Pumpkin cranberry muffins

There is something about pumpkins that I love, maybe its their color or the round chubbiness of them, or that they sit on peoples front door steps waiting for a face. Whatever it its I love them and the taste of them!

Local  cranberries hit the store the other day, so I picked up a bag. I am waiting for the veggie stand down the road to put them out, last year I got a huge ziplock bag full! Pumpkin and cranberry mixed together is like Ernie and Bert.

I whipped these up this morning with the roasted pumpkin puree I made the other day.  Perfect with your morning coffee (or tea).

Pumpkin cranberry muffins

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup pumpkin puree
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup soy milk mixed with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp hot water

1 cup fresh cranberries- pulsed through a food processor ( just to break them up a bit)
Walnuts on the top are optional.

Preheat oven to 375
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl
Combine wet ingredients, pour into dry and stir it up.
Add the cranberries and scoop into a muffin tin. (grease it if you don't have muffin liners)
Bake for 30 minutes or until done.

Pumpkin Thai Curry

Pumpkin! I made this curry served with vermicelli rice noodles the other night.  I use Thai Kitchen red curry paste for this recipe.I think the overall time to make this meal was about 30 minutes. I didn't use much of the pumpkin for this, so I plan on roasting the rest and using it in muffins and whatnot. More pumpkin posts coming soon....

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion- sliced
2 cloves garlic-minced
2 tbsp Thai Kitchen red curry paste
4 cups pumpkin- peeled and chopped
3 cups water/ veggie stock
1 red pepper- sliced
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
fresh cilantro
vermicelli rice noodles- cooked according to package


In a large pot heat oil, add onions and garlic. Saute on medium heat until soft.
Add paste and stir it around to coat the onions. Add pumpkin and continue to stir.
Pour in water/stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook until pumpkin is soft.
Add peppers and coconut milk. Season with sugar and salt.  Serve over noodles garnished with fresh cilantro.

Autumn

Warm soups and stews.

Fuzzy sweaters

Our wood stove

The pumpkin patch

Crisp mornings, and the colors of the leaves.

My birthday!

Halloween

Happy Fall everyone!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN : Vegan nanaimo bars

A truly Canadian confection, the NANAIMO bar! These treats are a Canadian favourite! I know I use to love them before I went vegan. When I was surfing around the net looking for something yummy to make since it is Halloween. I found a recipe on the joyofbaking.com and thought it looked easy enough to veganize, and I was right!

Let me just say one little thing , I am not a fan of healthy desserts. If I need my sugar fix I pretty much go for it. Nothing will hold me back from the sweet sugary goodness of chocolate!  I can't imagine them lasting very long in the fridge. One year I made a batch of these with some truffles and gave them away as winter gifts, they keep nicely in the freezer.

We never get many kids for the trick-or-treats. We still carve the pumpkins and have a bowl of candy at the door (just in case).

my pumpkin

The best part about carving pumpkins is the seeds! I always pick through the guts to save them for roasting. This time I roasted 1 pan with garlic powder & sea salt, the other one had tamari sprinkled on it with black pepper. I roast the seeds on low heat 275 for about 1.5 hours. Turn the oven off, and let them sit for a while in there so that they are really dry. A tasty treat!

 

 2 whole pans of pumpkin seeds!!

our pumpkins

This is the recipe I got from joyofbaking.com and changed it to make it vegan

Bottom Layer:

1/2 cup earth balance 

1/4 cup vegan sugar

1/3 cup  unsweetened cocoa powder

1 egg replacement

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups vegan cookie crumbs (I used a digestive cookie and crumbed it in my processor)

1 cup  coconut

1/2 cup walnuts- coarsely 

chopped

Middle Layer:

1/4 cup earth balance

2 - 3 tbsp soy milk

2 tablespoons vanilla custard powder (Bird's) 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups vegan powdered sugar

Top Layer:

4 ounces vegan dark chocolate

1 tablespoon earth balance

Bottom Layer: In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter.  Stir in the sugar and cocoa powder and then gradually whisk in the egg replacement.  Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens (1 - 2 minutes).  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract,  cookie crumbs, coconut, and chopped nuts.  Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan.  Cover and refrigerate until firm (about an hour).

Middle Layer:  Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until the mixture is smooth.  If the mixture is too thick to spread, add a little more milk.  Spread the filling over the bottom layer, cover, and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).

Top Layer:  In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the filling and refrigerate until the chocolate has set.

To Serve:  To prevent the chocolate from cracking, using a sharp knife bring the squares to room temperature before cutting. 

Yield: Makes about 25 squares

Have a Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin love and lasagna!

pumpkin lasagna

My favorite time of year...Autumn. The crisp air, fall colours, my birthday and Halloween! I picked up a pumpkin at the end of the elderly couples driveway the other day with hopes to make a soup or something? Then I was surfing for pumpkin ideas and I came across a pumpkin lasagna. It sounded like a great way to prepare it. So I thought I would give it a whirl...

The sauce is a basic tomato sauce but instead of oregano I used sage, it smells like thanksgiving dinner.

sliced pumpkin, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, drizzled with olive oil and roasted

 layers of pumpkin & fresh cilantro

pour some tomato sauce on top

layer of tofu ricotta

Roasted pumpkin

1/2 small pumpkin-peeled, cored and sliced
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
olive oil

spread pumpkin in a layer on a greased baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season.
bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until soft.

Tofu ricotta

1 pkg soft tofu
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Mix everything in a bowl until it resembles ricotta.

I like pumpkin seeds so I kept mine and toasted them in the oven with the roasting pumpkin. Grind them up and sprinkled them on top of the lasagna. There is so many recipes with pumpkin, and they make great lanterns too!

 our pumpkin