Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake!

My oh my, this is such a Halloween dessert! I'll be honest, I was very skeptical about the combination of chocolate and pumpkin... world's colliding... I dunno. But, I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. I needed to put together a fall dessert for a lovely get together with good friends, and after a little searching on my favorite website, vegweb.com, I came across this recipe, and gave it a whirl. It came out good! It is definitely different with the fall spices and the chocolate, but somehow, it works. I gave the top of the pie a nice swirl, but after I had it in the oven I realized I had been a little over zealous with the chocolate on top, and you could hardly see the swirls. It would have been nice if the pretty swirls had stayed, but it tasted great, and that's what matters most! 

Dana Sly's Blue Ribbon Vegan Cornbread

I know that cornbread isn't THE most exciting thing in the world, but I really love it and didn't quite feel like I had found the perfect vegan cornbread yet. Well, I have now! I found this recipe online for Dana Sly's Blue Ribbon Vegan Cornbread . Apparently Dana Sly developed this award winning cornbread and was only 11 years old at the time. I think that is awesome! The cornbread is equally as awesome. It has great texture and a nice balance between crumble and moisture. The only changes that I made is that I used whole wheat pastry flour in place of AP flour, and I added whole corn kernels as well. I highly recommend this recipe as a companion for a great bowl of chili (I'll post that recipe soon, I promise) and what to do with the leftovers?

As you can see from the first picture, a great breakfast or snack toasted with some earth balance and blueberry preserves. 

Marrakech Curried Stew from the reFresh Cookbook

I admit it, I fell off the Vegan Mofo wagon last week! I hate to say it, but it's true. And it's not because I didn't want to be blogging about amazing food, it was just that I had a super crazy week last week that barely left me with time to check my email, let alone write about what I really love... food!  Anyways, I am back on track, and off with a bang this week. Tonight, I made the Marrakech Curried Stew from the reFresh Cookbook. I had a beautiful kabocha squash that I got at the market last week that I needed to put to some good use, and as I was flipping through cookbooks in my pj's this morning, as I often do on Sunday mornings, this recipe caught my eye and looked like the way to go. I did make a couple substitutions (namely kabocha squash for zucchini) but I also subbed in a purple yam  for a standard sweet potato, and I added in green beans as well. The stew is studded with chickpeas and raisins in addition to coconut milk, peppers, onions, carrots and lots of delicious spices including cinnamon, curry, turmeric, and cumin. I served this over quinoa for an extra protein boost. Quinoa is a highly nutritious grain (actually it is technically a seed) that cooks up with a lovely texture and a nutty flavor. Quinoa is a nutritional superstar because it is very high in protein (it has all essential amino acids) and is naturally packaged with fiber, b-vitamins, and several other nutrients. Quinoa is also gluten-free, and is healthy for all diets. (Even my doggie likes quinoa!) This made for a lovely sunday meal as my husband and I relaxed before the week ahead... We finished off the meal with homemade coconut milk ice cream, but I will save that for tomorrow's blog...

Simple Salads

I am sure it is no shocker that a vegan is a salad junkie, but that is exactly what I am! I rarely make the same salad twice, and if I do, it must be darn good. I love the creativity of salads, and changing them with the seasons. Some nights I just don't have the time or the desire to make more than a salad, so I just throw  everything I got into a bowl and whip up a nice dressing to go on top. Thats another thing... dressings. It is a basic formula: an acid, a fat, some salt and pepper - voila dressing is done. I rarely will purchase a salad dressing because it takes a minute to make them at home, and then just keep them in a jar in your fridge. I have some more elaborate creamy dressings that I like to make too- 1.) Avocado dressing: blend an avocado in a blender with enough water to get it to a lighter yet still creamy dressing. Add some lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper and you are done. Yum. You can also make a dressing by soaking sunflower seeds and then blending them in the same way as the avocado dressing to achieve that same creaminess. 

The salad above is a protein salad. I have baked tempeh and tofu cubes plus pumpkin seeds. I also threw in some roasted squash and onions, arugula, tomatoes, fresh parsley, etc. 

There are several options for your base salad greens. I have been on an arugula kick lately, but I also love a good spring mix, baby lettuce, or fresh romaine for some real crunch. The darker the leaves, the better in my opinion, but romaine is surprisingly nutritious on it's own. Hands down, my favorite? Marinated kale. But I will save that for another day's post. 

My point is that salad is not just a side dish, nor something to eat only when it is hot. It can (and should) be eaten year round, and let your creativity flow- our bodies love us to eat a variety of foods for a variety of nutrients. Raw foods have some definite benefits for our health. Namely, all nutrients and enzymes are in tact because the food hasn't been cooked. 

SF Vegan Bakesale Day!

Today was the second Vegan Bakesale in SF this year. I LOVE these bakesales because not only do they raise money for great animal related causes, they also raise awareness that BAKED GOODS DO NOT NEED EGGS, ANIMAL-BASED BUTTER, CREAM, OR MILK TO BE GOOD!

As far as I am concerned, vegan baked goods are waaay better than non-vegan baked goods because they are a delicious treat, full of satisfaction, but without eggs, dairy, or any other harm to animals. There are plenty of ways to bind baked goods without eggs: ground flax seeds mixed with water, "Ener-G" Egg replacer, applesauce, mashed bananas, etc. I would love to see the day that all of the baked goods made in grocery stores, schools, bakeries are made without eggs, dairy, and are instead made with vegetable based butters, non-dairy milks etc. It is better for our bodies (although we still need to eat sweets in moderation. It is still sugar, fat and flour) and it is especially better for the animals.

So, for this bakesale, I was feeling some Mexican style inspiration. I made Dulce de Leche cookies, which are basically snickerdoodles with a little extra cinnamon and a homemade caramel topping (made from rapadura, earth balance, and almond milk). These cookies are more flat and crispy, and are rolled in large sugar crystals. I also made Mexican Double Chocolate Cookies, for which I used my basic chocolate cookie recipe, added cinnamon, chili powder, a pinch of cayenne, and of course, chocolate chips. These cookies were more dense and chewy, and were definitely my favorite of the two. These warming spices are my favorite this time of year, and especially enjoyable when mixed with chocolate. But what isn't made better by chocolate? 

I always bring home an assortment of treats from the bake sale as well. This time, I bought oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, a chocolate cherry brownie and a cinnamon roll by Cinnaholic. My husband and I will be sharing the cinnamon roll for breakfast tomorrow. Yum!

Thanks so much to the organizers of the bakesale! They do such an amazing job. I am just fortunate to have the opportunity to donate to a great cause each time. 

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Squash is an amazing vegetable. It has everything going for it. It has great texture, amazing flavor, and incredible nutrients. You can mash it, cube it, puree it into soups, add it to baked goods. I especially love cubed kabocha squash in a thai curry, or butternut squash soup. The only pie I ever liked as a kid? Punkin pie, of course! Ok... I think I've made my point. Squash is cool. I like squash.

Anyways, this dish is in no way original, but the joy of it is that it is completely adaptable, I don't think I've ever made this the exact same way twice. Here is the technique that makes it easy: Buy a small sized winter squash (I used acorn squash in the photo). Heat your oven to 375. Put the  squash in whole, and let it bake whole for at least ten minutes, but no more than 15. Take it out and let it cool. When it is cool enough to handle, cut it in half lengthwise. It should be very easy to cut, much easier than if you had tried to cut through it raw. Take a spoon, and remove the seeds. Then put the squash cut side down on a baking sheet, and let it cook for another 30 minutes or so until cooked through but not over cooked to where it is imploding. The squash steams itself perfectly. Remove from the oven and let cool. Turn over so that the cut side is up. (At this point, you could scoop out the flesh and use it for soup, or a mash) In this recipe, I made a lovely pilaf of brown rice, wild rice, and red quinoa. To that, I added tomatoes, pistachios, onions, raisins, and a few spices: cinnamon, cumin, and dried thyme. Spoon this mixture into the squash "bowl" and top with fresh parsley. Then, as you eat, scoop in a little squash with each bite for a real treat. Mmmm hmmm. Fall. Squash. I love it.

Strawberry Blondies

I am a couple of days behind on posting this one, I actually made these last Saturday. Last weekend was Fleet Week in San Francisco, and it is a tradition of my good friend Cassandra's to have a swanky roof top party at her place to watch the Blue Angels fly. I, of course, can't seem to go to any get together without bringing some sort of food to share... that's just me. I love to feed people, and especially delicious vegan food! So, I whipped up this variation on Blondie's. In case you haven't had a blondie before, it is basically a brownie sans the chocolate, and there are endless variations to blondie's. For these, I swirled in a fresh strawberry puree to the top layer, which added a lovely tanginess and beautiful color, and also helped keep the blondies super moist. I topped them off with a dark chocolate ganache, and toted them into the city for the party. Unfortunately, the notorious San Francisco fog made it too dangerous for the Blue Angels to fly, so good thing we had good friends and good food to enjoy.