Christmas Merrymaking With Lots of Goodies and The Irregardless Cafe Review

Oh my! I hadn't realized it had been quite such a time since my last post. That's December for you. Busy.
Well, a lot has happened and a quick re-cap is better than me posting ten fresh ones. Lots of homemade goodies and visitors, a cookie exchange and delightful luncheon.

First I will quickly share with you my flavored salts. My inspiration came from The Kitchn site which has great ideas for gift making and such. You can get a basic measurement and directions on her site so I won't repeat it here.
I made four salts.
I used Unrefined Corse Salt on all.
The first was an Indian Spice Salt with cardamom, cumin seed, fenugreek seed, coriander seed, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper and more that I can't remember. -!

The Petal/Flower Salt had calendula and lavender blossoms.

The Chili-Lime Salt was Organic Lime zest and Crushed Red Peppers.

Here I show my micro planer which I looooove. It is awesome for finely grating nutmeg, citrus and anything else you want tiny pieces of- maybe parmesan for the cheesey people. Invaluable tool in the kitchen. Here is Organic Lemon on left and Organic Orange on the right to make....

Rosemary Citrus Salt
This was my favorite in the way it looked and smelled. Hope my family (and a few friends) will enjoy using them.





Next is Granola!  I wanted to make a yummy low-glycemic granola for my family and especially for my brother who has diabetes, so he could enjoy it.

I used Organic Oats, a variety of nuts, and organic fruit, seeds and cinnamon and cardamom, Organic Coconut Oil and Coconut Crystals and Stevia

Look at the nice contrast the white and black sesame seeds make.

Here is the end result. This granola ended up not being a money saver, but my husband said it was the best I ever made....so I guess I will be making it again.

Next I will talk about my cookies, I made MANY kinds but I will talk about these for a sec. Of all the ones I made to mail, which were low glycemic, vegan and delicious, these thumbprints were my fav! They were so delicious and melted in my mouth and were perfect with a cup of tea. I will be happy to share the recipe if anyone wants it.





During all this fun, my friend and Sister in Christ Stephanie visited from Texas and helped keep me laughing and enjoying my task at hand, helping count measurements, and eating dough with me.

She is a blessing to me. 

One of the things I love about Stephanie is that she is so easy to be with. Here she is in her pj's in the morning reading her Bible with my girl Zira. She brought some delicious Texas grapefruits with her for us. mmmmm. 

Restaurant Review at The Irregardless Cafe

It was my turn to choose and we ended up at The Irregardless Cafe. I have long wanted to go here, and opted to postpone for one reason or another in the past. Never again! It was superb! You can read Kathryn's GLUTEN-FREE review at her site.(should be up shortly) 

Kathryn was waiting at a table (thank God! because it was full) for me. Look at how festive and beautiful she looks here with the Poinsettia's and ornaments in the background.
It was quite busy in the restaurant with local businesses having their work Christmas luncheons. So, we busied ourselves with our iphones and Kathryn gave me a tutorial on Instagram, which I used in this glam-shot, thanks Kathryn!

For a vegan, there were quite a few choices. Too many in fact, and I had to ask the waitress for her suggestion. It was a HARD choice, but I went for the Vegan Chile Relleno. Fresh poblano pepper stuffed with a Spanish ratatouille rice plated atop a black bean cake and served on a roasted red tomato puree and balsamic reduction. ($10)
It was superb. In my head I said to myself "I am eating half of this now and half for dinner."

I had to take a photo of this. Irregardless is a farm to fork restaurant and the freshly cut-off-the-cob corn here (opposed to a bag of frozen corn) was a real turn on for my mind, and tastebuds. I liked that a LOT.

So much for my plan. I had to eat it all - it was so totally delicious! oink!

Irregardless was trendy, clean and packed! And for good reason. The food was delicious, the variety was excellent and the only tip I would add is get there EARLY, if you get there once the place is full, you will have an hour wait.

Here is what Kathryn got. Pad Thai Noodles -Indonesian inspired rice noodles tossed with vegetables in a tamarind coconut milk broth with toasted peanuts. She subbed the seitan for avocado at the suggestion of our server. A great idea!  $10.50
She ate it all and loved it. She said it was delicious!



We were offered dessert but we opted out since we had a cookie exchange awaiting us moments later!

Cookie Exchange! We had a vegan gluten free cookie exchange!

Look at this fun box of goodies? Who would not want that??


There were 8 of us making treats. We stayed away from using sugar as an ingredient, though it was in some chocolate (chips and bars) in a few of the recipes.

What fun we had as we celebrated our Saviors birth and rejoiced at the goodness He brings to us, making treats for one another and sharing the goodies!

(If I have the recipe I can link to it will be a hyperlink on the title)





Here is Rachel and her Chocolate Almond Coconut Bars!

Here is Kinde and her Coconut Balls

Amy and her Easy Vegan Fudge

Kathryn made Peanut Butter Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Andrea made the Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 Libby made the "Twix Bars"

Cara (Libby's Mom) made the Peppermint Rice Krispies

I made Almond-Joy-To-The-World Bars 

(adapted from this recipe)

I had FUN putting these together for my friends! 

What a great month it has been...but the best is a few days away still when we celebrate and worship our Savior and His amazing birth into this world! Thank You Jesus!