all I want for christmas is a kick ass cookbook. and perhaps some cannoli.

I may have mentioned a time or two how I don't exactly draw a paycheck for my job. We basically run our vegan business as a labor of love that happens to just barely pay the bills. So I like to say that I get paid completely in cookbooks. Though cookbooks and candy bars is probably more accurate. Good thing I absolutely love cookbooks and candy bars! My christmas present to myself this year was the latest title from the dynamic vegan duo Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman called The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions. Boy howdy, do I love this little book. It's chock full of handy information and tips for veganizing just about any food you could imagine. Celine's lovely food photography fills the pages too, which makes me want to make everything I see.

I've had a chance to make a few things so far, with Baked Macadamia Nut Brie being the first. Such a rich, luscious (and easy) cheese to make! we tried it first with berry preserves, then later had it stuffed into crescent rolls. I've never had animal-derived brie before, so this was exciting for me.



The next recipe we tried was the Spicy Red Buffalo Macaroni Salad, which was super mega awesome x 3000. We first ate this salad hot, but found we liked it even better the next few days cold from the fridge. This is a deli-type of macaroni salad with spinach, onion, roasted red peppers, and a creamy, spicy buffalo sauce. So good! We will repeat this again and again.



For christmas eve, we made the Linguine with Green Beans & Spinach Walnut Pesto. This was very tasty, and filled my "I need to eat more walnuts" quota I've been trying to meet. Ken loves this pasta more than he loves me, I think.



We stuffed ourselves on christmas day with lots of good food that Ken's mom made, including Tofurky, Celebration Roast, kale, and more. We brought a few things to share, including a batch of Scalloped Potatoes from the cookbook Go Dairy Free. While not a completely vegan cookbook, it still has many really great vegan recipes, and others that are easily made vegan. I really love these potatoes, and was really bummed that we accidentally left our leftovers at Ken's parent's house.



For dessert, we brought a trifle made out of a delicious marble bundt cake I baked and couldn't get out of the damn pan without crumbling. So it's a layer of marble bundt chunks, a layer of berry compote, a layer of vegan whipped cream, then repeat. We also left this at the in-laws by mistake. Sad face.



Our friends Laura and Kevin surprised us with a gift of vegan cannoli from a new place in Atlanta that isn't vegan, but happens to make vegan cannoli and a few other vegan things. Go figure! Such a sweet gesture, as Ken really misses cannoli from his childhood.



I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday! Happy New Year, and all of that.