Hey guys!
Hope you enjoyed good weekends. Aside from a heaping helping of work, mine involved some holiday festivities (parties, tree decorating) and a raw eggnog experiment that proved that even culinary failures can often be made into successes.
You see, when my One Lucky Duck newsletter arrived on Friday, it contained a recipe for raw holiday nog that I just couldn’t pass up. “Rawnog,” you may recall, is one of the raw recipe requests I’ve gotten for the holiday season. As much as I’d love to concoct my own version, I thought I’d humbly defer to Pure Food and Wine chef Neal Harden, whose recipe looks scrumptious:
I followed the recipe exactly, as a good friend who’d come over to help me decorate my tree waited patiently to be my recipe guinea pig. When it came to straining the ‘nog, though, I hit some trouble: it wasn’t straining enough. The mixture was so rich and creamy that it only yielded a tiny amount of liquid (maybe 1/4 cup) over the course of an hour in a nutmilk bag. The ‘nog I tasted was delicious, but there simply wasn’t enough of it: even if I’d squeezed it through the bag (as Neal recommends), it still wouldn’t have yielded enough to serve me and my friend.
So I decided to make lemons out of lemonade. I scooped the pulp out of the bag, re-mixed it with the ‘nog, and decided to serve the (very thick) mixture just as it was. And as it was, it resembled and tasted a whole lot like my magical raw “whipped cream” — only with a festive touch in the form of nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Anyone own Dreena Burton’s amazing Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (my fave vegan cookbook just about ever)? Dreena has a recipe for something she calls “celestial cream,” which is essentially a thick, rich dessert cream that uses Earth Balance and silken tofu as a base; this recipe, I think, is highly reminiscent, but without the Earth Balance, which is a little more processed than I’d like. I’d call it an eggnog-spiced cream, but forget the title: it’s absolutely delicious, and in spite of the fact that it didn’t turn out as eggnog, it made for a darn tasty topping to some frozen bananas I had at home:
The whole experience was a pleasant reminder that, when you’re working with good ingredients and flavor profiles, it’s pretty hard to “mess up” a recipe. A little creativity goes a long way in reconfiguring the premise of your dish.
And I didn’t stop at eggnog spiced cream: this morning, I thinned out half of the mixture with some fresh almond milk, added 3 tbsp chia seeds, and made a recipe that’s quite like Kristen’s amazing holiday chia pudding.
I’m pleased to report that, though my kitchen success was mixed this weekend, my tree selection and decoration was not. I’m basking in the glow of this little fellow right now:
Who said that you can’t stick a Christmas tree in a small NYC apt?
Enjoy a cozy Sunday evening, friends.
xo
I'm a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, a former book editor, and a post-baccalaureate pre-med student at Georgetown University. I'm passionate about helping people to discover and enjoy plant based foods in a simple and healthy way. My name is pronounced like "Jenna."
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
But see, you turned the recipe “failure” into a success – I would have just cried, haha
LOVE YOUR TREE!!!!!!!!! Especially since I know which corner of the room it’s in. Can’t wait to see it in person (so yes, please leave it up until I get there).
Nice tree! Did you buy a real one then?
I did, indeed.
Ohhh my. Totally going to check this one out. Maybe while I’m home with my parents. My dad loves eggnog and would totally be into trying out the “rawnogg.” Way to squeeze in the tree!!!! We must meet up at some point!!!
“when you’re working with good ingredients and flavor profiles, it’s pretty hard to “mess up” a recipe. A little creativity goes a long way in reconfiguring the premise of your dish.”
YES INDEED!
As you may know, I rarely use recipes. I ad lib everything. All the raw vegan balls and “cookie dough” balls I make are just that…good ingredients, improvising, creativity and a little common sense. But I wish more people would realize what you said in your quote. Maybe this post will help them
The eggnog action looks awesome of course.
ED & BV – I have said this before, I own the book but I swear, I have “missed” half the recipes in there. It’s not til someone else makes it and blogs it or points it out, that I am like, hello, how could I miss that?! haha!
And your tree looks so pretty
xoxo
Gena, your rawnog experiment results look luscious! And your tree looks fantastic. No apartment is too small to fit in some green, lighted holiday cheer!
Way to work with what you have! I like how you didn’t let the rawnog go to waste. It looks like it served you well as a topping for your banana. Aren’t bananas great? Haha, I just ate 3 of them yesterday (something I haven’t done in a long time, if ever)!
Gena, I often see your recipes and instantly want to make them, but I literally got up from my seat and JUST made this immediately after reading your post!
I dont have a fancy Vitamix so I just threw it all in the blender, and I didnt presoak the nuts, but it still turned out great! Thanks for this festive recipe!
Your tree looks gorgeous – so homey.
I think it looks perfect in your apt!!
Your apartment must smell lovely with the tree.
Last year I made Kristen’s (Kristen’s Raw) eggnog from her holiday recipe book ~ pretty yummy! I think I may just have to repeat it….. Thank you for the reminder!
I don’t have the patience to strain anything, so that won’t set me back! This looks delicious- thanks for sharing!!
I want my kitchen failures to be so magnificent! If I had a kitchen failure turn into whipped cream, oh my would I be in heaven. It looks lovely and even though I never was a fan of the “traditional” eggnog, I think the raw version might be just up my alley. Do you think that sesame seeds could an appropriate substitute for the pine nuts?
The tree looks great!
Ummmmmhhhh! Still looks good!
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Katie
Aw, I love your Christmas tree!
Never tried that celestial cream but it sounds heavenly!
It definitely still looks SO yummy! I really really want to try it. Eggnog is my favorite!
And I kind of want to slice up some bananas and have then right now too! You make EVERYTHING look so good!
You still make everything you make look amazing, Gina! Your tree looks fabulous in your apartment.. soo homey!
Sorry about the nog! I printed out that recipe as well, but ended up making a raw one from VegNews, it turned out pretty good. I would of preferred it to be a little thicker, if I had more cashews that would of helped!
Adorable tree! We always had a tree when we lived in our apartment, this year we got a monstrous one. I can’t believe we didn’t realize how big it was! My dining room lookstiny with it in it!
What a beautiful tree! The nog looks delicious too. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe.
wow the eggnog looks delicious!!! certaionly not a failure one bit!! thanks for sharing the recipe
way to stick a beautiful tree in a small apt, work with what you have !!
happy MONDAY
Eggnog spiced cream sounds fabulous! I haven’t even thought about eggnog since going vegan, we don’t even have the soymilk eggnog here in Saudi so it has been a long lost old favorite. But I have to try this, it sounds and looks amazing.
Well done with the adaptations!! I need to remember to do that because when things go wrong, I get frustrated and then throw it all out. Love the sounds of what you created though – I’ve never tasted egg nog as it is!
That looks delicious and as if it would good perfectly with banana. Amazing! Great job! I think I like this idea much better.
<3 Maria
So you topped your bananas with the leftover nog? That sounds pretty good, man. That’d make a hell of a shake, too. I detect no failure in this post. Your tree is all nice and magical-like. Hope it smells as good as it looks!
you amaze me…i mean aside from the recipe turn-around, the fact that you were able to get a tree up your stair well and into your apartment is amazing!!!!
ps thanks for the email. i cant wait to read your post about it…
Thanks for the heads up – When I saw the e-mail from One Lucky Duck I thought of your egg nog challenge. I am glad to know that I probably shouldn’t attempt the recipe, lol.
I’ll have to check out the recipe in Eat Drink and be Vegan – I agree that it’s an excellent cookbook.
gorgeous tree and way to use that nog!
Doesnt look like a failure to me – it looks yummy! Your tree looks so festive too!!
Sometimes having a recipe not turn out you end up making something amazing. Your new version of eggnog whipped cream looks yummy.
I will email you tonight in regards to your email about your cleanse program for the new year. Sorry it has take me long to get back to you, but I have not forgotten!
Love the Christmas tree!
The tree looks fabulous! And I am glad your rawnog failure turned out a pleasant success with some adjustments
I love the idea of putting it over fruit. I bet it’d be good mixed with fruit in a smoothie type mixture as well. Merry almost Christmas!
Well, as they say, there are no failures in cooking–just new recipes! And your tree looks lovely.