Christmas House Tour 2017 - Part 1

 I started decorating the house early this year but I've still been putting finishing touches in every room.  Our decor doesn't change much from year to year but I thought I'd share it with you and highlight some of the new items.

 This throw was one of my early purchases from Cost Plus World Market.

 I like switching up the word art in this frame and I found this Elf inspired printable which I thought would be perfect for the holiday season.

 A view into the kitchen and our new table. I kept it pretty dark because I hadn't done much styling or straightening up.

 From the kitchen table out to the family room. This tray is full of holiday decor now. The light up chalet is from Cost Plus and the buffalo check K is from Target Dollar Spot.

 My dining room is really hard to photograph but I thought it looked pretty good in this shot.

 Peeking out of the living room into the entry and staircase.

 Another shot that includes the piano.

 My Starbucks cup angels are still serenading us.

{How to:}

Starbucks Cup Angels

Starbucks Cup Angels 2.0

A tray of snow people mugs just waiting for some hot cocoa.  I'll be back with more holiday rooms soon!

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{Wordless Wednesday} 12.06.17

Here's something I don't do every day!  (I was cleaning the water guns up for a play my daughter's theatre group was doing).

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{Recipe} Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Pies

I made these for our Thanksgiving dessert this year. They were great because I could make them ahead of time. I decided to make mini pies rather than one big one so I could test it out before Thanksgiving and because mini pies are so darn cute!

 The recipe can be found here.  I made some adjustments to my version. I used graham cracker crumbs instead of making my own. I had about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs (maybe a little more--I just used up what I had left).  The graham cracker crumbs are combined with melted vegan butter and pressed into pie tins (I had my tins leftover from this graduation party!).  Then they are baked for 10 minutes at 375F. My crusts were a little crumbly so I should have used more vegan butter to hold them together.

 The filling is whipped up in a blender: silken firm tofu (I used extra firm), peanut butter and agave or maple syrup.

 Then you whip up some coconut whipped cream and fold in the peanut butter mixture.

 Pour the filling into the crust and freeze until firm (about an hour).

 To make the chocolate topping, warm up some non dairy milk in a sauce pan, then add dairy free chocolate chips, let sit for 5 minutes then stir gently to combine.  Spread over the pies and sprinkle with crushed, salted peanuts. Return to freezer to allow to harden up.

After they were fully frozen, I wrapped them up individually and placed them in a freezer bag.  The filling tastes like peanut butter ice cream. You can let them defrost a little before serving or eat frozen. So good!

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Vegan Thanksgiving-What We Made 2017

We didn't host Thanksgiving this year but we still made a lot of food for the day.

 It started earlier in the week when I began making the stuffing. I've been using Pioneer Woman's Thanksgiving Dressing/Stuffing  recipe for the last few years.(this year I cut it down to about 2/3).  It combines corn bread and sourdough bread (and I added some multigrain Ezezkial to the mix).  I made this Fat Free Cornbread from Happy Herbivore.

On Thanksgiving morning I mixed up the stale bread cubes with celery, onion, apple, spices, vegetable broth and some veggie sausage.

 We got two pans from the recipe, one to take and one to leave at home. We baked it right before we left.

I also made a green salad with lots of chopped veggies and homemade Better Than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette from Oh She Glows.

 The salad had mixed greens, spinach, cucumbers, red bell peppers, shredded carrots, green & red onions and dried cranberries (I added them later).

We weren't sure there would be any appetizers we could eat so my oldest whipped up some hummus from Ina Garten and I cut up some more veggies for dipping.

 Mr. Click is always in charge of the mashed potatoes.  He "only" made 20 pounds this year.  He always makes a smaller batch of vegan mashed potatoes (mashed with vegan butter and almond milk) for us.

We got our potatoes at Costco and they were huge, making them easier to peel.

 I made a double batch of I Can't Believe It's Vegan Gravy.  It's such a good one!

Here's my plate from dinner.  My mother in law made a lot of roasted veggies that were so good.

 For dessert I tried something new this year, I made Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Pie from Minimalist Baker but I made the recipe into mini individual pies.  They were made ahead and frozen. Recipe coming soon.

The day after Thanksgiving we had leftovers and I added some corn, asparagus and puffed pastry garlic bread.

What did you have for Thanksgiving?
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