My Perfect Vegan Christmas Dinner

With Christmas less than a month away it's time to get thinking about your all important Christmas Day dinner. Ever since becoming vegan Christmas dinner has become a much easier task to complete as it doesn't involve roasting a turkey, or any meat for that matter. In fact it's not really too dissimilar from a regular Sunday roast for us, just with a few special extras thrown in. As well as being a cruelty free meal, it's also become a lot cheaper to make. 

One thing that baffles me now as a vegan is how others still choose to have turkey on Christmas Day, despite it being a really unpopular and tasteless meat. Many people, even the carnivores, would agree that the best thing about a Christmas roast is all the side dishes - the roast potatoes, parsnips and stuffing!  

I thought it would be worth sharing with you all my own personal idea of a perfect vegan Christmas dinner. It really is a fuss free and easy version of a Christmas roast and I am sure there are some really amazing recipes out there on how to make it spectacular, but for now here's the simple version. 

Vegetables are of course a key ingredient when it comes to Christmas dinner. I don't think there are any particular set rules for Christmas veg but for me it's not really Christmas unless it includes roast potatoes, brussels sprouts, parsnips, broccoli and carrots. 

This year we have decided to order a vegetable box from our local farm shop opposed to buying them from a supermarket. I think the quality of farm shop vegetables is generally better and tastes more flavoursome, but for the purposes of this blog post all of my veg featured was purchased at Tesco's.  

The most important factor for me is getting the roast potatoes right as they are by far my favourite dish! I think the key to really great roast potatoes is ensuring that they are fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Part boiling them first and then shaking them quite hard whilst they're still in the pan works a treat for us. They need this slightly fluffy coating before we put them in the oven. We tend to lightly coat them in olive oil before then roasting them for about 45 minutes.  

You may or may not be aware that good old Paxo Sage & Onion stuffing mix is vegan friendly and it's really easy to make up. There are so many different and fancier types of stuffing available in the shops but I always go for this old favourite as for me it just really tastes like Christmas. My parents must have used this a lot when I was growing up as the smell and taste is really nostalgic for me.  

Since being vegetarian my husband has always said that the main thing he misses about Christmas are 'pigs in blankets'. We decided to try and make up a vegan friendly version this year which I think we shall still experiment with over the upcoming weekends before Christmas. 

This time around we decided to use Linda McCartney sausages and cover them with a thin strip of jus rol (*also vegan friendly by the way!). Neither of us have liked any of the mock bacons we have tried in the past so rather than attempting to replicate bacon we just tried to make something which was as enjoyable. 

When it comes to our regular Sunday roasts we don't often feel inclined to bother with any kind of nut roast, instead we find that stuffing is usually enough for us. However, at Christmas I really think you need that something extra special to set the meal off and make it an indulgent feast!

When making this meal I decided to try Tesco's new vegan friendly 'Festive Nut Roast'. It's only £3.50 and includes a whole host of goodness like pecans, maple syrup roast carrot and a cranberry and port sauce. Unfortunately my husband is allergic to walnuts, peanuts and pecans so he wasn't able to enjoy this one with me. I am determined to find a nut roast that is vegan friendly and which doesn't contain those specific nuts, but if all else fails we shall no doubt end up making our own this year. If any of you have any decent recipes for a festive nut roast then please comment below and let me know.  

Gravy is another important part of a successful vegan Christmas dinner. My husband usually makes his own but this time we were being lazy and used some basic vegetable gravy granules. 

Et voila! This meal was so delicious, it's making my mouth salivate as I re-live eating it through this blog post! Everything turned out so well and it really was worthy of making it a dinner for Christmas Day. 

Overall we were happy with how our version of 'pigs in blankets' turned out but we may look to tweak this a little bit more over the coming weeks to see if we can improve upon it in any way. But it certainly made a great substitute for us! 

We also decided to make some sweetened red cabbage for this roast dinner as it's not something we would usually have with a normal Sunday roast and so it really helped to make this meal that bit different. This was really easy to make by simply adding some balsamic vinegar and sugar to the cabbage and then simmering on the hob for about half an hour. It's such a tasty addition to a roast dinner!  

A real highlight of the meal for me was Tesco's Festive Nut Roast! I wasn't expecting a great deal from it but I actually really enjoyed it and would definitely buy it again and recommend it to others. I don't make nut roast very often so I am sure there are probably better versions out there but I have to say that this one really hit the spot for me. 

I have never felt that I am missing out on anything being a vegan at Christmas and I think 2016 is a great year for being vegan with so many shops providing more and more options all the time. I think it's easy to have a cruelty free Christmas and I personally love the feeling that I am not contributing towards any suffering. Ever since removing meat from my menu Christmas has become more enjoyable than ever! 

I hope you have liked this small insight into what I will be likely to be eating this Christmas and I would love to know some of your own favourite dishes to include within this special meal. I think it's interesting to see how others do their Christmas dinners, especially when it comes to vegan versions.