Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Apricot Crust

For some crazy reason, I didn’t think I was busy enough this holiday season and so I decided to make two pies for my small family Thanksgiving get together. There are four of us and two pies. It’s a bit indulgent, but hey, why the heck not? Like I said, I like pie and I like custard type pies especially. So, Thanksgiving wouldn’t be an experience to remember without a proper pumpkin pie, right? Right.

Here’s a recipe I came up with for two reasons. First, after making the pumpkin cheesecake with the gingersnap oreo cookie crust, I couldn’t wait to try a full-on gingersnap crust. It only seemed fitting to hold the crust together with delicious dried fruit like you would a raw crust, and dried apricots caught my eye so, dried apricots it was! The second reason for constructing this pie was an attempt to make a vegan pumpkin pie that was creamy, but didn’t involve using silken tofu (or any soy for that matter) in the place of heavy cream. One of my family members is sensitive to soy and since we celebrate our holidays vegan, I wanted to make sure that I had a traditional pie option that would please everyone. Naturally, I sought solice in cashew cream and as per usual, cashew cream saved the day!

What came of this creation was an incredibly creamy, rich pumpkin pie with a crust that you won’t be able to stop yourself from eating. I’m really pleased with how “rustic” and homemade in appearance the pie came out as well since I’m not a fan of heavily manicured food (think: cupcakes). Some of the edges of the crust burned a little during baking because I “flash baked” the pie for a few minutes at first. I’ve removed that step to (hopefully) prevent that from happening again, but even if it does, the pie is still delicious and it actually adds a nice color contrast to the crust. The taste will hardly be affected.

I’m excited to present it to my family. I hope you will consider sharing this with yours as well!

Remember folks, imperialism and cultural imperialism (a.k.a how the first Thanksgiving came to be) is super awful, but in the spirit of forgiveness, peace, and justice for all creatures — have a happy vegan harvest!

Black Rice Risotto Stuffed Zucchini Squash

Here’s a recipe I worked on and wrote up a few months ago (July, gulp!). I’ve been meaning to post it for a while now but for some reason, I put it on the back burner. I’m currently working on a bunch of seasonal recipes for October which reminded me that summer squash is nearly out of season! Yikes. If this is something you’d like to try, get your hands on some summer squash before it’s all gone. If it is, stuffed eggplant sounds lovely.

Around the time of making this, I was informed that risotto is only risotto if you use Arborio or “risotto” rice. Okay, I get it. It’s cool. But “Black Rice Risotto-like Stuffed Zucchini Squash” doesn’t really roll off the tongue, you know? And besides, the idea is to have a “creamy” rice stuffing and that’s what this recipe is all about. Risotto is a bit time consuming, although well worth the wait. If you’ve never made it before, be sure to read the instructions carefully before getting started.

I made this for my mother and she couldn’t stop raving about it. Aww, mothers. It’s just as savory as it is presentational. It’s also a good way to use up some of that leftover cashew cream you have lying around from some other recipe. What I love most about this recipe though is how easily the squash is to cut through and how well the seasoned rice and natural flavor of the squash go together.

Sweet Nutmilk Pancakes

I’ve never liked pancakes. I’m just not a pancake kind of girl. I prefer french toast (I have a thing for toast). One of my brothers is pancake obsessed though. He likes them practically raw in the middle. He doesn’t know it, but I’m basically his type of pancake maker, because up until recently, no matter how hard I’ve tried to make them perfectly, I’ve always made pancakes with a gooey center. Ugh. It’s terrible, I know. Well, I think I finally figured it out. I’m so embarrassed to even be admitting any of this. Pancakes have a lot to do with being patient and up until recently, I’ve not been the most patient person in life so it makes sense that I’ve never waited enough time for them to cook in the middle before flipping them.

After three solid days of working on this recipe (and having consumed 21 pancakes in that time and being the proud owner of a new chin), I think I finally got it right. I know this may be simple enough for many of you, and you may be wondering, “Wow. This girl can make a vegan cheesecake, but she can’t even make a pancake?! For shame!” But honestly, I think sometimes, simplicity eludes me (I know plenty of people who know me who are nodding their heads at that last statement, haha). Bear with me, please. This is what I figured out:

1. Don’t overmix the batter. It should be lumpy, this is how you make “fluffy” pancakes!
2. Don’t use too much butter or non-stick spray to grease the pan. You’ll end up frying and burning the pancakes.
3. Only grease the pan once.
4. Cook the cakes slowly, on medium heat, if you are using a pan on a stove (not an electric griddle).
5. Wait until bubbles form all around, and especially in the middle of the cake, before flipping.
6. Flip quickly using your wrist, not your hand.

Those are the rules. Stick to them and your pancakes will be just right. These pancakes are  gosh darn tasty. My aim was to make something reminiscent of the classic buttermilk pancake and I think it’s pretty close. Since vegans are all about nut milks (and the occasional soy) I thought, “Screw you, buttermilk! Nutmilk is the real deal!” and went to town. This is also a really great way to use up some cashew cream if, like me, you make about 2 cups at a time for a dish that only requires 1 cup and thus get stuck with leftover cashew cream.

Despite how many of them I’ve eaten in the last 36 hours, I am now officially a fan of pancakes. I really enjoy how sweet these are. The batter reminds me of the boxed Bisquick pancakes my mom used to make us, but I honestly think this batter tastes a whole lot better and it’s probably because there isn’t a raw egg in it! These cakes are just sweet enough to eat without syrup and still taste good! And they are fluffy just off the pan, like they’re supposed to be, too! I added flax seeds just because I thought they’d give the cakes a nice look and because they’re nutritious and can’t be tasted, so why the heck not? You can leave them out if you want. I thought to make these with flax eggs in place of Egg Replacer, but that didn’t work out so well (that was day 1). Pick up a box of Ener-G Egg Replacer if you don’t already have one. It’ll last quite a while and comes in handy more often than you’d think!

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup and Basil Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Even in the summer, I can’t help but crave piping hot soup. I love soup. In fact, it’s my favorite food. Yes, it really is. I think it’s because it’s really the one dish that can be made so many different ways out of so many different ingredients — isn’t that the idea behind “stone soup”? But seriously, soup is comforting every time. And when you’re lucky enough to be sitting in an air conditioned home, then it really doesn’t matter if it’s 90 degrees outside. When I was younger I used to have these “episodes” (I guess one could call them that) where I needed to have soup, like, on our way up to the White Mountains to go hiking, I’d suddenly need soup — mid-drive. My mom is the same way, it’s very much like, “Pull the car over at the next restaurant! I need soup!” It got to the point once when we would bring thermoses of soup if we were going on long weekend or day trips. My mom calls these episodes “soup attacks.” They seem to be less frequent these days, I don’t know why, but neither of us is ever far from the urge to make or eat soup, regardless.

That being said, it’d been a while, but this little concoction came about when I was having a soup attack. I didn’t even know it until after I was done eating, of course, when I’d successfully licked the bowl clean. This soup is thick and smooth in flavor, thanks to the addition of cashew cream. The use of whole tomatoes makes it just a bit chunky and hearty, the way I like tomato soup to be. The beauty of this soup is that you can make it as chunky or smooth as you’d like, it’s just a matter of blending less or more. I used only half a cup of basil, but you can use more if you want a stronger basil flavor.

The beautiful grilled cheese is the usual salty, cheesy goodness that compliments any tomato soup well. Is there anything Daiya can’t do? I doubt it.

Farfalle with Garlic Cream Sauce

Recently one of my best friends who is working towards veganism (and nearly vegan) asked me to rework one of her favorite restaurant recipes and make it vegan. Obviously, I was happy to help. The recipe she wanted reinvented was The Cheesecake Factory’s “Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic.” I vaguely remember having had this once, but it was a very long time ago. Instead of looking up what was in the restaurant’s dish, I focused my recipe on her description of what the dish was and what she wanted it to be, and came up with this. From what I can see, it is different from the restaurant version, but just as good, no — better because it’s vegan. I didn’t use any grain meat to substitute for the chicken because I was working with this as if I the restaurant version was already vegan except for the chicken so, I just left it out. I figured my friend, Jessie, orders it without chicken anyway. In retrospect, I’m betting Gardein would be a fantastic addition to this, but it’s already a very complete meal without it so you don’t really need it!

The sauce in this recipe is reminiscent of a very garlicky alfredo, but it isn’t pasty and thick like the terrible kinds you find jarred in grocery store shelves. I didn’t roast the garlic because I wanted this to be a quicker fix kind of meal provided that you’ve already got the cashew cream that is used as the base for the sauce, made. This is a dish you can make, when like my friend, you come home from work tired and want something filling, easy, and yet not the typical weekday dinner to feed your family. So I guess that it’s another good thing that this dish is pretty straightforward, can be made it in 30 minutes, and is every bit as good as the picture suggests!

To Jessie — It was a year ago (almost to the day) that you asked me to chronicle what it is I eat regularly. I started this blog mostly to help you get there. Until I can get to Texas and cook for you, I hope this helps! Stay vegan, girl. If I can do it, so can you!

To everyone else — Enjoy!

Basic Cashew Cream for Soups and Sauces

If it wasn’t already obvious with the gazillion types of nut milks and dairy-like products on the market today, nuts are pretty much a vegan’s answer to non-dairy living. Cashews, like almonds, are particularly wonderful because they are mild in flavor thus, allowing them to be practical for so many uses. The raw food movement has known this for a long time. If you’ve ever had cashew cheese, cashew cheesecake, or cashew based ice cream you also know just how many outrageously delicious things this little nut can do. So here’s a basic recipe for an ingredient I will be using quite a lot of soon. If you have a recipe in mind that requires “heavy cream” this is all you’ll need.