Happy Holidays!

Hey all! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday.
I have much to post, so let's get to it!

Last Saturday, before Christmas, we had a big Holiday/ Solstice party with a few friends of ours. It was an after-dinner party, and I made a few big pots of Chai Latte from The Joy of Vegan Baking (no pics, sorry... just imagine a big pot of.... chai. ;) ), and Lemon Cheesecake from the same book. Holy hannah, that lemon cheesecake rocked my world like crazy. Yikes. Sure, it was pricey, and a good $20 worth of soy cream cheese went into it, but damn. I was pretty sure that my cheesecake days were over, but I am so relived that they are not. Oh yum. I topped with a raspberry coulis. Ah, life is sweet.
Each of my guests took home a goody bag full of holiday baking: Jam-Print Cookies, 5-Spice Cookies, and Chocolate Mint Melties from ED&BV, Sparkled Ginger Cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance, and Mexican Wedding Cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Mmm.

Our christmas dinners (one at my mom's, one at my dad's) consisted of tofu roast, potatoes, veggies... the usual suspects. Nice!
One of my sisters is in university right now, so to save on cash, she made everyone treats for christmas instead of buying gifts. Fine by me! Here's what she made us: Double-Chocolate Almond Explosion Cookies and Fudgy Brownies from Vive, and chocolate-covered pretzels. Holy crappola. Chocolate covered pretzels rock my world, and I haven't had them in years. Le sigh. I heart my family.

Speaking of loving my family, can we talk gifts for a minute? My awesome hubby got me a mug from VeganDish that I am in love with! And look at how cute my guys are in their new Herbivore duds.
And here's a cute picture of my Grandpa ( vegetarian for 25+ years) sharing some cashews with Quinn. Awww.

For our post-christmas Boxing Day dinner, I made Fresh at Home's Golden Curried Dahl, and a batch of ExtraVeganZa's Spelt Chapatis. (On a side note, a dear friend just pointed out that me, and a few other friends, have been pronouncing this book Extra Vegan Za, although it seems like it's actually extravaganza. I feel like an idiot.)

Although I didn't mention it last month, I got a big ol' gift certificate to a bookstore for my birthday, which I, naturally, used to buy cookbooks. :) I picked up Fresh At Home, Real Food Daily, and The Joy of Vegan Baking (which I looove so far). Does anyone have any recommendations for what to make from which?

And, last but not least, (not-so) little baby Teague had his first not-from-the-boob food tonight! Some organic steamed pears, pureed, obviously.
I have done a lot of research on vegan infant nutrition, and have am quite nearly finished my holistic nutrition school, so I feel confident in doing a full post on the subject in the near future, if anyone would be interested. I will be following a feeding guide given to me by my naturopath, as well as my own knowledge on the subject.

Happy Holidays, everyone!
xo

Quickie

I am insanely swamped right now.... trapped under a seemingly endless pile of sewing, baking, and card making/ writing/ sending.
Anyways, back to the food. My mom and stepdad came for dinner last week, and I made V'Con's Chickpea Cutlets, with Mustard Sauce, and some roasted veggies (blue potatoes, parsnips, and carrots). Hot Damn I love those cutlets.
And, since we're covered in snow, and super cold temps, I made the husband and I a batch of ED&BV's Cocoa. All I had was full-fat coconut milk, which I used the whole can of, against Dreena's advice. I really should've listened to the well-meaning advice, because it was way too rich. Still good, but more like.... if-I-drink-a-whole-mug-of-this-I-might-throw-up good, y'know? I must add light coconut milk to my grocery list and try this again.
Oh, and a quick side note.... have any of you tried VitaSoy's Chocolate Peppermint Soymilk? Oh. My. God. If you haven't tried it yet, then run to your nearest health food store and buy a case...erm, a carton asap. Seriously. You will not be disappointed. Mmmmm. Damn the seasonal soymilks!

Yikes!

Holy crappola it's been a long time since I've done a food post. It's about time, no?
Last week Quinn and I made a batch of muffins from the Pretend Soup cookbook (by Mollie Katzen). This cookbook is very un-vegan, but easy to veganize and super fun for kids. These were called Hidden Berry muffins.... or something (I'd check, but there's a baby sleeping on my lap, and I daren't wake him).
I'm a bit of a muffin addict. Yum.
My husband's employers bring breakfast in every morning for their 300+ employees. Among the fresh fruit, cereal, and soymilk (!!!), are carrot muffins with cream cheese frosting which he pines over. So, because I'm the greatest wife in the world (har har), I made him some vegan ones, using VWaV's carrot muffin recipe, and VCTOTW's cream cheese frosting. These hardly lasted 2 days, which is a little sad...
Here's Veganomicon's Chickpea Noodle Soup. It was good, but the rice noodles I used were very absorb-y, and didn't keep well.
And just for fun, here's how my silly toddler ate his sushi last week...
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. :) We are all better now. We've been crazy busy though (xmas, sewing, craziness....), and had a bit of a cat-knocking-camera-over-and-breaking-the-lens incident. We bought a new lens, but I don't love it, so I hope we can get a better one soon.
I hope you are all well! There's snow like crazy here.... stay warm and cozy!
xo