Happy New Year!

Happy Happy New Year Hunny Bunches!

Did you have a nice holiday?  Eat any yummy-licious vegan fare?  My Dad and Step Mama drove from Calgary to Winnipeg and stayed at mine and ATM's newly renovated home, it was so nice to have them here!  They gave me an amazing Breville juicer for Christmas and I am totally hooked on juicing!  We had an awesome Christmas Day brunch at the residence of my lovely Step-Sister Steph and her boyfriend Nick.  Steph made an Eggs Benedict feast and even made a special vegan version for me!

 ATM was working in northern Alberta over Christmas so we hosted a faux-Christmas dinner for her family when she returned.  I made a Pumpkin Parsnip Lasagne from VegNews' holiday 2012 issue (which Santa sweetly tucked into my stocking!); Cinnamon Roasted Root Veg; Haricots Vert with Shallots, Lemon and Walnuts; V.V. style stuffing and gravy; and some PC Brand World's Best Meatless Chicken Filets dredged in cornstarch that was seasoned with S&P and fresh rosemary, and fried pan fried in olive oil.  It was a delightful feast!  

On New Year's Eve, ATM and I hosted a massive NYE bash and I served up vegan tapas that disappeared as soon as they left the kitchen!  In addition to the tapas on the V.V. blog, I made Patatas Bravas (deep fried potato chunks tossed with pimenton and chilies, served with a vegan aioli) a Mediterranean White Bean Dip and cutie little Empanadas with Mushrooms, Walnuts and Olives!

On New Year's Day, aside from cleaning up after our fete, ATM and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary!  We were too exhausted to cook so we ordered veganized pizza and snuggled.  ATM surprised me with a Vitamix blender as an anniversary gift!  My DREAM blender!!!  Now the V.V. kitchen is totally pimped!

I didn't make any resolutions for 2013 but I certainly made re-affirmations.  I am a documentary junkie and lately Netflix has enabled me to feed my addiction to the umpteenth degree!  So many outstanding docs about diet and nutrition, our food systems and plant based diets are available right now!  First and foremost, if you haven't seen it already, please watch Veducated!  I know many, many people who watched it and really questioned their consumption of meat and other people who went vegetarian or vegan after watching it.  I really do believe that if more people made the connection between a hamburger and what that hamburger really is (was), fewer people would want to eat meat.  Other great docs to see include Hungry For Change, Farmageddon, Food, Inc., and the TED Talks series 'Chew On This'.  American Netflix has waaaaaay more selection than our good ol' Canadian Netflix (lucky ducks!), and I think you can watch Forks Over Knives on there. . . if so, WATCH IT!!!!   Watching these films has helped me re-affirm the reason I bring compassion into my kitchen and into my heart.

XOXOXO
Vivacious Vegan <3