Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Pie Crust (I used a Pillsbury rollout crust, but this is the one that came with the pie recipe)

In medium bowl, combine:
1/2 Cups unbleached flour
7 Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp sugar
1/2 Tsp baking powder

In small bowl, mix:
3 Tbsp canola oil
3 Tbsp soymilk or rice milk plus 1/2 Tsp lemon juice

Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients and mix with fork until it holds together in a ball. If too dry add some water, a little at a time until dough is moist enough to roll. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate for 1 hour.

Roll dough on a lightly floured surface with lightly floured rolling pin forming a 11-ince circle. Line a 9-ince pie plate with the dough. Flute or crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate until ready to use.


Preheat oven to 425

In large bowl, mix until smooth and blended:

2 Cups pumpkin, pureed if home-cooked fresh pumpkin
1 Cup soymilk or rice milk (I used coconut milk - extra creamy)
3/4 Cups granulated sugar or 1/2 Cup honey(agave might work)
1/4 Cup cornstarch
1/2 Tbsp molasses or to taste (I used blackstrap)
1 Tsp vanilla extract
1 Tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp ground ginger
1/4 Tsp grated nutmeg (I used ground)
1/4 Tsp ground allspice
1 pinch cloves

Pour into prepared crust and smooth top. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp. to 350 and bake until filling is set, about 50 minutes more. Cool on wire rack, then refrigerate overnight.

Heavy Baby

This was a lot easier to make than I thought it was going to be! It is a bag made of unbleached birdseye with arms filled with hulled millet (.89/lb - I used 2.5 lbs), covered in peach cotton/lycra 4 way stretch knit remnant from Joann's and the head. Thanks to my serger it was very quick. I started it last night and finished it this morning.

I used these directions for the head - instead of using gauze (since Joann's didn't carry any here) I just used a toddler sock - I'm sure we all have a stray one hanging around! I stuffed it with regular polyfil. I also cut the neck on the left and the right so I could lay half on the front and back to attach the head, since this wasn't a traditional Waldorf doll with a stuffed body, and just zigzagged it on several times.

After the head was attached to the millet bag, I basted a circle around the knit body fabric and cinched it tight. I then sewed around it a couple of times, reaching into the head with the needle to further make it sturdy.

The face is hand embroidered - I used regular brown thread doubled for the eyes and mouth and drew with a pencil what I wanted them to look like before backstitching them on. Ok, I actually tried to free hand it but didn't like what it looked like! When I was done, I pushed the needle deep into the head and then out the side, pulled it tight and snipped the thread. It disappeared nicely into the head!

The hat is just a long triangle that I hemmed and then serged the tall side of. The gown is a bigger version of the doll, with a little added height at the neck and longer in length so that I could add the elastic.

Enjoy!

Olive Garden's Pasta Fagioli

Dinner for today - I just tasted it and it's SO good! You could even leave out the pasta if you wanted it to be gluten-free (are beans gluten free?).

Ingredients

• 1 lbs ground beef
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1-2 carrots grated
  
• 2 stalks chopped celery
• 1 (14 ounce) cans undrained italian diced tomatoes
• 1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans, drained
• 2 (10 ounce) cans beef or chicken stock
• 1.5 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoons pepper
• 2.5 teaspoons parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)
• 1 (20 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup pasta (small pasta, like acini de pepe)

Directions

1. Brown beef in a skillet.
2. Drain fat from beef and add to crock pot with everything except pasta.
3. Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.
4. During last 30 min on high or 1 hour on low, add pasta.

This would go very well with the Cornmeal Rolls!

Chicken, Corn and Beans

This is SO good on a tortilla with some avocado, tomatoes and cashew cheese - so easy too! Here's what I do:

4-5 frozen chicken tenders (like boneless skinless breasts but smaller - you can use the breasts for this too)
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans
Salsa
Cream Cheese (if you want - I omitted it because we can't have it)

Put in crock on high for 2-4 hours - I just watch to see when the chicken is starting to look done and turn it to low then. More time in the crock doesn't hurt anything, if you need it done quickly, just keep it on high.

Cashew Cheese

I butchered this recipe:

Vegan Cashew Cheese
Ingredients:
• 2/3 cup cashews (raw is best, roasted is still great, and try flavored cashews too)
• 1/2 cup water (or slightly more)
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper (raw or roasted)
• 1/4 small red onion (if you're cooking for a date, or more otherwise!)
• 1/4 cup yeast flakes
• 2 garlic cloves (see "red onion")
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos (on the health food isle everywhere, or use lite soy sauce)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sea salt (optional) if the cashews are unsalted
Put everything in a food processor and blend it until it's creamy. If it's too thick, add more water. If it's too watery, add more cashews. It should have a Cream of Wheat-like consistency, or just a bit thicker. For a pizza, spread it thinly over pizza sauce (it's very rich, so a little bit goes a long way), top it off with your favorite vegetables, and pop it in the oven. If the cashew cheese becomes golden-brown more than a few minutes before the pizza crust is done, cover the top of the pizza with foil.
This recipe is plenty for a medium-sized pizza. I like making larger batches and keeping leftovers in the fridge.
Cashew cheese is also great in quesadillas, toasted sandwiches, or just about any other dish that calls for cheese.

and make it like this with my oh so technical measuring...:

Good sized handful of ground cashews or almond meal
Splash of lemon juice
Nutritional yeast (around the same amount as the cashews)
Little bit of onion powder
Little bit of graulated garlic
Some canola oil
Little bit of coconut milk

and it tastes really yummy. Not so much cheesy, but really great on pizza and mexican food.

Christmas Gifts

So far here is my to make gift/swap list:

Riley -
Felt Playhouse
Wooden Kitchen
Possibly a Heavy Baby

DDC Swap -
Fetching for Shelby
Something for Hudson
ETA: Saw this and decided I needed to make it - this way Hudson AND his siblings can all enjoy it! So far I have this:



Nylene -
Fetching
Drop Stitch Scarf

Lynda? -
Cuddle Blanket?

CC YFW Swap -
Convertibles for Jodi