Thanksgiving Recipe - Pumpkin Pie

It's about this time of year when many people start thinking about thanksgiving.
We don't celebrate thanksgiving, but I previously tried this recipe for a dinner party with friends and it worked so well that I wanted to try it again and make sure I posted it in time for thanksgiving if it worked out.
I'm pleased to say that it works so well and is totally delicious :-)
It's not very difficult to make either which means it's a winner in my books! 

EASY PUMPKIN PIE

(This recipe makes 1x 24cm pie - serves 8-12 depending on cutting size.)
You'll need:
For the crust:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (optional, works without it)
For the filling:
1/4 medium size pumpkin
300g tub soft silken tofu
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (don't have this - use 1t cinnamon, 1/4t each ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves)

Peel and de-seed the pumpkin. Cut into pieces and cook until tender however you choose, my preferred way is in the microwave. This takes approx 7 mins with a small amount of water in the bottom of a microwave safe dish. You need 1 1/2 cups of cooked pumpkin pieces, though don't stress if you are a little over or under as this recipe is very forgiving.
Set cooked pumpkin aside.
In a food processor combine the crust ingredients and pulse until the mixture is lightly crumbled and comes together.

Press the mixture into the pie dish with the back of a spoon. You can be as precise or rustic as you desire. Make sure there are no holes in the button layer as the filling will leak through if there is.
Place pie base in a preheated 160°C oven and baked for 20 minutes. 
In the meantime, prepare the filling.
Make sure the pumpkin is well strained of any water. Strain the tofu.
Combine all the filling ingredients in a food processor and blend until very smooth.
Pour the filling over the baked pie base.

Spread with the back of a spoon to get a nice even surface on top.
Return to the oven and bake for a further 40 minutes, still at 160°c.

Once cooker, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.

Note: 
* We have found that so long as we are using a glass pie dish it doesn't need to be sprayed with oil, the pie slides right off it when it's cooled.
* This is a lightly sweetened pie, you can use more maple syrup if you'd like a sweeter pie.

Question of the day:
Do you celebrate thanksgiving?

Chocolate Okara Pie

For those of you who make your own motherless milk, it can often be quite a dilemma what to do with all the leftover pulp. It seems wasteful to throw it away, and yet it isn't always the easiest thing to find uses for, especially if you go through a lot of milk in your home.
Here's a great way to use up some of that pulp.
I have only tried this pie with okara (soy milk pulp) but I see no reason why it wouldn't work with other plant-based milk pulps.

Chocolate Okara Pie

Crust:
1 cup oat flour/bran
1/2 cup okara
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon baking powder

Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until combined. Mixture will be a wet crumble. 
Press into a 20cm pie dish, making sure to press some of the mixture up onto the sides.
Bake for 12-15 minutes in a preheated 180C oven.

Pie filling:
1/2 cup okara
1 cup motherless milk of choice
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut sugar (or other dry sweetener of choice)
1/4 cup cornflour
2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine all the pie filling ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.
Pour mixture over the baked pie crust.

Cook at 160C for 1 hour. Remove from oven.
The mixture will be slightly wobbly.
Allow to cool prior to slicing.
The mixture will thicken upon cooling.

Serve with frozen berries of choice.

Question of the day:
Do you make your own plant-based milk? If so, what do you do with the pulp?

Potato-topped, white bean pie

I'm sorry, there simply is no way to photograph this and make it look pretty....
Then again, often the sloppy-messy dinners are the most delicious!
We definitely think this is one of those dinners!!! :-)
This eventuated when a lentil shepherd's pie was on the cards, but no tins of lentils were in the pantry. Alas, potato-topped white bean pie came about :-)
I haven't given this recipe the usual make, try, try again process. However, it's quite a simple dish that is versatile and you basically can't go wrong!

POTATO-TOPPED WHITE BEAN PIE

You'll need:
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery
1 zucchini
2 carrots
1 green capsicum
120g fresh spinach leaves
2 tins white beans
1/2 large jar of tomato passata
1 Tablespoon mixed Italian herbs

For the potato topping:
6 medium sized potatoes
1/2 cup motherless milk of choice
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 Tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon dried chives

Chop the potatoes into little pieces and place in a microwave safe dish and cover with water. Heat in the microwave for 10 minutes (or until totally soft).
Combine all the vegetables except for the spinach in a food processor and pulse a few times until desired size. 
Put chopped veggies into a frying pan and dry-fry until then begin to soften.
Add the drained white beans, the passata, spinach and herbs.
Stir frequently until warmed through and spinach has wilted.
Transfer to a large lasagne size baking dish and press down evenly.
Drain the potatoes and mash with the other ingredients needed for the topping.
Spread the potatoes over the top of the bean/veggie mix.

Place in a preheated 180C oven for 30minutes until lightly browned on top.
Serve :-)

Apple Crumble Pie

 

I haven't finished with pie yet.... can't have all the pie recipes being savoury ones!

Today I bring you a sweet pie.

APPLE CRUMBLE PIE

 

You'll need:

1 pie crust (see my recipe posted earlier for Mofo)

1 x 800g can pie apples

3/4 cup oat bran

1/2 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup demerara sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

Pour the canned apples over the pie crust.

In a mixing bowl combine the oat bran, apple sauce, sugar and cinnamon.

Mix until crumbly.

Gently press over the apples.

Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.

Notes:

You can use your own pie apples if you like. 

Sometimes I really enjoy stewing apples - however when I don't have the time these are great because they are sugar & salt free and they use Australian grown apples :-)

If you don't have demerara sugar, you can use brown sugar in place of it & substitute 1/4 cup oat bran with crushed almonds to add some crunch.

Submitted for Healthy Vegan Friday.
You can add your recipe at these blogs:
carrie on vegan

veggie nook

greenthickies 

Healthy Pastry Crust

Now we can't have a bake off without making pastry!

And yes, I know that there are vegan puff and shortcrust pastries available in the freezer section of the supermarket, but let's face it - they aren't exactly 'health food'. So when life requires pastry (as it sometimes does!) - this is what I make:

You'll need:

1 cup oat bran

1/4 cup ground flax seeds

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 Tablespoons applesauce

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until they stick together. It will look like there isn't enough moisture but just keep stirring and it will eventually hold together. The mixture will be slightly sticky.

Wrap in cling or baking paper and place in the fridge for 1/2 hour.

Turn pastry onto baking paper and roll between two sheets til flat.

Very gently remove the top sheet of baking paper and place a pie dish over the top of the pastry. Gently flip the dish & pastry over and press the pastry into the pie dish. Gently remove the top sheet of baking paper. The pastry may slightly crack, but don't worry. Run a knife along the edge of the pie tin to remove the excess pastry. Use this excess pastry to repair cracks and reinforce the curves between the base and sides of the pie dish.  

This pie works well without being blind baked - however you can bake it if you prefer a crispier crust.

Fill as desired :-)

Variation:

This version works best for sweet baked goods.

To alter this pastry to make it better for savoury baked goods, replace the oats with wholemeal flour and the maple syrup with soymilk. The process is the same and it will still work out :-)

Savoury pastry made with flour and soymilk

Note the pastry will keep in the fridge for up 3 days prior to being rolled out.

You can store the pastry in the fridge after it has been placed in the pie dish too.

Mexican Chickpea Filo Pie

All this talk of pie has made me cave in.....

Yep that's right, I'm finally making a recipe with pastry!

Well I did promise the occasional treat right?!?!? ;-)

Mexican Chickpea Filo Pie

You'll need:
1 can chickpeas
1 onion
1 capsicum
1 zucchini
1 cup corn (either fresh, frozen or canned)
1 tsp each paprika, cumin, oregano
1/2 cup salsa
4 sheets filo pastry

Chop the onion, capsicum and zucchini. Combine in a large frying pan with the drained chickpeas and herbs. Dry fry until veggies are mostly cooked through. Stir through the salsa.
Line a pie tin with the sheets of filo.

Pour the veggies mixture into the pastry and gently fold the pastry over the veggies. Brush the top of the pastry with plant-milk of choice. 

 

Bake in a preheated 200C oven for 20 minutes until lightly golden brown on top.

Slice & serve :-)

Red Lentil & Tortilla Bake

Although when I first thought of having my bake off I was very tempted to do only cookies & cakes, I realise that baking extents past sweets! Shame really!!!
So today I bring you another savoury "baked" recipe.
This time in the form of "pie". Of course I mean pastry-less pie ;-)

RED LENTIL AND TORTILLA BAKE

You'll need:

Lentil mixture:
1 cup red lentils
1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
2 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1/2 capsicum, seeded and chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon chili
1/2 teaspoon paprika

4 tortilla wraps
tomato paste
dried thyme

Place all the above ingredient from the lentil mixture list in a pressure cooker**. 
Bring to full pressure and then cook for approx 15 minutes. (Note that pressure cookers can vary so check your manual for a recommended time for cooking red lentils.)

Place on tortilla in the bottom of a circular casserole dish. Pour one third of the lentil mixture over the top. Repeat the layering process until you have three layers of tortilla and lentils.

Place the last tortilla on the top & spread the top tortilla with tomato paste and sprinkle with dried thyme.

Bake in a preheated 200C oven for 20 minutes until browned on top and warmed through.

Now that's my kind of pie :D

Hints: You can pre-make this pie and store it in the fridge. If you choose to do this you will need to lower the oven temperature and cook for a bit longer to completely warm it through.

*Note that if you don't own a pressure cooker you can still make this mixture on a stove top, it will just take longer. *

Chickpea Pie Stew

As you've probably worked out by now I like to be the 'easy queen'.
This is another quick and easy meal that is great for those evenings when you're walking in the door a little later than you might have liked, but still need to get dinner on the table.

This is a bit like a stew and a bit like a pie. That's why its called 'pie stew'.
The bottom half reminds me of a chickpea stew and by adding the sweet potato on the top it reminds me a bit of shepherds pie!
None the less, whatever it is, the simply flavour combination tastes amazing.


Mix together in a large baking dish:

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can drained chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon cumin

Bake 200 for 15 minutes.
While the 'stew' part is baking, peel one large (or 2 small) sweet potatoes and boil til soft (your choice microwave or stove top).

Mash the sweet potatoes and spread them over the top of the chickpea mixture. Sprinkle the top with paprika. Return to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes.

Serve. Goes well with a side of steamed veggies or salad.

Submitted for Healthy Vegan Friday.
You can add your recipe at these blogs:
carrie on vegan                    veggie nook                    greenthickies  

The Same but Different

The great debate:

Feeding omni's and vego's in the same meal..... is it possible?

The answer is simply YES.

It might take a little bit more work but its not 'hard'.

Over Christmas I read a long debate on a discussion website about how many vego's still cook meat for their friends and family even though they hate doing it! 
I regularly have to practice this skill since there is NO WAY I could convince family members to eat vegan meals with me!
So in this post I'll give some practical tips on how to make meals that compliment both appetites!

Below you'll find a list of great ways that you can share a meal that is "The Same but Difference" - a phrase that my hubbie and I often have a little laugh about ;-)


Shepherds pies - made with lentils in place of the meat. Try this recipe for a fab lentil shepherd pie.

Enjoy a meal of mash and pies together. Pie fillings can be as creative or as simple as you please! Same goes for 'bangers and mash' - plenty of faux meat options to make easy similar meals.

Left - meat pie                                    Right - mushroom pie

           

Another easy option is to have burgers together. I love a good veggie burger! Why not try this lentil pattie recipe.

Bolognese - Try using a bean or lentil bolognese over pasta, along with a mince bolognese.

Meat balls are another great option that can easily be turned vego! Try using lentils, red kidney beans, okara or gluten flour to make meatless balls.

   Left - regular mince meat balls                           Right - okara 'meat' balls

Pizza! - this has got to be one of the easiest meals to share together. Vego pizza options are endless - just make sure you top it with pizza cheeze sauce.

Stir fry's are also easy to just make the same vegetable base & just top with either tofu or other.

Roast Dinner - can easily keep everyone happy - esp on a cold winters night. Veggie roast are endless, try using legumes of all kinds, nut roast or if you're having a lazy day there are some amazing premade store-bought roast available too.

Left - chicken roast dinner                                                                Right - seitan roast dinner

Baked Loafs - along with a meat loaf  you could serve a lentil loaf or bean loaf.

Lasagne - another great dish that can easily been turned veg. Try this version for a very 'meaty' option!!!

Check out this version of home-made 'Cheese and Bacon Muffin' breakfast:

Tofu bacon with tofutti cheese slice & hash browns. Now surely that is "The Same but Different" to an omni's meal!!!


Is that enough meals to make you feel like you can eat veg in an omni setting???

Better still - why not tell your friends and family about all the benefits of a plant-based diet???

You never know - they may just look at your meal and decide it's equally delicious!

Not only for their health, but for the many lives of animals that suffer for our dinner plates.

Decide on a vegan resolution you won't regret it!