Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Pagans get excused for holidays

  Published: November 2, 2007, 8:01 am

  Tags: Faith, Holidash, Pagans, Religion, School

  Filed under: College, Public schoolI remember back in grade school when they finally stopped calling our academic holidays "Christmas" and "Easter" vacation, and instead starting referring to them with the more culturally neutral terms of "Spring" and "Winter" break. Still, most schools (in the US, at least) are only off around major Christian

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• Vegan apple pie delivered directly to your door

  Published: November 3, 2007, 4:17 pm

  Tags: Apple Pie, Babycakes Nyc, Holidash, Pie, Sundance Catalog, Vegan Pie

  Filed under: Dessert, Baking, New Products, BakeriesLast weekend I found myself in a pastry shop. It wasn't a planned outing, it just happens that a friend of mine lives right behind one of the oldest Italian bakeries in Philly and when we pulled up to her house, the scent was overwhelmingly appealing. So we wandered in and ended up spending

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• Websites with American and European-made toys

  Published: November 4, 2007, 5:00 am

  Tags: American Made Toys, American Madetoys, European Toys, Europeantoys, Holidash, Websites

  Filed under: Gear, Health and Safety, Toys, Infant / First year, Toddler, Preschooler, Recalls, In the News, Indoor Play, Outdoor PlayWith the holidays quickly approaching, many parents are thinking about gifts for little ones. Given the recalls and issues with Chinese-made toys, more and more people are looking towards companies who manufacture

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• An autumnal casserole

  Published: November 4, 2007, 10:56 am

  Tags: Autumnal, Cheese, Gruyere, Holidash, Parmesan, Potato, Potluck, Pumpkin, Squash

  Filed under: Dinner, Vegetables, Cheese, Recipes, Baking, Eggs, America, Comfort FoodSometime last week, while I was on the phone with my mom, she said, "Just a second, there's a recipe I want to read to you." Pulling out an ancient pumpkin cookbook, she proceeded to narrate a recipe that consisted of pumpkin, potato, cheese and egg, all mashed

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• A holiday cookie party with a twist

  Published: November 5, 2007, 7:05 am

  Tags: Cookies, Cookies For Donation, Decorating, Drop In And Decorate, Holidash, The Perfect Pantry

  Filed under: Dessert, Baking, On the BlogsChristmas displays are starting to appear in local stores and shopping centers. The orange-wrapped Halloween candy has been replaced with stuff swathed in red and green. Invitations for holiday parties are already starting to hit inboxes and mail boxes. Although it's only the beginning of November, it

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• Do you hate the holidays?

  Published: November 5, 2007, 5:13 am

  Tags: Cabbage Patch Kids, Cabbagepatchkids, Celebrations, Christmas, Christmas Carol, Christmascarol, Commercials, Commericals, Consumer, Family, Friends, Holidash, Holiday, Holidays, New Baby, Newbaby, October, Radio, Relatives, Religious, Santa, Television, Thanksgiving, Turkey

  Filed under: Lifestyle, Family togetherness, Grandparents, Infant / First year, Marketing to kids, Making a Difference Well, perhaps HATE is too strong a word. How about "severely dislike?" How about "diametrically opposed to?" How about...just sick of them...already??? About three weeks ago I was walking back to work after running an errand

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• Practical, creative presents: mitten dryer & finger puppets

  Published: November 5, 2007, 9:31 am

  Tags: Gift Ideas, Giftideas, Holidash, Keeping Kids Warm, Keepingkidswarm, Mitten Dryers, Mittendryers, Organizing Winter Gear, Organizingwintergear, Practical Gifts, Practicalgifts, Winter Gear, Wintergear

  Filed under: Gear, Lifestyle, Infant / First year, Toddler, Preschooler, Pre-teen, Stores and shopping, Likes and dislikes, Making a DifferenceIf children on your gift list already receive piles of toys from Santa and other gift-givers, perhaps your approach could be a bit more practical this year. Mitten dryers are an old fashioned idea that

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• Favorite Christmas holiday movies

  Published: November 6, 2007, 4:28 am

  Tags: Adam Sandler, Adamsandler, Animals, Bad Santa, Badsanta, Black Christmas, Blackchristmas, Christmas, Christmas Special, Christmas Story, Christmasspecial, Christmasstory, Clark Griswold, Clarkgriswold, Classic, Commercialism, December, Die Hard, Diehard, Elf, Food, Holidash

  Filed under: Lifestyle, Family togetherness, Vacations, Marketing to kids, Making a Difference It's that time of year again--"the most wonderful time of the year!" Holiday season is upon us whether we like it or not. Once we get all the, "gee, where did the time go?" business out of our heads we can start preparing for the holidays. well, except

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• Vanilla flecked sweet potato puree

  Published: November 6, 2007, 6:23 am

  Tags: 101 Cookbooks, Holidash, Orange, Puree, Sweet Potato, Sweetpotato, Vanilla

  Filed under: Vegetables, Recipes, On the BlogsAll the comments I've gotten on the Autumnal Casserole post have led me to believe that there are a lot of you out there looking for alternatives to the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes. So I thought I'd post another one of my favorites. This one originally came to me via 101 Cookbooks. Heidi

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• A twist on the classic pumpkin pie

  Published: November 6, 2007, 4:55 am

  Tags: Blintz, Dessert, Holidash, Holiday, Pumpkin Blintzes, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkinpie

  Filed under: Hors D'oeuvres, Dessert, Recipes, On the BlogsThere was a lot of really terrific food at the Philly food blogger potluck I hosted last Friday, but one of the standouts for me were the pumpkin blintzes that Alanna and Alex, the bloggers behind Two Fat Als, brought with them. Maybe it had been too long since I had last had a blintz, or

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• Simple (and beautiful) apple tart on Smitten Kitchen

  Published: November 6, 2007, 9:02 am

  Tags: Alice Waters, Apple Tart, Baking, Chez Panisse, Holidash, Jacques Pepin, Smitten Kitchen

  Filed under: Dessert, Recipes, Fruit, Baking, On the BlogsSpeaking of apples (I know, you're getting tired of me writing about apples. This is the last one for a while. I promise.) did you guys see the gorgeous apple tart that Deb at Smitten Kitchen just posted? I don't think I've ever, in all my life, made a dessert that looked quite so

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• Tam & Rob give back for the holidays

  Published: November 7, 2007, 3:20 am

  Tags: Buy One Give One, Buyonegiveone, Fair Trade, Fairtrade, Holidash, Tam And Rob, Tamandrob

  Filed under: Holidays, Designers, Do Good The holidays are a time to give and receive -- and fair trade fashion label Tam & Rob is making it easy to do just that. This holiday season Tam & Rob are running brand new campaign called 'Buy One Give One'. Unlike most other 'Buy One' promotions you aren't getting a second item from their

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• Split families and the holidays

  Published: November 7, 2007, 5:07 am

  Tags: Airport, America, Blended Family, Blendedfamily, California, Car, Christmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, Christmasday, Christmaseve, Driving, Hanukkah, Holidash, Holiday, Holidays, Indiana, Kentucky, Plane, Thanksgiving, Weather

  Filed under: Lifestyle, Family togetherness, Siblings, Grandparents, 9-12 months, Infant / First year, Outings With whom do you spend your holidays? Do you rotate them between your and your spouse's families? Do you hot one set for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas/Hanukkah? What about when divorce is involved? With our families, the holidays

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• A Mighty Appetite for the Holidays

  Published: November 7, 2007, 5:58 am

  Tags: A Mighty Appetite, Cookbook, Holidash, Holiday Cooking, Kim O Donnel, Kimo Donnel, Parsnip Potato Mash

  Filed under: Recipes, Books, On the BlogsOver the course of the next month and a half, most of us are going to be running around with a panicked glint in our eyes as we try to get everything done for the holidays. Food can be one of the most stressful aspects of this November-December stretch. Luckily Kim O'Donnel, the washingtonpost.com food

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• Green is the new black

  Published: November 7, 2007, 6:55 am

  Tags: Beauty Insider, Beautyinsider, Green Nail Polish, Greennailpolish, Holidash, Nars Limited Edition, Narslimitededition, Sephora, Zulu

  Filed under: CosmeticsNo, I am not talking about going "green"; I am talking about green (the color) nail polish.Move over Chanel black satin because something tells me that NARS' new limited edition shade called Zulu is going to the next "it" nail polish to be sold on eBay. I could tell it was eBay worthy from the moment I laid eyes on this nail

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