Well, Hello There....

Geez Louise, I guess I wasn't kidding when I said that Vegan MoFo almost killed me. That was in October, and since then, I've had - what - a handful of posts? I've been cooking, and taking pictures of my food, but that's as far as I've gone. I've enjoyed my little hiatus, but now I'm coming back to my blog!

Guess what? I've eaten a lot of food since the end of October! I've eaten some pumpkin pie, hearty soups, Christmas cookies, Christmas Stollen, big main-dish salads, fondue, smoothies, and lots of snackies. Before it gets any more ridiculously out-of-season, let's take a look at some of my Christmas cookies. I was totally excited to make Christmas cookies with my son this year. He had a blast rolling out the dough and helping me make the Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

I mean, seriously....are these things cute, or what?

I had a little extra dough, so I made a little baseball cookie for my boy.

He absolutely loved it! He's a baseball fanatic, even though he's only 2. He's a Yankees fan just like his Mommy!

These gingerbread cookies were probably the best ones I've ever had, and they were super, super easy to make. They were soft, perfectly spiced, and craaazy delicious. I'll make them again next year for sure!

I also made a batch of 21st-Century Carob Chip Cookies, also from VCIYCJ. These were pretty rad little cookies. They had whole-wheat pastry flour, carob chips, roasted peanuts, raisins, flaxseed, and Sucanat in them - all good, healthy stuff. (So good and healthy, in fact, that I didn't feel bad about eating 4 of them in one go.)

Yeah, maybe they weren't very Christmasy, but maybe it's time we put some carob in Christmas.

Mmmmm...Christmas cookies.

At least I only have to wait another 11 months!

Caramelized Tempeh Shawarmas & Cowgirl Cookies

When I happen to have some cucumbers, tomatoes, and tempeh on hand, the first thing I want to make is some Caramelized Tempeh Shawarmas from The Vegan Table. Unfortunately, the one thing I did not have on hand was a package of lavash bread, which kind of makes the shawarmas shawarmas. Otherwise, it's just, you know, cucumbers, tomatoes, and tempeh.

But I didn't let a lack of lavash keep me from enjoying this tasty sandwich. No indeed. I just grabbed some brown rice tortillas from the freezer and kept on going!

The tempeh is steamed and then sauteed in some oil, tamari, and maple syrup. It gets this awesome salty-n-sweet coating which rocks my tastebuds! The salad part is just chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and parsley, while the sauce is simply tahini, lemon juice, garlic, water, and salt to taste.

I opted to forgo the tortilla and just eat my tempeh and salad on top of some baby spinach.

My hubby wanted a wrap, so he had it with a tortilla. Lavash would have been better, but he still seemed to enjoy it :)

My mother's group, Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS), held a yard sale/bake sale fundraiser this weekend in order to raise money for childcare expenses. We have to pay for babysitters each week while us moms  have our meetings, and the costs do add up. I hoped a batch of Cowgirl Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar would be a big seller, and they were - I made 20 cookies and they raised $20! I mean, if I saw someone selling these cookies for $1, I'd buy one (or two, or three), too!

Oats, craisins, gooey chocolate chips, walnuts...what's not to love?

Of course, I did make 24...but only 20 were donated to the cause :) As my mom always used to say, Charity begins at home! :)

I also made a trip to Whole Foods the other day to stock up on my pantry essentials. I also stocked up on a non-pantry essential, 4 bottles of kombucha! I enjoyed a Passionberry Bliss booch on Saturday after running some errands.

Okay, the Vita-Mix is calling my name...it's afternoon smoothie time! I think a Chocolate Mint smoothie will do the trick :)