Vegan Breakfast Cookies or fluffly little AM fillers

I love cookies. I mean, I scary love cookies. So when I saw this recipe for breakfast cookies from the Minimalist Baker, I pretty much ran out and made them immediately.

From MinimalistBaker.com

Like most of my go-to recipes, this one allows for some flexibility. I used regular flour since I'm cool with gluten, but did still added the ground almonds (side note: my roommate makes almond milk, so there's always some quantity of ground almonds hanging around). My roommate has a peanut allergy so I substituted the peanut butter for "sun butter," which is made from sunflower seeds. I also left out the chocolate in favor of raisins and coconuts, but I'm sure you could imagine a thousand different things to throw in the mix such as pumpkin seeds, cranberries, sliced almonds, dried apricots, macadamia nuts, etc.

The only problem was that the cookies turned a rather unappetizing shade of green. I have to imagine this was some reaction of the sun butter since I certainly didn't add spinach. But since they're not overly sweet and the dough turned out light and fluffy; they're rather muffin-like. Maybe next time I'll put them in mini muffin tins and add more baking powder?

Pumpkin mole mole mole (it bears repeating)

With the idea of resurrecting my pumpkin in mind, I had a stroke of genius: Mole! Yes, the proverbial curry of Mexico would be my saving grace and, as it turns out, an epic triumph. The pumpkin on it's own can be a bit bland, but it's firm texture really supports the mole sauce without overpowering. Here's how it went down.

I scoured the 'net for a mole recipe that would be easy yet somewhat authentic. Enter David Lebovitz in all his chocolatey know-how. Here's the recipe, but I treated it like a curry and improved a little with good results. I omitted the prunes in favor of agave nectar and a bit of lime for acidity. Since I already had the pumpkin prepared, I opted to make this on a weekday but the sauce does take some steps. 

If you don't have a roasted pumpkin on hand, no worries! It's easy to do. Depending on the size of your squash, it will need anywhere from 25 to 60 minutes at 350. It should be tender all the way through.

I also made rice and beans to flush out the meal. I opted for a blend of brown and wild rice to ensure the full nutrient benefits from the grain. You can get fancy and soak your own beans overnight, but if you're willing to go through all the work of opening a can, straining and rinsing, you can jazz up the beans with jalapeno, garlic, cumin, crushed peppers, salt & pepper. Add veggie broth & simmer until the flavors meld, about 15-20 minutes. Interesting and useful fact: when you combine beans and rice you complete the amino acid chain for a complete protein, essentially replicating the benefits of meat. The beans alone won't benefit your body the same way.

I was incredibly impressed with the earthy, chocolatey flavor and lingering spice (as you can see). This is the kind of meal you eat slowly to enjoy the complex flavors, but you'll want a full-bodied red wine with a bit of sweetness to cut the heat.

Stuffed pumpkin; or the tale of two pumpkins

Though I'm all about eating seasonally, I didn't have to go through any great lengths to attain this pumpkin. In fact it had become something of a decor piece since it's been sitting happily in my window sill since Thanksgiving. No joke. My aunt grew some impressive pumpkins and though I intended to cook it a bit sooner, I didn't try the vegan thing until recently and the pumpkin just lasted and lasted.

Anyhoo, some time ago I made a stuffed pumpkin but I used sausage. So I thought, why not vegan-ize this beast and feast? I ended up combing several recipes so I'll just list an approximation of the recipe I used.

Stuffed Pumpkin, vegan style

1 medium to large pumpkin
1 lb loaf whole wheat bread, cut into 1" cubes
1 cup cooked rice (I used wild rice)
1 cup ground almonds
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 apple, chopped; Granny Smith or Fuji
1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and/or pecans
1/2 cup raw (green) pumpkin seeds
1 1/4 cup veggie broth
1/4 cup dried apricots or raisins 
2 Tbs Earth Balance (vegan butter)
Olive oil
Fresh thyme, rosemary
Dried sage, oregeno
Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the top off pumpkin and remove seeds. Brush inside with generous amount of olive oil, slat & pepper. Place on baking sheet lined with foil in oven and roast 15 minutes.

In medium pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute about 5-10 minutes. Add onion & celery and saute until translucent and mushrooms give up their liquid.  Add apples, zuchinni, walnuts, seeds & 1 Tbs "butter" and saute until soft. Add apricots, herbs, spices, broth and 1 Tbs "butter" and saute 5-10 minutes more. 

Meanwhile, combine bread cubes, rice and almond meal in large bowl. Gently fold in wet ingredients, careful not to mash bread. Spoon stuffing into pumpkin and place pumpkin back into oven for 15 to 30 more minutes. The pumpkin may should be very soft; you should be able to easily pierce the pumpkin with a fork.

Sadly, this blog had not yet been conceived so there's no visual record. Can I just give you a soulless picture of the cold and soggy leftovers? That's right, soggy. After about 20 minutes in the oven my pumpkin began to weep for it's unborn children (though it had not began to rot when I cut it open, the seeds inside had sprouted). However, the stuffing was glorious.

I recommend either making this for a very large group of people so as to eat as much as possible or devising a clever way to store the stuffing and pumpkin. Mine became very soggy after one or two days in the fridge.

In any case, this glorious pumpkin will have a second life. Stay tuned...