Christmas surprises

 You may recall that I put this book on my wish list. I love it when my sister and/or Elliot give(s) me something I mentioned on the blog.  I got Kate this magnet from a shop called Rhody Craft at the Providence farmers' market. Hee!    One night I whipped up some hot cocoa using almond milk, carob powder, cane sugar, cinnamon, and a little bit of vanilla. The next day, and the day after:

"Are you making more cocoa?"

"Why, do you want more cocoa?"

"Do youuuuuuuu want more cocoa?"

"I guess I'm making more cocoa!"

* * *

And, lastly but certainly not leastly, a Christmas surprise that wasn't under the tree: K. R. Paradis wrote a lovely piece of music inspired by the holiday "covention" chapter in Petty Magic! Honestly, it's been a week since she posted it and I still can't quite believe I have readers this awesome. 

More Holiday Cooking and Baking

It's good to be home. My sister and I have been cooking and baking every day. Yesterday Kate made a kale and butternut squash curry (recipe courtesy of Naked Vegan Lunch), and I could hardly get enough of it. My grandmother always used to say that food tastes better when somebody else makes it; I guess that's because you're free to enjoy the meal without tallying up the "should haves."  There was plenty of kale left over, so we made kale chips (toss lightly with olive oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, then bake at 375º for twenty minutes) to snack on during our one-hundred-and-forty-ninth viewing of Holiday Inn. It cracked me up when our mom said wonderingly, "I can get my vegetables this way?!" Funny how "getting" them was a chore when I was a kid; now I can't get enough of them.  As for sweets, I made two of my standbys out of The Joy of Vegan Baking: chocolate coconut macaroons and apple bundt cake. (By the way, I heard from Amanda that she received the gingerbread cookies and that her daughter was happily surprised at how good vegan cookies can taste. Mission accomplished!)  One of my goals for 2014 is to get way more adventurous in the kitchen. In fact, I'm thinking I should pledge to make only new recipes! A new Vitamix will help, no doubt—I'm going to order a refurbished model next week—and the Susanna MacIver project too. (In case you don't feel like rereading that "YAY it's a new website!!!" entry, I'm planning to veganize a series of recipes out of Susanna MacIver's Cookery & Pastry, published in Edinburgh in 1789. When you love two things THIS MUCH—in my case, cruelty-free eating and a city steeped in the gothic—you might love them even better if you put them together, right? We'll find out...)Here are several recipes I'm going to try in the new year:

Boston Cream Pie from Lunchbox Bunch

Pumpkin Lasagna with Basil Sauce from Luminous Vegans

Vegan Velveeta from Jessica Corra

Save-Cash Quinoa Loaf from Ellen Jaffe Jones's Eat Vegan on $4 a Day (via Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine)

Vegan meatballs with spiralized zucchini "pasta" from The Pursuit of Hippieness

Mushroom bourguignon from The Simple Veganista

Fried (cashew) "goat cheese" salad from Vegan Belle

Almond-butter snickerdoodles from Vegan Richa

Chocolate espresso chia and coconut pudding from Fran Costigan's Vegan Chocolate (via A Dash of Compassion)

Chocolate mint truffles from Deb Gleason on MindBodyGreen

Vegan Nog from Oh She Glows

(All those sweet things have reminded me: I meant to mention that I won a book giveaway on Chic Vegan back in October, so I'll be reviewing Amber Shea Crawley's Practically Raw Desserts too.)Of course, I have more resolutions where this came from. Further ruminations on 2014 in my next post (which probably won't be until New Year's Eve, so Merry Christmas, everybody!)How about you? Do you have any kitchen-oriented goals for the new year?