happy festivus all y'all

I had the most relaxing christmas, at least in terms of cooking. It was pretty blissful, and that's not to say I didn't make anything (oh, I did), but I didn't have to make my own holiday dinner and that was the best present. The best present excluding all my new cooking supplies, that is. I got a spurdle!!!! (to be blogged about later -- my oatmeal's so fluffy now!)

These were my favourite - Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes with Mint Chocolate Chips and Peppermint Icing. They went over so well at my dad's house, even with his entourage of pretty timid (and omnivorous) palates. Such a good combination, and just the perfect bite size for ending a meal of quesadillas - inside of which I had tofurkey slices! They bought me fake turkey and sausage besides for the morning after - I felt so lucky.

Then later back to mom's house, where I find her beaming ear to ear and brandishing these beauties -- aren't they the coolest things ever? They're not vegan, but I just had to post them. I'm also thinking the fiddly-funwork approach to food may be genetic... yep. :D

These thin mints are straight from 101 Cookbooks and I'm urging you, go make them right now! They're like biting into a tender cocoa explosion, super easy to make, gorgeous on a plate, and my sister can fit 4 in her mouth at one time. (by the way, can you tell I'm a nut for chocolate and mint? I am!)

For christmas dinner itself I only had two things to do myself, and here's my five minutes of work to make vegan stuffing. My mom had even baked bread with onions, sage, walnuts and cranberries in it to cut down on time/up the flavour quotient.

The spread! mashers, stuffing, cranberry sauce, coleslaw, yams, squash, sprouts, broccoli, and home-canned pickled beets from the pantry, all covered in portobello & red wine gravy that was already made for me when I got home! It was simple but exactly what I wanted, and I ate to bursting anyway. Who needs a turkey-like element, really? I had sausage for breakfast! :)

I was also in charge of pumpkin pie (lest there be none at the table at all!). No ginger due to allergies, but a hazelnut crust to make up for it, and though the filling was less good than the one I made for thanksgiving that hasn't stopped me from eating the leftovers with a spoon right off the plate. Tee! And the tofu cream I threw together to go with it put all my previous soy-whip attempts to shame, it was damntastic.

Aaaaaaand a shot of cutie Thelma-cat, hiding in a bag full of donation clothes and sterile bandages (we're real linear in our organization around here). Go cat pictures! Happy It's-Cold-So-Let's-Eat Day! I hope everyone felt connected to those they love and at peace with themselves and got funky socks and all that jazz. :PP