There are quite a few ideas out there for red, white and blue food to celebrate the Fourth of July, but so few seem actually healthy. And many of them contain Jell-O, which doesn’t work for a vegetarian (see why). So I trawled the tubes and found a few recipes that aren’t only delicious, but healthier to boot. Happy Fourth!
In the states, the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. This year, take it easy; spend time at home relaxing with family and friends. Read more about the international campaign to curb consumption, Buy Nothing Day.
Also check out ☃ Simplify the Holidays for more ideas to help create a fun, festive, relaxed winter holiday season.
And if you’re looking for thoughtful personalized gifts to share with your loved ones, try some Homemade Gifts.
Then wrap them responsibly with Reusable Bags/Cloth Wraps. Each year billions of plastic bags end up as litter; reusable bags, such as furoshiki can help reduce the impact to our environment. Its versatility allows you to wrap almost anything regardless of its shape or size.
Thanksgiving is all about family and food. Most families have recipe traditions that have spanned generations, and everyone looks forward to sharing the feast. Vegetarians and vegans can feel left out when those recipes have meat in them, and the cooks may not know what to make that will be cruelty free as well as satisfying.
The good news is that most of the side dishes on the Thanksgiving table are naturally meat free. Vegans usually have fewer traditionally made choices because of cream, milk or butter, but there are really tasty and readily available substitutes at most chain grocery stores.
Below you’ll find delicious vegetarian Thanksgiving menu with highly rated recipes including main dish, sides and desserts.
Then we went looking for more pumpkins to carve because this wasn’t enough:
There was a lot of jack o’ lantern carving going on all afternoon. I carved the cat, and Jim carved the rest with Syna assisting. We got our cool patterns from Zombie Pumpkins.
They were quite the hit with the trick or treaters.
Then we made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cakies (cake-like cookies), my all time favorite fall, pumpkin recipe.
This recipe is ever so slightly adapted from marthastewart.com (chips instead of glaze).
We used to buy these from Gap Mountain Bread every fall in Troy (now Keene), NH – I miss NH in the fall.
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin puree
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt; set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg; beat until smooth. With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour mixture in two parts and pumpkin puree in one, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined (do not overmix).
Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto two baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and edges are golden, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets once during baking. Immediately transfer cookies to wire racks, and cool completely.
When cookies have cooled, set them (still on rack) over a baking sheet or waxed paper. Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water; stir until almost melted. Remove from heat; stir until completely melted. Pour chocolate into a resealable plastic bag. Snip off a corner with scissors or a knife to make an 1/8-inch hole; pipe chocolate over cookies. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm, about 20 minutes.
We had a bunch of family over for pizza, and we took Syna out trick or treating around the neighborhood. It was so warm out, and the misty rain was actually refreshing after all of the running around I was doing. Syna got an amazing amount of candy for just 2 streets, maybe 15 houses. We took out about half and let her eat a few pieces. After everyone had left, Syna hung her head low and said she was sad because Halloween was all over. Surprisingly, she slept great.
Your kitchen is full of natural dyes. Common food items such as red cabbage, onion skins, and coffee can be used to transform plain white eggs into colorful Easter gems. Kids will especially love discovering all the different colors they can create – let them experiment using hard-boiled eggs and bowls of cold dyes.
Here you can learn how to stencil eggs, marble eggs and fill eggs with chocolate: Natural Egg Coloring
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In the states, the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. This year, take it easy; spend time at home relaxing with family and friends. Read more about the international campaign to curb consumption, 
Thanksgiving is all about family and food. Most families have recipe traditions that have spanned generations, and everyone looks forward to sharing the feast. Vegetarians and vegans can feel left out when those recipes have meat in them, and the cooks may not know what to make that will be cruelty free as well as satisfying.
Your kitchen is full of natural dyes. Common food items such as red cabbage, onion skins, and coffee can be used to transform plain white eggs into colorful Easter gems. Kids will especially love discovering all the different colors they can create – let them experiment using hard-boiled eggs and bowls of cold dyes.
