Thanxgiving Part 2: Anatomy of a Pumpkin Pie

So I am of the belief that Thanksgiving just cannot be without pumpkin pie. Call me crazy, but it's just how it is! This is my recipe for Vegan Pumpkin Pie, made with local pumpkin. I am sure you could use canned pumpkin puree, but it really just wouldn't be the same!!

I'll also give you a brief step-by-step on making the puree. Hopefully you'll try this for your next fall/winter celebration!

Step 1: Buy 1 medium or 2 small pumpkins from your local farmers' market.

Step 2: Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds/stringies.

Step 3: Roast pumpkin at 350 F for 1 hour until soft.

Step 4: Remove the "meat" of the pumpkin from the skin and puree until smooth in a food processor.

Step : Place pumpkin puree into a cheescloth or thin towel. Put the cloth into a strainer set over a bowl and allow to drain overnight. This helps to achieve the right thickness/consistency of the puree.

Step 6: Make pie crust, poke with fork all over. Or open package of premade crust and poke with fork all over.

Step 7: Make pie filling.

Pumpkin Pie Filling (for 1 pie)
2 cups pumpkin puree

1 box silken tofu

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs molasses

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger powder

2 Tbs arrowroot whisked together with 1/4 cup non-dairy milk

In a food processor, puree the silken tofu until smooth. Pour into a large bowl and combine with the rest of the ingredients. Gently fold ingredients together until well combined. Pour into unbaked pie crust of your choice, preferrably homemade!

Step 8: Pour pie filling into pie crust and bake at 350 For 1 hour. Cover with foil for the first 30 minutes, then remove foil halfway through baking. Step 9: Allow to cool at room temperature overnight or for at least 6 hours to allow the middle to "set."

Step 10: Slice pie, and enjoy....even better, of course, with a little vegan whipped cream or ice cream!

Thanxgiving Part 1: The Spread!

I love, love, love Thanksgiving! Some of my favorite foods are served at this feast and it is always so much fun to cook for hours and hours and see everyone's delighted faces at your hard work! This year, I went all out and made eeeeeverything from scratch...even the faux turkey! Over the next few days, I'll be posting some of the recipes, so as to not overwhelm in one post, so keep an eye out for all my Thanksgiving recipes!!

The Spread: Homemade Seitan Faux Turkey with Savory Onion Gravy, stuffed with Apple-Sage Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes with Chives (my grandma made these vegan for me! with chives from her own garden!), and Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts...

The garlic, bread for the stuffing, apples, chives, and brussels sprouts were all local!The Seitan Faux Turkey RoastI also made Candied Ginger Cranberry Sauce!! I'll give you my recipe below.

Candied Ginger-Cranberry Sauce
3- 12 oz. bags fresh cranberries Juice and zest of 2 lemons Juice and zest of 1 orange 1/2 cup crystallized ginger, chopped 3 cups water 1/2 cup sugar 2 Tbs brown sugar or molasses 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/8 tsp cloves 1 cinnamon stick 1/2 tsp salt

In a large saucepan, combine all of the ingredients except the ginger and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add the chopped ginger and let simmer for 15 more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Remember to remove cinnamon stick before serving. Serve warm or chilled. Best made the day ahead of time to let thicken and enhance the flavors!

My grandma made vegan Mashed Potatoes with Chives for me! Thanks, granny! You're awesome!Local Garlic-Roasted Brussels SproutsSavory Onion Gravy! I love gravy boats!!And because Thanksgiving is just another word for pie: Pies!!!

First is a Pecan Pie, made with locally-grown pecans!! Check out that homemade crust, ya'll!! It was superb, if I do say so myself :) The recipe for the pie filling came from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Vegan Feast Kitchen, because it's amazing! The pie crust is my own creation. And then there was Pumpkin Pie! The recipe will be coming tomorrow, along with a step-by-step on doing the pumpkin puree from scratch! The pumpkin is local, from the farmers' market, and the pie crust is the same as the pecan pie above. This is even better with a big dollop of vegan whipped cream, of course!!

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving...I thank you for saving a turkey, and probably lots of other creatures, too! :) My holiday was wonderful! What's not to love?! Lots of food, friends and family, no school, playing board games, and even more food! That's my kind of break!

For breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, I made Pumpkin-Cranberry Scones from Veganomicon:

They were a little softer and cakier than I typically like my scones (just like the book said they would be!), but they were delicious! I love that it calls for fresh instead of dried cranberries...it just adds that little extra zing that I love! Plus I got to use some of the local farmer's market pumpkin that I pureed myself! DIY bonus!

Meal one, for lunch, was at my family's house, where I made all of the food for Steve, my mom, and myself (everyone else had to fend for themselves!! vegan power). I made the following:
--Tofurkey Roast with Mushroom Gravy
--Chili-Maple Glazed Sweet Potaotes and Chestnuts
--Garlic-Roasted Brussel Sprouts
--Double Cranberry Chutney (from Veg Times)
--Uprise Bakery Cranberry Pecan Rolls with my homemade Apple Butter
Yeah, we were STUFFED! I think Tofurkey roasts are my favorite thing about this holiday!!

And I made two desserts:

Pumpkin "Cheezecake" (again with my own pumpkin puree!)

Pecan Pie...with a homemade crust! Both from the Vegan Feast Kitchen Blog!

Thanksgiving two was for dinner at Steven's family's house....

We just did leftovers for the side dishes, but had a Celebration Roast by Field Roast...since we demolished the Tofurkey Roast at lunch! This was our first time trying the Celebration Roast, and I must say that it was great! I liked the butternut squash in the roast, and the spices were tasty. However, I must give my honest opinion that Tofurkey's is better overall...especially in texuture, but I for sure like the wild rice stuffing and the general flavors better, too. But both are delicious and WAAAAY better than cruelty turkeys!!

All in all, a wonderful day! I ate too much and had a bad cold....but I had a lot of fun, too!!

Tasty TVP Loaf and Homemade Granola

I have been cooking more and more lately (I am actually waiting to take cupcakes out of the oven right now!), but I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up with my blogging because school is so crazy right now....so here is a catch-up of the past week or so: Homemade Granola with coconut, dried pineapple, raisins, and sunflower seeds!

Kung Pao Seitan, from the Whole Foods Cookbook, with Steamed Brown Rice

I also whipped up a faux "meat"loaf the other night, which we have had as leftovers a few times. I didn't go off of any recipe, so I was kinda just throwing stuff in there....and it turned out amazing! Some of the ingredients included: TVP, brown rice, breadcrumbs, carrots, celery, local bell peppers, onion, garlic, sage, thyme, tomato paste, olive oil, tamari, parsley. There's more, I'm sure. Anyway, I spread some organic ketchup on top before baking for that mom-made feel.

Crazy TVP Loaf with Rosemary-Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Sauteed Chard

Crazy TVP Loaf, Garlic-Mashed Potatoes, Leek and Local Zucchini Saute

Has anyone else already planned their Thanksgiving dinners? I have been thinking about mine for a long while now...too long, probably...so here's a few hints:

--Tofurkey, cuz I'm kind of lazy

--roasted sweet potatoes

--my homemade apple butter on something

--brussel sprouts

--a pie and a cheezecake

--probably lots more!!

What are you thinking of cooking up for Save-the-Turkeys Day??