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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Vegan Food Gifts Galore

I make my friends holiday gifts every year. But every year, I have to dig around for new ideas. Last year, I made brown sugar bath scrubs and the year before, I made subversive cross stitch art (with sayings like "Homo Sweet Homo" and "Please Kill Me").

But this year, deciding what to make was easy! Because one of my favorite vegan cookbook authors, Joni Marie Newman, came out with her awesome Vegan Food Gifts book just before the holidays. After much dog-earring and deliberating, I settled on the following gifts for my friends and family.

The last chapter of Vegan Food Gifts is dedicated to homemade booze, so I knew I'd be making lots from that section. People love booze gifts. I made Vanilla Mint Vodka infused with vanilla bean and mint leaves:


And Homemade Kalua (vodka infused with vanilla bean and coffee grounds for 30 days):


I also made vegan Irish Cream, but I failed to photograph it. It had to be stored in the fridge, so I forgot to pull it out when I was shooting these pictures. And my friend Greg, its recipient, has the bottle now.

My mom looked through Vegan Food Gifts on our road trip to Atlanta VegFest in November, and she made it quite clear that she wanted the homemade Classic Margarita Mix and Lime Salt:


A few of my friends don't drink (gasp!). One is preggo, so she's excused, but the others are just teetotalers for no reason. It seems weird to me, but I respect their strange ways, so I made some non-booze gifts. My preggo friend Shay and my yoga-loving friend Lara (who does drink but only wine and not very often) got Roasted Garlic & Peppercorn-Infused Olive Oil:


And my never-had-a-drink-in-his-life-even-though-he's-42 friend Mike and my brews-her-own-beer-but-doesn't-drink-it friend Leslie got soup mixes — Cheezy Potato for Mike (made with nooch, veggie broth powder, and potato flakes) and Masala Soup Mix for Leslie (lentils, quinoa, rice, and masala spices):


Oh, and Vegan Food Gifts includes little recipe cards that you can copy and print and attach!


I also made Instant Vegan Mac & Cheese Mix (for Sheridan and Stephanie). It's made with cashews and nooch. And I made some Chipotle Ranch Dressing Mix (just add Vegenaise or sour cream!) for Steph:


Some friends also got a box of Saltine Toffee (saltine crackers cooked with butter and sugar and topped with chocolate and nuts):


(Others got jars of my homemade hot sauce, but it's not pictured here because it's my own recipe. You can find that here).

The best part? I made myself a jar of everything too! You know, for quality control. Anyway, all of Joni's food gifts were delicious and very well-received. I'll probably be making more stuff from this book next year since there's plenty more ground to cover.

13 comments:

  1. I'm making all those liquors for next year! I always see them but never give myself enough time to make them before the holidays are already here!

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  2. Wow, you really dug in and got the most out of Joni's book! Awesome!

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  3. The saltine toffee is so addictive & delicious! Thank you for all of my awesome gifts! I read Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen from cover to cover today. Very excited to try out some new recipes!

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  4. What great ideas :) I hope I can get that book in the UK!

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  5. Thanks for the great idea earlier in the year. I think I made almost the exact same things for my family / kids' teachers / friends. All very well received I think.

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  6. I have made some things from this book but I clearly need to make more!!

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  7. Wow you were busy! I forgot about that book I must buy because everything looks amazing!

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  8. You crafty little vegan. Happy New Year, Bianca.

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  9. Booze gifts ftw! I keep meaning to make vegan irish cream - one of these years I'll get around to it. Though I'd love the booze gifts best, that olive oil would be pretty great too. Good call on stashing some for yourself! :)

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  10. I haven't busted into the mac n' cheese or chipotle ranch mixes yet, but the toffee was epic (yep, it's gone!). I need to get that book.

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  11. A great idea, the vegan gift book. The creations look very nice.

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  12. And just how might one go about getting on your Christmas Gift Recipient List??? :)

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  13. Never too late to send New Year wishes. Nice post.

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