Falafel Dinner and Christmas Food

I am supposed to be packing for an 8:00 a.m. flight to Alabama tomorrow to visit my sister and her family, but I thought I would take a break and do my final 2006 post and get rid of some pictures.


Thursday before Christmas, Chase and Liz came for dinner and cookie decorating. We had lots of fun making our own falafel. Here they are ready to bake.

Chase was still in the decorating mood and wanted to make falafel-men and stars.

They turned out great!

I also made a tahini spread, applesauce, and quinoa salad.

I guess I made green beans too. Here's our table.

For dessert I concocted a frozen pie, using several of the nine bags of frozen bananas in my freezer. I got a store bought graham cracker crust and spread peanut butter over it.

Then I filled it with pureed bananas and chocolate chips.


I let it thaw a few minutes before cutting into it. It was really good! Can you see the layer of peanut butter over the crust?

Here are shots of the four dozen cookies we decorated. My first vegan sugar cookies!

I made some candied pecans for my dad, not vegan because I can't find a good substitute for egg white for getting the sugar and cinnamon to stick to. And I have to admit - I had a blast whipping that egg white into meringue! It had been a looooong time since I had done that.

I also made my family's favorite granola for my mom, brother, and Chase. It is vegan. Some of the add-ins I use are dried cherries, raisins, dried apricots, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and almonds.

I also made real food. For Christmas eve snacking, I made a bean and veggie salad, which everyone loved.

And a soba noodle and broccoli salad. My dad wouldn't try it and my brother said it didn't have enough sauce. I reminded him I love broccoli, not sauce. The rest of us loved it.

I made fudge from LDV. Everyone loves this!

I also made chocolate mint brownies, which I overbaked, so I called them cookies. They would have been a lot more enjoyable if I had taken them out of the oven just 2 minutes earlier!

And I made a gingerbread cake in my star bundt pan. I got the cake recipe from epicurious and easily veganized it. The cake was not great, but the apple cider sauce that went with it was.

And blueberry muffins, the first nonhealthy muffins I had made in quite some time. They are so white!

For Christmas dinner I am always in charge of mashed potatoes and green beans. This year I made a huge bunch of potatoes for my dad and brother with butter and whole milk. I set aside some smashed potatoes for Chase. I made a cranberry almond sauce for the green beans, which was really, really good. I didn't write down the recipe because I was in a rush - too bad. I also made some baked tofu and chickpea gravy for me and Chase.

Some of my favorite Christmas gifts - a pressure cooker (yea!) and Sinfully Vegan.

A scarf Liz knitted for me which is amazing, a pretty mirror, gift certificates to a spa and to cooking classes, a mug, and tray.

Dishes from Chase.

Shirts and a framed print from my brother. I can't wait for spring to wear these t-shirts!


I hope you all have a happy new year!