptious.

In the afternoon most of my siblings head off to the in-laws.  Sylvia played with bubbles, fancy sticky tapes and watercolour paints, I read my book while E and my parents sleep.  Dinner is a simple affair of leftovers in a sandwich.  I am very partial to a salad sandwich with thinly sliced nut roast.  It is most excellent on sourdough bread that my mum baked that morning.

After dinner we drove out to see the fun Christmas lights on the Geelong Town Hall.

The next two days we went to the pool in the morning, had lunches with family and friends we don't see often, and played with the nieces.  Above is a picture of my nieces making bath bombs.

This is a platter of nibbles courtesy of my aunt.

Here are the salads that my mum made for two lunches and my leftover slices of nut roasts are in the bottom left corner.  Not included in the picture is the pan of Nigella's roasted potato and pepper bake.

My dad's school friend came to visit and brought a bottle of Lindeman's Maiden Press.  It is a non-alcoholic sparkling juice made in a champagne style.  I was very taken by it.

And we had my panforte with tea and coffee and a platter of my mum's mince pies, yo-yos and some chocolates.  A perfect way to end a meal.

Finally, I had collected a few Christmas recipes I have seen this year that I would love to add to my Christmas repertoire.  As my bookmarking site (delicious.com) seems to be down, I am sharing them here.

Christmas recipe quicklinks:

Barley salad with kale, walnuts, and cranberries - Bite Sized Thoughts
Parsnip and chestnut nut roasts - The VegHog
Parsnip chestnut and sage wreath - Sneaky Veg
Porcini and chestnut mini wreath roasts - The Veg Space
Puff pastry Christmas tree with chestnut mushrooms - Allotment to Kitchen
Sprout salad with cranberries, pecan vuts and clementines - Easy Peasy Foodie

Candy cane fudge cookies - The Taste Space
Chocolate peppermint bark - Rock My Vegan Socks
Lasso the moon cookies (It's a Wonderful Life) - Cadry's Kitchen
Layered chocolate mint Christmas tree cake - The Gluten Free Alchemist
Rich gingerbread brownies with frosting - Not Quite Nigella
Tear and share Christmas tree cinnamon rolls - Lavender and Lovage

I hope you had a happy Christmas and a relaxing holiday.

19 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas Johanna! And someone mentioned the heatwave that you guys were having. Lucky you have air conditioning! :D

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - yes air con is a relief this year - haven' had it on much but it does help when the house is really stuffy and hot

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  2. You have had a lovley Christmas, busy one to boot! All looks good, but your mums cheesecake is fabulous, I wouldn't mind a slice. Sylvia has certainly has lots to smile about with her pressies. A diary - yes :) In my teens I used to keep them. I note you always seem to go along to Geelong to see the lights on the Town Hall. I have never been anywhere where that has happened - impressive, Glasgow perhaps does it now I keep meaning to make panforte but always forget, which recipe do you use - i could only track the chocolate one, and i don't want it to be chocolatey. Thank you for sharing my link too. Happy New Year Johanna to you and your E and dear Sylvia.

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    1. Thanks Shaheen - I tried to get a slice of the cheesecake to take home but there was only one left and my mum still hadn't tried it so no go :-( I still love diary writing so am pleased sylvia likes the idea of them but probably a bit young to use it that much. Geelong has had some interesting politics around the amount of money spent on their Christmas lights but they are lovely and I think they are less pricey once initially set up. I would love to help you with panforte (I use the one I linked to in this post) but I love it with chocolate in it - but am sure there are non-chocolate ones - I can't think why :-)

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  3. Sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas. Your mum's black forest cheesecake looks devine. Hope Sylvia enjoyed her presents from Santa.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - the cheesecake was wonderful and Sylvia loved all her presents

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  4. Your salad looks really fresh and delicious; just wish it was warm over here. Hope you had a good Christmas... Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks Lisa - I often wish it was cold and cosy here so we could enjoy lots of festive food but it is nice to see the sun

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  5. What a great lot of food and gifts! The diary article is good too, thanks for linking (I bought my kids diaries for 2017 thanks to you mentioning you had bought some yourself).

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    1. Thanks Faye - I think diary writing is great and it is interesting that this was the one thing the school encouraged when we travelled last year. Hope you kids enjoy theirs

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  6. Happy (belated) Christmas - it looks like everything I'd hope for from the festive season! I used to be a compulsive journal keeper as a kid - I've never worked up the courage to go and read them again though!

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    1. Thanks Joey - I have old diaries that I don't dare open! At the time it seemed a bit public to write stuff down in a diary - but I am glad I never had social media :-)

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  7. I love the look of that cheesecake, too! And the Geelong projections look impressive, like screenshots from a computer game.

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    1. Thanks Cindy - have you ever seen the Melb Town Hall ones - we saw a bit this year and they were impressive but much busier than when we go to Geelong on Christmas night

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  8. It looks like a great Christmas with lots of delicious food. I love that you still make the cranberry rolls too!

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    1. Thanks Kari - I think of you when I make the cranberry nut rolls - this year I made them vegan and thought I was probably getting closer to your version but didn't have time to pull it up

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  9. A fabulous combination in a salad. I like it with a balsamic drizzle.

    A happy new year to my three lovely friends xx

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    1. Thanks Jac - I think you are referring to the watermelon salad post - if not then it sounds great for a watermelon salad :-)

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  10. What fabulous festivities and lovely food.
    The cheesecake looks amazing piled with so many cherries! I love cheesecake and pavlova though, so not sure I would have been able to choose between them!
    Thanks for including my Christmas Tree Cake in your quick links! Happy New Year xxx

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