Favorite Recipes from 2025

Another year has come and gone. I felt like I didn’t try as much in the kitchen in 2025, but I did accomplish a lot. Finishing my second graphic novel and a mentorship program, traveling, running my first cartoonist retreat, and finding my creativity over again.

Despite a lack of experiments, I did, however, come out of the year with some favorite new recipes. I ambitiously baked an absurd amount of pies for Thanksgiving, both fruit and meat varieties. I also felt very accomplished in my winter cookie baking endeavors. This holiday season was more about handcrafted gifts, either consumables or art, and while it’s more time consuming, it feels better and more meaningful to spend that time making something for a loved one.

I shall not delay! Here are my top 3 recipes from the 2025, recipes I would certainly make again.

• Schiacciata all’uva

• Chilled Ramen

• S’mores Pie

And an honorable mention to the vegan Skyline dip I’ve made twice, though it’s not on the blog yet. My major flop of the year? Homemade buckeyes. I’ll have to try again.

Kitchen Goals for 2026

This year, I succeeded in my first attempt at vegan pastry. We’re talking very barebones, staple stuff. I made some seitan-based meat pies (never photographed but tasty) that were fine, but I want to work on my pastry and make some flaky vegan goods. Some more goals are as follows:

• Practice more vegan patisserie and decorating. I want to make one beautiful cake and make some “pastry shop window” quality stuff that’s “neat as a pin” as Prue Lieth would say!

• Start pickling

• Finish properly seasoning and using my mortar and pestle

• Put together homemade spice blends

• Get back to the farmer’s market

• Make my own pasta. I’ve made gnocchi which I absolutely hate making, even when I’ve gotten better at it, but it would feel very satisfying to make my own pasta.

Cookbooks I’m Interested In

I used to not be super into cookbooks, but I love them now. After some quick research, there are a few I’d like to check out.

• Everybody’s Vegan Cookbook

• Please Feed Me: A Punk Vegan Cookbook

• Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

• The Vegan Chinese Kitchen

• Afro Vegan

• The Vegan Creamery

Some Food Blogs

A few go-to food blogs when I’m looking for inspiration. They’re not all vegan-exclusive, and I don’t always follow the recipes to the letter.

• Vegan Richa

• Chopstick Chronicles

• The Woks of Life

• The Japanese Kitchen

• Nora Cooks

• Minimalist Baker

That’s it for now, folks. May the new year bring you all some new recipes and culinary inspiration!