Irish Nachos...

Originally I had a much bigger and more exciting post to share with you today, but in all honesty I’m feeling a little uninspired and pretty wiped out from a busy weekend of work combined with celebrating. Celebrating what? you may ask. Well Chicago’s Vegan Mania of course, and that’s what I’d intended to post about today. However it appears as though you’ll have to patiently wait at least one more day for my Vegan Mania write up, while I gather my thoughts and transform them from jumbled gobblygook to coherent sentences.

Not wanting to short change you though, I thought it only fair that I post about something, and it just so happens I had the perfect thing waiting in the wings. It’s a recipe review, and I know that after a month of Vegan Mofo you might be a bit tired of recipe reviews but trust me when I tell that after eating this dish I could not let it pass into food oblivion without at least giving it a mention.

The first thing I did upon my return from vacation was go to the library and return the books I’d taken out to read on the plane. While I was there I decided to peruse the cookbook section and I just happened to come across a cookbook I’d never seen or even heard of before. The title is "Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites" by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman, which was published this year. I took a quick peek and deemed it interesting enough to bring home. Once I had it home however I realized that the recipes are for foods I would normally not eat, or at least not eat with any kind of regularity. As a health-nut I try to shy away from fats, sugars, and processed foods. I keep my consumption of soy-based and wheat based foods/cheeses/meats to a strict minimum and try to focus my diet on healthful foods like whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts and seeds in their most natural state. This book is full of recipes for what I’d call the ultimate comfort foods. However even health-nuts get a wicked craving for something decadent once in a while, and there were a handful of recipes that caught my eye. The most enticing of which was the "Irish Nachos"

Exactly why I found this dish enticing I couldn’t tell you, as the recipe contains several things I either never eat or don’t like. Tater tots, ‘fake’n bacon’ soy cream and nutritional yeast to name a few. Yet something about it just called to me. Perhaps it was the very weirdness of the dish, as you should all know by now my almost obsession with cooking things that sound utterly awful. Maybe it was my love for nachos, something I haven’t eaten in a while. Maybe it was because it reminded me nostalgically of Ireland. Stranger still since I never saw anything even remotely like this in my travels there. Whatever it was that caught my interest, Saturday night after returning home from Vegan Mania I decided to whip up a batch of these.

The night of Vegan Mania was probably the perfect night to make these. For one thing they were super quick taking barely 30 minutes from start to finish, and secondly I’d just spent the entire day gorging myself on all kinds of delicious food I don’t normally eat. To then go home and consume a plate of greens just wouldn’t fit in with the decadence of the day, or probably be very satisfying, so Irish Nachos it was!

I started by throwing the tots onto a greased cookie sheet and putting them in the oven to bake. Then I started the cheesy sauce. Normally I don’t like cheesy sauces that are made with nutritional yeast. I find the nooch has a weird taste to me, one I can’t quite get behind when it’s used in large quantities. It’s a little too health-foodie even for me. So I ended up using just slightly less then the 1/4 cup of nooch that was called for. I also didn’t have any soy creamer and so I used unsweetened almond milk instead. It worked really well. I added a bit more garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika then the recipe called for, didn’t add any salt but did use a bit more liquid smoke and the sauce was - impressive! I have to say it was probably the best cheesy sauce I’ve ever eaten. Though I should stress that it’s not quite as good on it’s own as it is as a compliment to the rest of the dish. It is good on it’s own, but not very cheesy. It’s once it’s combined with the rest of the ingredients that the cheese flavor really comes out.

Once my sauce was finished, but my tots were still cooking I cracked open a package of tofurkey tempeh bacon and fried up about 6 slices. The recipe says to use imitation bacon bits but I couldn’t find those for sale anywhere near me. Neither was I interested in their second option which was to make their hickory-smoked breakfast strips and crumble them. Cooking the tempeh bacon was a lot faster and produced the same result so I did.

Then it was time to assemble the dish. I layered the potatoes onto a plate, practically drowned them in cheesy sauce then topped them with lots of green onion, tomato, diced jalapeno and the crumbled tempeh bacon. I totally forgot to add the sour cream - which I had, and would have been delicious - so I’ll have to remember it for next time. Yes next time, these nachos, despite all my skepticism and snobbery were freaking awesome! Even my husband thought so, and you have to understand that he didn’t like cheese before he went vegan so he’s definitely not much into vegan cheese, nor is he crazy about tater tots and only likes tempeh bacon once in a blue moon. These nachos were mind blowingly good, so much so that I knew I needed to share them with you. They so exceeded my expectations that I’m still in awe of how this dish turned out. Trust me when I say you need to try this!

Lastly I’d like to add that if this dish is in any way indicative of the rest of the recipes in this book then it definitely deserves to be on your wish list, especially if you’re a comfort food loving vegan. Heck I plan to buy it and I only eat a meal like this maybe once a month. With dishes that sound as good as ‘Roasted broccotato soup with bacon-flavored chickpeas’, ‘Sweet potato po’ boys’, ‘Baked BBQ buns’, ‘BBQ slaw tacos’, ‘Chorizo and Potato Lasagna bake’, and ‘Kale bagels’ my mouth is practically watering as I type.

Pumpkin Lover's Pumpkin Pie Smoothie...

It happens to us all, I know I’ve been there. You set out to make a pumpkin bread, a pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin muffins or cookies or pumpkin risotto etc... and the recipe only calls for half a cup, or one cup, but the smallest can of pumpkin puree you have is fifteen ounces! So what do you do with the leftovers? You don’t want them to go to waste right? I know I don’t. I usually try to squeeze in as much extra pumpkin as possible, but sometimes that can throw the whole balance of your recipe off. So what are you to do?

Well this smoothie is quick, easy and absolutely perfect. If you like pumpkin pie, or pumpkin anything for that matter you have to try it! It’s a wonderful way to start of a chilly but sunny fall morning. Enjoy it with a bowl of pumpkin seed granola or a muffin, and feel good about starting your day off with a vegetable. Pumpkin is a super healthy vegetable, but so few of us ever eat it on it’s own, or use it in anything except a dessert recipe. So give this a shot and enjoy a little pumpkin power this morning.

Pumpkin Lover's Pumpkin  Pie Smoothie

½ C Puree Pumpkin (Canned or homemade)
1 1/4 C Vanilla Flax Milk (*** See Note)
½ Tbsp Maple Syrup (or to taste)
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of ginger
pinch of allspice

- Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Taste for sweetness and adjust as needed. Garnish with an extra dash of cinnamon and a few raw pumpkin seeds.

*** Note: You don’t have to use Vanilla Flax Milk, any non-dairy vanilla milk will do. However I prefer flax milk for this smoothie because it’s super low in calories. Even the vanilla flavor is lower in calories then any other brand of vanilla non-dairy milk I’ve seen. It’s also loaded with omega 3***

Creamy Garlicky Artichoke Leek Dip...

One of my favorite ways to eat Artichokes is in a dip. I used to love me a spinach artichoke dip before I went vegan, so creamy, garlicky, sweet and tart. Artichoke dip is great to spread on crackers, bread, veggie sticks or to use on a sandwich as a spread. Amazing! Yet as much as I love it, I haven’t eaten an artichoke dip since going vegan. Honestly most of the recipes I’ve come across just don’t sound very appetizing. Virtually all of them use tofu as a base, or some kind of non-dairy sour cream, non-dairy mayo, or non-dairy cream cheese substitute. Personally I prefer my dips and sauces sans tofu, and products like non-dairy sour cream, non-dairy mayo, and non-dairy cream cheese are not things I always have on hand.

So when I found myself, just before Thanksgiving last month, jonesing for artichoke dip I had to get creative. I thought of all the ways I could make a creamy base, and then remembered that cashews could be used just as effectively as tofu, and in my opinion with a much better taste. Excited I ran to my kitchen and set to work. Since I had no spinach on hand I couldn’t make a spinach artichoke dip. I did however have one nice leek begging to be used, and since I love leeks I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to test how well they mingled with artichoke. The result was so much better then I was expecting it to be, so creamy and garlicky with a good artichoke flavor, a mild onion taste and a nice dash of dill. My omni-friends whom I had over to dinner that night loved it too, and by the end of the night there was hardly any left.

Creamy Garlicky Artichoke Leek Dip

Dip Base

1 C Raw Cashews
½ C water
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
A pinch of Sea salt and Black Pepper

½ tbsp olive oil
10-16 oz jarred artichoke hearts (Depending on how strong you want the artichoke flavor)
1 medium sized leek
6-10 cloves garlic (or to taste)
½-1 tsp Smoked Paprika (or to taste)
Sea Salt and Black pepper to taste
1 ½ tbsp Pear Vinegar
1/4-1/2 tsp White pepper (or to taste)
Handful of dill
Handful of parsley
Pinch of garlic powder (if needed. To taste)

- To make your dip base, blend cashews, water, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper in vitamix or high-speed blender for 30-60 seconds until very smooth, and creamy.

- Heat a few drops of olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat then add whole garlic cloves. Stirring frequently to make sure the garlic cloves don’t burn, saute until the cloves become lightly browned. About 5-7 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and scrape garlic cloves into a Food Processor or blender.

- Trim the tough green ends off of the leek. About a quarter to a third and discard. Slice leek in half lengthwise and place in a colander under running water. Use your fingers to separate each layer and rub away any dirt or grit. Pat dry with a towel then slice width-wise. Slices do not need to be uniform.

- Return your pan to medium heat, and add the half tbsp of olive oil. When heated add your sliced leek. Saute over medium heat until leek has softened and become fragrant, 7-10 minutes. Add the leek to your garlic in the food processor.

- Add all remaining ingredients. Artichokes, vinegar, dill, parsley, spices and your cashew base. Pulse until well combined and most of the artichokes and garlic cloves have been broken down into small bits. You can pulse this dip until it’s completely smooth but I prefer a coarser artichoke dip with nice bits of artichoke in it.

- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. If not garlicky enough for your liking you can add a pinch or two of garlic powder rather then go through the process of browning more garlic cloves.

Serve with pita bread, flax crackers, and veggie sticks. Enjoy!!!

Vegan Mofo #28 The Big Halloween Post...



My pumpkin - I’ve been in the Island spirit since I got back and so I decided to carve a Honu Turtle with a yin yang shell into my pumpkin along with the words Aloha and Mahalo.on either side of it.

Vegan Mofo #28 The Big Halloween Post

The Book - Party Vegan & The Joy of Vegan Baking
The Author - PV = Robin Robertson & TJOVB = Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
The Recipe - 1) Black Olive Tapenade with carrot sticks and orange bell pepper strips. 2) Black Bean and Butternut Chili 3) Savory Pumpkin muffins with black sesame seeds 4) Black Rice Salad 5) Orange-Carrot Cake with Dark Chocolate Icing 6) Pumpkin Cheesecake
Difficulty - Easy

Halloween is easily one of my favorite days of the year. I look forward to it all year long. Halloween Parties, costumes, party food, candy, scary movies, ghost stories, decorations. It’s a night of fun macabre that is extremely satisfying to participate in. I’ve always loved it. I mean who doesn’t like to dress up in a cool, sexy or scary costume and walk around showing themselves off? Who doesn’t like to have one night a year where literally anything goes and you can cut loose and be someone else?

Normally I like to go all out with Halloween, I have come cool decorations that I like putting up and I always get really into picking a costume. This year however since we just got back from vacation I fond myself just too tired to get into all of that. I did however decide to have a small intimate dinner with my good friends J and L. A costumes required dinner of course, with food that was Halloween themed. At first I wasn’t sure how I was going to make Halloween theme food, then I remembered my copy of Party Vegan, which has a Halloween section.

Now, honestly when I first glanced over the recipes, and read the ingredients lists I was skeptical. I mean who puts green chilies in a muffin? Who puts apple juice in chili? The tapenade had so few ingredients I didn’t know how it could possibly be good, and the black rice salad seemed lacking in any sort of dressing. The only thing that really sounded like it might work was the Orange-Carrot Cake with Dark Chocolate Frosting, but despite my reservations I decided to put my faith in Robin’s hands and trust her. The result? My Halloween dinner was a roaring success.

We started with the black olive tapenade which I served with carrot sticks and slices of orange bell pepper. There really isn’t much to this dip. It’s very simple, consisting of olives, capers, lemon juice, pepper, parsley, garlic and olive oil. Yet the flavor was wonderful, and not overpowering. It was especially balanced by the carrot and pepper dippers.

Then after a lot of munching dinner began. The Black Bean Butternut Chili was so much better then I was expecting it to be, in fact it’s probably one of the best vegan chilies I’ve had. So much flavor and not overly sweet considering it contains apple juice and sugar in addition to the butternut squash. I did do a couple of things differently mainly on accident. For example I forgot to buy chipotle chilies and so instead I used cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. Secondly because my husband doesn’t like beans I ended up blending one entire can before adding it to the chili. Then I only added one more can of whole beans instead of two. I also used double the amount of crushed tomatoes simply because I had a 28oz can on hand and I didn’t want to waste 14oz. I also added a couple of pinches of garlic powder but otherwise I kept the recipe the same.

The Chili was served with the Savory Pumpkin Muffins which were reminiscent of cornbread. They weren’t too sweet nor too savory, and they had a bit of heat from the chilies but it wasn’t overwhelming. In fact the whole flavor profile was well balanced. Who knew I’d ever like chilies in a muffin! Also the pumpkin flavor wasn’t over the top either, it was noticeable but tame. My husband hates pumpkin flavored things but he ended up eating two of these muffins because they were so good.

To go along with the chili and the muffins we had the Black Rice Salad. Unfortunately I forgot to buy a sweet potato and so had to leave that ingredient out, but I don’t think that took anything away from the overall dish. I also served the rice over a bed of kale - rather then romaine - that I’d tossed with a bit of salt, lemon juice and maple syrup, and I added a couple dashes of soy sauce to the rice as it was cooking. It turned out phenomenal, and ended up being a really perfect accompaniment to the chili.

After an appropriate digestion period we had dessert. Originally I was only going to make the Orange-Carrot cake from Party Vegan, but then last night I got a wicked craving for cheesecake. Pumpkin cheesecake to be exact. I used to love cheesecake back in the day, but rarely ate it, now that I’m vegan I eat it even less but maybe two or three times a year I get really in the mood for it. Unable to decide between making a cheesecake and the cake from party vegan I decided on both, and both turned out amazing!

First the Orange-Carrot Cake with Dark Chocolate Frosting. I’ve always loved carrot cake, and chocolate and orange seem to be made for each other so I was very excited to try this. My husband who’s never liked carrot cake was skeptical but he ended up eating two large pieces so I think that speaks for itself. In an attempt to be more Halloweeny I took Robins suggestion and did my best to decorate the top of the cake with a spider-web and a spider. Unfortunately by the time I took this picture my spider looked more like a blog then a spider but you get the idea. If you’re going to do the spider-web decoration the frosting makes a lot more then you need, but you can always store it in your fridge and bring it out when dessert is served incase people want extra frosting on their cakes. Also the frosting is kind of runny, but as long as you have a cake decorator or a pastry bag it’s easy enough to pipe on a spider web and the frosting will definitely harden over time. I didn’t make any alterations to this cake and it was perfect.

The pumpkin cheesecake I got out of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Joy of Vegan Baking. I’ve made her lemon cheesecake in the past and that was a big hit so I was looking forward to trying her pumpkin cheesecake. I decided to serve it in a pecan crust rather then graham cracker because I had pecans and didn’t have graham crackers. The pecan crust which I’ve already talked about was just as divine on the cheesecake as it was on the pumpkin pie. As far as the cheesecake recipe goes i’ts ver easy to make, and I didn’t make many alterations. I just added a bit more cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, and a touch more brown sugar, otherwise I followed the directions exactly. After the pie had cooled significantly I made a candied pecan topping to pour over top. The topping I made with Earth Balance, Brown Sugar and Pecans, no recipe just winged it and it worked out really well.

So that was my big Halloween extravaganza, I had a blast, and I hope you did too. I suppose too that this post will wrap up my vegan mofo for 2011, so I just want to thank everyone for reading, and thank you so much to everyone that commented it was really great to hear your feedback! And like last year, this year I found a few cool new - to me - blogs, which I’m very excited about.

So once again HAPPY HALLOWEEN & I hope you had as much fun during mofo as I did!

Vegan Mofo # 27 Mark & Jennifer’s Aloo Saag (Potatoes & Spinach)...

Vegan Mofo # 27 Mark & Jennifer’s Aloo Saag (Potatoes & Spinach)

The Book - The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of the East
The Author - Mark Reinfeld & Jennifer Murray
The Recipe - Potatoes & Spinach (Aloo Saag)
Page - 12
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - 30 minutes, a little longer if you make rice to go with it.

Indian is one of my favorite cuisines. I love the spices, the aromas and the creativity. The flavor is always so impressive considering most Indian dishes don’t consist of too many ingredient. I especially love curries, they’re so great over rice or cous cous, served with warm bread. Yum! I’m a fan of any kind of curry or dal really, but seeing as how I love spinach so much and I was in the mood for potatoes I decided to give this one a shot. Though I’ve had this cook book for several months now I’ve only cooked one other dish from it. The Mu Shu Veggies, which were excellent. Since vegan mofo is a time of food and recipe experimentation for so many people I thought this the perfect opportunity to try this dish.

Now maybe it’s just me but it always seems that no matter what recipe I’m working from the Indian food I make at home can just never compare to restaurant Indian food. Maybe there’s some sort of Indian trick I’m not privy to, but that aside I thought this was a really great dish. The flavors were good, the sauce wasn’t too watery nor too thick, and the texture was good. It’s also fantastic that this dish can be made so fast. With such a quick cooking time you could easily make this dish for lunch or dinner, or if you’ve got a busy schedule you can whip this up in no time on a Sunday night and have it all week long.

As far as alteration go I didn’t change much. I did add about 6oz more spinach, 2 extra potatoes, and used a large onion instead of a small one. Subsequently I had to add in a bit more milk for the sauce and a pinch more of each spice to equal it out, but I didn’t add anything else or take anything away. Though I think next time I might try making this dish with coconut milk instead for a creamier richer texture and flavor.

Vegan Mofo # 26 Donna’s Tomato-Rice Soup...


















Vegan Mofo # 26 Donna’s Tomato-Rice Soup

The Book - The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen
The Author - Donna Klein
The Recipe -Tomato-Rice Soup
Page - 47
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - 45-60 minutes

When it comes to tomato soup, I’ve never been a fan. In fact since I was a child I’ve had a very strong - but not unjustified - aversion to it. Just looking at tomato soup or tomato sauce, particularly watching someone else eat it could be enough to make me gag. You see, when I was three I had a traumatic experience. I was excited to see my aunt who had just returned from Saudi Arabia, it had been raining out and in my excitement I neglected to remove my wet shoes when I entered my Oma’s house. As I excitedly ran through the kitchen, my wet feet slipped on her shiny linoleum floor and I fell, striking the linoleum front teeth first. My front teeth impacted right into my gums, and the blood just came pouring out. I know it hurt, but I don’t remember the pain. I remember my aunt holding me over the kitchen sink, rinsing my mouth out with cold water to try and slow the bleeding. I remember a cold rag being pressed into my mouth to dull the pain and soak up the blood, and I remember being rocked comfortingly in my Oma’s darkened living room. I have absolutely no memory of the dental surgery I went through afterwards, nor do I recall much of the few weeks that followed the incident, but one thing I do remember is tomato soup.

Canned tomato soup was one of the only things I could eat since it didn’t require me to chew, so for two weeks that’s pretty much all I ate. Now I was never that fond of tomato soup to begin with, so you can imagine how I felt after two weeks of being forced to eat it. For years and years after that I couldn’t even bare the thought of eating something that looked like tomato soup. I couldn’t even eat marinara sauce or any other kind of red sauce on spaghetti. It wasn’t until I was in my late teens that I could finally bring myself to eat tomato sauce or marinara, but I still couldn’t do tomato soup. Over the years I’ve become more open and accepting of saucy tomato dishes but it wasn’t until last month that I actually made and ate my first tomato soup since I was 3! It was a tomato saffron soup, and though I was skeptical, and though I still had awful memories of it, something inside me convinced me to make it. Surprisingly I loved it! It was delicious!

Then one afternoon last week I was flipping through my copy of The Mediterranean vegan Kitchen, browsing the soup section as it was a cold day and I was in the mood for a warming dish, I happened across this tomato rice soup. It reminded me of the tomato-rice soup my Oma makes. A soup which all my relatives seem to enjoy but which I can’t recall ever eating. I remember it always smelled good though, and thinking about those old days growing up my stomach suddenly started grumbling and I decided what the heck? I liked the last one, why not this one?

I bit the bullet and made it, and I was really surprised at how it turned out. I quite liked it although it wasn’t seasoned enough for me. I added much more basil, parsley, oregano, thyme and pepper then she suggests. Also using Aborrio rice is great if you want to cut down your cooking time and if you prefer a softer rice texture but I think next time I would use brown rice, as it yields a firmer texture and my opinion a better taste not to mention better quality nutrition. Also next time I think I would add in a can of tomato paste, I would have liked a stronger more powerful tomato flavor. Maybe it was just my tomatoes, maybe they weren’t ripe enough but I thought the tomato flavor in this soup was rather mild. In the end though this soup didn’t taste exactly as I had imagined it would I did enjoy it and my husband loved it. Served with some crusty Italian bread and a small salad on the side it’s the perfect way to end a cold winter night. I will definitely make this soup again with the above mentioned changes.

I am happy about the fact that I can finally eat tomato soup, although I have a very strong feeling that my acceptance of tomato soup is limited only to tomato soups that I make myself. I can’t imagine ever being able to eat a can of tomato soup, and I doubt I’ll ever feel the desire to eat tomato soup in a restaurant or someone else’s home. To this day I can’t drink tomato juice either, which I suppose isn’t such a bad thing right?

Vegan Mofo # 25 Terry’s Pan-Seared Sweet Corn...

Vegan Mofo # 25 Terry’s Pan-Seared Sweet Corn

The Book - Clean Start
The Author - Terry Walters
The Recipe - Pan-Seared Sweet Corn
Page - 102
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - 30 minutes

This is another one of those dishes that I’ve been wanting to make for a while, but it seems that every time I was geared up to make it in the past something happened to foil my plans. That is until last night, when everything finally came together. This dish is phenomenal, hands down amazing!

Like most of Terry’s recipe this dish is quick and easy to prepare however it does require some advanced planning. Mainly just making sure you have the corn on the cob and set aside the time to soak it. Also like most of her recipes the ingredients are few, but the flavor is loaded. In this wonderful dish there is the most perfect blend of sweet, heat and a delicate twist of sour from the lime juice.

Though this dish is listed in the fall chapter I think this would be a perfect dish to serve as a side during Spring, Summer or Fall. It would be perfect to bring to a bbq to serve alongside some veggie burgers and potato salad. It’s wonderful as part of a Thanksgiving feast, or serve it with something simple. I ended up serving it alongside Terry’s Sauteed Greens with Leeks and Garlic and it was incredible.

As far as recipe alterations go all I did was add a full onion and a full red pepper rather then a half of each. I also added in a squirt more lime juice and a pinch more chili powder. Otherwise I followed the directions exactly. Seriously this Pan-Seared Sweet Corn is a must try!

Vegan Mofo #24 Colleen’s Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crust...

Vegan Mofo #24 Colleen’s Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crust

The Book - The Joy of Vegan Baking
The Author - Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
The Recipe - Pumpkin Pie & Pecan Crust
Page - Pie #104 Crust # 213
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Pie - Roughly 1 hour for prep and bake time 2 hours cool time. Crust - 20-30 minutes

Pumpkin Pie, is there any better way to celebrate autumn? Is there any dessert more perfect to serve after your Thanksgiving feast? I think not. I love pumpkin pie, absolutely adore it. Honestly I love pumpkin flavored anything, but pumpkin pie in particular is one of my favorite sweet treats. It’s the sort of thing I only eat maybe two or three times a year, so each holiday season I really look forward to it. It’s so warming, and comforting, and the aroma is so heavenly that it really locks you into the moment. There’s nothing better then enjoying a good sized slice with a cup of tea after a good holiday meal.

As much as I love pumpkin pie however I notice at least amongst my friends that it seems to be something of an acquired taste. So many people hate pumpkin pie, my husband amongst them. Since I see no reason in baking an entire pie just for myself each Thanksgiving, I hadn’t baked a pumpkin pie in the years since we’d been married. That all changed this year though when I invited my good friends J and L for Thanksgiving, both of whom enjoy pumpkin pie.

I was very excited to try Colleen’s recipe, and have had my eye on it since I first got "The Joy of Vegan Baking" a year ago. However I was a little concerned about the ingredients. You see she uses tofu in the recipe and I really try to avoid using tofu in baking things like pies or cakes. I find such things baked with tofu usually have a chalky consistency and a soy aftertaste. Maybe my tastebuds are just sensitive to the taste of soy because so often that’s all I can taste in certain baked goods, dips, sauces etc... and I always find it unpleasant. Of course since Colleen has never steered me wrong before I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

First I started by making her Pecan Crust. I’ve never had a pecan crust on a pumpkin pie before and originally I was going to make a simple traditional pie crust, but I was also making an apple pie and decided it wasn’t worth the time or the trouble to make that much crust from scratch. The pecan crust was so much simpler, and faster. I am so glad I decided to use it, because in the end it was phenomenal. The taste was amazing, the texture was great and it went so well with the pumpkin flavor that I can’t believe I’d never thought to use a pecan crust before. The two were a perfect marriage, and in the end I wasn’t sure which I liked more the pie or the crust!

When making the crust I followed the recipe exactly, however when it came to the filling I ended up doing things just a little bit differently. After opening my tofu and squeezing out what water I could - I may have bought the wrong kind here, the recipe calls for silken firm but the store didn’t have any that said silken and firm on the same package whoops! - because it was nearly impossible to squeeze out the water. After adding just over half the contents of the package to my food processor which already contained the pumpkin puree, the spices and a third of a cup of Maple syrup - it was suppose to be a half cup but I ran out - the mix was looking a little too thin and watery. I added in the half cup of brown sugar, along with the remaining ingredients blended it all together, tested it and decided not only was it indeed more liquid then solid but it was also very under-spiced in my opinion, and I could definitely taste tofu. After a bit of fiddling and fussing I ended up adding in much more cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg then the recipe originally called for along with extra corn starch and just a little over 1 cup of brown sugar. By that point I’d tasted the batter several times and never really found myself convinced but I decided what the heck, what more could I do? Tired of messing around and eager to get on to the next holiday task I ended up pouring the filling into the pie crust and popping it into the oven. As it baked it smelled incredible and so I hoped for the best. When it came back out I gently pressed the toasted pecan halves into the pie and again hoped for the best.

I’ll tell you, in my life I’ve eaten a lot of different pumpkin pies, prepared by a lot of different people. A lot of home made, a lot of store bought, almost all of them non-vegan and this pumpkin pie was hands down one of the best I’d ever eaten. No lie. It was the best pumpkin pie I’d ever made, and I can’t at the moment recall any pumpkin pie I might have eaten that was better. Absolutely fantastic and my guests seemed to enjoy it as well! There certainly wasn’t too much left over at the end of the night. This has now become my go to pumpkin pie, and just FYI it’s completely necessary to add a dollop of rice or soy whip to your slice. I have never liked whip cream, but pumpkin pie was always the one exception. They go together like love and marriage.

Vegan Mofo #23 Terry’s Sauteed Greens with Leeks and Garlic...

Vegan Mofo #23 Terry’s Sauteed Greens with Leeks and Garlic

The Book - Clean Start
The Author - Terry Walters
The Recipe - Sauteed Greens with Leeks and Garlic
Page - 108
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - 10-15 minutes

This dish is a revelation. Since I bought "Clean Start" I’ve probably made this dish at least two dozen times. I make it at least a couple of times a month, at least once a week during the summer. It’s quick, and easy. Full of flavor but light on ingredients, and it’s packed full of nutrition. It’s also pretty light on oil, using only 1 tbsp for the whole dish which is pretty cool. Another thing I love about this dish is that you can eat it as a side or if you make enough of it you can eat it as a meal. It’s both filling and extremely satisfying.

There’s also a lot of room to be creative here. Terry notes that you can use any dark leafy greens you like. Mustard, Collards, Chard, Kale etc... or a combination, you could also switch it up by using red or sweet onion instead of leek, and grated ginger and turmeric instead of garlic. You could even use maple syrup or agave instead of Mirin. However I prefer to use Kale as my green of choice and I generally make this dish the way the recipe says. Kale just tastes so good combined with garlic and leeks, not to mention the addition of Ume vinegar and sesame seeds. A more perfect combination I can not think of.

Trust me when I say you NEED to try this dish. It’s sweet, salty and garlicy what more could you want? I also strongly urge that if you don’t have a copy of Clean Start you seriously check it out. Whether you flip through it at the book store, borrow it from the library or purchase it you should definitely give it a look. There are a lot of great recipes in here, this is just one of them.

Vegan Mofo #22 Isa’s Fresh Mango Summer Rolls...

Vegan Mofo #22 Isa’s Fresh Mango Summer Rolls

The Book - Vegan With A Vengeance
The Author - Isa Chandra Moskowitz
The Recipe - Fresh Mango Summer Rolls
Page - 84
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Roughly 30 minutes

Since I was little I have loved Asian and Asian fusion food. Thai, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indonesian you name it I love it. One of my favorite appetizer dishes has always been spring rolls, summer rolls or egg rolls. Each region has a different twist on this popular dish and I love them all. Though as much as I love these perfect little rolls I’d never tried making them myself until I got a copy of Isa’s ‘Vegan with a Vengeance’ and found this recipe.

I love this recipe because it’s such a wonderfully creative and delicious take on your usual summer roll. I am definitely the kind of person who likes to ‘jazz things up in the kitchen’ and as much as I love ‘traditional’ rolls I always find it refreshing when someone takes a few steps more towards originality. I’ll say that at first I wasn’t sure how mango and peanuts would taste wrapped up in here, but I should have known there’d be no reason to worry. These Summer rolls are amazing, and so refreshing.

The combination of fresh mango, rice noodles, cilantro, peanuts and bean sprouts is magic, and they’re surprisingly really easy to make. I don’t know why I went all those years feeling so intimidated by the prospect of making my own rolls from scratch. I make sushi from scratch for Buddha’s sake, and that’s a heck of a lot harder! There is basically no cooking in this recipe which is great! The only thing that needs to be cooked is the rice noodles and cooked is a generous word. You boil water and let them soak for 10 minutes how easy is that? Rice paper wrappers are even easier. You soak them in cold water till they’re pliable - about 30 seconds - and then you lay them on a flat clean surface, fill them and roll them. The water dries and the rice paper sticks to itself. Easy-peasy! You do however need to use a delicate hand otherwise the thin rice paper will tear, but even then it’s easy to kind of ‘glue’ your roll back together.

There are only two things I did differently. 1) I added a bit of shredded carrot and sliced green onions to the rolls along with the listed ingredients. Simply because I love green onions in everything and I had an excess of carrots that needed using. 2) I didn’t make Isa’s Thai Dipping Sauce that accompanies the recipe because I was in the mood for Almond sauce and I have a good personal recipe that I enjoy using. My husband isn’t a fan of almond or peanut sauces and so he slathered his rolls in a combination of garlic soy sauce and agave as well as a generous dollop of Thai Kitchen’s Sweet Thai Chili Sauce.

These rolls are really great and super easy to whip up for a party or as an appetizer. However the recipe does make quite a few so you may even want to consider eating them as a light lunch or dinner along with a nice salad. Which is what we did. They’re plenty filling, trust me!

PS: In retrospect I see I should have taken a picture of the inside of one of the rolls, but we were just in such a hurry to eat it never happened. Woops!