Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles & Vegan Halloween

Happy Halloween! What better way to end Vegan MoFo than with a deliciously sweet spread. We had a Halloween party Saturday night, and yep, I did my crazy hostess thing yet again.... This time, I made bourbon cinnamon cupcakes, candy corn, and pumpkin cream cheese truffles.

Kale & Kabocha Squash Curry Coconut Soup

This would be a perfect meal to make Sunday night, and then store and have waiting for you when you come home after a case of the Mondays; it's comforting, delicious, and tastes even better the next day. But it's also easy enough to quickly whip together after a long work day, in keeping with the theme of many of my vegan MoFo recipes.

When I saw red kabocha at the farmer's market, with a little sign that described it's sweet flavor, I knew I had to have it. I use green kabocha pretty regularly now, but hadn't tried the red variety yet. Kabocha squash is delicious roasted on its own, in curries, or in soups -like this Asian udon noodle soup- or this Fall-themed soup.

Vegan Candy Corn and Chocolate Candy Corn

Candy corn seems to be one of those polarizing things. You either love it, or you hate it. For me, it's always been the former. Until I eat too much of it and then I hate it- for a few hours, anyway. But no matter how much I may OD on candy corn in October, every year when Fall rolls around, I look forward to its return, right along with the falling leaves, crisp air, and cozy sweaters, of course. No matter which candy corn camp you're in, you have to admit, these little candies, with their uniquely sweet texture, are a Fall candy staple. So of course I needed to make vegan candy corn!

Farro with Beets and Apple Cider Broccoli & Rapini

Before we move on to Halloween treats and sweets, how 'bout another healthy dinner?

Yes, this is my second post with apple cider this week. But I like having multiple recipes to use an ingredient in, especially those ingredients that you don't buy all the time and that don't last indefinitely. And this is also another simple, easy, filling, delicious meal that can be thrown together after work.

Brownies, Brownies, and Strawberry Brownies!

Sometimes you just want a brownie. For my husband, that sometimes is pretty much always. Brownie sundaes and strawberry shortcake are probably his top two all-time favorite desserts. I decided to combine the two, since our neighbor had just brought us 3 baskets of fresh local strawberries. Think chocolate-covered strawberries, in brownie form. They're even low fat, too- but every bit as satisfying.

And if you're looking for other vegan brownie recipes, read on- I also include some links to a few brownie recipes from around the web. These recipes are easy and can completely be thrown together on a weeknight evening when you're just craving a little dessert...

Coconut Greens and Kuri Squash

Nothing fancy here. Just another simple, easy, healthy but yummy weeknight meal to add to the mix!

Apple Cider Glazed Brussels Sprouts, Tempeh, and Greens

Sweet, warm Fall flavors. Filling and healthy. This dinner is a variation on a tempeh & Brussels sprouts dish I've made a few times before, but with plenty of fresh apple cider mixed in - perfect for a cool Fall day.

Butternut Squash Orzo with Sage Brown Butter

Do you ever make a meal, while sipping a glass of wine (or two), and then finally sit down to eat it, and think, "Holy crap, this is amazing. What the hell did I put in this?"-? This was one of those meals. But don't worry, I think I do actually remember the exact ingredients here. And if you don't think it tastes completely awesome, blame the white wine ;-)

White Acorn Squash with Sweet Tempeh and Mushrooms

I love "squash bowl" meals. Give me a fall squash and I'm happy. Add some more veggies to it, even better. There are a million variations to stuffed squash dinners- here's another tasty one!

White Acorn Squash with Sweet Tempeh and Mushroooms
Serves 2
Ingredients:

• 1 white acorn squash 
• 8 oz shittake mushrooms, sliced
• 1 package of tempeh, cubed
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 2-3 Tbsp soy sauce
• A few dashes of sriracha (I used about 6-8 drops)
• 1 tsp fig jam
• handful of almonds, chopped

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Slice squash in half and remove seeds. Place face down in large dish with a few inches of water. Cook for 30-35 minutes, until tender with a fork.
2. After putting the squash in the oven, mix together the maple syrup, soy sauce, sriracha and jam in a small bowl. Place the tempeh in a bake safe dish and pour the sauce over it; toss to coat. Place in the oven with the squash for 15 minutes.
3. In a small bowl, place the sliced mushrooms with 1 Tbsp soy sauce and toss.  After 15 minutes of cooking the tempeh, add in the mushrooms and sliced almonds, stirring to mix around the sauce. Add more maple syrup and/or soy sauce if needed, and cook for until 10-15 minutes, until tempeh is browned.
4. To serve, place the tempeh mix inside each half of squash and enjoy warm. 

Deeeeelish. The sweet tempeh, mushrooms, and almonds go so well with the acorn squash.

Other squash bowl meal ideas:

• Acorn squash stuffed with roasted veggie quinoa, rainbow quinoa with cranberries, nuts, and spinach, or quinoa with cashew butter and apples
• Butternut squash with farro or wheatberry salad
• Spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, broccoli, and mushrooms

Gotta love those fall squashes! 

Rosemary Socca with Roasted Eggplant

Since our anniversary dinner, I've been wanting to make socca at home. If you haven't ever had or heard of socca, it's just a chickpea "pancake," almost is a little like polenta in texture and consistency. Socca is simple to make, and can be varied in a bunch of ways, so it's a great addition to quick weeknight meals. Perfect for enjoying a restaurant-style dinner, right at home in your warm & cozies.

Mom's Pumpkin Bread, Veganized!

Thanksgiving day. Christmas morning. Family. Holidays. Pumpkin bread.

These words just go together for me. We can't have a Christmas or Thanksgiving without this bread, and I can't have this bread without thinking about home, family, and holidays growing up. A warm, delicious, soft, incredibly moist, cake-like bread that melts in your mouth with fall spices and pumpkin goodness. The top forms a thin, almost gooey layer of pumpkin that my brother and I would secretly cut off in pieces, like little mice nibbling away at the best part. This recipe has become almost a part of my family identity- it's right up there with steamy Baltimore summers, Cape Cod vacations, New Hampshire lakes, and long car rides in Ford station wagons- and I almost thought about not sharing it to keep the family secret. But, good food is best shared, and so, I give you... the best pumpkin bread ever. My mom's. ;-)

A rare event

Sunday night my husband decided he wanted to make dinner. Vegan dinner. No, really, he did. To put things in perspective, this hasn't happened in about a year. Well, not if you don't count ordering take-out, or heating up jarred spaghetti sauce and boiling noodles.

Ever since we had an awesome dinner at an Indian place in SF called Dosa, we've been wanting to re-create the coconut and roasted corn soup we had there. I'm definitely surprised to say that my husband made a pretty darn delicious version of it. Here's the link to the soup he made. He pretty much followed the recipe, using fresh corn, but we subbed vegetable stock for the chicken stock. The only changes I would make are to make sure the corn is really well puréed, so it's nice and smooth. (I had to laugh a little at him when he was trying to blend the corn in our weak-ass blender instead of using the food processor, which he despises because it's so loud. He did need a little help.) Oh and my other recommendation would be to double the recipe, because there weren't any leftovers!

Fall Coconut Curry

This dish is a warm bowl of goodness, a blending of my farmer's market veggies this week. Sweet Fall squash, seasoned tofu, cauliflower, and kale all stewed in a blend of coconut and curry spice.

Persimmon Pumpkin Cookies

Hello persimmons. Meet pumpkin. I think you two will work well together...

The last pumpkin cookies I made were soft little bites filled with melty chocolate chips. But the pumpkin didn't shine quite as much as I wanted it to. I wanted pumpkin cookies that SCREAMED pumpkin. I wanted to up the PUMPKIN ANTE...

Dreamy Creamy Tofu, Pickle, and Pea Salad

Sometimes I go weeks without eating tofu. I go through phases. Beans...tofu...tempeh. And repeat. Cycling through proteins. Today, I seem to be back to tofu. I was craving a little tofu salad for lunch, so I whipped this up in a snap. Tangy and creamy but still light, and perfectly paired with some fresh greens or rolled up in a soft wrap.

Vegan Mofo and Encuentro!!

What?! It's October?! How did that happen? I was just hanging out at a friend's pool in 75 degree weather yesterday. And it's 80 today... but even if the weather doesn't feel like Fall, I couldn't be more excited to welcome October. Because it's Vegan Mofo (that's Vegan MOnth of FOod for those of you who have not heard). And this year I'm officially taking part in it! To start off the month, I have a restaurant review- but see yesterday's post on pumpkin cookies if you are craving a recipe!