Jane and I have been traveling recently.  We were so wrapped up in planning for our trip, getting things ready for us to be gone at work,  and then being away that we cannot get our minds around the fact that it is the start of the holiday season already.  How did that happen?

Normally we plan our meal way in advance as Thanksgiving is "our" holiday.  Our tradition is that we always eat the dinner alone together and "dessert around the world."  One year we visited with four other families for dessert.  The trick to surviving that is to eat the smallest possible amount everywhere. Now we try to limit it to 2 households.  This year, we'll be stopping at one of our neighbors and our cousins who live nearby.

Anyway, because we're so strapped for time this year, and because we are pretty happy with the way our meal turned out last year, we decided to recycle that menu.

So here's what we're making, again:

• Tofurky and Celebration Roast
• Poblano Chili Cornbread Stuffing
• Cashew Gravy
• Cranberry Orange Sauce
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Cumin Braised Brussels Sprouts
• Green Beans with Balsamic Carmelized Red Onions
• Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

Jane will make her apple pie to bring to our cousins house, and her chocolate truffles for the neighbors.  She's toying with a vegan cheesecake recipe, but doesn't know if she'll have the time.  Anyway, if you're still working on your menu, don't forget, we've got a number of Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes posted.

Whatever you wind up doing, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Jane and I aren't really into the whole Valentine's Day thing.  We've been together eleven years. It's a long enough period of time for us to have gotten to know what the other wants or expects on these kinds of holidays. For instance, I know that Jane loves it when I bring home flowers, but she can't stand the idea of the ridiculously inflated costs of flowers at this time of the year. Neither one of us believes that this is a legitimate gift-giving "holiday" - so there's no expectation that either of us is going to procure an amazing gift for the other. But there is some sense of needing to make this day a bit more out of the ordinary, we do after all, value and cherish our relationship.

Last year, for our first Vegan Valentine's Day, Jane made us a feast.  This year, Shojin (our favorite vegan restaurant in the Los Angeles area) was having a set course meal which sounded wonderful, so we made reservations.  By the time we got around to making our reservations, dinner was already sold out, so we took the last lunch seating.

Shojin - Salad

As usual, the food was superb.  The meal started with a "three color terrine" which was red pepper, kabocha squash, and edamame in an agar-agar suspension...  It was different from anything I've eaten before.  Jane and I both thought the red pepper the best of the three colors.   That was followed by a cauliflower carrot soup which I thought was excellent.  After that we were served a green salad with roasted tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette.  The roasted tomatoes were a nice surprize.

Seitan Cutlet Cordon Bleu - Shojin

For our entree, we had a choice of seitan cutlet cordon bleu with ratatouille and colorful rice, or hamburg steak with mushroom sauce and colorful rice.  Shojin's seitan is spectacular, so we both ordered the cutlet.  It was very good, but we both prefer the barbeque seitan.

Dessert - Shojin

Finally, there was dessert.  It was a plate of three different desserts... a sesame ice cream, chocolate gateaux, and berry gelee.  My favorite here was the sesame ice cream.  Jane, of course, picked the chocolate as her favorite.

Whether you're an avid Valentine's Day fan, or think it's just another Hallmark holiday, we hope you had an enjoyable day.

Vegan Christmas Dinner

We celebrate Christmas here.  This year we had a few people over who were not interested in trying a vegan meal.  So, in the spirit of the holidays, we suggested they bring the "meat" dish of their choice, and promised they'd love our sides.  (The bit of non-vegan fare on the table is not shown in photo.)

Our dinner was almost identical to our Thanksgiving.  I begged Jane and she acquiesced, but I don't think I'll be getting a repeat any time soon.  We're still eating leftovers and she's starting to tire of the same meal, after all we just had a week of it for Thanksgiving.  Regardless of her waning enthusiasm, it's a spectacular meal.   The mashed cauliflower was a huge hit, as was our stuffing.  The red cabbage has been a standing family dish forever, and people always comment on our brussels sprouts.

Vegan Christmas Cookies

But the big winner was the cookie tray.  Jane did a ton of baking this year.  My expanding waistline can attest to two facts: 1) It is possible to gain weight on a vegan diet; and 2) vegan desserts can be DELICIOUS.

Starting at the 9 o'clock position and moving clockwise we have:

• Vegan Brownies from The Joy of Vegan Baking, the best brownies ever!
• Nikki's Healthy Cookies from the 101 Cookbooks blog (I didn't care for these.  Jane added sugar, and they still weren't sweet enough for my taste).  Jane won't be making these again, but we did hear rave review from one of our guests.
• Zimtsterne (or Cinnamon Stars) from Mihl's blog Seitan Is My Motor.  Jane's favorite non-vegan cookie... this recipe is almost as good!  A definite addition to her repertoire.
• Spritz cookies (Jane veganized her standard recipe).
• Lemon Gems from Gails blog, Cooking at the Pacific Outpost.  We've had several requests for this recipe and these were my favorite cookies by far.  Gail also has a recipe for Spritz cookies that Jane said she might try next year.
• Peppermint truffles.  Jane's concoction.  I have no idea what's in them, but damn they're good!
• Ganache truffles.  Jane used a failed Daring Bakers' ganache for the December Challenge (that's tomorrow's post) and rolled them in some kind of crumbled macadamia nut brittle.  Can we say calories?

Whatever you celebrate at your house, we hope you are having a happy holiday season!  Now off to bed with dreams of sugarplums (or vegan cookies) dancing in my head.

It's the holiday season.  Jane's busy trying to bake things.  Gifts need to be wrapped and mailed to distant family members.  Holiday greeting cards have yet to be written out.  And it's already December 9th!!!   We've received a few emails asking for ideas for gifts for vegans.  This is what we've come up with...

This year, as like many of you, we're scaling back a bit, so we really want to make sure our gifts are "successful."  We figure you might be in the same boat, so tonight's post is dedicated to the things we love and wouldn't want to live without, and the things we'd feel good about giving.  Here they are, in no particular order.

Kitchen Gadgets:

Last year, Jane's mom bought us a Soyabella Milk Maker for Christmas. This may be the single best thing that's come our way since going vegan. I have a cup of homemade almond milk every single morning in my breakfast smoothie. It has more than paid for itself by now (okay, we didn't pay for it, but you know what I mean).

Jane adores her KitchenAid Stand Mixer. She's had it for 12 years and it's still going strong. According to her, it 's the second best gift she's ever gotten. (Note: I didn't buy this. It's from the guy she was dating before she met me!)  Her's is white, they didn't offer many options back then.  Now you can get them in almost any shade from purple to teal to black to red.  I've even seen decals to dress them up!

Another must have as far as Jane is concerned, is an Immersion Blender. This tool is essential for making any kind of "cream of" (pureed) soup. Instead of having to divide the soup in batches in order to puree it in the blender or food processor, you can simply bring the blender to the pot. It's so much easier! You can also use it to make small batches of shakes right in the glass you plan on using.

Two years ago, our food processor finally gave out. It happened to be right before Jane's birthday. She hinted that she'd like to upgrade to a KitchenAid Wide Mouth Food Processor. She wanted something with a wider feed tube so she wouldn't have to keep taking off the lid. She's very happy with this product.

Another must have for any baker is a Nonstick Baking Mat. Why bother with the mess of having to grease pans, or the waste of parchment paper...

Jane's been working more frequently with recipes which state quantities in grams as opposed to cup measurements. Rather than go online for conversions, she's been using a Salter Kitchen Scale. She feels the measurements are much more specific that way. After all, how often do you get an exact cup of flour... and if it's sifted you may get more or less; a weighted measure takes care of that problem. I've even gotten use out of the scale, measuring envelopes to ensure adequate postage!

Vegan Cookbooks:

Our favorite vegan cookbook isn't truly vegan, it's vegetarian. So there are recipes here which we won't be making. But at almost 1,000 pages, that's not really a problem! We love How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Not only does Mr. Bittman provides you with great recipes, he also teaches you about the ingredients he's using and gives you ideas for alternative pairings. It's an educational cookbook, but don't expect pretty pictures.

For our favorite desserts, we constantly go back to The Joy of Vegan Baking. Jane was going to go through each recipe, one a week until she got through the book. We've gotten stuck on the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and the Vegan Brownies. If you don't get anything else out of this cookbook, those recipes alone are worth the purchase price!

Vegan Reference:

Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet. The title says it all. This book was very helpful to us.

Diet for a New America.  Well written, and informative.  This is a must-read for anyone who is concerned about their health and their diet.

The China Study. It's a little dry, but the in-depth discussion of how eating animal products impacts human health might be all you need to convince you to go vegan.

Miscellaneous:

Vegan Essentials is offering a variety of holiday gift ideas for the vegan.  They also have gift certificates so your favorite vegan can get something they want.

Don't forget to visit our advertisers (under "Are You Looking For" at the top right and left of this page) for other great gift ideas.

Philanthropic Gift Ideas:

Or here's another thought... If you exchange gifts, as we do, with people who don't really need or want anything, you can always go the civic minded route.  There are many worthy charities out there.  This year, they're getting fewer donations than in the past, so if you're among the fortunate ones who might have spare funds, this is a good way to go. Below are a few vegan-oriented charities.

Animal Acres is offering Holiday Gift Sponsorships for just $25/year (online sponsorship form).

Farm Sanctuary also accepts donations.

Animal Aid (a United Kingdom based animal activist group) accepts donations and also has an online shop.

Other vegan charities.