Every Christmas we eat pierogi. When I was a child we ate pierogi throughout the year. My favorites were ruskie pierogi made with potatoes, cheese and onions and dessert pierogi filled with plums. Pierogi are part of vigilia the traditional Polish Christmas Eve festivities and when I lived in Chicago, with it's many Polish neighborhoods, it was so easy to buy pierogi that I never took the time to learn how to make them. Last year we spent Christmas in San Diego and finding pierogi involved a long trip through unfamiliar territory. Determined to avoid a repetition, I pulled out an old recipe of my mother's and decided to make my own.

It is now the middle of November and we still have about ten big buckets of apples. We decided to make apple cider and apple spice cake.

Vegan cooking is so much fun and I get very excited when I have a recipe that is absolutely at it's best vegan. Now, when that is confirmed by well know food bloggers such as David Lebovitz or Orangette or Cafe Fernando then - well that is pure nirvana.

That is the case with granola - such a simple thing available in the bulk section of every health food store, yet nothing beats a really good homemade granola with soy milk. Yes, it tastes better with soy milk. I have been making it for a long time but have never added apple sauce to it. Adding fruit puree to granola is an interesting addition since you can eliminate most of the oil that is normally added and that, of course, makes it much healthier. So I took the advice of the above well know bloggers and I was very happy with the result.

I recently read that people who eat soup on a daily basis live longer than those who don't. To me it is a reasonable assumption. I grew up in a family where soup was always the first course at dinner year round. In the summer we had cold fruit soups and in the winter lots of beans, grains and vegetables. Eating soup means that you are getting those extra servings of vegetables and nutrients that are so important for all of us.

For this carrot ginger soup I used some carrots that were still growing in my garden. They were still good, but early carrots have a much sweeter flavor, so I added a tablespoon of maple syrup to the soup.

I grew up on a farm in England and my parents owned a bakery. Their best seller was a cheesecake. I still remember the taste and mouthfeel of that cheesecake. It was creamy and rich with a brown crust and lots of cheese.

My husband who is part German and loves sauerkraut suggested I make some with all the cabbage still in the garden. It was so easy that I wanted to share it with you. I have also included a quick lunch idea for a vegan tempeh reuben sandwich.