In my books, November is close enough to December which means it’s totally acceptable to start blasting holiday tunes. I seem to be listening to Christmas music earlier and earlier each year. Last year, I patiently waited until our local radio station switched to playing Christmas songs 24/7, which was at the end of November. But one month of festive jingles is not even close to being enough. The most wonderful time of year deserves more than 30 days of celebration. That’s why this year, I started in October.

Confession: I just signed up for Spotify like a week ago. Whaaaat?! Yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t jump on the bandwagon earlier considering that I’m too lazy to curate my own playlists. Now I get to mooch off of other people’s lengthy lists. And what’s this… Christmas playlists?! *squeals with joy*

It was a not-so-low-key transition into the holiday season. At the end of October, I went to listen to A Pentatonix Christmas (new album yayayayay!) and since then haven’t been able to stop. From getting ready in the morning to my post-dinner procrastination time, the classic carols, sounds of sleigh bells, and warm vocals seem to whisk away all my worries, at least temporarily. At our friend’s Halloween party, we were listening to a mixture of spooky music, Christmas music, country songs, pop, and hip hop while carving jack-o-lanterns. We were all slightly holiday-confused, but Chew especially so; she carved a reindeer on our very rotten pumpkin. Relevant or not, it was a beautiful reindeer. Just a heads up for ya’ll, dropping a pumpkin down a flight of stairs and letting it roll down the length of a steep driveway really shortens its lifespan.

Aside from all things Christmas, I’ve really been craving a dang good sandwich. None of that pb and j variation business. I mean one stacked high with flavourful veggies. Like this one? Yes, precisely.

I wanted a good sandwich so badly I drove to some fancy cafe one rainy day in hopes of getting my hands on a dream sandwich, and perhaps a lovely soup to go with it. After getting lost and taking twice as long to get there, I was disappointed to find no veggie sandwich options. And I wasn’t about to pay ten bucks for one slice of avocado toast. Sigh. So I took matters into my own hands and created this veggie beast: the perfect vegan winter sandwich.

You may ask, “what do you even put in a vegan sandwich?” It’s a question I often ask myself when I’m making my own lunch. Let me teach you how to craft an incredible vegan winter sandwich. Start by getting yourself a loaf of quality bread; we love a moist, fluffy, sourdough. Then slather on a thick layer of homemade hummus and stack high with garlicky kale, turmeric cauliflower steaks, thinly sliced beets, and roasted sweet potato. Open wide and take a bite. Winter magic right here.

Recipe for Sweet Potato Satay Hummus can be found here.