Grandmom's Christmas Spriz Cookies

Can you tell that moms have been on my mind lately? With the passing of my mom, and now that I'm a mother myself, I've just been thinking so much about what motherhood and parenthood in general means. Especially around the holidays! My mom made Christmas feel totally magical every year, and I hope to pass down many of her Christmas traditions to my own baby. 

Every family has their own holiday traditions, and one of the first holiday memories I have of spending Christmas with my now-husband's family is of eating his Grandmom's Christmas cookies. 

Phyllis Yetter's Christmas Pumpkin Cookies

This Christmas season has been weird. First of all, we're stuck in a pandemic. We live in Los Angeles, which currently has the highest rate of Covid cases in, uh, THE ENTIRE WORLD, so we've been staying at home with the exception of taking Forest on walks and hikes. I've been working out my boredom and trying to cultivate a cheery Christmas atmosphere by baking dozens and dozens of cookies, from classic soft sugar cookies to Christmas pumpkin cookies and back again. 

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups, because my New Year's resolution is "more chocolate," apparently

When I was little I was in a bowling league. I was terrible, yet it was still probably the peak of my athleticism (I apparently did not take after my Papa, a pro bowler who you can see throwing an epic strike here).

The best part of practice was getting a snack from the vending machine (see above review of my athletic career, ahem). My parents weren't the type to feed us candy for any old reason, so getting 50 cents from my dad and running to the vending machine with my sister to pick out anything we wanted was like hitting the kid lottery.

Vegan "Eggnog" Pancakes

Before I was vegan I was famous (to Nate, at least!) for my fluffy, tender pancakes. I first made them when we lived in a horrible basement studio apartment in a probably haunted building in a shady neighborhood in Boston, but it was our first time with our own kitchen and I developed a lot of my cooking skills there.

After becoming vegan, I wanted to find a pancake recipe that was just as delicious as the one I'd been using for years. During the holidays, I also bought every brand of vegan "Eggnog" I could find. They were all delicious! I decided that vegan "Eggnog" pancakes would be the perfect festive treat for breakfast one weekend.

Iced Vegan Pumpkin Spiced Latte

Even here in Southern California, it's beginning to feel like fall! The nights are slightly chillier; it was cool enough this morning that I pulled my blanket out of the closet for the first time in months (in the summer we sleep with just a top sheet and a duvet cover). While the mornings are cooling off, the days have still been warm, and to combine my love of fall with the reality of the daily temperature, I decided to try my hand at iced vegan pumpkin spiced lattes.

Fuyu Persimmon Pie

Nate had one request for our Thanksgiving menu: Persimmon Pie.

Our first encounter with this starchy, sweet fruit was on a walk last Fall. Nate has a penchant for stealing fruit from the neighbors' trees, and when he saw the stout orange persimmons, he couldn't help himself. Neither of us had ever seen or tasted one before, and we were left a little puzzled. It tasted like...sweet potato? Or corn? It had that same sweetness and utter lack of acidity, with a texture like that of a dry apple.

Thanksgiving Spectacular: Spatchcocked Turkey and More

I had a practice Thanksgiving this past weekend, and decided to try a new method of cooking the turkey: Spatchocking! I guess you could also call it "butterflied" turkey, but isn't Spatchcocked so much more fun?