...an easy morning latte...

...Y'all know that we get up before dawn here...Scout's school begins before 7:30...and his bus comes by at 7...so we're up well before it's daylight...

...remember when I made an vegan instant latte to take on our camping trip to the Grand Canyon...

...I used the same formula...just using almond milk instead of the instant soy...

...just put a cup of almond milk in the blender with 3 butterscotch candies and a teaspoon of instant coffee...I used decaf as I'm quite hyper enough already...☺

...gave it a quick whirl...

...poured it into a mug...

...I warmed mine in the microwave...but I bet it'll be good cold this summer too...

~Have a lovely day!

...an orange candle...

...we had seen this idea bandied about the web and thought we'd give it a try...

...you should too...it's fun...it smells nice...and it burns for hours...

...peel an orange and leave a good sized chunk of the peel intact...

...pull up some of the white fibers and twist them together to form a wick...

...be patient with the lighting...use a lighter instead of matches...it will take a while to get it to stay lit...

Instructions here...

~Have a lovely day!

...Riz à L'Orientale...

..this is another one of Julia's recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking...

...all of the details are over at The Vegan Version...

...this was really delicious...and not at all the typical combinations of flavors that I associate with American Chinese rice bowls...

~Have a lovely day!

...Epiphany...and the un-decorating day...

...Yesterday was Epiphany...(more here)...and the Wise Men finally made it to adore the Holy Infant...

...and the un-decorating began...it's always funny to me that all the Christmas decorations come out with such joy the day after Thanksgiving...but by Epiphany...they sort of seem like so much clutter...

...but this has been the very best tree we've ever had...seriously...this is about the only needle dropping this tree has done...and believe me...in years past...I've swept up showers of needles from other trees...

...we had a couple of casualties this year...

...including one big gold glass ornament from our first married years...sad...but these things do happen...

...the others were easily reparable...

...and pretty soon the room was a jumble of ornaments and lights...

...I made a couple of quick cardboard cutouts to hold the new outside white lights and the new tinsel...and I got another skein of that sparkly yarn...I'm going to extend the tinsel...probably next Christmas...

...and I think we were all AMAZED that everything fit back into the bins it came from...

...how's your un-decorating going?...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!...

...Make your own pizza night...

...Friday night is often pizza night around here...

...it's a favorite vegan recipe...

...and everyone gets to choose their own toppings...

For the crust: Mix 1 tablespoon yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water…the temperature is very important…it just needs to be warm not too hot…

Let sit a couple of minutes then whisk in 2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix 1 teaspoon salt with 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour…add the liquid ingredients and stir until dough forms into a ball…pour a little more olive oil over to coat…cover bowl with a cloth and let sit in a warm place for 15 minutes or so…I usually run some warm water in the sink and sit the bowl in that…

Meanwhile mix up the super easy sauce (in a blender)…

1 – 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp oregano
¼ tsp Nature’s Seasons
2 Tbsp. Vegan Parmesan
Just blend all ingredients until smooth…

...I topped mine with black olives onions and green peppers...Oh...and lots of Daiya cheese...

...it was so good...real comfort food...

...do you make your own pizza or do you usually order?...

~Have a lovely day!

...geometry...

...Scout had to complete a project for Honors Geometry over Christmas break...

...he chose to create some parabolic curves from lines...explained here...

...he attached some graph paper to a piece of foam board...and starting stitching some straight lines...

...and yes Mom...that is your empty cookie container on the end table... :)

...lots and lots of stitching...

...several hours later...

...he had this beautiful stitched piece of art...

...oh...and then he had to write a paper about his design...

...of course this was a project that his needle lovin' mama LOVED!...

~Have a lovely day!

...easy and quick homemade vegan chocolate chips...

...Scout wanted some chocolate chip cookies...

...we were out of chocolate chips...even though I had bought quite a stash at Trader Joes with my sister...

...and I didn't want to go to the store...so I just made some chips...

...I've made these before...

...it's really easy...

Just mix:

1 - 2 oz block of unsweetened chocolate - Nestle's is vegan
3 T of canola oil
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Microwave until melted...or you could do like Julia would and melt it in a double boiler...just be careful...you just want it melted...not cooked...or you won't get nice glossy chips...

...then pour it onto something...I lined a baking sheet with plastic wrap...you could use parchment...wax paper...foil...

...it didn't bother with piping little dots...

...I jsut spread it out in a fairly thin layer...maybe 1/8 inch...

...you can just leave it on the counter at this point...or hasten things up by popping it in the fridge...which is what I did...

...it will harden into a chunk of chocolate...

...then I just took the pizza cutter and cut vertical strips...

...and then horizontal ones...

...until I had little chunks of chocolate...

...just the right size pile of them for a batch of cookies...

...I'm not sure where I got this recipe...but it's our favorite...Scout even knows it by heart he's made them by himself so many times...

...just mix your chunks into the dough...

...see...they hold their shape quite well...

...and bake up into perfect melty-gooey chocolate chip cookies...

...have you ever made chocolate chips(chunks) before?...

~Have a lovely day!

...nog...

...this is the last of the nog for this year...I sorta wish they had nog all year...but then it wouldn't be so special...I drink mine half and half with either soy or almond milk anyway 'cause it's too sweet for me...but I'll miss it when it's gone and I'll look forward to next Christmas season all the more...

...do you like nog or not?...

~Have a lovely day!

...A New Year's Lock-in...

...we spent New Year's Eve with our Youth at Church...

...the tradition is that the Youth gather at the Church for worship, fun and fellowship on New Year's Eve...so they started the evening by clearing the Fellowship Hall for their festivities...

...they played black light dodgeball...

...made...

... and consumed copious amounts of pizza...and food in general...

...a quick shot of my veggie pizza...everyone was teasing me after I said that I couldn't possibly eat that whole thing in the middle of the night...but guess what...I did...HA!...

...there was time for just hanging out...the red balloons have little led lights inside them...they're a lot of fun in the dark...

...we watched the ball drop...of course...

...and gathered in the sanctuary for our first worship of 2013...

...late night cards were played...

...and rowdier games as well...

...there was the tiniest little bit of this...sleep...

...and then we had a big breakfast before heading off into the New Year!

~Wishing you a Happy and Blessed New Year!