Breadcrumb Stuffing

So, stuffing is a strange vegan food. Being that it is normally stuffed into a dead thing. I've always loved stuffing, even back when I ate meat, stuffing was always my favourite part of a fancy Sunday or Christmas dinner. So, it is only natural that it has become the main focus of my Christmas dinners these days. Here's one I made last Christmas, that I've only put up now - because stuffing is not just for Christmas.

It's very simple, and a great way to use up stale bread that's too far gone for toast (but still not green). Blend up lots of bread (or if you don't have a blender and don't mind some bloody knuckles you can grate it, though I'd recommend the former). I add lots of fresh herbs from the garden; parsely, sage, rosemary, thyme, and anything else Simon and Garfunkel recommended in the song. Add a good glug of olive oil and some black pepper (and salt if you like). That's your standard there. Pretty good. Now to customize it: I diced up lots of apple and added it, along with cashew nuts (all from this), as well as some raisins. And then I added... orange juice! It makes it lovely and moist, gives it a bit of flavour and means you don't have to use as much oil (unless you want to). And it's a bit of natural sweetness that really brings out the raisins.

That's it, stick it in the oven for as long as you like (maybe a half hour or more) along with the rest of your dinner. You can cover it to keep it moist, or leave the top off to make it a bit crispy. Or both.

- Dara

Vegan Apple Crumble

In my Christmas Eve skipping haul there were about a dozen packets of pre-sliced apples & grapes in snack-packs. There was also a bag of peanuts & cashews. And a few dozen pitta breads. So, for Christmas dessert I decided to make an apple crumble mainly from these ingredients.

I mixed the apples with some fair trade muscovado sugar and spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, mixed spice). I placed them at the bottom of a baking dish. Then I made the topping. I crumbled about four pittas into a bowl with some of the nuts (washed as they were salty) and some brown sugar and a bit of flour. I added in a good bit of oil and mixed it all up until I got some nice crumbly clumps. I piled this on top of the apple mixture and stuck it in the oven. You don't want the top burning, so don't have it on too hot. I also poured some maple syrup over it towards the end. It's done whenever you want to eat it! It depends on your crumble preference.

It will hold out of the fridge in a cool place for a few days and I think it's even better cold.
(Props to Erin and Anna for getting me on the crumble train.)

- Dara