Alisa Fleming, One Frugal Foodie - My husband and I spent the holidays in British Columbia with his family.  Every day of the visit we would make our pilgrimage to the Whole Foods (a whopping ¼ mile from his parents house) for a jumbo muffin with tea.  Now, the muffins in Vancouver are quite unlike those we see at Whole Foods stateside.  These are dense, ginormous, mountains of hearty goodness that are surely 1000 calories each.  But we had to have them everyday, it was the holidays and vacation after all!

Hannah Kaminsky, My Sweet Vegan - Just think about that for a moment: Soft and warm from the oven, cinnamon and sugar rolled into every fold of tender dough, drizzled with an ample amount of maple icing. What’s not to love? A delicious indulgence appropriate for the season, I could think of nothing more comforting than a pan of these delectable buns, fully baked and ready to be devoured after just a hot minute of micro-love ...

I used to avoid making New Year’s resolutions as they seemed so silly and unattainable.  Exercise more, eat right, take my vitamins, etc., etc., etc.  But last New Year’s I embraced the tradition with some very specific milestones.  By breaking my wish list into baby steps, I am once again moving forward with accomplishments rather than standing frozen in my tracks from a feeling of overwhelm.  In fact, this concept has worked so well, that I now declare “New Year’s” resolutions throughout the year!  To kick start your own ideas, the following is my 2007 resolution list, all checked off:

For roughly seven years we lived in the mountains of Lake Tahoe.  It was around year six that the novelty of shoveling piles of snow began to wear off.  Nonetheless, I do often miss those relaxing days by the fire, nestled in a soft blanket with a hot beverage in hand, just watching that snow fall (trying not to picture myself outside shoveling it the next day).  More often than not my mug was filled with hot tea, but on occasion I would venture away from the usual for a little excitement.  The following mugs of indulgence include a few of my favorite cold weather beverages (all dairy-free, of course), perfect for warming from the inside out …

Bryanna Clark Grogan, Vegan Feast Kitchen - I have been hearing about Silk's Pumpkin Spice Soymilk, but I can't find it where I live, so I decided to make my own. I looked around for some recipes on the 'Net, but most seemed to involve inordinate amounts of cream and ice cream, or the vegan equivilants. Well, that's a milkshake! I wanted to make something lighter, and still festive. So, I started with my Vegan "Eggnog" recipe from my book "The Almost No-Fat Holiday Cookbook", and worked from there until we were satisfied-- very satisfied! ...

As a child I loathed holiday meals.  The turkey was always dry, I hated the consistency of mashed potatoes, and that awful orange-colored dish was always sickeningly sweet.  As I grew older I learned that this strange orange-colored dish was actually an American tradition.  Yams as they were called (though they were in reality sweet potatoes like the one pictured) doused in a sugary glaze and sometimes even topped with (heaven forbid), marshmallows! ...