Pumpkin Soup

YIELD: 10 servings (ish)


INGREDIENTS:

6 cups pumpkin
2 large carrots
2 potatoes
6 cloves of garlic
2 medium onions
thumb knob of ginger
enough water to cover
1 can coconut milk
1/3 cup coconut oil
salt (2 tsp), pepper (1 tsp), ground cumin (1 tbsp) and ground corriander (1 tbsp) to taste
Parsley for garnish


DIRECTIONS:

Wash peel and cube pumpkin, carrot and potato. place in large soup pot, cover with water and put on lid. Bring to a boil, reduce and cook for 20 minutes.

Mince garlic and slice onion thinly add to pot at  20 minute mark.
Add the salt, pepper, cumin and corriander as well.

Cook additional 20 minutes.

If time allows turn off heat and leave pot on stove for an hour to let the flavours mingle.

This is where an immersion blender  comes in really handy but a regular blender will work too.  Blend the soup till smooth.

Once fully blended return to heat and bring back to a boil . Add coconut milk and oil and stir till completely combined.

Keep warm on low till ready to serve.

Yum!

Vegan BBQ Messy Sandwich

Okay, Yes, this is the vegan replacement for pulled pork. It drives my husband nuts that we do that to vegan recipes. He is a meat eater so in the end it makes little difference to him but it is true. We create this 'alike' recipes because we crave or miss something from the meat eating world. So I say go ahead but then be inventive as to what yopu call it, take the animal out of the equation. I will put the akin name in keywords for searches but no longer in the name.

Moving on

Vegan BBQ Messy Sandwiches.

How this turns out totally depends on your rub and BBQ sauce. Mine are still being tweeked and I will post once I am in love. For now find one you like or love and make this your own.  I made this for a 'See you later' BBQ this past weekend and it went like gangbusters. Sitting along side it's porcine doppelganger, the meat eaters chowed down on my pot of goodness.

YIELD: unsure but at least 10 good sized sandwiches

INGREDIENTS:

4 cans of jackfruit in brine or water*

4 cups BBQ Sauce

2 Onions halved and sliced

3 cloves of garlic minced

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika**

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder 

1 tsp onion powder

1 tbsp chili powder

DIRECTIONS:

Before you cut anything put the oil in the bottom of a crock pot and turn it on high.***

As you cut the onion and garlic add it to the crock pot to get started softening.***

Rinse the jackfruit and let stand to drain fully. (there may be seed pods dont stress over them, they become quite soft and edible as well.)

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl with a lid or a ziplock bag.

Cut the core (the triangular bit that is tougher than the ouside) and dicard the core.

Add the remaing Jackfruit to the dry ingredients and shake to coat.

Once the onions are softened add the Jackfruit and the BBQ sauce and allow to cook on high for at  least two hours.

Mash with a fork to pull the jackfruit apart.

Serve hot on the roll of your choosing.  I reccommend adding coleslaw to the sandwich as well, but that is just me.  So Very Yummy!

* Can be challanging to find try Indian or Asian food stores. It is more redily available in its fully ripened in syrup form.  This works but rinse VERY well and do not add any sweetener to your BBQ sauce. It is aloso more time consuming to pull as you need to do it piece by piece like ypu do with pork.

** Regular paprika is just fine, I just like the added smoky flavour.

*** You can also soften the onions and garlic in a skillet first, even blsacken them a bit to add to the BBQ flavour. Or not at all, two hours or more in a Crock Pot will certainly soften them. I just like to give them a head start.

Sherpherd-less Pie

All four burners and the stove going for this one. My family loves shepherds pie so this was a tricky one but so yummy and worth it. Also it took me only about 1/2 an hour to assemble My husband makes a beef one that my daughter is nuts over. He challenged me to make one as good. Here it is.

YIELD: 1 shallow oblong casserole dish


INGREDIENTS:

5 medium potatoes
2 carrots
1 cup frozen peas
9 or 10 mushrooms (I prefer cremini but any kind would work)
I package of ground round (an Yves product)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 mushroom flavour bouillon cube in 1/4 cup hot water
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soya sauce (or Tamari)*
2 heaping tbsp tofutti cream cheese
olive oil
Earth Balance butter
2 / 4 tbsp flour*
Salt and pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven 375˚ 

Pot 1 ~ Wash and cube potatoes (skin on). Add to boiling water and cook till well done.

Fry pan ~ Dice the onions and add to a hot frying pan with a good glug of olive oil. Cook over medium heat and once they are soft add the garlic and cook a few more minutes. Cut 6/7 mushrooms to desired size and add to onions and garlic. (I mince some and leave some in 1/2 slices.  The kids pick out the big chunks and unknowingly eat the little pieces, evil Mommie) cook till starting to shrink and brown. Add the ground round and mix it in with the rest in the pan. Add 1 tbsp Worcestershire and the soy sauce.  Let cook while preparing the rest.

Pot 2 (steamer) ~ Check your potatoes.  Are they ready? No, okay peel the carrots cut lengthwise in 1/2 and the 1/2 again. cut into pieces about twice the size of a pea. Add them to a steamer and cook till tender but firm. Chuck in the peas and let them heat through. Turn off burner but reserve the water. Add veggies to the frying pan.

Pot 3 (small one) ~ Melt a good dollop of Earth Balance in the pan. Mince up the remaining mushrooms and saute them in the butter. Once they are cooked reduce temp to low and add the flour till it forms a thick paste. Add the 1/4 cup water with bouillon and whisk till thick. Add a bit of the reserved carrot water at a time, whisking in between to keep it thick. keep adding and mixing till you have about 1 cup of mushroom gravy that is a thick gravy consistency. Add the remaining tbsp of Worcestershire.  Add to the fry oan and mix everything together.  As all this whisking and adding water is going on you probably want to check the potatoes and drain them.

Mash the potatoes adding the tofutti and veggie water (as needed) till you get the right consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.

Grease the casserole dish and add the ground round mixture evenly over the bottom. Cover with potatoes and bake for 30 minutes uncovered.



* if you use tamari and and cornstarch or other alternative to wheat flour this is easy to make gluten free,

I had 3 helpings which was totally unnecessary but I'd been left out so many times and my mouth was so happy that I just went for it.

Banana Bread / Muffins

I've tried this a few times and finally have come up with one I like.

YIELD: 16 - 24 mini muffins


INGREDIENTS:

4 soupy bananas - Super Ripe*
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2cup cornmeal
i tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
handful of raisins**



DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease the muffin tin / loaf pan.

Mash the bananas in a small bowl. Add the oil, agave, lemon juice,flax seed and nutmeg and stir till well mixed

In a medium bowl mix the flours, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt and raisins together.

Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix till just combined. Using a table spoon fill muffin tin till full. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Bake for 40 minutes is making a loaf.


*I just peel and bag over ripe bananas and chuck them in the freezer. When they defrost the become a bit soupy.

** Totally optional.

Rapid Cornmeal Bread

I use this in my circa 1990 black and decker bread machine. It has a rapid bread cycle that takes 1 hour and 58 minutes. If your machine has this type of cycle I think it should work perfectly for you. MY Mum and friends have used it and it works well for them.

YIELD: 1 pound and a half loaf


INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp powdered soy milk
2 tbsp agave nectar
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3cup cornmeal
1 3/4tsp yeast


DIRECTIONS:

Add ingredients to you breadmaker pan in the order you see them listed. Put into the machine in the rapid bread cycle. Either a dark or light crust will work.

Happy breadmaking.

Eggplant Chana Masala - ish

This isn't a knock your socks off dish but Mira had 2 helpings last night and asked to take some with her for lunch today. For me that = SUCCESS! Serve with rice.

YIELD: serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp curry powder *
2 tsp cumin *
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 med/lg eggplant, chopped into bite size pieces
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup chopped green tomatoes **

DIRECTIONS:

Add oil to large sauce pan / dutch oven and saute onions. Add garlic after the onions has begun to become translucent. Mix in the curry powder, cumin and salt. Add green tomatoes and cook till onions are translucent and browning and green tomatoes are getting soft.

Add eggplant and stir in to coat with seasonings. Cook for about 5 minutes, eggplants are like sponges so if they have used all the oil and are sticking too much just add a bit more oil. Add tomatoes and their juice and the chickpeas. cover and simmer for 40 minutes.

Make rice while the Chana simmers.



* my curry and cumin might not be as fresh as I'd hoped, add these seasonings to taste.

** I have lots of green tomatoes from my garden so I'm chucking them in lots of stuff. These are totally optional.

Places to go

I thought since I am constantly looking for safe things to eat (or at the very least vegan things to eat) that I would include what I discover on my recipe blog.

TIM HORTONS:

Yes they do!

Oatcakes
All low fat muffins
Sandwich buns