Currently viewing the tag: "christmas"
I am now the happy owner of a Vitamix! Ever since I was a young newbie vegetarian I have wanted one of these powerful kitchen wonders. I am looking forward to using my Vitamix for many years to come. I am still pouring over the recipe book in awe of its capabilities. Stay tuned for homemade mayonaises and nut milks! Merry Christmas and Happy Blending!
Boom! It’s the holiday season again! Time for photo collage prints of little ones. Traffic by the shopping hubs. Jewelry commercials. An inbox full of pending deliveries. The songs. The movies. The build-up… and then a new year. I’m slowly getting into it. Frankenstein and I are experiencing our first real tree, a gorgeous 7 ‘ Frasier Fir. The big old school bulbs and Evergreen roping are up. The Pumpkin Bandit morphed into the Christmas Bandit, leaving a decorated wreath at the usual victims’ porch at dusk. And the classroom gets a poinsettia. Wishing you a fruitful holiday season, at your own pace. xo, V.V.
The Iced Whale ornament waited patiently for the Christmas tree, comforted by the whiff of the salty scent of the Atlantic that wafts to The Electrician‘s home. In protest to a premature holiday kick-off, he waited well-past Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber-Monday to adorn the tree.
Aaaah, a Poinsettia in front of a frosted window. The gorgeous red and green leaves illuminated by the morning light. More Christmas than I know what to do with.
My adorable nieces inside one of the best gifts I’ve ever given as an Aunt: Buddy Bumper Balls. These zany ladies sure can have fun.
Three batches of my favorite cookie recipe. Check! Winning the heart of palates more inclined to enjoy super-processed snack cake Little Debbie‘s: Not-so check. Oh well, I think it was Princess Leia who said, “Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn’t possibly all have good taste.”
A motherload of cupcakes for my class Holiday Bonanza.
I have a ton of vintage aprons but I much prefer using my pants. Here they are dusted with flour and cocoa. I think I just like making a mess so I can clean it up.
Hilarious card from one of my students. Luckily there is no onomatopoeia coming from that sleeping one next to the tree.
Christmas morning. We watched the Yule Log & listened to WQXR‘s gorgeous choral classics.
Onward to my parents’ house. Their Christmas tree was oozing ornaments: old and new. It looked like a display and served as a timeline.
With the week off, I found myself ricocheting from Long Island to Brooklyn, delivering all my gifts and goodies back to my apt, then thrifting and digging through my storage stowed years ago and delivering that back. Waiting for the parking restrictions to end, I hit Champs for lunch. Brief rant: I can barely breathe in there. There is zero ventilation and a grey, burnt-smelling cloud hovers in the dining area. Nothing is made to order and grows cold within minutes, as microwaved foods usually do. Why, Why, why, New York City?! Why can’t you get all-vegan right like so many other cities have?
After watching a Storage Wars marathon, I remembered I had some goodies in my sister’s storage locker. I paid it a visit and uncovered a slew of my old treasures. Plus I got to play real life Tetris with the space, leaving chaotic and haphazard organized neatly and efficiently. I found a bunch of my old indierock shirts, which I left to increase their value, and my gorgeous accordion… and my banana-seat bike is doing well.
Snowflake time.
Christmas morning and Santa came!
Making quick use of the Electrician‘s new waffle maker and Williams Sonoma waffle tongs.
Christmas sugar cookies.
All dressed up.
Banana everything cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
Santa came again at my folks’.
Pancake in her festive collar.
For my class holiday party I needed a batch of bright, kid-friendly Christmas cupcakes. Thanks to N.Y. Cake and their bright gel coloring (also used for the World Cupcakes), my cakes were a rich wintery green. Let’s hear it for artificial coloring!
When you have a green cake, you need red icing. Below is a colored vanilla buttercream.
With a selection of sprinkles, candies and colored sugars, the kids decorated the cupcakes to their liking. Dressing the cakes to impress, here are some of their designs: 
For additional cupcake reporting, check my classroom blog!
Burning your own dessert with a butane torch is not only exciting, it is an interactive way to spark up a holiday potluck! After committing to this dessert some time ago and purchasing all the special supplies {10 ramekins, butane torch, butane, arrowroot, fruit sugar, etc}, it was time to bring it on. Despite my waning health, I needed to cross vegan crème brûlée off my list.
I used Vegan Visitor‘s recipe here. After a slight drain, two packages of silken tofu ready for processing. The blended tofu, fructose, soy milk, vanilla and arrowroot are divided among the ramekins. They cooked in a bath of boiling water in the oven till flubbly [below].
They take some care going in and out of the oven and a level kitchen. This recipe would be a disaster if made at my apartment on my kitchen’s slope. It was time for them to just chill.
Practicing with the torch. Darn child-proof button.
Flash forward to T&A‘s holiday potluck! A gorgeous salad by Em, potatoes and gravy by CandyPenny, sausage and peppers and tofu casserole by T&A, stuffed mushrooms by D. Wow. Feeling the beginnings of what would turn into a butt-crippling flu, I barely had the appetite to eat a bite. On to dessert!
CandyPenny wo-mans the torch, burning the granulated sugar to the dessert’s characteristic crunchy top. Everyone’s top was unique. I realized I hadn’t been putting enough sugar on the custards’ tops. The more sugar, the more sizzzzle!
Whap! Cracking the crème brûlée top.
TimX, less apprehensive with holding a torch, created a deep sienna top.
Here’s to another year gone by with my girls! And to many more years of food memories!
For friends who enjoy sweet vegan treats, Christmas stretches on and on for days. Below are my final gifts for giving, VCIYCJ‘s gorgeous caramel pecan bars…
And sweet coconut and cashew dark chocolate bars, a kind of mistake that turned out quite delicious.
The tower of sweetness, complete for Rocky Road cookie dividers, sat upon adorable mini-cast iron skillets and a bag of Sweet & Sara‘s mini marshmallows (not pictured), just in time for the hot cocoa season.
I’ve said many times that when an omni puts in the effort to accomodate for a vegan’s diet it is considered a high compliment. I was flattered greatly by my Christmas, part II: brunch at my brother’s, home to two of the most darling little gals, my nieces. My sis-in-law went all out, locating brunch recipes from vegan blogs and venturing into the abyss of dairy and meat-feee cooking with much success.
First mention would be her delicious shepard’s pie. Veg beef and the characteristic veggies topped with mash and baked. A meal in a scoop. 
Roasted eggplant garnished to the nines. What does that mean anyway?
My plate of pancakes, shepard’s pie, veg sausage and eggplant. Mmmm. Hearty for that morning after xmas hangover.
The real treat was spending time with my little nieces, such keen and sharp little ones with the best sense of humor.
I had to be very selective about who received a holiday cookie care package this year. Next year, when I am through studying to be a master of the universe, you’ll all get them.
The chocolate chip cookie is a must in any cookie assortment. Using Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar‘s recipe I got delectable buttery cookies rivaling my favorite cho-cho chip recipe. They have a lighter texture which complemented the assortment greatly.
Also from VCIYCJ (okay, they’re all from VCIYCJ!) are the Rocky Roads. Thick, brownie-like batter gave way to chewy deliciousness, chock full of chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and chopped almonds.
Cranberry and white chocolate biscotti were the adults of the cookie family, perfect for coffee-tipping and practicing your Italian accent.
Yeah, the Lazy Samoas were out of this world. With a truck-ton of shredded coconut and coconut oil, these babies were a short cut to those well-loved Girl Scout cookies. I’d like to experiment further in the veganization to attain the layered texture of the original but he taste of these was spot-on.
I haven’t been in the kitchen much at all these days. But that will change very, very soon. The holiday marathon of cooking, pot lucks, food shares and Christmas cookies begins this weekend. And for the first time ever, I will be responsible for the entire Thanksgiving meal at my parent’s house. This is a colossal challenge I am ready for with my a-game. So to carve my intentions in stone, I offer my holiday menu.
Gastronomical delights to all, and to all a good night.
Thanksgiving potluck:
Autumn ravioli medley (butternut squash & sage ravioli and beet ravioli with fava bean sauce)
Pecan and date blondies
Thanksgiving at the family’s:
Seitan en Croûte
Dandied Candied Yams
KZ’s Thanksgiving stuffing
Cranberry sauce not shaped like a can
Garlic-sauteed greens
Tomato Rosemary Scones
Chocolate pumpkin pie
Brooklyn vs. Boston Cream Pie Cakes (from VCTOTW)
Christmas cookie assortment:
Cashew coconut joy
Chocolate chip cookies
Rocky road cookies
Caramel pecan bars
Vegan Samoas
Cranberry white chocolate biscotti
A note about my holiday cookie selection: All but one of my carefully-selected recipes are from Isa and Terry’s amazing new book, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. All but the cashew coconut joy, which is a My Sweet Hannah recipe. And by carefully selected I mean that I personally find them delicious. There are no peanut butter nor banana-infused treats as these domineering flavors often takeover the entire assortment when combined.
See the rundown on last year’s holiday cookie-a-thon here and below.
Vegan Reporting By Location
