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 Organic recipes for a stress-free, Eco-friendly Festive Christmas dinner. Along with a Festive table that is beautifully set out to give your meal shared with family and friends such elegance.
The Festive Table
A table that is beautifully set out gives a meal shared with family and friends such elegance.
A table-runner down the centre, displays decorations and candles handsomely. Add a country-Christmas air with a plaid design and bowls of organic seasonal fruit and nuts. Enhance the setting with sprigs of
pine or evergreen from the garden, colourful eco-friendly balls / pine cones in red and silver burnish (place one in each recycled wine glass).For a real sense of atmosphere, light your Christmas dinner using parrafin-free candles, and forget the electric light bulb for a couple of hours.
 Centerpieces are best kept low, so as not to obscure your guests' view of each other across the table. A bowl of organic red roses in the centre for a splash of colour and rose petals scattered on each place setting, is simple to do, and gives a sweet scented aroma.
All Organic Festive Formal Dinner Menu (serves 8)
Baked Potato Soup
Mixed green salad served with cranberry vinaigrette
Festive Fruit Bread
Chickenpeas
Stuffed Festive Cabbage
Dessert ...Choose from Festive Organic Chocolate Cookies / Cranberry Ginger Bars / Plum Pudding (serve with organic ice-cream / organic yogurt if desired).
Organic fair-trade coffee / organic herb tea (serve with Festive sweets / Mincemeat pies / Christmas cake).
The mixed green salad is served with a cranberry vinaigrette, and, like most vinaigrettes, it can be made up to three days ahead and still taste wonderful. The festive fruit bread also can be made a few day before required; it holds perfectly in the fridge at least that long. Just bring to room temperature several hours before dinner, wrap in foil and reheat at 300 [degrees] F. Removing the foil for the last few minutes will crisp the crust nicely. The festive stuffed cabbages hold well if you assemble and refrigerate the dish the day before. The chickpeas are quick enough to make at the last minute, and the cookies can be baked and frozen weeks ahead. Serve them at room temperature or warmed ever so slightly. (Incidentally, in case you're thinking cookies aren't formal enough for a sit-down dinner, these are perfectly elegant and need no apologies. Present them on dessert plates--with a scoop of organic ice cream / organic yogurt if desired).
In addition to all that, there are little steps you can take to put you even further ahead. The fruit can be chopped and the dry ingredients measured for the festive bread, up to one week in advance. You can measure out the rice for the cabbages when you get a spare moment, premix the spices for the beans, and toast and grind the nuts with the sugar for the cookies. These small things may not seem like much, but they quickly add up to a relaxing stress-free Christmas Eve / Christmas Day Dinner that you can enjoy along with your family and guests.
Baked Potato Soup
 Roasting vegetables adds a satisfying, bold flavour dimension to soup. Be sure to roast the vegetables long enough for the onions to get well done, as undercooking them will give the soup a raw flavour. Because roasting leaves a brown skin on the potatoes, the soup won't be perfectly smooth when you puree it. But don't worry: A few chunks in the soup contribute to the texture.
4-5 medium-large organic potatoes, peeled and cut in half
2 red onions, halved and peeled
2 tablespoons organic virgin coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 medium head organic garlic
2 1/2 tablespoons organic butter
6 cups organic vegetable stock
1 1/2 tablespoons organic flour (millet meal / cornmeal)
1/2 cup organic milk of choice
1. Preheat oven to 400 [degrees] F. Place potatoes in large bowl. Snip root end off each onion and cut each half into 3 sections. Add onions to potatoes, breaking up onions with your fingers to separate.
2. Drizzle vegetables with oil, add thyme and toss well. Spread vegetables on baking sheet. Season with celtic salt and pepper if desired.
3. Slice top third off head of garlic and place it on a piece of foil. Put 1/2 tablespoon butter on top of garlic and drizzle 2 teaspoons water onto foil. Fold sides of foil to enclose; place on pan with vegetables. Roast vegetables 45 minutes, then remove garlic. Continue roasting vegetables until tender, about 15 minutes more.
4. In large saucepan, bring broth to a simmer over medium-low heat. Transfer half the roasted vegetables to food processor and add 1/2 cup hot broth. Process mixture until fairly smooth, then transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining vegetables and a little more hot broth, squeezing garlic pulp out of husks into last batch. Stir all pureed mixture into broth in pan; keep pan over low heat.
5. In small saucepan, melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 1 1/2 minutes. Stir in milk and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in ladleful of soup and cook 1 minute.
6. Add mixture back to soup. Cook over medium-low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Serve right away, or cool, refrigerate and reheat when needed.
Mixed Greens Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette
 Use any combination of greens here--romaine hearts, Boston lettuce, baby spinach or mesclun mix. A few bitter greens would be fine too, since the sweetness of the cranberry vinaigrette will soften their bite.
Cranberry Vinaigrette
2/3 cup organic whole-berry cranberry sauce
2 tablespoons organic apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh citrus juice (orange)
2 teaspoons pure organic maple syrup
3 tablespoons organic coconut oil
12 cups mixed organic salad greens
1 ripe organic pear, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup toasted organic pecans 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1. Make vinaigrette: In food processor or blender, combine half the cranberry sauce with vinegar and process until smooth. Scrape mixture into salad bowl and whisk in remaining cranberry sauce and orange juice, maple syrup, oil and celtic salt to taste; set aside.
2. When ready to serve, put greens in bowl with dressing. Add pear and onion slices and toss well to coat with dressing. Sprinkle pecans and cheese over salad. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and serve.
NOTE: To toast pecans, preheat oven to 375 [degrees] F. Spread pecans on baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, 6 minutes. Transfer pecans to plate to cool, then chop.
 Festive Chickenpeas
Don't be intimidated by this long ingredient list: Much of it is an organic spice mix that you can put together in a couple of minutes. Organic canned chickpeas work fine, but remember they just need to heat through, not cook; two to three minutes in the pot is plenty.
Spice mixture
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground organic cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon celtic salt
1 1/2 tablespoons organic coconut oil
2 cans organic canned chickpeas,drained and rinsed (3 cups)
1 tablespoon organic rapadura sugar
2 medium carrots, grated (1 cup)
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1. Make spice mixture: In small bowl, mix cumin, paprika, cinnamon, coriander, cloves, celtic salt.
2. In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add spice mixture and cook, stirring constantly, 15 seconds. Stir in 3 tablespoons water. Cook briefly, stirring, then stir in chickpeas.
3. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook 2 minutes, stirring once. Stir in rapadura sugar, then carrots and onion. Cover and cook for further 1 minute. Remove from heat and mix in lemon juice.
4. Transfer chickpeas to serving bowl, sprinkle with parsley and serve warm.
Basmati Rice-Stuffed Cabbage
These organic stuffed cabbage leaves are nestled in a layer of sauerkraut and tomato sauce. Try to find a good size  organic cabbage so you will end up with large leaves, and then you can add plenty of filling to each. This dish can be entirely assembled up to 24 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate, then bring to room temperature before baking.
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. organic virgin coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
1 stalk celery, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 small red or green bell pepper(capsicum) diced (approx.1/2 cup)
3 cups thinly sliced organic mushrooms
1 medium clove organic garlic, minced
3 cups organic vegetable stock or water
1 1/2 cups uncooked organic basmati rice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 large green organic cabbage, cored
2 lbs/ 1kg. fresh sauerkraut
3 1/2 cups prepared organic tomato sauce/ pre-bake organic tomato cut in half in coconut oil, mash with fork
1. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add onion, celery and bell pepper; season with celtic salt. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir in mushrooms and garlic. Cover and cook 5 minutes.
2. Stir in organic stock and rice; season with freshly ground pepper, if desired. Increase heat and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low ,cook, 15 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff rice with fork. Stir in parsley; set aside.
3. In large pot, bring 1 inch water to boil. Place cabbage in water, cored side down. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Remove cabbage from pot. As soon as possible --using fork if necessary to grab leaves--peel off first 4 leaves. Return cabbage to pot, cover and cook 5 minutes; peel off 4 more leaves. You will need 8 leaves. Cover leaves with wrap. (Reserve remaining cabbage for soup.) When leaves are cool enough to handle, carve off as much tough ridge as you can from center of leaves, cutting flush with leaf.
4. Preheat oven to 375 [degrees] F. Drain sauerkraut in colander. Rinse briefly then squeeze out most of liquid. Place sauerkraut in even layer in medium to large shallow casserole (13 x 9-inch). Top with 2 cups organic tomato sauce.
5. Place about 3/4 cup of rice in center of each leaf. Fold up sides and place stuffed leaves, seam side down, in casserole. Spoon remaining 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce over cabbage. Cover with foil and bake until bubbly and heated through, about 45 minutes. Check after 30 minutes and if it seems too liquidy, remove foil during last 10 to 15 minutes of baking. Serve hot.
Festive Fruit Bread makes 2 loaves, approx. 15 slices per loaf
These lovely loaves are shaped like stollen, the traditional German holiday bread. But it's a quick bread, not a yeasted one  as stollen is, so you can make it in just a fraction of the time. If you'd rather not use the port to soak the fruit, simply use organic apple,citrus (orange), mango or apricot juice.
1 cup golden organic raisins
3/4 cup chopped organic dates
1/2 cup chopped organic prunes
1 to 1 1/2 cups ruby port
Fine yellow organic cornmeal for dusting
4 cups organic flour of choice or combination of flours (coconut / millet / all-purpose etc)
1/2 cup organic rapadura sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon celtic salt
2 teaspoons aluminium-free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 tablespoons organic cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 large organic egg
1 1/2 cups organic yogurt
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
Organic milk opf choice for glaze
1. In shallow bowl, combine raisins, dates, prunes and enough port to just cover. Let stand 30 to 60 minutes. Lightly oil large baking sheet and dust with cornmeal; set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 [degrees] F. In large bowl, mix flour, 1/2 cup rapadura sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves. Cut butter into dry ingredients with a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingers until mixture resembles fine crumbs; set aside. In small bowl, whisk egg then whisk in yogurt and lemon peel.
3. Drain fruit; discard port. Add fruit to flour mixture and toss well. Make a well in flour mixture, add buttermilk mixture and stir briskly with wooden spoon just until dough pulls together in a mass. Let stand 3 minutes.
4. Lightly dust work surface and hands with flour. Turn dough out onto surface and divide in half. Knead each half 30 seconds then pat into 1-inch-thick circles. Brush off any flour on dough, then fold each circle in half (but not perfectly, the top should be set back from bottom by about 1 inch.) Lightly brush loaves with milk and sprinkle generously with sugar (about 1/2 tablespoon). Transfer loaves to baking sheet.
5. Bake 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 [degrees] F. Continue baking until loaves are golden brown and crusty, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer loaves to wire rack and cool completely before slicing. To store, wrap cooled loaves in foil and refrigerate.
Festive Cranberry Ginger Bars
Filling
3 cups organic fresh or frozen cranberries
3/4 cups each organic raisins, dried apricots and crystallised ginger
1 lb/450g/3 cups of mixed dried fruit of your choice - including lots of organic dried apricots
1 cup rapadura sugar
1 cup organic apple juice
1. In a large saucepan combine all ingredients.
2. Bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat.
3.Stir for about 5 minutes or until the cranberries have popped.
4. Let cool.
Base and Topping
2 cups organic flour of choice (coconut)
3/4 cup organic rapadura sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons organic ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon celtic salt
1 cup organic butter / coconut oil
1 cup organic rolled oats / rolled quinoa flakes / amaranth flakes / millet flakes or combination
3/4 cup organic sunflower seeds
1.Mix all ingredients together.
2.Set aside 1 1/2 cups of crumb mixture for topping.
3.Press the remainder into a 9" by 13" baking pan.
4.Bake at 180C/350F for 15 minutes.
5.Spread with cranberry mixture and sprinkle with remaining crumbs.
6. Bake for further 30 minutes.
Festive Chocolate Cookies approx. 4 dozen (enough left over to deliver to the neighbours, to share some festive spirit!)
 What you get, essentially, is a brownie within a thin crust that's quite exquisite. The key is taking them out of the oven before they seem done: They should still be squishy when you give them a gentle poke. This way, they end up with a supersoft center when they cool. If you overbake them they'll still be good, just not extraordinary.
1 cup organic hazelnuts
1 stick organic unsalted butter
6 squares (6 oz.) unsweetened organic chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups rapadura sugar
4 large organic eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla e
2 cups organic flour of choice
2 teaspoons aluminium - free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon celtic salt
Organic icing sugar for coating
1. Preheat oven to 325 [degrees] F. Spread hazelnuts on baking sheet and bake until skins blister and nuts are fragrant, 12 to 13 minutes. Slide nuts onto a kitchen towel, fold towel over and rub vigorously to remove skins; don't be concerned if little bits adhere to nuts. Cool nuts thoroughly.
2. In top of double boiler set over barely simmering water, melt chocolate with butter, stirring until smooth. Remove top pan from water and let cool.
3. When nuts are thoroughly cool, put them in food processor with 1/4 cup of rapadura sugar and pulse on/off to finely grind nuts; set aside.
4. In large bowl, beat remaining 1 3/4 cups rapadura sugar and organic eggs with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and cooled chocolate mixture. Stir in nuts.
5. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and celtic salt. Add to batter, about half at a time, beating well after each addition (dough will be very soft). Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 325 [degrees] F. Grease two large baking sheets or line with parchment paper. Pinch off pieces of dough and roll into 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll in organic confectioners' sugar (organic icing sugar), coating well, then place on prepared baking sheets, spacing about 3 inches apart. Bake until puffy and seem underdone when poked, about 13 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and cool 10 minutes, then remove cookies to rack and cool completely.(Yummy once a year Festive celebration food).
Easy, Last Minute Christmas Fruit Cake
This cake has no added sugar or fat (suitable for a range of diets) but is still really sweet and rich. It should be stored in the fridge and eaten within one week.
8oz/250g/2 cups organic dates with the stones removed
10 fl.oz/300ml/1 1/4 cups water / organic citrus juice (you could substitute 1/4 cup brandy / sherry for 1/4 cup water if desired)
6oz/175g/1 1/4 cups of organic flour
1 lb/450g/3 cups of mixed dried organic fruit of your choice - (organic dried apricots, cranberries, raisins, figs)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
4 tablespoons orange juice
Decoration: Use rows of different organic nuts such as walnuts, pecans, brazils and almonds. Fresh fruit slices / sesame seeds / decorate with fresh holly / organic flowers / herbs / fruit - cherries etc.
1.Heat the dates and water until the dates are soft.
2. Remove from heat and mash with a fork.
3.Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
4. Spoon into a greased 2lb/900g cake tin and level top. If using the nut / fresh fruit slices topping place rows of different nuts on top of the cake prior to cooking.
5.Bake at 170C/340F for approx. 1 1/2 hours until cooked. Once cooled the nut topping can be glazed with a little syrup (melt some rapadura sugar into hot water) or you can ice traditionally.
Festive Sweets
Making your own sweets is actually quite fun - children have a great time with this too. They are also nice gifts if placed in a pretty boxOrganic chocolate of your choice - For vegan sweets - Maya Gold - it's orange spiciness is perfect for this time of year.
Organic Nuts of your choice (hazel, walnut, pecan, almond, brazil)
Vegan / organic marzipan
Organic Dates
Organic Dessicated coconut
Organic Cocoa
Organic Icing sugar
Crystalised angelica
Glace cherries
Flaked almonds
Melt the organic fair-trade / vegan chocolate and then dip - nuts, marzipan balls, dates - and place onto a sheet of grease-proof paper to set. Decorate with angelica, glace cherries (can be made to look like holly) and flaked almonds before the chocolate set and than sprinkle with cocoa, coconut or icing sugar.
Dates can be destoned and stuffed with marzipan for a non-chocolate treat.
Place in petit four cases and enjoy!
Festive Mincemeat
1lb/450g cooking organic apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
8oz/225g cubed organic butter / coconut oil
12 oz/350g organic sultanas
16 oz/450g dried organic apricots
12oz/350g organic rapadura sugar
grated rind and juice of 2 organic oranges
grated rind and juice of 2 organic lemons
2oz/60g whole organic almonds, slivered
4 teaspoons mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
half an organic nutmeg, grated
6 tablespoons vegan brandy
Mix all ingredients ,except the brandy, then cover and leave for 12 hours.
To prevent fermentation place the mincemeat in a 120C/ 225F oven for 3 hours. Then allow to cool, stir in brandy and put in clean jars and seal.
Festive Christmas Pudding
 12oz/350g organic sultanas
4oz/120g glace cherries, halved
10z/300g ground organic almonds
4oz/120g organic flour
1/2 teaspoon celtic salt
1/2 tsp grated organic nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground organic ginger
1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
8oz/230g organic rapadura sugar
4oz/120gsoft, fresh organic breadcrumbs
8oz/230g organic butter / coconut oil
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon black organic treacle / molasses
4 floz/125ml/1/2 cup organic milk of choice
sherry
1.Soak the sultanas in plenty of sherry
2.Grease a 2 pint pudding basin.
3. Put the soaked fruit, cherries and ground almonds into a large bowl.
4. Add the flour,celtic salt, spices, rapadura sugar, breadcrumbs, butter / oil, lemon zest and juice, treacle, milk and 4 tablespoons sherry.
5. Mix well to make a soft mixture.
6. Spoon into the basin, cover with two layers of greased foil and tie down.
7. Steam for 4 hours. Cool. Cover with a circle of greaseproof paper and two layers of foil.
8.To reheat steam for three hours as before.
Note: Don't forget that after it is reheated pour brandy over and set on fire.
Enjoy your festive celebration, Christmas only comes along once a year. |
Green Christmas / New Year 
