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

Apple crumble caramel tart

Gravenstein apples are in season here in Nova Scotia, I wikied the gavenstein apple and found out that those apples were grown here by a man by the name of Charles Ramage Prescott, a horticulturist that found his way to the Annapolis Valley were he set up shop and grew a wide variety of apples. The Gravenstein apple is one of the favorites among Nova Scoatians. Who knew?

Anyhow I knew we were coming into apple season here, and for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about apples and caramel! This is what I came up with for a dessert for dinner tonight.  We don't usually have dessert, unless its a special occasion or I feel like making something sweet, so this it.

I looked for graham cracker crumbs in the store but they had honey in them. I resorted to the ghetto oatmeal cookies, I am positively sure they are not healthy for you, but if you are eating dessert...do you really care?
I know I don't :P

Crust

2 cups oatmeal cookie crumbs
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp earth balance

In a bowl combine everything until moist. Press into a fluted tart pan.
Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Filling 

4 gravenstien apples- peeled, cored and sliced
2 tbsp organic sugar
1 tbsp flour

combine apples in a bowl with sugar and flour.
Mix up until coated


Crumble

1 cup oats
1/4 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup flour
pinch of nutmeg
6 tbsp earth balance

In a small bowl mix together until resembles course crumbs

Caramel Sauce

1 cup organic sugar
3 tbsp earth balance
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 tsp sea salt

Be very careful cooking sugar. Its HOT!!!
In a small sauce pan heat sugar and butter, until dissolved and creamy.
Stirring consistently. Remove from heat. Add milk.
Stir it up. 

Assembly:

Arrange the apple slices nicely in the pre baked tart crust.
Pour crumble on top. Press down firmly.
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until apples are soft and crumb topping has golden.
Swirl caramel over top!

Hawaiian style Father's Day stir fry: Hau`oli La Makuakane

I made this for for father's day! My dad is on the other side of the country, but I like to think that I would have made this for him, had he been here. He loves tropical places...white sand beaches and turquoise water (perfect for scuba diving :).

I used some of the seitan in this recipe that I made on my last post. It worked well and the flavor of the sweet and sour sauce compliment it, and the fresh pineapple helped.

The thing about stir frying is that it is essential to have everything cut and chopped into separate bowls, so all you have to do is heat the pan, add oil, and start pouring in vegetables. Starting with the onions, garlic and ginger. I usually put the longest to cook vegetables in first, and finish with the ones that don't take long or I want to keep crisp.

For this stir fry I cut up 1 onion, minced a garlic clove, grated some fresh ginger. Cooked that together in a large wok, then added 1 green pepper chopped, 1/2 pineapple peeled cored and chopped, 2 cups worth of sliced seitan, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. Served with brown rice and garnished with green onions. 

Sweet & Sour Sauce

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp cornstarch

Mix everything in a bowl, set aside until veggies are almost cooked. Pour and let thicken in the wok with veggies.

Knock someone's socks off : Lasagna

Some may say that lasagna has to have four cheeses, some say it has to have only one. The main point is "lasagna is a cheesy, scrumptious dish".

That is, until you make it with no cheese. I have tried several different versions towards making the perfect vegan lasagna. But this one takes the cake, or should I say the noodles!

A simple lasagna with big taste. I roasted eggplant and zucchini and used those vegetables as a layer.  I made a tofu "cheese" as part of the filling.  I also used my basic tomato sauce.

For the "cheese" topping I used a product by Earth Island- Vegan Gourmet ( the same company that makes vegenaise) I can get two meals usually out of one block....

Tofu cheese

1 block of firm tofu
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup water

Put everything in a food processor and blend until desired consistency.

Asparagus & Sundried Tomato Spaghettini with toasted Pine Nuts

I have been wishing for warmer weather these last few days...I broke down at the grocery store and bought tomatoes and basil.  Craving pasta, so I whipped this up tonight. I love how the sun stays out longer now, I can get some good light for picture taking :) We had chocolate cake for dessert, I didn't add the ganache, but I did swirl peanut butter through out the batter, and baked it in a loaf pan. Check out my little taste tester!

• cooked pasta ( I like whole wheat)
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic-minced
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 medium onion- minced
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 jar of sun dried tomatoes- cut into strips
• 2 vine ripe fresh tomatoes-small diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper- small diced
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 small bunch of asparagus- keep the tips- chop the rest to go into the sauce
• 2 tbsp fresh basil
• 2 tsp chili flakes
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

In a saute pan heat on medium high, add oil, garlic and onions. Saute for 3-4 minutes
add oregano, deglaze with vinegar. Add sun dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes, bell pepper.
Add a little water at a time, just to make it juicy.
Throw the asparagus ends into the sauce, add basil, chili flakes, and season.

In a separate pan add a little water and a pinch or two of salt bring to a boil , cook asparagus tips.

Toast pine nuts in a pan until golden.

Teriyaki vegetables with toasted sushi rice and baked tofu

I have been slack'n on the blog posts this week, not that I haven't cooked every day :P

I made a really yummy red kidney bean balls with spaghetti, and chili with cornbread,( the kid helped with the cornbread ) I wish I posted it all, but sometimes you are so hungry by the end of the cooking process that you just can't be bothered to take a picture, and there are no leftovers ( because it was so good :)

For dinner tonight I made miso soup, and toasted sushi rice cooked with a vegetable broth, teriyaki vegetables with baked tofu, and for dessert a warm banana loaf!

I have to admit I am not the best at cooking rice, its really a hit and miss for me, does anyone else have this problem?

I have dabbled with Mexican rice a few times and the recipe always says to dry toast it until golden, and the results are always spectacular!

I decided to toast the sushi rice and add a half a vegetable bouillon cube to the water. It turned out great. I think the best advice when cooking rice, is that it needs to sit off the heat for at least 10 minutes ( if you are cooking pot method). Then I mixed 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar with 1 tbsp of maple syrup together and poured it over when I fluffed the rice.  I had no brown rice vinegar :(

For the veggies I mixed together about 4 tbsp of tamari with 2 tbsp of maple syrup, mince 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 3 tbsp of water, and 2 tsp of cane sugar. Heated the wok, added the oil, sauteed the veggies, added a little water and then poured the mixture over top. It took seconds to thicken up, I pulled it off the heat right away.

Toasted sesame seeds are essential!

Roasted veggies, garlic sauted kale on brown rice with Maple Tahini dressing

Cook brown rice according to directions,
or 1 rice/ 2 parts water

Roasted Veggies

• 2 carrots peeled and chopped into chunks
• 1 onion chopped into chunks
• 1/2 zucchini chopped into chunks
• 12 asparagus spears
• sweet potato peeled and cut into 1/2inch rounds
• sunflower oil
  
• garlic powder
• cayenne pepper
• sea salt

toss veggies in a bowl with oil and seasonings
place on baking pan, roast @ 400 until done.
about 20 minutes.
it is better to separate the potatoes and put them in the oven first,
then add the rest of the veggies the last 10 minutes or so.

• 1/2 bunch of kale
• 1 clove of garlic
• sunflower oil

wash and chop the kale
chop the garlic
heat oil in pan, add garlic saute
add kale, cook until bright green color.

Maple tahini dressing

2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 or 4 tbsp of water

whisk ingredients together until desired constancy
sometimes tahini differs in texture, so you will have to add or take away water

things to add to your bowl

toasted sunflower seeds
alfalfa sprouts
hemp seeds
chopped fresh red pepper