The Ghosts of Christmas Meme

Since I have now been tagged four times for the "7 random facts meme" by Liz, Stacey, Al, and Sarah; I figured it is about time I got around to posting it! And since I recently saw The Christmas Carol at the theatre, I'm going take a stroll with a few Christmas spirits. And I'll throw in a recent dinner as well. As the clock strikes 1 am, I am visited by...

The Ghost of Christmas Past

1. When I was in grade school, I won a poetry writing contest and the prize was getting to go see Queen Elizabeth when she came to Houston (an aside: I was first accused of plagiarizing but then they realized I was merely using another author's style, but it was pretty traumatic to be accused of such a thing as a fourth grader). I still remember the very royal feeling dress that I wore to the event.

2. My first marathon attempt was when I was 17 years old on the coldest day I can remember in Houston. I dropped out of the race around mile 13 with a mild case of hypothermia. After that we had two days off from school because of icy roads. (I later completed my first marathon while living in Colorado)

3. I used to have a serious love for the frozen Stouffer's corn souffle when I was growing up. Now that my taste buds have matured a bit ( i.e. I need more spice), the kicked up southwestern corn pudding was just the thing to send me down memory lane last night. (from veganomicon, served with chile cornmeal crusted tofu and mango salsa)


The Ghost of Christmas Present

4. Now my current obsession is Maine Root Ginger Brew. I just had to say something about this because Stacey predicted I would. I am trying to be good though and limiting myself to just four per week. Beware though, this is not your standard ginger ale. If you take a big gulp, it will come back to bite you in your throat!

5. Not sure why, but I got all into the holiday spirit this year and decided to get my first tree as an adult (and after much research on the environmental consequences, I went for a real tree). I even carried on the tradition from my childhood of making fudge to have during the decorating process. And it finally made me appreciate that my mom got us an ornament every single year, because now I can look back and remember picking them out. And funny, my ornaments seem to mimic my obsessions at the time (I got a cupcake this year).
6. I have itchy legs. Seriously, even though I live in a pretty humid climate, I have terribly dry, itchy legs. The moisturizer I'm using right now just isn't cutting it (Alba). Any suggestions?

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

7. I've been in somewhat of a blogging slump, but that will hopefully change soon with the new year. I do have a major holiday sweets post coming your way next week. As my brother would say, "wait for it". There's much more where this came from...

For the two of you out there that haven't been tagged yet.... you are now tagged if:

1. you're looking out your office window (or at your cubicle wall) right now wishing you were anywhere but there
2. you like having nuts stuck in your teeth

Saint Nick Delivers

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care... in hope that yummy vegan treats soon would be there.

And what do you know, maybe I should start believing in Santa Claus! Christmas day dinner with my family was full of new, yummy vegan treats. For the main course, I made the Festive Chickpea Tart (thanks to Dreena) from the November issue of VegNews.
I loved the different textures of chickpeas, paired with crunchy walnuts, tart cranberries, and the green (festive!) parsley and spinach. We topped it with a balsamic maple sauce as Dreena suggested, but since I didn't have ED&BV with me, I just made one up (combined some maple syrup and balsamic vinegar (duh) with olive oil and whole grain mustard). The whole family loved this one, and I'm kinda sad that it's already gone :-( Maybe I'll make some more before the winter season is over.
The rest of the dinner was rounded out with twice baked potatoes (topped with FYH mozzarella), broccoli, homemade bread, and a green salad with raspberries and strawberries.

And another new recipe for the holidays... I got my mom (and myself, shhh) a copy of Hannah's My Sweet Vegan and perused it for quite awhile trying to figure out what to make for our holiday dessert. The answer was obvious when I saw the Mocha Devastation Cake. Two layers of moist chocolate cake with a mocha buttercream frosting and crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans in the center and topped with chocolate ganache and more chocolate-covered espresso beans. Wow.

I think maybe I should have crushed my beans a little more because mine didn't look nearly as pretty as the one in the book. And I made a little booboo with the ganache. I got unsweetened dark chocolate, and didn't notice till I tasted it halfway through frosting. Whoops. We ate it anyway and just discarded most of the ganache. Oh, it was sooo sooo good, and I don't even like coffee.
We brought it along (since it made a huge cake) when we went to see my more extended family yesterday. It got devoured. And of course you should have seen the look on their faces when I told them there was tofu in it! I will definitely be making this cake again, but hopefully with the right kind of chocolate, I'll bet the ganache would have made it even better.

I had a wonderful time the past few days hanging out with my parents and brother and sister, this is the best part of the holidays. Since we are all grown up now, our family is cherishing those moments we can spend together as getting everyone in the same place at the same time gets harder and harder.

Sad to say, but I'm back at work today (but I have tomorrow off again). I'm so excited though because John returns home this afternoon!! Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday meals with family and friends. Now it's time to start turning our attention to the New Year... and of course what treats we'll be making to celebrate!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

And in the bayou city, vegan cupcakes were spreading happiness, so yummy and pretty.

Last night I had my first experience with the Houston chapter of Food Not Bombs. The local Society of PEACE group that I belong too helped volunteer for the evening. We gathered on a chilly (for Houston) night to serve up yummy vegan food to Houston's homeless in front of the public library. I had known a little bit about this group, but after going last night I think it is truly amazing what they do. They are out there four nights a week feeding those that are less fortunate. It is so close to my house and such a noble cause, I will be definitely making an effort to volunteer more regularly. And of course, I had to bring some vegan food to share as well. I made the Tempeh Shepardess Pie from V-con (with sweet potatoes as I had previously), since it sounded like a warm, hearty meal for a cold night. And of course, I brought some christmasy-themed treats: mini-cupcakes!

There were 24 vanilla cupcakes with chocolate mousse (this is great stuff, I was pretty skeptical with the tofu, but no one has noticed at all) and 24 chocolate cupcakes with vegan cream cheese frosting, topped with some mints (which ended up giving a nice flavor to the frosting).
I even managed to spread vegan education awareness; one man asked me if I still ate fish, since vegetarians do (so he thought). I replied that people that eat fish are "flexitarians". He was pretty amused with that answer :-)



And luckily all the cupcakes and nearly all of the shepardess pie got eaten up, because when I arrived at my parent's house for the night, look what was waiting under the tree for me...
That's right, my sister brought these yummy donuts for me!! Those Mighty O's traveled mighty far from Seattle to Houston.
The flavors were: chocolate with mint frosting, chocolate with peanut butter frosting, pumpkin, plain with vanilla frosting, chocolate with chocolate frosting, and cinnamon sugar. I think my favorite is between the mint and the pumpkin, but they were all delicious. I tried a bite of every one with my breakfast (alongside a tofu scramble). And yes, I reluctantly shared with the rest of my family. I highly suggest you get your hands on some.
Hope everyone is having a peaceful, relaxing holiday season!! Santa should be making the rounds shortly....

Veganizing a Christmas Tradition: An Experiment

Every Christmas morning I can remember, following ripping open all of my gifts (as a child) or enjoying seeing my parents and siblings open what I got them (as an adult), we sat down as a family to my mom's almond puff. There's something about the crispy base crust, the moist puff on top, and of course the almondy frosting on top. Last year for the first time, I didn't get to consume this traditional treat... alas, it is made with eggs!! So this year I was determined to come up with a suitable veganized version that I could at least enjoy along with the rest of my family. I decided to test three different egg replacers (I also replaced the butter with non-dairy butter, what a genius I am): Ener-G, silken tofu, and soy yogurt. Below are my resulting mini- almond puffs topped with pecans (I know, why not almonds? not sure, but probably because my mom loves pecans)...

An up close look at the puff made from Ener-G egg replacer. The dough seemed to have a similar consistency to what I remembered.
And my first bite... I was pretty skeptical. I was somewhat expecting that the puff part on top would be dry, not moist like it should be. But I was pleasantly surprised. Not sure if it was all the frosting, but it tasted remarkably similar to my mom's traditional version!
Can you tell which one's I liked best? The Ener-G and tofu versions were the most authentic with the Ener-G just squeezing by the competition. Unfortunately, the puff made with soy yogurt browned on top and became a bit dry. Glad I tried the other two, because this was going to be my only experiment at first!
And here is the recipe, so you can start a Christmas morning tradition as well!

1/2 cup non-dairy butter, softened
1 cup flour
2 T water
1/2 cup non-dairy butter
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup flour
egg replacer equivalent to 3 eggs (I was pretty generous with the Ener-G egg)

Preheat oven to 350. Cut 1/2 c. butter into 1 c. flour. Sprinkle 2T water over mixture and mix with a fork. Form into a ball and divide in half. On an ungreased cookie sheet, pat each half into a 12x3 inch strip. Strips should be 3 inches apart.
In a medium saucepan, bring 1/2 c. butter and 1 cup water to a boil. Remove from heat and quickly stir in almond extract and 1 c. flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat in egg replacer until smooth. Divide in half and spread evenly over strips, covering completely. Bake 60 minutes. Cool and frost with glaze, sprinkle with pecans.

Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 T non-dairy butter, softened
1 - 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 - 2 T warm water

Experimenting in the kitchen was a fun way to spend yesterday, since John left for Boston to be with his family for the holiday on Friday. But on Thursday night before he left, we had our own little Christmas meal to celebrate the holidays.

Dinner included our first Tofurky and the Caramelized Onion Butternut Squash and Roasted Chestnut Casserole from V-con. I was pretty happy with the tofurky, especially since I hear so many mixed reviews. It was an easy main dish, with plenty of leftovers. The casserole is so rich and yummy, the chestnuts just melt in your mouth. Surprisingly, I couldn't find pre-shelled jarred or frozen chestnuts, so John was a huge sweetie to take care of shelling them for me! Give this recipe a try before chestnuts disappear from the shelves till next fall.
No photo, but we had some frozen wedding cake for dessert (for our 3 month anniversary, which is actually today :-) It froze remarkably well! We definitely won't have that in our freezer for the next year....

I have been baking away again today. Hopefully I'll get in a post tomorrow about what I've been up to. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

Getting In The Spirit

The holidays are all about giving for me (and spending time with loved ones). So for Christmas gifts for family, friends, and coworkers, I headed into the kitchen and did some serious baking. In preparation, I got out all the ingredients for each of the seven kinds of cookies that needed to be made. Then I separated my measuring cups and spoons into those for dry ingredients and those for wet (this greatly decreased the amount of dishwashings in between batches). And of course, I put on my DTV apron and cranked some tunes (Amy Winehouse, I know... I think her parents asked us to boycott the album so she'll get help with her addictions, but I really like cooking to it).

All in all, I think I baked up something like 120 cookies, and that's not counting the biscotti. Here's what I made: chocolate hazelnut biscotti, pistachio cranberry biscotti, chocolate chocolate chip walnut cookies (all from V-con), sparkled ginger cookies, non-gigantoid peanut butter oatmeal cookies (both from VWAV), white chocolate macadamia nut cookies (ED&BV), and homestyle chocolate chip cookies (Vive Le Vegan). I packaged them up in cute holiday boxes and shipped them out to family and friends, hopefully they won't be stale by the time they get there! (a definite bonus for the biscotti, since it's supposed to be crunchy). I was happy with the way it all turned out, especially since the biscotti, ginger, white choc/mac nut, and choco chip cookies were all first timers for me. You can't even ask me to pick a favorite, I just won't do it.... though of the leftover the chocolate chocolate chip ones were the first to go.
In addition to cookies, I decided to make mini-breads for my coworkers. I made the pumpkin spice bread from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I tried both the no-fat (applesauce instead of oil) and not no-fat versions. I found that I baked them quite a bit longer than the 30 minutes suggested for mini-loaves. The result though was a moist, pumpkiny bread that was perfect for the holidays. I wrapped them up and included a handcut, handstamped tag. Though you can't see it from the photo, on the back of each tag I stamped one of my favorite quotes " Be the change you want to see in the world" -Mahatma Gandhi. Oh, and the green tinsel inside marked those that I made with walnuts, since there are a few of my coworkers with nut allergies.
And finally, to help me get more in the spirit of the season, here is a picture of "Our First Christmas" ornament I ordered from Serendipity Crafts on etsy. We don't have a tree, so it's just hanging in the kitchen, but I figure maybe someday we will (and actually, we aren't even spending christmas together, John heads to Boston tomorrow :-( And also I have a Christmas meme that I saw on zippiknits blog. It was kinda fun to fill it out, you should too (even if you're somewhat of a scrooge)!


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? The last two years I have been using cloth gift bags. I got mine this year from the Ole Bag Lady on etsy.
2. Real or artificial tree? Neither. And eventually when I do put one up in our house someday, I'm not sure which to choose. I've seen arguements for both sides. What do you think is more environmentally sounds?
3. When do you put up the tree? Since I don't put one up, and there's lots of other questions about the subject of trees in the meme, I'll answer for my mom (plus I helped her put it up this year anyways). Shortly after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take it down? Shortly after New Years.
5. Do you like eggnog? Bleh bleh and bleh, but I'll take some chocolate peppermint soymilk please.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Tough one, especially since I have a horrible memory. It was probably some of my stuffed koalas since I loved them so much as a child.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope
8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad
9. Easiest person to buy for? My mom
10. Worst Christmas present you ever got? Oh I can't say, that's just too mean for the holiday season... now where are those tacky christmas sweaters....
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Until this year, I never really sent out a card, but this year I did (a photo from our wedding, a faux pas I know) and it was sent via postal mail (of course now I feel guilty for this).
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer... didn't you read my Island of Misfit Toys post?
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually in October, and I shop right up until the last possible day (I'm just slow, or as I'd like to think of it, thoughtful)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Can't really recall. I'm sure eventually I brought clothes to Goodwill, after all fashions change!
15. Favorite thing to eat on Christmas? Every Christmas I looked forward to my mom's almond puff for breakfast. This weekend I'm going to do some testing to veganize it, I'm trying to be hopeful (but it has lots of eggs:-()
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Always colored. Although I think white ones are classy, I find them a bit boring.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Not a huge fan of Christmas music, but if I had to pick, the Petrosky version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (that was my elementary school, we had our own fun noises and words mixed in) .
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? At home in Houston this year, although for awhile there our family went skiing for several years (Washington, Colorado, Switzerland).
19. Can you name all of Santa's Reindeer? You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.... and of course Rudolph.
20. Angel or star on top of tree?My mom has an angel that moves, the noise the fabric or plastic makes is kinda creepy I think.
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or morning? Always one present on Christmas eve then the rest in the morning. Since all us kids have become adults, we've also instituted a new tradition, instead of everyone ripping open their presents at the same time and being done in two minutes, we go in a circle and let everyone open one present at a time, rotating around till everyone is out.
22. Most annoying thing this time of year? Driving, everyone is especially crazy in their car during the holidays. Oh, and I always hated the Christmas music at the Gap (thank goodness I don't shop there anymore!).
23. Do you decorate your tree in any theme or color? Every year growing up we bought or made a new ornament. The tradition continues and that's how we decorate our tree!
24. What do you leave for Santa? Not much these days, but certainly the standard when I was growing up.
25. Shopping? I've done it all online this year and 80% handmade. Thanks goodness because I really couldn't handle the malls right now.
26. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?) We have some white lights strung outside that have been there since a xmas party two years ago, does that count? Inside I have our "First Christmas Together" ornament hanging in our kitchen (since we have no tree). Dang that reminds me I have some Christmasy holly stuff I can put on the table, be right back!
27. Favorite Christmas cookie? Okay, much more festive. Now, cookies. I know it's not a cookie but my favorite is fudge. A definite tradition at our house.
28. Do you own Christmassy clothing or jewelry? Definitely not. Does that make me a Scrooge?
29. Do you believe in Santa? Oh how I wish I could....