For the Cake:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup Florida Crystals sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water

For the Fillings:
1 3/4 cup canned sour cherries, drained and juice reserved
1 oz. arrowroot powder
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. vanilla soy milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. fine cornmeal
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine

To Assemble:
2 tsp. cherry brandy
Vegan chocolate shavings, to garnish
Maraschino cherries, to garnish

 To Assemble:
2 tsp. cherry brandy
Vegan chocolate shavings, to garnish
Maraschino cherries, to garnish

For the Cake:
• Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Grease an 8-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper. Lightly dust with flour.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the vanilla extract, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Gradually add the water and stir just until smooth.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Cut into 3 layers.

For the Fillings:
• In a medium saucepan, mix the reserved cherry juice with the arrowroot powder. Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened. Stir in the cherries and set aside.
• In another saucepan, gradually add the soy milk to the cornmeal and combine, using a wire whisk. Stir in the vanilla. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from the heat and cool.
• Cream the Earth Balance and gradually combine with the cooled cornmeal mixture until smooth and creamy. To reach the desired consistency, add the soy milk to thin.

To Assemble:
• Soak the bottom cake layer in the cherry brandy, then top with the cherry filling, spreading evenly.
• Top with the middle cake layer.
• Spread half of the Earth Balance- and-cornmeal filling on the middle cake layer. Top with the remaining cake layer.
• Spread the remaining filling over the entire cake.
• Garnish with the vegan chocolate shavings and the maraschino cherries.

Makes 10 servings

This hearty soup is delicious! Serve it in a crusty bread bowl, and top it with chopped fresh parsley.

1-2 stalks celery
3 carrots
1 large onion
3-4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 bay leaves
7-8 cups water
1 Tbsp. Italian herb mix
1 1/2-2 cups green lentils
3 red potatoes (optional)
1 bunch spinach (optional)
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

• Chop the celery, carrots, onion, and garlic.
• Heat the oil in a large soup pot and add the vegetables and bay leaves. Cook on medium heat until the vegetables are soft, then add the water, herbs, and lentils. Cook over medium to high heat for 45 minutes, adding more water as needed (2 or more cups will evaporate during cooking).
• Chop the potatoes into small cubes, if using. Add them to the soup and cook until soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add the spinach leaves, if using, and cook for about 2 more minutes, just long enough to wilt the leaves.
• Remove from the heat.
• Stir in the red wine vinegar and leave covered until ready to serve.

Makes approximately 8 servings

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, and fry onions until tender.
2. Stir in garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt, cayenne, and turmeric. Cook for 1 minute over medium heat, stirring constantly. Mix in garbanzo beans and their liquid. Continue to cook and stir until all ingredients are well blended and heated through. Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro just before serving, reserving 1 tablespoon for garnish.

Veggie Goulash

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 small green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 4 ounces mycoprotein pieces, e.g., Quorn™
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped, juice reserved
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
   

Yule, (pronounced EWE-elle) is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider.

Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe, and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to pay visit to the residents.

The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the festival. In accordance to tradition, the log must either have been harvested from the householder's land, or given as a gift... it must never have been bought. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze be a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.

A different type of Yule log, and perhaps one more suitable for modern practitioners would be the type that is used as a base to hold three candles. Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.

Deities of Yule are all Newborn Gods, Sun Gods, Mother Goddesses, and Triple Goddesses. The best known would be the Dagda, and Brighid, the daughter of the Dagda. Brighid taught the smiths the arts of fire tending and the secrets of metal work. Brighid's flame, like the flame of the new light, pierces the darkness of the spirit and mind, while the Dagda's cauldron assures that Nature will always provide for all the children.

Symbolism of Yule - Rebirth of the Sun, The longest night of the year, The Winter Solstice, Introspect, Planning for the Future.

Symbols of Yule - Yule log, or small Yule log with 3 candles, evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in doorways, gold pillar candles, baskets of clove studded fruit, a simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias, christmas cactus.

Herbs of Yule - Bayberry, blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense holly, laurel, mistletoe, oak, pine, sage, yellow cedar.

Foods of Yule - Cookies and caraway cakes soaked in cider, fruits, nuts, pork dishes, turkey, eggnog, ginger tea, spiced cider, wassail, or lamb's wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples).

Incense of Yule - Pine, cedar, bayberry, cinnamon.

Colors of Yule - Red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow, orange.

Stones of Yule - Rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds.

Activities of Yule - Caroling, wassailing the trees, burning the Yule log, decorating the Yule tree, exchanging of presents, kissing under the mistletoe, honoring Kriss Kringle the Germanic Pagan God of Yule

Spellworkings of Yule - Peace, harmony, love, and increased happiness.

Deities of Yule - Goddesses-Brighid, Isis, Demeter, Gaea, Diana, The Great Mother. Gods-Apollo, Ra, Odin, Lugh, The Oak King, The Horned One, The Green Man, The Divine Child, Mabon.