gingerbread house professionals

It's christmas party season! It all started last weekend when Mark and I went to Ryan and Witt's Gingerbread House party! Basically the two of them slaved over making TONS of gingerbread houses, and then had a party where everyone came over with a dish to share and then made a house of their own for the competition. There were some phenomenal houses. We all voted on the best and the one I liked most won (the "beach front house").

I think if I go to the party next year we will have to study ahead of time! Ours was a little behind the times compared to the professional decorators there, but we did build a broken down car in the front lawn claiming it was a white trash gingerbread house!
And Ryan and Witt's dogs Casper and Zoey are amazing. Even though Mark was red and watery eyed with an itchy face from allergies after playing with them, the claritin seemed to clear him up and he kept saying how much he wanted a dog after we left.
I brought apple cake and my classic black bean chili to share, which were both a hit despite being vegan!

Lindsey's Classic Black Bean and Cashew Chili
Ingredients:
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
3 cans black beans
1 container cashews
1 yellow onion chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 can diced tomatoes
chili powder
1 red bell pepper
3 Tbsp garlic

Direction:
Fry the pepper, garlic, and onion in the olive oil until the onions and garlic are browned. Transfer to a slow cooker.
Add all the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and stir.
As for the chili powder, I do not have a specific amount I measure out, I ball park it, but I like it spicey so it's probably close to 3-4 Tbsp of it.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, Serve warm!
The cashews develops this great soft texture you wouldn't expect!


Apple Cake:
Ingredients:
4 apples chopped
4Tbsp margarine
3/4 c sugar
1 egg's worth of Ener-G egg replacer
3 Tbsp soy milk
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix the margarine, sugar, soy milk, and egg replacer together. Then add all the remaining ingredients, eggs last. Place in a bundt cake as I did, or probably a better idea would be in a glass baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes
Once cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting (the bundt cake top layer stuck to the pan so I would not use this in the future if I make this dish again).

Cream cheese frosting vegan style:
whisk together two cups powdered sugar, 1 8oz tub of tofutti cream cheese, 1/2 a stick of margarine, and 2tsp vanilla.

Here is a picture of the leftovers I had for breakfast the morning after the party:

Being that it was a bundt cake everyone said it looked like one giant glazed donut! Everyone liked it though, it's always great to show people vegan food is good!

I still have one groupon to Kings for $20 worth of bowling too, I have to use it before Jan 15th so anyone in the boston area that wants to go, let me know!