Last updated on August 13th, 2017 at 04:23 pm
HO HO HO, it’s almost time to say Merry Christmas!
I just wanted to say a short Happy Holidays to everyone and while I’m at it, share some of my food plans for today and tomorrow…Usually I don’t really follow plans, even if I have them – I always cook according to what’s in my fridge. But today is a special day.
No idea if this is the case for everyone, but in our family on the 24th we’ve always eaten vegan…I mean I know there are 40 days to be fasting and eating only vegan before Christmas, but we usually just take the shortcut and eat vegan only on the 24th.
When I was younger this evening has always been a little terrifying for me. How am I not going to eat chicken or milk or cheese or butter??? Why do I have to suffer before Christmas? My best bet on vegan dish back then was bread. And probably beans. But come up with an uneven number of dishes (more than 5) for a dinner? Impossible.
Now that I’m older and super creative and awesome (<- pfff), I have so many vegan ideas in my big head, I can’t possibly make a decision. In fact I can’t even come up with any ideas that feature meat. So I guess it will be a vegan Christmas feast. Vegan HO HO HO.
And it will be pretty good, since I’ve been eating horribly, just horribly, the last few weeks (even though I shared with you my plan on how to not overeat during the holidays a few weeks ago). Well I really didn’t overeat, but I still ate a lot of sugar and pastries. I’ve been away for a while because of a family gathering and have not been taking care of myself (<- can you hear me weeping a lot and drowning in self-pity?). Anyway, now that I’m sick of junk food and SUGAR, I’m really excited to eat healthy again. Don’t you just love these moments when you’re super motivated to change your entire life and then after a few days you’re hugging a pizza again. My suggestion: embrace and hold on to those moments for as long as you can. Then even if you fall for that sweet talking pizza, you can go back to eating healthy again more easily.
Btw. If you’ve also been eating too much and not all that healthy you might be interested in reading this great article from Optiderma on natural remedies to prevent digestive issues during the holidays. I haven’t tried all the remedies, but I personally love the warm water with lemon. I also add some fresh ginger to reduce inflammation and I have to start doing that again asap.
Here’s what’s for dinner these next days:
Appetizers
Lots of Dips & Sauces
To me this is what makes a dish really great – dips and sauces. If you have a great sauce/dip, you have a great dinner. It’s scientifically proven. Ok, it’s not, but it should be.
You can drown everything in that sauce and be happy.
One time when I was at my friend’s for dinner she offered the most amazing sesame garlic sauce. I took that offer and did not regret it even a little bit. I drowned every piece of my food in it. Was the rest of the food something special? Nope (and I hope my friend will never read this). But this sauce…ahhh, it is haunting me every night and day. It made that dinner special. It makes my dreams special. Interesting story, I know. But for me, someone who’s very picky when it comes to food and never really says something’s really good, this means a lot.
If this sauce wasn’t made with mayonnaise and sugar I would probably be eating it for the rest of my life. I tried to healthify it, but it tasted really really really off. Like really.
Today and tomorrow I’ll be making lots of vegan and vegetable dips. I have bought soft tortillas and am prepared to go to taste bud heaven. I guess I will come up with new dips along the way and I’ll share the best here later on, but here’s what I’ve planned for now:
Bean dip and Avocado basil dip from my quinoa and bean lettuce wraps
Now these are just a few of my favorites, of course there will be some hummus and I’m thinking of making something with olives. If those turn out great, expect the recipes here as soon as it’s bright enough outside to actually take a good picture.
Salads
The other thing I love to make when it’s time for an official dinner is salads. They bring so much diversity, freshness and satisfaction – it’s hard to say no to a good salad. It’s easy to say no to a bad salad, but a salad with chickpeas or other legumes is always a winner. I’m thinking to serve those as an appetizer along with the dips and tortillas.
I guess I’ll be full after such an appetizer.
Tomatoes, chickpea and basil salad or Tomatoes chickpea and spinach salad
Bean, corn and no feta cheese salad
My detox Quinoa and Avocado Salad
Main
I’m pretty sure on this one for now. It’s going to be a lentil bowl like this one. For tomorrow maybe some risotto like this one with salmon that’s been recently featured on Greatist along other tasty, quick and easy risotto dishes. You can check out the article and other risotto recipes here. Maybe I’ll make the risotto vegan, as I don’t have any salmon at home right now.
DESSERT
In my mind there’s no doubt about the dessert. I even already bought the one fruit I kinda hate – apples. I’ll be making my adorable apple crumble mini pies. I might fill some of them with cherries though. Out of all healthy dessert recipes at Beauty Bites, this is definitely my favorite right now. I would take this apple crumble pie instead of an unhealthy dessert any time.
And that’s all for eating – if the weather and my stretch pants allow it I might even go out after dinner. I wish you all happy holidays and “see” you next week with some new recipes and stories.
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