New Year's Eve menu

This New Year's eve will be accompanied by hors d'oeuvres, or as I prefer to call them, appetizers.

Here is my game plan for now:

1. some good chips and toasted homemade bread

2. roasted red pepper dip with feta cheese, I will try this recipe

3. cashew dip, such as this, but with less water and some apple cider vinegar

4. potato salad: boiled potatoes with grated carrots, onion, apple and spiced up with apple cider vinegar, black pepper, mustard, mayo, and salt

5. cabbage salad with grated carrots and an apple, spiced up with apple cider vinegar and olive oil

6. lots of olives

7. cheeses

8. hot Italian turkey sausage

9. toasted walnuts


The drink will be cold mint tea with sliced limes. The dessert - baked apples with some vanilla ice cream and probably a few grapes.

Christmas Eve menu

Happy Christmas Eve!

Overnight, Santa sent his preliminary gift of fine white dusting. The light snow icing delineated every single branch on the trees and made the the scene truly Christmas-y.

In many countries, Christmas Eve comes with the tradition of a vegan dinner. In my home, we do odd number of vegan dishes.

This year, we narrowed the menu to the following:

1. Tofu (the way Jenny Mustard prepares it)

2. Brown rice with garlic, onion, turmeric and black pepper

3. Sauteed veggies with garlic, soy sauce, hot pepper flakes, honey and apple cider vinegar (we have broccoli, red bell pepper, baby carrots and celery)

4. Cashew cream cheese (a new recipe that we will try for the first time)

5. Baked apples (I cut these in half, core them, sprinkle lightly with cinnamon, bake with foil on top at 400F until soft)

6. Bulgur dessert (see recipe below)

7. Home-made bread (I am using this recipe)

8. Roasted walnuts (I already prepared these spiced up with salt and cayenne pepper)

9. Frozen fruit with chia seeds (here is the recipe from Pick up Limes)

Bulgur dessert

Ingredients:
1 cup bulgur + 1 cup boiling water
1 cup of finely crushed walnuts
the zest of one lemon
2 Tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbsp of crystal sugar

Directions:
Mix the bulgur with the boiling water, cover and let it stay at room temperature for one hour. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix, store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. 
Enjoy it on its own or added to the baked apples.

Happy holidays!