
The reality is that every Holiday season I’m slogging through preparing the food I’m planning to share, always biting off a little more than I can chew, so to speak. I get to a point of where I think I’m done with everything and wait, what?! The cranberry sauce? I forgot to make it! So it’s back into the kitchen to bang it out.
I’m a huge fan of preparing large food projects in sections beforehand, then plugging them all together to make the final dishes as the feast approaches. I’ve found that this reduces Holiday cooking stress considerably. Last year this got me thinking: what if I could apply this trick to the cranberry sauce I’m always forgetting about? What if I could make it way in advance with even less overall time involved? Pressure cooker to the rescue. With the pressure cooker, I could make it a year ahead with the extra cranberries I had hanging around from this year, chuck it in the closet and forget about it until the end of next year. All with the same amount of effort it takes to make cranberry sauce a few days before the Holidays. No really.

- Fruit-forwardness, bright acidity and a little residual sweetness for a well-rounded flavor.
- Crisp and refreshing on a hot day.
- Intense enough to thrill, but subtle enough to session, or drink all day. I want people to come back for more like when you just can’t stop drinking that beaujolais you opened on that hot summer day.
- Consistent, convenient cold dispensed throughout the day. Bonus: dispensed amongst the same taps as the alcoholic drinks so it doesn’t play second fiddle.







This Pear Liqueur recipe is refreshingly smooth and tastes similar to Eau De Vie or Lillet. It's even better in many ways because it's ridiculously easy to make and is extremely affordable. Use the sweetest organic pears you can get your hands on for best results. If your pears are very intensely sweet, like the ones from my back yard, you can skip the sugar. If you're going for store bought pears or moderately sweet pears, consider adding some sugar to enhance the pear flavor and tie it in with the vodka. I find it frustrating that the window of time of pear ripeness is so small. Once minute they're sweet like candy, the next minute they're mealy and heading for the compost bin. This liqueur is the best way I know of to capture their flavor when it's at its peak and preserve it almost indefinitely.




I still miss the excitement and curiosity that goes along with a savory centerpiece: How tender will it be when I slice into it? What succulent surprises will I find? Oh and the aromas wafting thorugh the house! I wanted to bring this excitement to vegan holiday feasts when I set out to create Seitan Roulade.
Seitan Roulade consists of a sheet of wheat gluten covered with a panko mushroom stuffing that's been simmered in a red wine balsamic reduction. It's then wrapped into a roll, glazed with Apricot Glaze and sprigs of thyme are placed on top before the roulade is tied with twine. The roulade is then baked in a dutch oven, sliced, served and drizzled with a gravy such as Gracious Gravy. This is a similar centerpiece to Stuffed Seitan but is a little more involved because it involves glaze, and the use of a dutch oven. The dutch oven helps the roulade retain it's shape, stay moist and become infused with aroma from the thyme sprigs.
