So I have a secret. You know all the blog posts that are cropping up about cutting back on sugar/fat/unhealthy foods and increasing exercise/productivity/personal awesomeness and so on? They’re stressing me out! I don’t think I’m ready to give up the relaxed days and delicious food that comes with the holidays, quite yet. I’m sure I’ll get back into the swing of things this week, but it sure seems like a lot of bloggers got ‘back on track’ right after christmas – not really my cup of tea hot chocolate! A few things I’ve been enjoying:

Rumballs! Made gluten free with Nature’s Gate Vanilla cookies, and so delicious.

Eggnog lattes, made with So Nice’s Noel Nog. You’d better believe that I’m stockpiling this stuff. 🙂

Eggnog lattes + Carcasonne = definitely a good time.

Insanely rich Strawberry Almond Coconut bars, adapted from Karina’s Kitchen. These aren’t something I would have picked out myself (hello, no chocolate!!), but Kathleen made a batch to take to a party and gave me a sample, upon which I determined I should really make my own batch.  I made fruit-only jam with frozen strawberries, which cut back on the sugar at least a tiny bit. The good news is that I froze most of them right away, but the bad news is that they are probably even better straight out of the freezer! 🙂

It hasn’t been all sweets around here, though! I’ve been using my cookbooks way more than I was just a few months ago (hooray!), so I’m hoping to continue to feature successful recipes on the blog. We enjoyed Appetite for Reduction‘s 40 Clove Chickpeas and Broccoli tonight. It was good, but I didn’t think it was anything special. I’m not sure this would be worth making unless you’re as much of a garlic fiend as I am.

I really liked the Chickpea Zucchini Curry from Eat, Drink, and be Vegan. It was a milder curry, and called for sweet potatoes, which worked really well.

In other news, my boyfriend and I purchased a new camera on an amazing boxing day sale, and I’ve been having so much fun with it! I have so much to learn, but the difference between it and my outdated point and shoot camera is astonishing. Even when I suck….

….it’s still kind of good! 🙂

-Eve