A very special Christmas

After reading posts and seeing pictures of Christmas meals I have to say my Christmas wasn't that special or creative this year. But at the same time it was a very special one cause it's the last month of my pregnancy and it  made everything a little bit different for me. I wasn't feeling that much into the Holidays as I've said here before and I got many cupcakes orders to delivery on the 22nd so just after everything was done I was able to think about the food for the weekend.

Matteo's mother and sister were here one more time and it's really nice to spend the Holidays with them. Can't describe how excited my mother-in-law is to become a grandma! To make things easier for me we decided to keep both menus (for the 24th eve and 25th lunch) simple and Matteo did most of the cooking this year (yes, I have the best husband in the world).

A Brazilian friend of mine is in Dublin for the Holidays and I invited her to come here on Saturday afternoon cause she couldn't come for the eve. So I baked some vanilla and almond biscuits based on this recipe. We ate them with vegan nutella and they were really good. 

For dinner we got some snacks for starter and Matteo made mac'n'cheese. It was cool cause it's not an Italian dish even being done with pasta and it was appreciated by the Italians in the house. We had a vegan panettone from Vegusto afterwards and it was a really nice surprise (my sister-in-law said it tastes like the regular ones). We closed the night opening the presents.

For Sunday lunch I baked these "cheesy" crackers (the only difference is that this time I've used nutritional yeast and Redwood Soy free Cheezly cheddar style and not parmesan) and we had lots of appetizers prepared by Matteo that included guacamole and  hummus, between other yummys. For the main dish he did cotechino servito con polenta e lenticchie (this dish became very popular in the house) and we got more panettone for dessert.

As you can see, nothing fancy or difficult or even new, but it was perfect. We had a great time and spend quality time at home with people we love. I missed my family a lot again and thought about my grandma a lot too, but it's the bad side of living this far from them. Anyway I was able to Skype them on Sunday morning and this completed my Christmas.

Now I'm preparing myself for a quiet New Year's eve. What are you doing next weekend?

Happy Vegan Holidays!

"A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral." (Leo Tolstoy)

Wishing all my dear readers a lovely and cruelty-free Christmas and wishing that in 2012 more people decide to stop using animals.

Baking time

This week I started baking for Christmas orders. If you're new to this blog, you don't know that I bake vegan cakes and cupcakes for vegans (and also non-vegans) in Dublin. I've started doing this in 2009 and this year I wasn't being able to bake that much cause of my Master but since September I'm back on track!


It's great being able to bake for people that many time don't get treats at their parties and I really enjoy doing this. I'm getting tired faster cause of the last month of pregnancy and after any small effort I feel breathless but I will bake while I can.


Yesterday I delivered some chocolate with peanut butter and lemon with coconut cupcakes for a birthday vegan girl and tomorrow I'll delivery more for a Christmas party (and next week will be all about baking, making decorations and frosting and I'm glad Matteo can help me with the deliveries). I'm not that much into Christmas this year (and this is a shock for me cause I really like the holidays) but the house is set up and gifts are under the tree, so I'm good.


If you want check my vegan cupcakes and cakes, like Sweet page on Facebook or visit the Flickr page :)

Xmas pictures

Did you all have a great Xmas weekend? I hope so! I have to say that mine was perfect. Xmas to me was always about family. I'm not a religious person but I really enjoy this holiday. Being far from my family sometimes makes things not that easy, but everything was amazing. I spent the last days with Matteo's family at home and we had the best time - and the best (vegan) food. I also saw my parents on the 25th through Skype (thanks technology for making our lives better!) and also showed them our street covered with the snow.

We celebrated Xmas on the 24th evening and on the 25th. In Italy they also celebrate the 26th, but we didn't this year. I decided to prepare the meals with easy recipes, so I wouldn't spend the entire days in the kitchen. And it was worth it! Everything was cooked by 4 hands (by me and my sister-in-law) and it was all delicious.

First meal: creamy corn risotto, for the 24th lunch:


The living room table ready for the Xmas eve: non-alcoholic grape drink + white lasagna (with home made pasta, funghi, white cream and sun dried tomatoes)


Xmas eve dessert: peanut butter "cheese" cake:


Xmas day vegan brunch: it was a Saturday that sounded like Sunday, so we decided to have brunch. Besides the guacamole we did everything from the book "Vegan Brunch" (tomato scones and an amazing broccoli quiche). And, of course, cupcakes.

I added one smoked tofu to the filling and it made the quiche even better!

I'll make a post with the lasagna and "cheese" cake recipes, I promise!

HAPPY VEGAN CHRISTMAS!

Hope you all have an amazing weekend, full of peace, happiness and vegan food ;-)

A little bit about… Christmas

We’re in Italy since December 24th and I can say I’m having a great time. I got a bronchitis but I am really happy to be here. As I wrote on the post about my grandma, I was a little bit worried about this first Christmas far from home, but we had a great time.

We had an awesome Christmas lunch. Just us, me and Matteo’s family. And a lot of food, as I wrote before too! My sister-in-law cooked everything she said she would and much more. We spent almost 4 hours eating, talking and having fun together.

Thinking about all the food we ate, one is definitely my favourite: the vegan salty muffins. She cooked some with peas and others with black olives. I could eat them forever!


And this wasn’t everything. In Europe they have the Saint Stephen holyday on December 26th, so we had two days of party and a lot of food. And one more time, my sister-in-law did her best with an amazing vegan menu. And she’s not vegan, not even vegetarian, so, my dear friends, don’t think it is that hard to have a vegan meal. All you need is some vegan recipes in your hands and creative ideas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I wish all my friends here a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

All about... grandma

This is a hard post to make, but I'll try to make it in a happy way because it's about a special and happy person: my grandma. She passed away two days before last Christmas and this is my first Christmas without her in fact (last year was so confused with the funeral and stuff) and without my parents close to me. But she was the funniest and the happiest person I met in my all life, so I try to keep just the good memories about her.


I didn't meet my other grandma, so she was always the only one. And she was my godmother too. And I never met other woman like her. Always strong and always trying to see the good side of everything. Always making jokes, even about her own problems. When times get hard to me, I think about her. She used to love Carnival. For years, she made costumes and went on the streets of the small city she lived with lots of friends and relatives to celebrate and dance. She didn't like her birthday, so every year she used to choose one day to be the “birthday day”. She was religious, but didn't want to go to heaven. To her life on earth was the only one she knew and the sky seemed to be boring (with just “white clouds and souls dressed in white”). She always knew she wouldn't live after her 84th birthday and that's how it was. She didn't like go to weddings because “I went to mine and it wasn't that good!” and she loved Christmas.

We used to celebrate Christmas with a big party every year the night of December 24th. My mother's family isn't that big (considering most of the Brazilian families), so we used to be together – my parents, my brother, grandma (and for some years, my grandfather too) and all uncles and nephews, at our house in this small town (just her lived there in fact). And she always arrived carrying the big red bag of gifts and using Santa Claus' hat. This is the best memory ever. And that's why I still love Christmas. Not because of the religious part, not because of Santa Claus, not because of the gifts. Because of my family and because of my grandma.

It wasn't easy to her to understand why I decided to be vegan. She grew up in a farm and used to cook with animal fat for years. When I told her that I wasn't eating meat, eggs and milk anymore, she was really pissed off. She couldn't believe I wouldn't eat her food anymore, and most important, I wouldn't eat all desserts she used to cook with love for me. But after some time, she started to think about some alternatives. She found out a place in that small town that had soy and she learned how to cook some vegan food for me. And after, for Matteo. She loved him. It was love at the first sight. She used to call him “Matteozinho” (little Matteo) and everything she was cooking was for him. Sometimes she forgot about the things, and asked us if we wanted something with chicken or meat, but it wasn't to make jokes (like so many people do), it was just hard to remember or to understand. She was doing her best.

She was the best person I ever met. She will always be an example for my life. She was my sunshine and she will be always in my heart.

I have a wish...

Christmas time is coming and I really like the end of the year. I don't know exactly why because I am not religious, don't believe in Santa Claus anymore and don't agree with all the kindness and goodness that come magically with these celebrations and go way the same way. But I have just great memories of Christmas and New Year (well, just one bad memory but I will write about it in another occasion).


Thinking about the celebrations and everything we wish for next year, I understood that I have a special wish this year. A big wish, I can say... I really wish a better world. That's it. Not simple at all. And a better world to me involves more people thinking about the well being of human beings, animals and the planet. I know, we are far from this. But I think we can always do something. Day by day, step by step. So, why not start with a vegetarian meal in your Christmas day? There are a lot of vegetarian and vegan options to make your meal delicious and free from cruelty. Save a turkey and change your life a little bit.

I know that is hard to think about a tasty vegetarian meal, but you see here that we, vegan people, can eat a lot of good food and it's not different at the end of the year. We are going to spend some days in Italy and my sister-in-law is already thinking about our vegan meal! And an Italian Christmas meal includes a lot of food. And this year she will try to make a special dessert, called Pandoro. We will get her a vegan cream cheese from here that she will use to make the mascarpone. It will be the first time I eat this dessert and the first time Matteo will eat the vegan version. I still don't know about the complete menu, but I'm sure my sister-in-law will do great.


If you think it's difficult to prepare vegan food, here there are some great blogs to give you some ideas: in Portuguese, Brazil Nut and Cantinho Vegetariano, in English, What The Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway, and in Italian, Vegan Blog. Hope that my vegan and vegetarian friends that read this blog can help me with more tips.

This is what I suggest you: try the vegetarianism/veganism for one day! As I said before, small differences can change everything in the future.