Cooking with @lenasveganliving & @thekitchenfairy {Plus my surprise gift from @dksart!}

Hello again my friends! I often come across so many fantastic recipes on here, but it is hard to get a chance to try them all, especially when I am having fun coming up with my own vegan goodies. Every now and then, though, my pals post something that I just can't pass up making in my own kitchen. I have been following @lenasveganliving and @thekitchenfairy since I first joined Steemit almost a year and a half ago, so I know these ladies will never disappoint me in their fantastic creations.

I'll start out with the queen of #fruitsandveggiesmonday and my rendition of her Christmas Daikon Salad. Just look at those photos of hers and tell me you aren't drooling right now? My market has had some fabulous fresh daikon radish available lately, so I knew I could easily find the tasty fresh ingredients to give her salad a go in my own kitchen.

I decided to make mine into a full meal, so I ended up shredding my radish, carrots and apples for the salad so it would easily mix up with a batch of quinoa. Since those lovely pomegranate arils were so festive, I also opted for using pomegranate balsamic vinegar to cook my tempeh in for my protein boost. Oh my goodness was that delicious! I caramelized red onion, then added in my cubed tempeh and the pomegranate vinegar until it soaked in to make a delicious coating on the tempeh. Bravo to Lena for that absolutely delicious salad because it formed the perfect base to add in these few extras to make a wonderful meal for lunches this week!

On to the magic of @thekitchenfairy... If you follow her regular posts then you probably saw that she was up to her eyeballs in pumpkin this year. She has been posting some scrumptious recipes to use up the yummy orange gourd. I have been hording butternut squash in my kitchen, which is a great substitute for pumpkin as they are pretty similar in texture and flavor. Though I would gladly try any of the other recipes she posted, her version of a Vegan Eggnog called my name. Kind of funny since eggnog has never been my thing even before I turned vegan, but I thought it would be a great drink to bring along to some holiday festivities with friends and family.

Yep, it's as creamy and delicious as it looks. My girlfriends enjoyed the batch that I brought over for our get-together Friday evening. The one friend's husband is Puerto Rican and he said it reminded him of a much lighter and healthier version of the coquito he grew up with. I'm going to be making a few more batches for Christmas with family to share. Thanks for the fantastic recipe my friend!

In the spirit of sharing recipes, check out the surprise gift @dksart made for me!! How awesome is that??

He made a full on cook book of some of the recipes I have shared since I started blogging. I had no clue he had been working on this.

He's hinted for a while that I should think about it, but of course he has more faith in me than I have myself sometimes. I'm not always good at thinking in the abstract without something concrete in front of me, so actually seeing how it could look put together has made me realize how fun it could be to make it happen. Perhaps I can add that to my 2019 goals...

Aren't custom gifts just the best? Sorry to my friends and family, but I think this one already takes the cake for the best gift of the year! Thank you my dear for such a wonderful gift! 😘

Banners by @jaynie, @woman-onthe-wing, @dksart and @bearone for @steemusa