My vegan Christmas in Cyprus

The Norwegian traditional “Julegrøt” Christmas porridge made vegan of course;) I didn’t have a porridge packet, which you can get in Norway and just by adding plant milk instead of baby calf milk, you make it vegan. I decided to give it a go with Jasmine rice and it was perrrrfect! Boiled the rice first for 20 minutes, and added Koko dairy free milk little by little, together with 2 tbs of maize starch, and Koko dairy free butter (one tablespoon)and let it simmer for an hour or so, with stirring occasionally. Served with cinnamon, sugar and a big chunk of vegan butter. This was so good!

1 cup of jasmine rice boiled with 2 cups of water first

1 tbs of vegan butter

Koko dairy free milk maybe a few cups – depends on how thick you want your porridge. Only use little by little

2 tbs of Maize starch

Sugar (or stevia) and cinnamon and vegan butter. The plant milk is pretty sweet, so you might be easy on the sugar.

Christmas feeling all the way…I love our fireplace!…our pooch loves it too;)

Advice from pooch here; Relax when you can. Cuddles are great. Live in the moment. And always show people how much you love them!

Bought these dried mushrooms at Økobua in Oslo. The will be in my New Years Eve dinner;)

Yummi Vegan mince pies! This is not a Norwegian tradition, not Cypriot either, but from UK. It always nice to try something new. Loved these ones! Bought them in the old town in Paphos, from a lovely lady who has a sweet cafe there called Boo-tea-licious. The Cypriot Christmas is influenced by other traditions around the world, like most countries. Christmas is traditionally a solemn religious holiday. Many Cypriots fast before Christmas, making the celebration double. And one of my favorite fruits; pomegranate! Used as a decoration too. I found one recipe from TheGreekVegan for a Greek/Cypriot Melomacarona – a sweet dessert, that I´ll try when I get a sugar craving;)Without the honey..

Dreaming of a green Christmas….Some of my “nisse” collection from Norway:)

Wine, cheese and crackers night:) Homemade vegan cheese and from GreenVie. The green monster cheese you see…haha..had a dash too much spirulina in this one! The pepper and walnut “cheese” didn’t come out exactly good…ehh…quite…not yummi at all!More like a paté, but not a very good one. So no point in sharing that one! Think I’m going to stick to the supermarket ones for now. Not so keen on the cashew nut cheese.

This in the other hand was amazing! My Christmas steak in the oven. Yum yum!

You need:

2 red onions

2 portobello mushrooms

1 carrot

1 can of green lentils

1 cup of different nuts (I used hazel nuts, Brazil nuts and walnuts)

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 cup of vegetable broth

1/2 cup of oats

Salt and pepper

Fresh herbs: Thyme and Rosemary

1 tbs maple syrup

Olive oil

Vegan puff pastry

Fry the mushrooms first with olive oil on medium heat, add the onions together with one clove of garlic and a little water and maple syrup, thyme, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary for about 20 min. Let the onions turn a little brown. Chop up nuts, grate the carrot, and mix everything together in a bowl with vegetable broth, the fried onions and mushrooms and the oats. Add spices, salt and pepper. Place baking paper on a tray with the puff pastry on top, roll it out flat, place the mixture in the middle and roll over the pastry. Create which shape you want. Place in oven on 200 degrees for about 45 min. or until light brown. Cook vegetables and potatoes. I made a mushroom sauce with this dish – yummi!

This was so much more tastier than it looks!It actually had quite a meaty flavor with the combination of spices and vegetable broth. You wonder why vegans try to create similar taste as the ones with animals? It´s not because I don’t like meat, I used to love meat. I just don’t want to eat it anymore. It´s an ethical choice of not eating animals. Simple as that. So if I can get the same food experiences without an animal, I’m happy;)

Melted dark vegan chocolate with coconut milk and a few drops of vanilla extract

Looking for inspiration? I love this magazine!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season wherever you are in the world…

Much love….share as much love as you can:) Sprinkle your kindness wherever you go…