Mmm... Dinner.

X-mas dinner for The Vegan: spanikopita and ginger-roasted winter vegetables from VWAV and green beans amandine. The spanikopita was again a big hit with the entire family: from my cousins' elderly southern grandma whose jaw dropped when I finally dropped the tofu-bomb to my younger sister who is admittedly a very picky eater, especially around vegetables and tofu. Phyllo dough is truly the stuff of wonders. The roasted veggies were popular too, though next time I think I'll just make them with sweet potato and squash since they cook faster and I like them better anyhow.



Grilled zucchini and eggplant on a baguette schmeared with homemade sundried tomato and white bean spread (with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, basil).

The x-mas baking post!

It's been so much fun looking at everyone's holiday baking, sorry my post is a bit after the fact but I was still baking pretty late on Christmas Eve.



Here is the big Christmas dessert platter: pine nute & anise cookies, sugar cookies and lemon bars from Joy of Vegan Baking plus peppermint-chocolate cupcakes inspired by Vegan Dad (chocolate cupcakes recipe from VCTOTW and buttercream from JOVB with peppermint candies and peppermint extract.) Everything was yummy, though the sugar cookie dough was a little difficult to work with. Using a little bit of water did help though.








Banana chocolate chip muffins from JOVB: totally perfect and fluffy!












Pumpkin bread from JOVB again, this time with walnuts and cranberries.

Pearberry Smoothie

I'm not going to lie: this smoothie was inspired by a lotion fragrance several years ago. It's still one of my favorites though; pears are the real underdog of the smoothie world. They rival frozen bananas for their addition of interesting textural elements and their delicate flavor works well with a wide range of other ingredients: berries and vanilla are great, but chocolate non-dairy milks, ginger, apple juice, almond butter and strawberries all also work well with pears. Also champagne and pear juice makes a good (weekend) A.M. beverage with your french toast, tofu scramble and what have you...

Pearberry Smoothie:
*Chilled canned pears, preferably in their natural juice and not in syrup.
*Vanilla soymilk
*Frozen mixed berries

Whiz together and enjoy!

Maple madness!

Roomie and I made some spicy maple candied nuts (cashews, pecans and hazelnuts) inspired by Bazu's recipe on Where's the Revolution?


Mini gingerbread cupcakes with maple buttercream frosting are the perfect reward for the friends who trekked out in the sleet (!) for our housewarming party this weekend. These are insanely addictive. I used the cake recipe from VCTOTW and the JOVB buttercream using 1 tsp. of maple extract and 1/2 tsp vanilla. I actually made the gingerbread cuppers about a year ago with the original lemon frosting and I messed them up pretty good--how I was able to get a vegan cake to dry out or Isa's frosting to go runny I do not know, but lets all be glad my vegan baking skills have improved so very, very much. Oh, and if you can find it near you, use the Reed's brand candied ginger, and add a little extra to the batter. Also, don't even *think* about tasting the batter, because you may not actually make the cupcakes when you end up eating half the bowl...

French Toast and the Magic of Flax

So, Roommate got me the Teany Book which doesn't have a *ton* of recipes, but is very cute. I made the french toast which I think was way better than non-vegan french toast since the flaxseeds make the toast just a little nutty (and much healthier!), and there is a ton of cinnamon and vanilla in the soaking liquid. Moby and Kelly offer a yummy looking plum syrup recipe to go with it, but I just used maple. Another big plus: this recipe takes just a few minutes to make-- easy peasy and no omnivore would ever be the wiser...

Yuca tortilla

My friend Heather and I made the yuca tortillas from Veganomicon. The combination of soft mashed yuca, bell peppers, garlic and olive oil give the dish a slighty cheesy flavor and I also added spinach and mushrooms because I had them. We agreed this would be even better with cilantro if you have it.

Fancified Food

Dessert first: vanilla ice cream sundae with mango and mixed berry compotes, vanilla cookies and toasted cashews.











Roommate made the kabotcha-udon winter stew from Veganomicon. The broth is awesome, and you could totally just put whatever veggies and noodles you had on hand in this. It also tastes good with some gomaiso on top. Yum.











Roasted veggies (yukon gold potato, cauliflower, eggplant, red pepper, onion with canola and italian herbs) on brown rice pasta with earth balance, white wine, pignoli, lemon and black pepper.