Xmas Recap

There are few things I love more than food and presents, so as you can imagine, Xmas is one of my favorite holidays. I don't really get into the religious aspect of the day. I'm far more interested in stuffing my face with my family ... and of course, opening and giving gifts.

On Xmas Eve, my parents, my boyfriend, and I had dinner at Chili's in my Arkansas hometown, where I enjoyed some scrumptious veggie fajitas with corn tortillas (their flour tortillas are not vegan, fyi). Then we went back to my parents' house and opened gifts. I got an Excalibur food dehydrator (expect lots of raw goodness soon!), a new Nikon zoom lens for my D60, lots of clothes from Delia's, a Vegetarian Times cookbook, a set of pots and pans, and some more fun stuff.

I gave my mom this hula hoop, created by local hula hoop gang the Hooper Troopers. My mom is a hula hoop champion ... just look:

After presents, my best friend Sheridan came over to exchange gifts with me. She made me a punk rock prom dress (for fun dress-up time!) and gave me Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa and Terry. So of course, we immediately baked up some Peanut Butter Blondies from the book:

And then we stuffed our faces. Here's Sheridan:

These blondies were so super peanut buttery and chewy. Perfect! I can't wait to get this blondie in my mouth:

On Xmas morning, we woke up early for our annual Xmas breakfast at Granny's house. In case you haven't heard, I have one awesome granny. She's totally embraced my veganism, and she's helping create delicious desserts for my cookbook. She even keeps vegan margarine and soymilk on hand at all times. Here's Granny with my Pa:

While everyone else noshed on eggs, ham, and non-vegan biscuits and gravy, I enjoyed my own vegan breakfast plate (most of which my mom cooked up the night before so I'd have something to easily re-heat):

There's a tofu scramble, Gimme Lean Lightlife sausage, and biscuits and gravy (made with evil, but tasty white flour ... hey, it's Xmas, I can have white flour if I want). Also, Granny made some tasty hash browns that made it to my plate a little later.

I had a great Xmas. I hope ya'll did too!

Merry Xmas!

I hope ya'll have a very merry Xmas! I won't be posting again until Sunday night since I'll be doing holiday stuff (yea! presents!) with my parents in Arkansas and my boyfriend's parents in middle Tennessee. But I will leave ya'll with this cute-ass Xmas cupcake that I made for an early family holiday party last weekend:

Aren't those toppers just the cutest things you've ever seen?! I love how they're bucks with doe spots! I ordered them from Sweet Estelle's Baking Supply on Etsy.com. She has an array of kitschy-cute toppers. The cupcake is chocolate-mint with vanilla buttercream, a variation on the classic chocolate cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Happy Holidays!

I Fixed My Favorite Peanut Butter Cookies

I have a love affair with peanut butter. Chunky, creamy, white chocolate, or maple-flavored — it's all equally magical in my eyes (or well, mouth). I could eat jars at a time, but I know better. A little good fat is a good thing, but too much of a good thing can be bad. That's why I love Fran Costigan's recipe for "I Fixed My Favorite Peanut Butter Cookies" (yes, that's the actual name) from More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally:

I must admit that I was first drawn to the recipe's name. Any time a recipe title includes a verb, adjective, and noun, that's a beautiful thing. But after reading Costigan's ingredient list, I knew these may become my new favorite peanut butter cookies.

Why? Because they're actually pretty healthy! Costigan's book features recipes made with whole wheat pastry flour, natural sweeteners, and as little oil as possible. Most peanut butter cookies are loaded with margarine, but Costigan reasons that PB already contains plenty of good fat to make a soft and chewy cookie. Why add more? The entire recipe only calls for three tablespoons of canola oil and a half-cup of creamy peanut butter. Dispersed between all the cookies, that's certainly not enough good fat to become a bad thing.

The result was a melt-in-your-mouth, salty-sweet peanut butter cookie that would rival any non-vegan version I loved when I was a kid. I brought a batch to work today and they were all gobbled up before noon.

Costigan's book is yet another amazing title from the Book Publishing Company in Summertown, Tennessee. Though this is the first recipe I've tried, I have many more on my to-make-soon list — Carob German Not Chocolate Cake, Honey-Free Better Baklava, Peanut Butter Mousse in Chocolate Candy Cups, and so much more. Stay tuned. And check out the book.

Egg McGuffins ... and Solstice with the Pets!

I know this is horrible, but I used to love going through the McDonald's drive-thru in my pre-vegan days to order egg & cheese biscuits and McMuffins. I thought, since I was leaving off the meat, that it must be better for me. That was before I read Fast Food Nation, mind you. These days, the thought of anything from McDonald's makes me shudder. But these Egg McGuffins from Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson surely didn't make me shudder this solstice morning:

The "egg" part is made from silk tofu, nooch, and turmeric. And of course, I added a little black salt (not in the recipe) for effect. The "egg" cooking technique is similar to that of the tofu omelet in Vegan Brunch. The "sausage" is Gimme Lean, and the super-melty cheeze is Tofutti American cheese. The English muffin is a whole wheat version from Whole Foods. Perfect way to begin my Winter Solstice morning.

Since my dog Datsun opens presents with his grandparents on Xmas Day, we do presents at home on Solstice. He got a big ole (very non-vegan) rawhide bone and a new pillow bed:

I hate giving him those icky rawhide bones, but I swear, nothing in the world makes him happier. Just look at those crazy eyes! Anyone know of a decent vegan faux rawhide dog bone? I'd gladly order him some if I could find them.

As for the cats, all six of them went crazy for their new catnip snakes. Just look at Pandora:

And Gelfling got pissed when he couldn't decide between the new swatter toy or the catnip snake. Look at that crazy face. Roar!

Vegan Care Package! And a Winner!

Sorry for not posting this over the weekend, but we have a winner in the Kenzoil giveaway. I used a random number generator and it chose #60. That was Tiffany C. of Bread Without Butter! Enjoy your Kenzoil, Tiffany!

In other news, I was recently the lucky receiver of this amazing vegan care package from Sarah of See Sarah Eat:

We both signed up for a package exchange on the Cooking for a Vegan Lover blog, and we were paired up as swap partners. And man, I'm glad it worked out that way. Look at all this yumminess!

There's peppermints, Dr. McDougall's lentil and vegetable soups, almonds, the new peanut butter and jelly and tropical fruit tart Larabars, Crunch Time peanut butter, pumpkin butter (locally-made from Kentucky, where Sarah lives), lots of tea, some hand soap, Larabar stickers, and note pads.

I'm most excited to try the Crunch Time peanut butter by Peanut Butter and Co. I've tried most all their flavors (except Bee's Knees, of course), but I've never seen this one in any store around here. It's supposed to be super-chunky, and I adore chunky PB.

I'm also psyched about the Dr. McDougall soups. Sarah eats them often and posts about them on her blog.

Thanks Sarah! And to everyone else, happy Winter Solstice!!! Enjoy the longest night of the year!

Comfort Casserole

I used to LOVE broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole — a potluck standard in the South (and probably everywhere in the U.S.). My mom made an awesome version using cream of mushroom soup mixed with rice, broccoli, and cheddar. I knew I must include a vegan version of this in my cookbook, so a while back, I developed this Broccoli, Rice, & Cheeze Casserole:

I made it again this week to test the recipe, but this is an old picture. I couldn't get a good shot this time, so I'm recycling this old one. I include my own recipe for vegan cream of mushroom soup in the cookbook since I don't know of a vegan version sold in stores. It works well in this recipe and several others in my book or it makes for a delicious creamy soup on its own.

On the side, I made the Italian Tofu from the Veganomicon:

Tofu is marinated in a simple concoction of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and herbs and then it's baked for about 30 minutes. I actually marinated mine for two days because I ended up joining some friends for dinner on the night I'd planned to prepare it.

Atop the tofu is a bit of local Tomato Marmalade:

I purchased a jar from the Dodson Farms booth at the special one-day winter farmer's market downtown a few weeks ago. Made from tomatoes, sugar, basil, and other spices, it's a wonderful way to enjoy fresh summer tomatoes in late fall/early winter.

A couple of announcements:
* Don't forget to enter the Kenzoil giveaway on Tuesday's post! Contest ends Friday (12/18) at 10 a.m. CST.

* The awesome Gena of Choosing Raw is co-hosting an anti-fad cleanse in January. The Spark! Wellness and Choosing Raw cleanse offers three reasonable (and nourishing) ten-day dietary programs to help instill improved eating habits in 2010. For more info and the lowdown on signing up, check it out here.

Pre-Solstice Eats

Winter Solstice doesn't happen until December 21st, but some friends and I celebrated the solstice a little early with a Yule potluck at Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church last Saturday. We grubbed on hearty winter foods, and some folks acted out the mythical battle between the Oak King and the Holly King.

It wasn't a vegan potluck. In fact, I was the only vegan there, but there were a couple of vegetarians. To ensure I had plenty to eat, I brought an entree and dessert. On the savory side, I brought this Crock Pot filled with my Chipotle Chickpea Chili:

The recipe is going in my cookbook. It's a smoky, hearty chili with chickpeas, kidney beans, and cubes of tofu. Oh, and mushrooms ... because every batch of chili needs mushrooms. Sorry for the crappy, steamy washed-out photo!

For dessert, I brought this Coconut Icebox Cake:

Another cookbook recipe, this cake features two layers of yellow vegan cake topped with a sweet sour cream/coconut frosting. I'm still working on perfecting the cake recipe, but it's getting better. My Granny makes this cake with a yellow cake mix, but I'm trying to develop a perfect vegan yellow cake that mimics the fluffiness of a boxed cake.

If you haven't already signed up for the Kenzoil giveaway, head over to yesterday's post and do it now. The contest is open until 10 a.m. CST.