Xmas Eats & Annual Cookbooklette Giveaway!

Happy Holidays! I hope you've had a nice Hannukah / Solstice / Christmas / last few weeks. Whatever floats your boat! We've had a very full December in my family... We started off the month with my brother's wedding and my dad's unexpected quadruple bypass heart surgery -- all on the same week! In fact, my dad wasn't allowed to leave the hospital for the wedding (bummer!), but my cousin helped us beam him in on an iPad (awesome!) so he could see and hear the whole ceremony. The wedding was super lovely, and my dad is recovering well... and so we collectively turned our attention toward Christmas. Better late than never! 

In our family, we do our big festive gathering on Christmas Eve. It's always been this way for as long as I remember! This year, we decided again to have an Italian Christmas Feast - for the third year in a row. It's a fun new tradition! 

My mom was in charge of the first course: antipasti! As always, she did an amazing job. Of course she got some delicious bread (absolute necessity!), and she made her fantastic white beans - maybe she will leave a comment and tell us just what she did?? They had a light marinade, red onion, and fresh herbs... and they were so good. I had two big scoops! 

My mom also made two generous platters of roasted veggies. Oh man... SO GOOD. Marinated mushrooms, bell peppers, summer squash, eggplants, fennel, artichoke hearts... so much delicious glory. I make marinated veggies pretty often, but they don't ever turn out this well. My mom knows what she's doing! I think the eggplant might have been my favorite???

Lasagne! 

I made two vegan lasagnas! The big one was my usual "birthday lasagna" (recipe here) - I added a couple special touches: some pesto stripes on top, and a generous layer of Somer's Fresh Vegan Moxarella. Both fine additions! The smaller lasagna is also vegan and is free of any oil or salt - it came out so well! I made this for my aunt and her partner, who follow a salt-free, oil-free vegan diet. There were just a couple of us who partook of the vegan lasagnas, because my sister-in-law made a big ol' non-vegan lasagna that was the focus of most people's attention. No problemo - this way my aunt and I both got to take home ample lasagna leftovers. Just the way I like it!! 

leftovers for dayssssss

livin' the good life.

Dessert Platter!

For dessert this year, I made a big abundant platter of biscotti, fruits, nuts, and chocolate. Looking at this picture makes me want to dive in again! I made three different kind of biscotti : Almond & Anise Seed, Pine Nut with Orange Zest & Anise Seed, and Almond with Rosemary and Fennel Seeds and Lemon Zest. Whoa! So many amazing flavors! My goodness they were all so delicious. Every year I make biscotti for my parents for a Christmas present, so this year, I brought over and left all the extras behind for them to savor and enjoy! 

I also included mandarin oranges, sliced fuyu persimmons, red grapes, pomegranate arils, and sliced Warren pears. Plus pecans, red walnuts, roasted hazelnuts, and a dark chocolate bar broken into squares. So festive and delicious. What fun! 

* Christmas Morning *

On Christmas morning, Mr VE&T and I always head back over to my parents' house for a waffle breakfast. Sometimes my nephews come too, sometimes my brother shows up, usually my aunt comes over too. It's all very casual and warm and low-key. I always make a big batch of the yeasted Raised Waffles from Vegan Brunch. This recipe is a big hit with everyone, most especially my dad!  

Hoorah! Behold the glory of TWO thrift shop waffle makers! 

This year I got an extra super fun surprise! I always bring over my waffle maker (the white one) and usually my mom has hers out too. This year she didn't have hers out, and I didn't know why! WELL. To make a long story short - she surprised me with a new Belgian waffle maker, something I have wanted for a long time! The best thing is that she got it on sale at the thrift store - for 50% off of $3.99. Score! My mom is a master thrifter, and in fact, my larger white waffle maker is a thrift store find from many years ago - and is still going strong. Such a great Christmas present! 

Maple syrup, tangerine juice, Field Roast breakfast sausages, pure maple syrup, and waffles - Merry Christmas! This is a waffle from my old faithful white waffle maker - it makes four large square waffles.

Belgian Waffles!

These are the waffles from my *new-to-me* Belgian waffle maker - they are round and thick and more moist inside and have big huge holes for catching earth balance and syrup. Yay! We all enjoyed both kinds of waffles! 

We used the timer on my phone to take a waffle selfie! A waffie? A welfie? 

What a fun morning! After waffles, my aunt came over, and we had a mellow and fun exchange of gifties by the Christmas tree. It was very low-key, filled with love, and peaceful and happy. Pretty perfect.

* GIVEAWAY! * 

Speaking of gifites! Every year I make a small hand-drawn cookbooklette / zine featuring a few of my favorite recipes of them year - and this year I am going to do a giveaway for 5 lucky blog readers! This is open to anyone in the world! To enter, just leave a comment here and tell me about a cool gift that you gave to someone, or a special gift that someone gave to you... or tell me a waffle story, or whatever! Also, please leave your email address, or a way for me to track you down, or else I will give up and select a different winner! 

I'll be back in a week with a tale of my trip to NYC and to announce the winners! 

Happy New Year to You!