Christmas Eve- Maple Sweet Potatoes & Celery Flax Bread Stuffing

Christmas Eve was very busy for us. John had to go into work to switch out a van full of equipment. Then we needed to be at John's Families house for a small gathering at 9am. Then I had to come home and make a Christmas Dinner for 1:30pm at my parents house. Then we had to go back to John's Families house for a Christmas Family gathering at 4pm.

So our morning was supposed to start at 5am. But Johns alarm clock had turned off in the middle of the night so we didn't wake up till 6:45. So John rushed into work. I was left to get everything ready at the house. Didn't even get time for a shower that morning... The dogs needed fed (which takes a good 20 minutes, let out side takes a good 10 or 15 minutes, Feed & water the chickens, cats, & ferrets, eat breakfast, trip over the dogs 10 times trying to get ready. Find clothing in my atrocity of a bedroom that has stacks of clothes that need to find a place to live.... Find socks in the humongous miss matched basket of socks... Leave to drive to the In-laws w/o John because he didn't make it back in time. And the only reason they had it at 9 am not later was because that was the only time we could make it. John did show up there though.

At Johns families they had funnel cakes and smoothies for breakfast. Carolyn asked me if we ate milk & eggs and I said no and so she said sorry they were having Funnel cakes & Smoothies. But we could eat some of the frozen fruit. Thats ok though I had already ate. I wish she would have told us in advance though. I could have brought everything with us to make both in a vegan way. Maybe I will mention it next year. We watched the kids open their gifts. Then left around 11am.

Came home and I had to cook our dinner to take to my parents house. So Tofurky w/ Carrots, Flax Stuffing, Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Green beans & Corn, & a Berry Cobbler... and I had till 1:30pm to get it done. So the first hour was all prep and John and I was also trying to get stuff done around the house. A few presents still needed wrapped, I had to find bowls to get everything from our house to my Parents. Then at 12:15 pm I put in the Tofurky, then the sweet potatoes, the stuffing, and last the cobbler. All supposed to cook at different temperature. Oops... So I evened it out the best I could. Then about 1pm I started the potatoes on the stove. Then what happens. They take for ever to boil. Everything else is getting done. My Mom starts calling at 1:15 to see where we are. And of course I finally make it there at about 1:40pm. So a little late.. But all the food was good! Very yummy!

Anyways. After we ate we opened presents. Then played around with Cheys toys for a while. I still had to go home to take a shower. We left my parents house at 3:30. Came home showered and blowed out and straightened my hair. Then we showed up late for Johns families dinner. But thats ok. We missed the awkward " Go get something to eat. There has to be something you can eat" comments over and over.. But there really isn't except if someone brings fruit. There was some Cantaloupe when I passed the table. Everything else had, cheese, milk, eggs, lard, butter... You name an animal product it was probably in something. So we visited until 6:45 and then went back to my parents house to spend some time.

I played Pets Monopoly with Chey and showed her how to play on the Nintendo DS. That was the first time I had seen one.. They are really cool! We had the cobbler I had made. But the cobbler topping wasn't all the way cooked...oops. Forgot about the time difference with the heating lowered. Hey the top was browned. Figured it was done.... :) But I finished it in the microwave. Then poured some yummy almond milk over it Mine & Johns. It was so good.. Then finally about 10pm.. Home.... But it was a good day! And we got to visit with alot of family so that was nice.

Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

These potatoes turn out sweet and yummy. They are easy & you will never miss the Heavy syrup canned version. This also allows you to use Organic which I jump at the chance for with most veggies, fruits, & legumes.

• 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 or 3/4-inch pieces (about 8 cups)
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup Organic Brown Sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400F

Peel, Rinse, & Chop Sweet Potatoes into nice bite sized pieces. About 1/2 inch cubes. ( I wear gloves because they dye your hands orange. But its not necessary.)Throw them into a Medium Mixing bowl. Then add all the Ingredients listed above and toss together till all potatoes are nice & coated. Place on a 9x13 in baking sheet. Cover with Aluminum Foil and place in Preheated oven. Let bake for 15 Minutes covered and then uncover & stir place back in oven uncovered. Bake another 15 minutes and stir again. Then bake another 15 and stir. They are done when they are tender and some are being caramelized.


Celery Flax Stuffing
Super easy & quick!

4 Cups Dry Bread stuffing
Broth
Vegan Butter
1 Cup Celery
4 Tbsp Flax Ground

If you use plain bread add 2 tsp poultry seasoning, its just mixed herbs

Add oil or vegan butter to a pan and saute celery until tender. Put butter & broth into baking dish and add the celery & flax (You can hold the flax till the end if you don't want to put it in the oven, If has more nutritional value if its not heated.) Bake as directed on bag.

Mixed Berry Cobbler

Berry Filling

• 2- 12 to 14oz bags of frozen Organic Berries (Fresh organic berries about 4 to 5 cups)
• 1/2 to 3/4th cup sugar (depends how tart you like your berries. Only add 1/2 cup if they are really sweet berries)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Cobbler dough

• 1-1/3 cups (165 g) all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons (40 g) granulated sugar, divided
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons (70 g) Vegan butter (I use Smart Balance light)
  
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) Almond, soy, or other non dairy milk

If berries are not frozen put all ingredients in and set aside so berries get juicy. Even if the are frozen you can do this. Preheat oven to 375F.

To make dough. add all dry ingredients to bowl. Crumble butter into flour till it feels like wet sand. Then put in the almond milk. Mix till it makes a sticky dough.

Place the Berries into a non oiled 8x8 pan or a Pyrex container for baking. Make sure its atleast 2 inchs high. Place a pan under it in the oven to make sure it doesn't boil over. Place berries in baking dish. Take your fingers or a spoon and pull apart the dough and place on top of the berries. Take a little extra almond milk and brush the top of the dough.

This needs to bake a good 45 to 50 minutes. Let top brown. Make sure the underside of the dough is done! This will be the last part of the cobbler to finish cooking. And it does take dough a pretty good amount of time to cook in the top of a cobbler.