I have an irrational fear of bugs crawling out of trees, which is one of the reasons why why we will never have a live one.
Showing posts with label the holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the holiday. Show all posts
holiday
I have an irrational fear of bugs crawling out of trees, which is one of the reasons why why we will never have a live one.
a perfect low key Valentine's Day...
Champagne (in wine glasses no less)...
Chocolate dipped strawberries...
yay!
Every year, I add a few holiday albums to the mix and listen to them from now to New Years! This years are really exciting:
Thanksgiving
This was my second time ever cooking the Thanksgiving meal, and the first time since the no eating meat clause. I was a bit worried about planning traditional dishes - which is what makes it Thanksgiving for me - but without hurting the animals. It turned out great and was completely vegetarian, and would have been vegan except for a bit of butter and cheese which, in hindsight, I think could have been substituted pretty easily.
I was resolved not to have a turkey, but a little worried about how the husband and kids felt about missing out on that tradition. when I saw this post on The Kind Life about Adopt-a-Turkey, I was thrilled: A great annual turkey tradition, but helping instead of eating one! So, next time they asked if we were going to have a turkey for Thanksgiving, I said, sure, pick one out!
For dinner, we did a Tofurky instead. It totally started out as a joke when people asked what I was going to cook, and then I decided to really cook one. A tofu-turkey? It was - is - hilarious to me. Every time I opened the fridge and saw it thawing there, I totally cracked up. Come on, you know this is funny:
The Tofurky, surprisingly, was a big hit with the kids. They went back for seconds and thirds, and even said that it tasted like a real turkey, but juicier. I made it according the the box, with potatos, carrots, onion, and a baste of Italian seasoning, soy sauce, and olive oil:
Here is hubby slicing it as thinly as possible, since the box said thin slices are really, really important:
We had our Tofurky Roast with mushroom gravy, cranberry sauce, southern cornbread stuffing, green bean and artichoke casserole, sweet potato bake with pecan topping, sauteed spinach and mushrooms, and (store-bought) pumpkin and pecan pie with chocolate and vanilla (coconut milk) ice cream...
Canned cranberry sauce is traditional in my family, last time I home-made it from fresh cranberries and it just wasn't the same:
The southern-style cornbread stuffing was the hardest thing to veg-ify. I used this recipe for cornbread, doubled it and used applesauce for the egg. Then I followed this recipe for savory cornbread dressing, using half the soy sausage since I had a smaller package, Italian seasoning and dried parsley, and a cup of mixed dried berries. I used two cups of veggie broth, and would add a cup or so more next time.
One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes is a sweet potato casserole (although it's really yams), and my mom's calls for mini-marshmellows mixed into the dish and topping it. Since I couldn't find vegan marshmellows, I left them out and made a pecan topping instead. This was the best surprise ever, it was so good with the pecans!
Here's the simple recipe, minus marshmellows:
2 32 oz. cans yams, drained
1/2 c. plain soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. brown sugar
Mash yams.
Stir in other ingredients.
Spoon evenly into a greased baking dish.
For the topping, I used the topping only from this recipe, doubling it, but using 2 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses instead of 4 tablespoons of maple syrup. Baked at 350 until the topping browned, and it was so delicious!
The green bean and artichoke casserole had Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, making it the least animal-friendly dish we had. We made sure to buy vegetarian cheese, but next time I will try it with soy cheese instead. I have to say it's also one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes, and I think that I got the recipe from my mom:
1 can French-style green beans, lightly drained
2 cans artichoke hearts, lightly drained
1 c. Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
4 oz. grated Parmesan
4 oz. shredded mozzerrella
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper
1/4 c. olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix green beans, artichokes, bread crumbs, and cheeses together with your hands in large bowl.
Add garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste.
Distribute evenly in baking dish, and drizzle olive oil on top.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes or until top is slightly browned.
For the mushroom gravy, I used this recipe, using about 2 1/2 cups of baby portabella mushrooms instead of what the recipe called for, and Italian seasoning instead of poultry. I followed the user recommendations and mixed the flour vigorously with the veggie broth before adding to the mushrooms, and no lumps. It was so much tastier than normal giblet gravy!
And I served it in our gurgling cod from my mother-in-law for a tiny bit of New England tradition:
Everyone served themselves, and while we ate, we played UNO, our fun little dinnertime card game.
The house was quiet all morning except for Christmas music. My mom always played holiday music on Thanksgiving, and although I hated it then, I love it now. And for family movie night last night, we watched Elf, my favorite holiday movie in the world.
too early to be awake...
It's no secret that I love Christmas music. But it's still (barely) September! It's way too early, even for me, to think about Christmas. Although I know that, I may or may not not have pre-ordered A Very She & Him Christmas album. I'm so excited! Thankfully, it won't be released until October 24, because starting to play holiday music in September is just wrong.
Easter
When was Easter? I can't even remember! Anyway, I did a really good job on the baskets this year, I can tell because much more candy then usual got eaten, which is awesome ('cause that's less around the house for me to finish!). My mom had a tradition of using the same Easter baskets for us year after year, but since we don't have any special baskets, and I hate the thought of storing them except for one day of the year, I just use things from around the house. This year, it was two large clear chip bowls:
Perfect! And green too, right? Can plastic be green?
resolutions
- Read. I love to curl up with a good book, and want to remember to choose that instead of the internet sometimes. I plan to keep with last year's goal of at least one book a month, but this year I'm forgetting about reading the unread ones, just giving them away since I obviously don't want to read them. For this year's classics, I've got Les Miserables and The Fountainhead to start on. And maybe a few off this list.
- Eat healthier. Which means fruits (1.5 cups) and vegetables (2.5 cups) every day. I enjoy eating veggies, so this should be easy. The way my body feels is totally linked with how I eat, and this year I want to feel as good as possible all the time. Also, I want to drink more water, eat more fish, and eat meat no more than once a day...
- Cook more. I love finding and trying new recipes.
- Like the way I look. Meaning, get dressed in clothes I like every day instead of wearing too big sweatpants and hubby's t-shirts around the house. This means investing in some nice lounge wear? Also, want to start wearing the things I love that just sit in my closet waiting for the right occasion, like jewelry and purses.) The other part of this will be going to the salon often enough that I don't ever have gray roots, I hate seeing them in the mirror. And a little makeup never hurt anyone. Neither would some exercise:
- Exercise! 30 minutes, more days than not. I like walk/jogging, and this translates to at least 3 miles, at least 4 days a week.
- Play guitar better. I've taken lessons once a week for a year now, and still suck. I think I've learned so much over this year, but to get better I need to actually practice. Often. My guitar instructor just suddenly quit, and I've just started with a new one. I think this is a good opportunity to try a different style and maybe be able to reset my habits.
- Keep keeping the house clean. This year, I vow to sweep and mop more. It's so nice for people to drop by and not feel embarrassed that your house is messy. Keep keeping the clutter out, which means not buying things we don't need and won't use and keep on tossing things to Goodwill (thank goodness hubby and I are both so good at letting go). And on the flip side:
- Not hesitate to buy the little things that would improve daily life (ie. a pizza cutter) and fix all the broken/leaking things around the house.
- Keep a diary/blog consistently and take more pictures all the time, especially on trips. (I mean, hey, we won't be young and good-looking forever...)
- And lastly, the goal I've made every year since high school: Wake up at early. This year this means at 9:30 am every single weekday. Which means I need to start going to bed at a decent time every night.
alternative Christmas
Ready for some holiday fun? Here are a few of the best alternative rock Christmas records I've found (in no particular order, Bright Eyes is my favorite I think):
I've been listening to my favorite Christmas music non-stop. I'm not too big on most of the holiday originals, but love having versions of my favorite classic songs for whatever mood I'm in.
today...
I wrapped presents to put under the tree and watched Elf. Elf is my favorite movie, probably ever. It's so feel-good, and sad at the same time. There are a few places I laugh out loud and a few where I get choked up. Every year when I watch this movie, I really want to get an elf costume to wear around the house in December, maybe the pink one from the end of the movie:
Ok, but then today I saw this:
Katy Perry totally upstaged Zooey in the Christmas costume department! Now, I totally want to be a snow woman! Look at those twig arm gloves - awesome!
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