Friday, December 28, 2007

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

8 comments:

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Wow, I wish my sister'd made me some of those chocolate goodies! (Not that I didn't love what she gave me.)

The lemon cheezecake looks superb; I've been craving a vegan cheezecake lately.

And I love love love the pic of the two children! It's precious!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

wow, the cookies, "cheesecake," EVERYTHING looks sensational (and the Chai SOUNDS good too - I'm envisioning it, haha). Love the Herbivore shirts!! and your children are too cute. sounds like your holidays have been nothing less than spectacular!!

Michelle said...

your grandpa is vegetarian?? how incredibly cool is that!!! i wish there were other veg'ns in my family...there's a few that are veg-friendly, but no other all out veg-heads :(

i haven't made anything from real food daily yet, but i've been asking around, and have heard good things about the whole book, and many people like the melty "cheddar" cashew cheese... i think i may start with that. i can't wait to see what you cook out of it too!

i'm interested to see how you feed the baby as well.. there are so many ways to introduce solids, and we have a method that we really like .. always so neat to see how other people do it and why. i'll be posting our very own baby food adventures in 5-6ish months from now!

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Ruby Red said...

I'd love to see a post on vegan infant nutrition - I'm getting my bachelor's in nutrition (though not holistic). Teague is having yummy food already! I could go for some steamed pears too. Your children are beautiful, by the way!

I've been wondering about The Joy of Vegan Baking, so your positive review of the cheesecake makes me excited! I'll add it to my wish list.

I clicked on the Vegan Dish link, and awesome! I am jealous of your mug! And of your goodie bags. Dreena cookies rock. And spelt chapatis sounds yum yum delicious, especially next to the golden daal.

Anardana said...

Looks good! Glad you had a nice holiday. I had a party for solstice too, but my guests didn't take home cookies.. but they did get soynog cupcakes!

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

Super cute photo of the kids! And I also adore the photo of vegetarian Grandpa! I have the Joy of Vegan Baking and have loved every recipe so far (the latest was the brownies) Next, I must try that cheezecake!!

lolalafey4 said...

Lovely recipes. To bad we are on a candida cleanse :*(. But we will rise again, just like baking yeast!