I used to love pizza. When I was a kid I loved going to Pizza Hut, getting vegetable and cheese laden pizzas, and then later in high school ordering, with frequency, banana pepper pizza from Papa Johns. The last few years, though, not including my vegan lifestyle, I have grown to not really favor pizza that much. I'm not sure why, but I have a feeling it might have to do with my days in college where I'd get more gourmet versions of it: baby mozzarella, fresh garlic, tomatoes, and basil leaves.

I love the holidays. Maybe it's because there's a change in the air, and sweaters are being pulled out and dreams of warm cocoa and apple cider fill my head, or maybe it's because people start decorating their houses and businesses in earnest.

The thing is that I really only get into the holiday spirit by living vicariously through other people. I always think to myself, oh it would be fun to carve a pumpkin or get dressed up for Halloween. But pretty much it rarely - or never - happens.

If you were to ask me what my favorite pie was, I'd probably give you a few answers like blueberry, cherry, and chocolate. But what usually comes up on top is good old homemade apple pie. Perhaps it is because of the spices, or the flaky pie crust, or that when I'm eating it I know that it must be fall.

This morning I thought I'd check in on the Daring Bakers website to see how much time I still had to make this month's challenge. I discovered that today was my deadline! I had actually hoped to get this one created earlier in the month, but we had family over, then I was sick last week - and sadly I'm still sick. I am on the verge of wellness, so I figured that I could still make and post these lavash crackers and dip today. And hooray! Here we are!

I normally try to post at least once a week, but sometimes life gets in the way. I realized (with a nearly audible gasp) only this week that it was nearly THREE weeks since my last post.

Here's my laundry list of excuses. First of all, I think I was lazy. Plain and simple. Then the in-laws (all of them) came to visit, and as much as they cooed over my blog, I didn't lift one finger to type out a blog post in their presence. I also barely lifted a finger to cook for them aside from a fruit crisp.

And today, I am sick. My throat is sore, my face feels warm, and I have a headache. As such, I am not consuming sugar today except for what comes naturally in the fruit I've been eating (just look up "sugar and immune system" and you'll see why I avoid it when I'm sick). So what better thing to do when I am not sick enough to be lying down than to write a blog post about something that has so much sugar in it I should have a weak immune system for at least a week after consuming it?

It's that time again - when hundreds of Daring Bakers bloggers are challenged to create a recipe and hope that the results are somewhat different yet unique at the same time. For vegan and other dietary lifestyles that don't include the standard ingredients that most of the bakers have no problem using, it's that much more of a challenge. If only you could read some of the conversations going on behind the scenes during each month. People feverishly trying to figure out good replacements for eggs or flour, or lamenting about their second or third try in the month because the first miserably failed.

But I come to you here on my first try, and I lament that these chocolate eclairs are not really eclairs, but rather miniature cookies (I say this not because I tried to make them cookies, but more or less to comfort myself and live in denial.). In the words of my husband, who after his first bite made a face and exclaimed with irritation, "These aren't eclairs!" (Yet he managed to eat at least half or two-thirds of them.)

One of my absolute favorite vegetables to eat is potatoes. I love them fried, mashed, and baked. I love it when they are a little crunchy and salty, and I admit I love them when there's enough for at least two or three servings for me. The thing about potatoes, though, is that they are filled to overflowing with calories. I have to be careful because otherwise my hips will reveal my fondness for them, so lately I've been trying to eat them in moderation.

A few weeks ago I made a batch of orzo with basil pesto. The recipe had originally been inspired by a recipe in a food magazine that used dill instead of basil. The recipe continued to eat at me because I was terribly curious if dill pesto would be as tasty and satisfying as basil pesto.

One day at the grocery store I grabbed one bunch of dill and decided I'd find out, for better or worse, if dill pesto is all that magazine cracked it up to be. The recipe from a few weeks ago remains the same, just the dill is different.

As I have previously shared, we have been doing gardening by way of containers. Each year we grow many of the same things, but we usually try something new. One of this year's new items is turnips, and I am very surprised that they are growing exceedingly well. I have never attempted to grow turnips before, and I am amazed at how fast they grow as well as how large they are able to get in our containers.

Farm season is well upon us again, which means we have been getting fruit for a few weeks now in our local community supported agriculture program. We have participated in our local CSA for a few years by getting vegetable shares, but last year another farmer joined in the fun and was providing us with fruit, so we got a fruit and vegetable share last year. Holy cow. We got some of the most amazing fruit, so much so that this year we've said good bye to the vegetable share (Good bye! Perhaps we'll see you another year!), and said hello to two fruit shares.

The first couple of weeks we didn't get a whole lot of fruit, but the last couple of weeks we've gotten more than our share (hehe) of peaches and plums. As soon as I saw the peaches I couldn't think of anything else but when I was growing up next to Grandma.