Merriest Happiest Wishes

And so, just like that it is Christmas Eve.  Last year’s Christmas Eve feels like it was, while not quite yesterday, maybe last month? And last month feels likes yesterday (pause button, anyone?).  I was travelling for work just a week ago, but I did make it to the DC Holiday Market a couple of times since, and I do so love the decorations on the photo above.

Husband and I are having a quiet Christmas Eve – pureed veggies soup with carrots, parsnips and kale stems (aka let’s use up all the odds and ends from the fridge), along with a flatbread with his and hers toppings.  The crust is gluten-free and vegan (a blanched almond flour and garfava flour concept I am intermittently working on), as will be my toppings, and really, the flatbread is pizza, but if we call it flatbread, it means I do not have to worry if it is perfectly pizza-like.  For my toppings, I am thinking sliced mushrooms and Daiya along with tomato paste and lots of seasonings like garlic and crushed red pepper.  Then, there will be So Delicious Coconut Milk Nog for dessert, with whipped coconut cream on top and some dark chocolate on the side. Festive and simple can easily be gluten-free and vegan.

Tomorrow we are going to Christmas lunch at a friend’s place, and I am bringing a lemony quinoa sunflower seed salad from Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook: A Seasonal, Vegetarian Cookbook (a favorite book and birthday present a couple of years ago-  most recipes are vegan, and the rest are easily veganized).  I understand Lillian, a fellow gluten-free blogger who often bakes gluten-free and vegan, is baking too! 

Dinner tomorrow night or, more likely, the night after (see, above, baking), is likely going to to be roasted brussel sprouts and broccoli (tossed with an almond flour nutritional yeast topping I am still conceptualizing), roasted sweet potatoes, maybe some roasted tofu, and, if I feel up to it, an encore of the awesome gravy and cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving.  I am a big believer in holiday food through the whole week.

I am really aware of how much good 2012 has brought me, and so very grateful for my husband, friends, family, and, of course, all of you and everything blogging has brought me.  I am also aware I am very lucky in how much 2012 has brought me and not everyone will look back to 2012 with as much fondness.  Whereever you are and whichever holiday you celebrate, merriest and happiest wishes.