Pumpkin Cheesecake + Pumpkin Muffins

It's pumpkin time, and I couldn't be happier.

So obviously I am going to go crazy with pumpkin recipes over the next few weeks, brace yourselves.

My uncle Kevin was down recently from NYC, and that was awesome. Basically tasted my recipes and gave me graphic design advice/pointers. Love you uncle Kenny!

So the first recipe I tackled was a pumpkin cheezecake. I wanted to try some different experiments and see what I wanted to make on Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Cheezecake with Ginger Snap Crust Topped with Candied Pecans

Crust:  
1 1/4 cups of finely ground GF gingersnaps {got mine at HEB}
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon plain almond milk.

Preheat oven to 350
Crush or grind up gingersnaps and mix in sugar, coconut oil, and almond milk.

Spread across a 9" dish and smash it down.

Bake in oven for about 10-12 minutes, then set aside.

Filling:
1 3/4 cups canned pumpkin puree 

1/2 cup whole unroasted cashews soaked in water for about 30min-1hr (or macadamia nuts)
1/4 cup mashed banana (about half of 1 medium-sized banana)
1 12 to 14 oz package silken tofu, drained
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
3 tablespoons coconut oil, at room temperature
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon sea salt 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Blend everything together and pour onto the crust.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then add topping and bake for another 20 minutes.

Topping:
1/3 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tablespoon coconut oil 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

Pinch of salt

Chop pecans, then mix with coconut sugar, coconut oil and salt 

After the baking the filling for 20 minutes, spread across the top and put back in the oven for another 2o minutes.

After you take it out of the oven, you have the option to eat it warm, or perhaps put it in the refrigerator and eat it cold. I actually had a few people say that I should have served it cold since cheesecake is normally a cold dessert. So I'm going to try that next time!

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Because I was on a pumpkin frenzy, I didn't just stop there.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins 

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all purpose flour {definitely the best brand}
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice {if you don't have this, just omit}
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2  teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup coconut sugar {or brown sugar}
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin puree {not pumpkin pie filling. Just plain pumpkin}
1/3 cup coconut oil {melted}
1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk {other milks may be substituted including coconut, soy, hemp}
2 tablespoons applesauce
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips {I buy this brand. If it's not in the baking aisle, it's in the gluten-free section.} 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Mix the dry ingredients, and in a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.

Mix in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the mixture into muffin liners {or if you don't have any, lightly oil the actual muffin tin}

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Then go crazy and eat them all by yourself. (;

{Sorry I don't have a picture...they got inhaled by my family all too quickly. but if you click on the link in the title, you can see the pictures in the original blog.}

Let me know if you try either of these recipes.

Also for a thanksgiving blog, would y'all be interested in me tackling more unique festive recipes, or should i vegan-ify some traditional thanksgiving treats?

Sweet Potato Casserole for the Lazy

As soon as that teasing little cold front came in last weekend, I've totally been in the fall mood. I'm ready for my house to smell like pumpkin spice and cinnamon apples.
I randomly began craving sweet potato casserole, but of course I wasn't exactly willing to put in the effort. So I basically came up with the laziest possibly way to get it, and it turned out to be pretty delish.

Sweet Potato Casserole for the Extra Lazy:

(Serves 1)

1 Sweet Potato
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Raisins 

{Yep, that's it}

Method:

Chop the sweet potato into chunks.
Pulse a few times in a food processor until it's pretty shredded.
Place it in a pot and cook on med-high for about 5-10 minutes just to soften it a bit.
Put it back into the food processor (or blender) with cinnamon and nutmeg, and blend until smooth. Stir in the raisins by hand.


That's a college student Thanksgiving right there people.
It's actually really yummy, try it out!
Also, you can blend yams without even cooking them, if yams are your thing. It's pretty amazing. I mean, who wants to wait for a sweet potato to bake in the oven for 45 minutes? Not me. 

 

PB + J Milkshake

Over the weekend I was staying with my parents, and one of the nights I was making dinner for my two little brothers.

Brickie was bummed out because my mom wasn't going to let him have regular ice cream that night, and we only had a small amount of almond milk ice cream left.

So, I tried to help him out. I pulled up my favorite vegan dessert blog, www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com, and as usual Katie did not disappoint.

I started scrolling through recipes, and I told Brickie just to tell me when to stop. We ended up in the milkshake category, and specifically a recipe for a "peanut butter and jelly milkshake." I have never heard of that before!

Luckily we had all the necessary ingredients (sometimes I think our pantry is magical).

Brickie was a genius and took it a step further, pouring it over a scoop of almond milk ice cream.

The recipe is simple:

1 cup of frozen raspberries (or any kind of berry)

2 tbsp peanut butter

3/4 cup of almond milk (or coconut, or soy)

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Ripe banana or maple syrup

Blend it all together, and you have your milkshake!

This literally tastes exactly like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It blew my mind!

If you have little kids that love PB&J, this is perfect for them

Also, check out www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com for some amazing health-i-fied recipes

Raw Pasta + No-Meat Balls

Make this. Just make it, and don't even think twice about it. 

Making noodles out of vegetables has been my latest obsession. There are just so many benefits to it. Low carb being the most obvious. But I just think it's so cool how your noodle is also your vegetable! Ahhhh!

So, I usually make a ballin' peanut sauce pad thai (why the heck have I not done a post on that yet?) but I found this other peanut sauce recipe that tastes just as good but is actually healthier (less sweeter, less sodium etc).

This recipe is going to be a new regular for me. It's just so good, and the best part is...you don't have to cook anything. 

I got the peanut sauce recipe from This Rawsome Vegan Life's version of veggie pasta. Basically my favorite blog ever. (Her pictures are 81238128 time better too)

And the no-meat balls are from One Green Planet
You can click the link for the recipe. I followed it exactly.

Raw Vegan Pasta

1-2 carrots per person
1 zucchini per person (unless it's small...then 2)
handful of cherub tomatoes
cilantro
1 tbsp hemp seeds

Peanut Sauce (probably like...2 servings?):

1 tbsp raw peanut butter
1 tbsp miso paste
1 clove garlic
2 pitted dates
lemon juice
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
pinch of chili powder
*I added >> dash of soy sauce & sirachra  

Method:

Blend all the peanut sauce ingredients in a food processor, and add water until it is nice and creamy.

Take a simple peeler and peel the zucchini and carrots into a bowl. If you have a Mandolin, I'm super jealous.

Dump the peanut sauce into the bowl and mix it all around with your hands, getting an even coat all over the noodles.

In my picture I forgot to add the tomatoes.

Toss in some no-meat balls and decorate with cilantro and sprinkle on some hemp seeds.

 

Raw Burritos {Again!}

I know that I have already done a post on raw burritos, but in my opinion this version is way better!

I just moved into my house this past week, which means I'm a broke college student again. But I refuse to eat like one.

I needed to think of something that I could eat everyday for lunch and that wasn't time consuming. 

So, I came up with these raw wraps/burritos/whatever you want to call them. It's great because it really makes your groceries last. Each day I only needed to use a small portion of each vegetable. 

You can either make these right when you want to eat them, or make them in advance, wrap them in plastic wrap, and take it on the go.

Raw Burritos (Makes 2 or so):

2 big or 4 small collard green leaves
1 zucchini or cucumber (or both. You won't even use all of it.)
1-2 carrots
1/4 of a bell pepper
1/8 of a purple onion
1/4 of an avocado
Small handful of cilantro
Julienne peeler (if you don't have one, you can just cut really thin slices. But a Julienne peeler makes this WAY quicker...and fun)

Hummus:

Can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans
1 tbsp tahini
1/2 lemon
salt to taste

Method:

Blend the ingredients for your hummus.
Pick out 2-4 collard green leaves, preferably no holes. If you cant find 2 big ones, use 4 small ones like I did.
Using a Julienne peeler, peel the zucchini/cucumber and carrots into a pile.
Thinly slice the bell pepper.
Dice the purple onion.
Cut up your avocado.
Spread the hummus on the leaves, then pile on your veggies.
Roll it up.

I ate 2 of these bad boys, and I also had one of these quinoa patties. They are delicious, but I don't know what stores sell them. If you ever see it, you gotta try it! Just pop it in the toaster. I sometimes crumble it into my burrito.

It's Not Easy Being a Green Cupcake

Ok, keep an open mind about this recipe, and it will not disappoint.

Gluten-free zucchini cupcakes with avocado icing. Whaaaaaaat.

My mother had made a batch of gluten-free vanilla cupcakes the other day, which was somewhat of a bummer for those of us who can't eat / don't eat eggs and milk. So I decided to make some as well. Except I didn't want to just make a normal cupcake, how boring would that be? So I scanned the internet and my pantry to see what I could come up with. 

I've always wanted to make some sort of dessert involving the creaminess of an avocado, and zucchini muffins were something I wanted to tackle eventually also. So I combined forces and decided on zucchini cupcakes with avocado icing.

What came as a shock was the fact that there was actually a recipe online for this little monster. However, there were a few ingredients that I didn't approve of (canola oil, sugar,  wheat, fake butter, white vinegar etc) so I just made some simple replacements in order to make it a bit "healthier." –Don't worry, it definitely tastes like dessert.

If you want the original recipe you can click here

Or you can keep reading for my version.

What you need (makes a dozen):

1 3/4 cup gluten-free all purpose flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil (measured as liquid)
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup grated zucchini

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and powder, salt) in one bowl.
Mix the liquids (maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, vinegar + the coconut sugar) in another.
Pour the liquid mixture into the bowl with the dry and whisk. Then stir in the zucchini.
Fill cupcake liners and bake in the oven about 18-20 min. Tap the top of the cupcakes to see if it slightly bounces back.

Set out to cool completely before covering in icing.

For the icing:

Basically it is ripe avocados + a ton of powdered sugar. (Not so healthy, but hey, it's icing!)
Also add a pinch of salt and some vanilla extract.
Just keep adding powdered sugar until it's sweet enough for you.
Blend, blend blend.

I made 18 of these babies, and they were gone in an instant. I barely got one for myself!
It was a bit of a challenge to get some of the kids to taste it at first, I mean, a green cupcake is pretty different. But they loved it.

I even think you could add more zucchini and also other vegetables like carrots etc.

These cupcakes would be perfect for St. Patrick's Day!

Raw Vegan Truffles

I am pleased to present to you something of my own creation. 

I planned on just making homemade Larabars (it's a lot cheaper), but something came over me and I just couldn't stop.

In all honesty I was just wingin' it, so I apologize for the lack of measurements in this recipe. But it shouldn't be a problem.

I realize that the possibilities are endless when it comes to the type of "truffle" you can create, but I chose 3: chocolate chip rolled in coconut, cacao rolled in pistachios, and (for the adventurous) carrot cake rolled in coffee. I was just gettin' a little crazy in the kitchen and pulling out anything I could find.

What You Need:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffle with Coconut:

Big handful of pitted medjool dates (or regular dates and pit them yourself like I did)
Small handful of cashews
Dairy-free chocolate chips
Coconut shreds

Method:

In a food processor or blender, blend the dates and cashews until it makes a somewhat smooth substance. 
Next, scoop the mixture into small little balls and roll it in the coconut shreds.


Cacao Truffle with Pistachios:

Big handful pitted medjool dates
Small handful cashews*
1-2 tbsp raw cacao powder
Ground pistachios

Method: 

Blend dates with cashews and cacao powder. 
Scoop into balls and roll in the pistachios.

 


Carrot Cake Truffles with Coffee Granules: 

Big handful pitted medjool dates
1 carrot
Few cashews*
Pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, & allspice
Lightly ground coffee beans 

Method:

First pulse the carrot a few times, then add the dates and cashews and spices.
Roll in the ground coffee beans.

*You can technically use any kind of nut. Pecans make it taste like a pecan pie!

Place the truffles onto a dish lined with parchment paper. Then either freeze for 20 min or refrigerate for an hour.