Adopt A Turkey, Don't Eat One!

Tonight we find ourselves on the eve of American Thanksgiving and people all across the country are preparing themselves for big meals and family fun. However this holiday, almost more then any other, seems to be the most difficult for vegetarians and vegans. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, and when I first moved to the states it made me pretty happy to be able to celebrate it twice. Once in October for Canada, and once in November for America. I first went vegan on Thanksgiving Day, 2 years ago, and I thought it would be difficult, but it wasn’t. I had already been vegetarian for nearly six months by then and the switch was easy. I didn’t feel as thought last year was particularly difficult for me either, mentally or emotionally. I prepared a wealth of vegan foods and treats and ignored the things on the table that I didn’t want to see. This year however I feel a deep twinge of sadness. Thanksgiving is suppose to be a day of thanks, a day of peace, a time for us to sit and think, and reflect on our lives and on our year. It’s a time for us to appreciate what we have and give thanks for it. Yet everywhere I go this year I’m faced with the reality of what this holiday truly is. It’s a celebration of carnage, it’s a day of violence, and cruelty, and people everywhere turn a blind eye to it in the name of - or for the sake of - ‘tradition.’ Last year I wrote a post detailing how the Thanksgiving ‘traditions’ that we cling to today are the furthest thing from traditional, if you’re interested you can read that here - Thanksgiving: Reexamining Traditions - This year I find the myths and lies of Thanksgiving just a little harder to swallow, but mostly I just feel sad. I feel a deep, resonating sadness for the millions of Turkeys who’s lives are being extinguished in the name of thanks.

Roughly 46 million turkey’s are killed in the United States each year for Thanksgiving alone. That’s a stark, astonishing number. Imagine that as people. 46 million people is the entire population of Spain. 46 million people is more then the population of Canada! There are more Turkey’s being killed in the U.S. for this one day, then there are people in Canada. If that doesn’t make you feel a little bit sick, and help put things into perspective for you I don’t know what will. It’s almost incomprehensible to me, but the worst part of it is that these beings are treated horribly, and live miserable lives. Most of them grow up in factory farmed situations where they have no connection to their family unit. They’re taken away from their parents, stuffed into cages, with other birds, beaten and mutilated. Their beaks are trimmed, their toes are clipped off, and their snoods are removed. Over the decades that we’ve been breading these poor animals for food, we’ve engineered them to have such large breasts that many of them can not walk. They are even so top heavy that they suffocate under their own weight, or their lungs and other organs collapse. Due to the way that we’ve bred them, and because of their gargantuan size, turkeys can no longer fly, and they can no longer reproduce naturally on their own. All turkeys need to be artificially inseminated.

This month the animal advocacy group Mercy For Animals released two new undercover videos that were recorded at Butterball Plants. These videos capture workers beating turkeys, stomping on their heads, throwing them into crates, throwing them across rooms, kicking them, breaking their wings, snapping their necks, throwing them into machines, poking them with pitchforks and other tools. Unfortunately the problem is not just with Butterball, every year videos emerge from different poultry producers that reveal the same things. These are common practices in the poultry industry because unlike beef cattle and pigs poultry have no protected rights. It doesn’t matter if your turkey is a factory farmed turkey, a ‘free range’ turkey, or an organic turkey. There are no cruelty standards for poultry in the U.S. and the term ‘free-range’ is a meaningless one anyway because it isn’t regulated by any governing body. Anyone can say their animals are free-range. Organic is a term that’s regulated but it has nothing to do with how the animals are treated. It only related to what the turkey’s were fed, and ensures that those turkeys weren’t given any artificial hormones or antibiotics. It doesn’t protect the turkey’s from harm.

The saddest thing about this is that Turkey’s are loving, and gentle creatures. Turkey’s raised as pets are as loving as dogs. They even follow their human caretakers around. They like to cuddle, snuggle and be petted, stroked and scratched. They will climb right into your lap and fall asleep purring. They are intelligent and happy creatures, with as much desire to live as anyone else. Mother turkey’s are very protective of their young and will risk their own life to save their babies if they perceive a threat. A mother turkey will even attack a predator to ensure the safety of her young. Turkey’s are also family orientated, and often eat their meals together as a family. A brood typically holds together for 4-5 months and male siblings in a family maintain a social bond for life. Mother turkeys teach their young babies crucial skills about what to eat, the layout of their homeland, how to avoid predators, and a variety of important social skills.

Turkeys are beautiful creatures that deserve our love, our respect, our compassion and our protection. Last year my husband and I took part in Farm Sanctuary’s “Adopt a Turkey: Don’t Eat One” program and it brought me so much joy. This year we once again adopted a turkey, a male named Gabel - as in Clarke Gabel.  I encourage everyone to choose compassion over killing this year and adopt a turkey instead of eating one! There are so many wonderful vegan foods, so many great pre-packaged holiday treats, or things you can make yourself that there really isn’t any need, and you won’t miss it. Instead you’ll feel the inner peace and happiness of knowing you did something good not only for yourself but for another.

Adopt a Turkey don’t eat one! And have a lovely cruelty-free Thanksgiving this year.
Peace/Love

For more information check out these pages

Farm Sanctuary - Adopt a Turkey!

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary

Holiday Feasting Vegan Style

All Images found through Google Images

The Great CSA Experiment...

Beautiful Bounty!

In case you didn’t hear Prop 37 - The Ballet initiative in California that would have made labeling of all GMO containing products sold in the state mandatory by law - didn’t pass. A sad day for California and for the United States. Monsanto and other pro-GMO companies like General Mill, Dupont, Hershey’s, Nestle, Kellogg, Kraft and so forth spent over $44 million to lie, deceive and convince California voters to vote no on prop 37 instead of yes. When the initiative failed, Monsanto through a huge GMO party at their headquarters. It was a sad day for sure, but there is at least one good thing that came out of it. Awareness. I think people are more aware then ever about GMO’s, this election garnered so much publicity that it was hard to escape it, especially if you lived in California. People are aware, consumers are concerned and they’re fighting back harder now then ever. Monsanto won this battle, but I don’t think they will win the war.

The single most important thing we can do to show these corporations that we are not going to take it anymore is to vote with our dollars when we go to the store. Buy all organic from now on, or as much organic as you can afford. Boycott all of the companies that were against GMO labeling and helped fund the lies that Monsanto spread. Boycott all the organic brands that those same companies own - because General Mills and corps like them actually now own many organic brands. Another huge step would be to start making more things yourself at home with wholesome ingredients. Make your own breads, make your own jams, dips, sauces, and spreads. In the end it’s really cheaper and healthier for you to do that anyway.

Look at that Kale!

You can also join a CSA which is something My husband and I decided to do after we found out Prop 37 failed. A CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and they’re fantastic. Every state should have one just Google for CSA’s in your area. Typically what a CSA is, is local community farms growing organic produce and distributing it locally, they grow what’s in season, and for a certain amount of money either per week or per month you are delivered fresh local organic produce. This is great because it not only supports organics but it also supports local agriculture. It’s better for the planet, it’s better for us, and it forces us to go back to nature a little bit by forcing us to eat what’s seasonal. We as a species have completely lost our understanding for eating seasonal foods. We’re far to use to getting pineapple in the dead of winter, and sweet potatoes in the summer.

Beautiful Tat Soi

I have known about CSA’s for years, and I’ve always been curious to join one, but I always thought it was too expensive or I just wasn’t sure if it would be as good as some people said It would be. After prop 37 though my husband turned to me and said we had to do something different, and I agreed. We started buying only organic foods, something we didn’t previously do because some non-organic stuff was cheaper and some stuff just isn’t available as organic. We’ve decided now that if it isn’t available organic then it probably isn’t worth it and so we change our menu plan. This was great for about a week and a half until I realized that it was very expensive indeed to do as we were doing. We were buying less food to keep costs lower, but still you walk into a Whole Foods and see a pound of organic apples for $3 and realize a pound is only 2 apples and you start to wonder if there’s a better way.

Check out that Cabbage! It's bigger then the pumpkin!

Enter in the CSA - this is great for us for two reasons. 1) We’re getting good, local, organic produce that’s in season for a reasonable price. 2) We’re not supporting big Organic retailers like Whole Foods. With the recent GMO scandal surrounding Whole Foods, and then their complete refusal to financially support Prop 37 even though financially they were more then able to donate a significant amount to the cause without it making a difference to them, we’ve realized that Whole Foods isn’t the savior or angel it claims to be. It’s a business, and in the end the only thing that matters to it’s corporate goons is their bottom line. How much money are they making? That’s what matters. How can they make more money? And they will do anything and everything they can to keep their sales high, and keep people coming in. That includes deceptive marketing and flat-out lying. I honestly don’t trust them as a company, I don’t trust their integrity, and I don’t trust many of their products. If you go into one of their stores and start reading labels your mind will be blown.

Scarlet Turnips! and Pie Pumpkin! 

The solution for us then became to support them as little as possible. That’s why we chose to join a CSA. The one we picked is a local, Chicago based CSA that serves the greater Chicago and Milwaukee areas. They grow organic fruits and vegetables. They also have free-range eggs and grass-fed meats which I wish they didn’t have but for the omnivores out there it’s good for you to know that, things like that are also an option through a CSA. Their prices are reasonable, they deliver, and they make their driving routes as eco-friendly as possible. Which means they only deliver to certain areas on certain days to keep their fuel cost low. I like that. My delivery day is Friday, and so this morning I was excited to see the truck pull up to my driveway and a man with a large biodegradable box come walking up to my door.

Isn't that Tat Soi gorgeous? Yum!

Since I’d never ordered from a CSA before I wanted to order just a small amount first to see what it would be like. I ordered the vegetable double box which for $25 is suppose to provide enough vegetables for 2 people for the week. In the box I got garlic, scallions, parsley, carrots, scarlet turnips, sweet potatoes, kale, pie pumpkin, green cabbage, lettuce, and tat soi. Whether or not it’ll be enough for the week I’m not sure - we sometimes eat a lot - but we’ll find out next Friday how it goes. As for the quality of the produce, I couldn’t have asked for better. Everything looks super fresh, nothing is wilted, nothing is brown, and all of the veggies actually have a smell. Do you notice most of the time you buy stuff at the grocery store it doesn’t smell like anything? These vegetables are fragrant and beautiful. Also the carrots, the cabbage and the kale are huge. I could probably get 3 or 4 different meals out of that one cabbage! I am probably most excited about the Tat soi which I have never eaten before or even heard off. It’s a Chinese green apparently so I can’t wait to make something Asian inspired with it.

Depending on how well this box of veggies serves us this week I will probably order both another veggie box and a fruit box for next Friday. Check out CSA’s in your area, and keep voting with your dollars when you shop at the grocery store! If we demand better, companies will have to comply or risk going out of business.

Product Review - KeVita Sparkling Probiotic Drink...

Have you heard of KeVita? Well, if you haven’t you just might want to check it out. I’d seen KeVita around for a while and was always sort of interested in it, but I didn’t realize it was vegan until a couple of months ago, up until then I assumed it was some kind of dairy Kefir, but it’s not. KeVita is a sparkling probiotic drink made with a blend of probiotics and a certified KeVita probiotic culture. It is then fermented with coconut water. Though it can also be fermented with tea or purified reverse osmosis water. It is similar to Kombucha, but lighter in flavor, without the tartness and vinegary flavor that is characteristic of Kombucha.

Personally I think it’s pretty damn delicious, and refreshing and so I’ve been drinking it a lot lately. Up until I gave KeVita a try I was drinking a kombucha almost everyday, then I tossed kombucha to the wayside and started drinking KeVita everyday. Now I split my time between these two loves, drinking a couple of KeVita’s a week and a couple of Kombucha’s a week.

I love their Mango coconut, Lemon Ginger, and Pomegranate flavors the best, but they also have a Pomegranate Coconut, Pomegranate Black Tea, Living Greens, Coconut, and a Strawberry Acai Coconut that are quite good also. What I really like about them other then their flavor is that they are low-calorie. They are much lower in calories then Kombucha is. Depending on the drink they range between 5-45 calories per serving, and each bottle contains two servings. So if you pick the lowest calorie flavor that’s only 10 calories for the whole bottle which is a pretty good deal. I also like that they’re low in sugar, and that they’re certified organic. They’re also gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, vegan, and non-GMO so they can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone.

Because I find KeVita refreshing, energizing, vitalizing, and reinvigorating I typically drink a bottle in the mid to late afternoon when I’m starting to feel that mid-day hump. I find them particularly refreshing and helpful after getting back from an afternoon walk, when I’m just preparing to start on my homework. Though I also utilize KeVita’s awesome power on days I need to be up extra early, or on extremely busy days, or when I work nights and need something in those last three hours to keep me sane, awake and moving!

If you like Kombucha I think you’ll like KeVita so you should go out and give it a try. However even if you don’t like Kombucha you should give KeVita a try because like I said, it’s a lot milder. If you don’t like Kombucha because of it’s vinegary flavor, you’ll definitely be pleasantly surprised by the mild, and fruitful flavor of KeVita. Next time you’re at your local health food store or grocery look for it, and if you don’t see it make an inquiry!

KeVita Homepage

Umeboshi Noodles with Black Soybeans and Collard Green Ribbons in Soy Broth...

I know with all the toppings it's kind of hard to see all
the awesomeness in this bowl

If you know me, or If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time you probably know that Asian Cuisine is one of my favorites. I love the duality between the simple fresh ingredients and the bold complex flavors that are so characteristic of Asian cooking. I also love bowls and one pot meals, especially on cold days. Well, today was a cold day, and I was feeling particularly inspired thanks in part to the reading I’ve been required to do for my Chinese Medicine class, as well as my most recent trip to Mitsuwa, the Japanese Market in Arlington Heights.

My last trip to Mitsuwa was a couple of weeks ago, and I was on a mission for Miso and a variety of Japanese noodles. These are things I can find easily in the health food stores in my area, however they’re roughly half the price at Mitsuwa, which is way more economical considering how much miso I go through. As for the noodles I found exactly what I wanted, a ton of Udon, Soba and Somen, and then I found some packages of Green Tea flavored noodles, and Ume flavored noodles. Ume of course referring to Umeboshi, the tart, sour, slightly sweet plum typically used as a paste or made into vinegar in Japanese cooking. I’d never seen Ume noodles anywhere else before, nor had I even heard of them, but they were bright pink and beautiful, and contained no weird or nefarious ingredients and so I bought a package.

I really had no idea what I was going to do with them once I got them home, and so they’ve just been sitting in my pantry for the past couple of weeks. Until today. Today, for whatever reason was the day I decided to give them a try. Initially I was a bit stumped as to what to pair them with, or what kind of dish to put them into because I wasn’t sure what their flavor would really be like. Eventually I decided to go with traditional Asian seasonings such as garlic, ginger, sesame, and tamari, and picked my vegetables according to what I had on hand and what I thought might make the most startling contrast. Green, orange and black I thought would all look fantastic against the bright pink noodles, and I had really been trying to find a use for the solitary can of Black Soybeans left over in my pantry from a squash stew I made a couple of months ago.

Now, I’ll be honest, at first I wasn’t sure how this would turn out. I was kind of just flying by the seat of my pants so to speak. Whenever you just start tossing things together there is always the risk that you’ll under season or over season whatever your making, or just make a bad call on an ingredient. So when we sat down to eat I was a little hesitant and a bit skeptical, particularly of the noodles since I had no idea what to expect from them. Turns out there was no real need to worry because this delicious hearty bowl really blew me away. The flavors were exactly what I was looking for, rich - complex - and warming, and the entire thing came together in the most delicious way. The Ume noodles in particular were fantastic, and now I can’t wait for my next trip to Mitsuwa so I can buy myself some more packages. If you see Ume Noodles in your area pick some up, and make this dish!

Umeboshi Noodles with Black Soybeans and Collard Green Ribbons in Soy Broth.

8oz Umeboshi Noodles
1-2 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
6 Garlic Cloves Minced
1 Thumb Sized Piece of Ginger grated
1 Medium Sized Leek sliced
1 Bunch Collards - ribs removed cut in ribbons
4 oz Enoki Mushrooms
1 15oz can Black Soybeans
A Few Dashes of Ume Vinegar
1 tsp Japanese 7 Spice

For Broth 

1 1/3 C Low-Sodium Vegetable Broth
2 Tbsp Low-Sodium Tamari
½ Tbsp Agave nectar

For Garnish 

1 Large Grated Carrot
½ Tbsp Brown Rice Vinegar per bowl
2 tsp Sesame Seeds per bowl

- Cook Ume Noodles according to package directions. Then drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop cooking and set aside, until ready to serve.

- While Noodles are cooking heat 1 Tbsp of sesame oil in a large skillet. Add the minced garlic, grated ginger and sliced leek. Saute over medium-high heat until the leek has softened, and garlic is fragrant. About 5-7 minutes.

- Add in the collard green ribbons, then cover and cook for three minutes. Then add in the enoki mushrooms and cook another 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and the collard greens are bright green and tender. If the pan starts looking dry during this time you can add an additional 1 tbsp of toasted sesame oil.

- Lower the heat and stir in the black soybeans, ume vinegar, and 7 spice seasoning. Replace the lid and let sit over low heat until the soy beans are warmed through then turn the heat off. And set the pan aside until ready to serve.

- To make the broth whisk the vegetable broth, soy sauce, and ume vinegar in small sauce pan. Then bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Let simmer one minute then turn off the heat.

- To serve divide the noodles into two bowls. Then divide the broth and the collard green mixture evenly among them. Top each bowl with grated carrot, sesame seeds and the rice vinegar.

PS: Black Soybeans by the way are pretty interesting. They look like a black bean but a bit lighter, and taste a regular soybean or maybe a blander edamame. Outside of health food or specialty stores I don’t know how easy it is to find them, the brand I used was Eden Organic’s but if you can’t find them you could always sub in regular soybeans, edamame or black beans if you want to keep the contrast. Shiitake mushrooms would also be good if you don't have Enoki.

Once I mixed it all up you could better see those lovely
Pink Ume Noodles!

Colleen's Tempeh Eggplant Pot Pie...

A few days ago I made the most delicious post pie. Now I’ve never really been a big fan of pot pies. The thought of eating greasy meat stuffed into a crust, with root vegetables and peas in a salty, gooey gravy doesn’t really get my mouth watering. I suppose since I was never a fan of that sort of pot pie, that once I became vegan I saw no need to try and veganize one, or eat a vegan pot pie. However despite any aversion I may have towards the pot pie category as a whole, something about Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s recipe for Tempeh and Eggplant Pot Pie really called to me. I’ve owned this book for several years, and I’ve been wanting to make this recipe ever since, but for one reason or another it just never happened. Then last week I bought my first set of Ramekins and I instantly thought - what better recipe to christen them with but this?

I’ll admit that even though I’d been dying to make this for some time I wasn’t at all convinced that I was actually going to like it. Of course there’s only ever one way to find out if you’ll like something or not and so I decided to take the chance. It’s a super easy recipe and comes together really quick which for me was an added bonus.

First you start by steaming tempeh and eggplant together. While that’s going you saute onions - I also added garlic of course - then you add spices like fennel and red pepper flakes, - I added smoked paprika also - tomato sauce, and capers and let it simmer. Add the steamed tempeh and eggplant and let it simmer a bit longer. While that’s going you make your biscuit dough, and once everything is done you divide your filling into the ramekins spread some biscuit dough over top and bake, voila! Super easy right?

And let me tell you, I was worried about not liking them? Well they were incredible! Seriously one of the most delicious savory ‘pies’ I’ve ever eaten. In fact my husband and I loved this recipe so much we were happy that it made six pot pies, so we had some for dinner the next night as well. For a quick and easy side I served these pot pies along with some Brussels Sprouts that I seared in my cast iron pan with a bit of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and a few droplets of agave nectar. Delicious, and my husband and avid sprout hater even had a few sprouts too!

If you don’t already own a copy of Colleen’s “The Vegan Table” you should order one, this recipe is worth it, as are the many, many other things I’ve made from this book over the years.

Harvest Pumpkin Apple Galette...

Sometime last week I saw an item listed on a menu that really intrigued me. It was a Squash and Apple Galette. I’ve only eaten a Galette once. I made one a few months ago and it was delicious, delicious enough to make me wonder why I’d never made one before, and delicious enough to make me want to try my hand at making one again. As I looked over the ingredients listed in the menu for this particular galette my salivary glands started dripping. Butternut Squash, Apples, Onions, Spices and Parmesan. Minus the parm that sounded pretty damn good. It sounded warm and comforting and autumnal, and really who doesn’t love anything baked inside a crust? Looking over the menu I thought, ‘I could make that.’ and so a few days later - armed with nothing but a few vague ideas - I did just that.

As it turns out though I didn’t have any butternut squash, I did however have two beautiful sugar pumpkins that I’d bought in a moment of inspiration and then never used. I wanted to - no I needed to - use them, and since I like pumpkin, and sugar pumpkins are naturally a little sweeter like a butternut squash I didn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be just as delicious in my Galette. Apples and onions of course I had and so the only thing left to decide was the spices. The menu had been vague on that account, but that was okay, I’m good with spices. After a few minutes thought I decided to go with a subtle Middle Eastern flavor, with a French twist. These two seemingly distinct and different flavors actually paired quite well together, who would have thought?

Now I hate to break a bit of bad news but the night I made this I was in a bit of a hurry and I didn’t exactly measure any of the spices. I added what I thought would be good, taste tested it and adjusted as needed. I hadn’t originally intended to post this recipe on the blog as I wasn’t sure if it would even be any good - in fact I was expecting it to be a fail - but it far exceeded my expectations. This was so phenomenal that I knew I would have to post it and so I’ll try to give you an approximate. I would suggest maybe half to one full tsp of smoked paprika, Rosemary, and Coriander. And a quarter to half a tsp of cinnamon and ginger, or something there about. You want all the flavors to blend together you don’t want any one flavor to overpower the others. You want enough cinnamon and ginger to be able to taste them but not enough so that it’s all you taste. Same with the paprika and coriander you want enough to taste them fully, but not enough that your entire galette is ruined by them. Go with your gut and you’ll be alright I think.

This turned out so well in fact that I can’t wait to make another galette! Enjoy!

Galette Dough 

2 ½ Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 C Whole Wheat or Whole Wheat Pastry flour
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 - 1 ½ tsp Sea Salt
1-2 Tbsp Fresh Rosemary minced finely
! C Vegetable Shortening (Earth Balance Shortening is what I used)
3/4 C Ice Water or as needed
Olive Oil for Brushing
Sea Salt, Black Pepper and Basil to taste

Pumpkin Apple Filling

2 Small-Medium Sized Sugar Pumpkins (Pie Pumpkins)
2 Granny Smith Apples
1 Large Yellow Onion Diced
8 Garlic Cloves Minced
Smoked Paprika
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Coriander
Ground Ginger
Fresh Minced Rosemary
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
1-2 dashes of Dried Basil
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1-2 Tbsp Lemon Flavored Olive Oil (or a mixture of Olive Oil and Pure Lemon Juice)
1-2 Tsp Olive Oil

I served our galette with a side of Terry Waters Fingerling Potatoes with
Red Onion and Sage from "Clean Start" which were very good!

To Make the Dough 

- In a food processor combine the flours, salt, sugar, and rosemary. Pulse to combine.

- Cut the Shortening into the food processor with a knife in small dice. Then pulse until the dough becomes pebbly and crumbly.

- Add in the ice water a little at a time, 1-2 Tbsp at a time, and pulse until the dough just holds together. You may need to add more water or use less. Do not over process.

- Form dough into a disk wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for 20 minutes

- Lightly oil a 12 to 14 inch pizza pan. Remove dough from fridge and roll out onto a floured surface. Roll out into a circle big enough to fit your pan with some dough hanging over the edges. It doesn’t have to be a perfect circle. Thickness should be between 1/4 -1/2 inch.

- Carefully transfer dough to the pizza pan and brush lightly with olive oil.


To Make the Filling 

- Preheat Oven to 400'F

- Cut Pumpkins, Remove seeds, Peel and cut into cubes.

- Toss pumpkin with the lemon olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Roast in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes until pumpkin is tender.

- Set aside and let cool.

- Heat 1-2 tsp of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add diced onion and minced garlic. Cook until onion is translucent and just beginning to caramelize. About 10-15 minutes.

- Peel, and dice apples.

- Once onions have cooked, add the roasted pumpkin and the diced apples to the pan, stir to combine. Season to taste with fresh Rosemary, smoked paprika, ground cinnamon, and ground ginger. Stir to combine.

- Add in the maple syrup and Dijon Mustard and stir again to combine. Remove from heat and let cool while you make the dough.

Assembly 

Preheat oven to 375"F

- Scrape your pumpkin apple filling onto the dough lined Pizza pan. Spreading the filling out evenly to the edges of the pan with the back of a spoon or spatula.

- Carefully fold over any excess dough hanging off the edges of your pizza pan. Folding them into a rustic looking shape and leaving the middle open.

- Brush the folded dough lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper, and a little dash of dried basil.

- Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the crust is lightly brown.

And of course no dinner is complete without dessert. This is Isa and Terry's
She's my Cherry Pie from "Vegan Pie in the Sky"

PS: I know there are quite a few steps involved here, but this can be super simple to make if you do a little work in advance. You can roast your pumpkin a day ahead and even make the dough a day ahead leaving it wrapped in plastic until ready to use. 

The Halloween Post 2012...

Our Halloween Pumpkins this year. I carved the 'Go Vegan!"
Elephant one on the far left. and the "Namaste" Lotus Flower one in the middle.
The Sonic the Hedgehog Pumpkin is the work of my husband.

Can you believe it’s November already? Where does the time go? Well I hope you all had a lovely Halloween, mine was quiet. This year neither my husband or I felt like doing anything significant. Instead we were content to watch the day pass while we relaxed in each other’s company. It was a sunny albeit cool day and so we enjoyed a lovely autumnal afternoon walk with our dog, then warmed up afterwards with some mocha lattes. In the evening we read together on the couch and handed out candy, then cuddled up to watch a ‘scary’ movie that only proved to be disappointing and predictable.

And did anyone else catch sight of the spooky Halloween Moon?
Not the best picture, but you can see the ring enough to get the idea.

Of course no holiday would be complete without good food, and even though we didn’t celebrate Halloween in the typical decadent fashion I wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to make something delicious to eat.

We started off our day with a mid-morning brunch of Pirogi’s. I love Pirogi’s they’re a favorite of mine from childhood, and I haven’t had really good Pirogi since moving to Chicago. Though there are plenty of Places in Chicago that one could procure Pirogi I haven’t yet found a place that I particularly like. All the pirogi I’ve eaten here have been filled with things like cheese, meats, sauerkraut, mushrooms, the traditional potato also but more often then not a various combination of two or more of those things. I am of the opinion that pirogi should only be made with potatoes, or potato and onion, that’s how my Oma made them, that’s how I ate them growing up. My Oma used to serve her pirogi with caramelized onion’s, bacon, and sour cream, and they were always fried after being boiled - another must in my opinion. Though I’ve missed my Oma’s pirogi in the time that I’ve lived here, I’ve never actually attempted to make pirogi of my own. I don’t know why, perhaps I always found the task daunting. Then I woke up Halloween morning full of the cooking spirit and a hankering for a breakfast that involved potatoes.

It was when I was flipping through my copy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s book “Vegan Brunch” that I came across her Pirogi recipe. Of course I’ve seen the recipe before - numerous times even - and yet somehow it never interested me, until now anyway. I skimmed over her recipe for Potato Onion Pirogi and knew instinctively that I had to make them. I had all the ingredients on hand, and a couple of ours to kill before my husband woke up so I thought why not?

Now, making pirogi is a process. Seriously. Anytime you work with dough your bound to end up swearing at least a couple of times. Dough in my opinion is a pain in the ass. Dough is the reason I love and hate making my own breads, pizza’s and so on. All that rolling, and cutting and crimping! But if you want good pirogi making your own really is the only way, and Isa’s recipe is delicious, very reminiscent of the pirogi my Oma made for me growing up. In the end all the trouble and effort of making home-made pirogi from scratch is totally worth it! I served mine with some non-dairy sour cream and apple sauce. I forwent the mandatory caramelized onions and vegan bacon because I was too lazy, and didn’t want to dirty another pan. Besides after 2 hours of shaping, boiling, and frying pirogi I just wanted to eat. I will however probably make more Pirogi in the future - it's time consuming but not difficult and so the rewards are justified.

Later that evening after most of our trick or treaters had departed I was in the mood for something autumnal and harvesty for dinner. I had some carnival squash that I’d bought a few days before and really wanted to make them. So I pulled out my copy of “Vegan Holiday Kitchen” by Nava Atlas and made her Butternut Squash with Whole Wheat and Onion stuffing, only I used the Carnival Squashes instead. Also I added cranberries to the mixture which I thought was a fantastic addition.

I forgot to take a picture of the Deep Dish Greens on it's own
But you can see it in this pic, sitting just behind the squash.

The carnival squashes were fabulous. I’d never had them before and thought they tasted very similar to a butternut squash, they had that subtle sweet flavor. The stuffing consisted of wild rice, vegetable broth, oil, garlic, red onion, whole wheat bread, thyme, sage, orange juice and an all-purpose seasoning blend. Now I don’t own any all-purpose seasoning blends so I just created my own with basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, sage, onion powder, paprika, white pepper, black pepper, sea salt, rosemary and cinnamon. The cinnamon I thought was a particularly brilliant note especially with the citrus tang from the orange juice. I served the finished Squashes with Terry Walter’s recipe for Deep Dish Greens with Millet and Amaranth Crust from her book “Clean Start” which was fantastic. I’d never eaten amaranth before either and it was really, really good!

For dessert we had another recipe from “Vegan Brunch” Isa’s East Coast Coffee Cake, but instead of just making a straight up coffee cake I decided to make the cinnamon fig variation, because who doesn’t love figs and cinnamon? Plus figs are very autumnal and so is cinnamon so it was a perfect fit for our dinner, and the perfect light dessert to have after all that stuffed squash and greens!

I hope everyone had a fun, safe, and spooky Halloween, full of delicious and decadent goodies!