No Creatures Were Stirring in This House

Over the weekend, my friend Sam and I made gingerbread houses. We actually didn't make them from scratch, but rather bought a kit as a fun little task to occupy our time. I was delighted to find out that it was vegan! Well, at least the gingerbread itself, the icing and most of the candies were! I was so excited! I hadn't planned on eating the house once the holidays were over (it would be too gross and stale), but during construction, a few little gingerbread men that were supposed to be decorations outside of the house were casualties instead.

Isn't it so cute, it all of it's tasty veganess? Even the jujubes were vegan! Costco rawks.


For dinner tonight, Kyle and I worked together to create a few faves - a Spinach-Shiitake Salad from Vegetarian Times, as well as a Butternut Squash Risotto from Robin Robertson's Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook. I didn't modify the salad recipe at all, but I did take the risotto recipe, use onion instead of red pepper, and make it in the pressure cooker instead. I'm all for taking 5 minutes to cook dinner that way, versus spending 30 minutes stirring the risotto constantly. I will however use less stock next time, so that the risotto isn't so soupy. Working together, we had dinner on the table in 40 minutes.

Kyle said the mushrooms reminded him of bacon, but I tend to think not.


We then had plenty of time to hit the mall. I had received a $100 gift card today, and I already knew where I was spending it - at the Bay on a Cuisinart 4-slice Belgian waffle maker! I already had a crappy one that made only two waffles at a time, so this will be a big time saver. I'm so excited! It was like an early Xmas present just for me :)