Holiday 2011

This year for Thanksgiving I did more cooking than last year and only made a couple of dishes. I made a vegan version of a family recipe and I made a potpie. The next day I made a sweet potato pie from scratch, crust and all. I loved the food I made and I have perfect confidence in my own cooking. However, I can improve in some areas with the American dishes. Like, for the potpie, the crust could have more salt in it and the filling can have more variety of vegetables and more sauce. Also, intead of using soy margarine for the potpie crust, I will use palm oil or coconut oil instead. Palm oil may not be healthier than the hydrogenated oils, but at least it's more natural. Coconut oil adds a unique flavor  crusts. I used it for the sweet potato pie. I also used agave nectar and maple syrup in place of sugar. Next time I'll add molasses to the mixture and I'll use arrowroot powder and EnerG egg replacer instead of flour as a thickener.

I don't know if I want to post the dishes yet. I want to try a different recipe without the use of store bought vegan cream cheese and with homemade vegan sliced cheddar (Uncheese Cookbook would have been perfect).

This year, I decided not to make Christmas dinner, because I wasn't feeling too well with the sinuses and allergies. However, when I have the chance, I'll be making my infamous kale soup with vegan chorizo sausage from scratch. This time I'll be adding my own touch. In addition to my original recipe based on an online recipe, I'll be adding canellini beans and maybe some carrots. Mom is out of town and grandma is in town, so I think it's the perfect time to make this soup. My grandmother loves the kale soup, even as a staunch meat-eater and my mom likes the flavor of kale, but she doesn't like the texture.

I found something pretty interesting that I didn't think that I'd find in a mainstream grocery store, let alone a mainstream company. I found a Betty Crocker gluten-free cake mix with no animal products. I was so happy about it that I went ahead an purchased it and it's going to be for the New Yr's cake I'll be making. I was going to make cupcakes, but I think a regular box cake will work. I want to do a comparison between the two brands I found of vegan box cakes.

The Betty Crocker brand comes in other flavors such as chocolate, cookies and brownies. This is perfect for those who are either gluten free, vegan or both.

I bought the vanilla cake mix and I will try the chocolate in forms of red velvet cupcakes and other recipes.

Besides the uneventful holiday season, next year I plan on having my own place anyway, so Thankgiving (which won't be called such anymore and instead celebrated as a fall festival on a different weekend), Solstice (aka Christmas) and New Year's will be much better.