Why I Hate Apple Pie

My disdain for apple pie knows no bounds.  I hate it on a few levels.  First of all, the kinda pies I like are the stir and dump kind.  Just mixing all ingredients and pouring them in a crust is as invested as I like to get with pie.  So, I absolutely loathe peeling, chopping, and coring a bunch of apples for pie.  This year, I figured I'd throw the boy a friggin bone to see what dessert he wanted because he hates lemon and I was for realsies making lemon mousse pie.  Naturally, he said "apple," the most boring of all the pies.  My hatred is irrational, but what can I say.  Still...it was good pie (cosmos apple).

full spread, but the potatoes aren't pictured

This year went by in a freaking blur.  I didn't prep as much as last year, but we were eating pretty much on schedule.  Onto the menu...

Thanksgiving 2011

Bryanna's Soy and Seitan Turkey

Cornbread stuffing

Gravy

Cranberry Sauce

Mashed Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole

Mac and Cheese

Yams

Unity Inn Rolls

Salad

Cosmos Apple and Lemon Mousse Pies

Rad Whip

2 Buck Chuck all day, son!

mashed potatoes

there's some mac in that sea of cheese

As you can see, I love me some Tyler Florence.  My favorites this year: soy and seitan turkey, pies, rolls, and Alton Brown's mac and cheese.  Seriously.  I will never ever make another mac and cheese for Thanksgiving.  Easily subbed (I used blended silken tofu for the egg), and absolutely wonderful.  More expensive than I generally like, but definitely worth it.

green bean casserole w/ croutons instead of nasty onions

candied yams

Things I'd improve on: green beans, yams, cranberry sauce, and gravy.  The green beans were most excellent (those croutons are legit!), but I wanted more of a creamy base to tie everything together.  Though, I will definitely make this again with that minor tweak.  The yams were too sweet for my liking.  The cranberries were not sweet enough.  And the gravy...blech.  I just didn't like it so I made a quick poultry gravy.  Overall, we had a fantastic day and got drunk off of $2 wine.  Awesome!

roast was marinated in sparkling cider and roasted with carrots and onions

Happy Leftovers Day!  I'm buying nothing, doing nothing, and don't plan to leave my pajamas.

VeganMoFo IV: Baskets, Road Trips, and More!

I can't believe it's over already!  Well, sorta.  This month feels like it started forever ago, but the year is swiftly coming to an end and I'm wondering where the time went.  This has been my favorite VeganMoFo to date.  I just felt more connected to a community that I have come to thoroughly enjoy over the past few years.  I saw some of the greatest blogging in my life this year.  There are tons of new blogs I fell in love with (and thousands of posts I have to read).  More than anything, I'm proud of pushing myself further than I ever thought I'd go.  So, thanks to everybody for a wonderful November!  I have a ton of blogs to catch up on but I will do it...even if it takes several months. :)

I decided to make a short video about my vegan journey and why I know I'll be vegan for the rest of my life.  Pardon the video thumbnail.  Youtube seriously hates me because there was this one and two others with my mouth wide open and me looking crazy!



Next month, Era and I are taking the dogs and driving to San Antonio.  I'm dreading it a bit because of my Spring Break trip, but I'll have another driver with me this time so it shouldn't be so bad.  I'm excited and trying to think of some good, healthy road trip foods because I hate wasting money at fast food places and would rather not stop.  I'm the type of road tripper who loves going for 5 hours straight, only stopping to get gas.

I've also spent today thinking about Christmas/Festivus gifts to give to the family.  I'm doing gift bags this year because I can't afford more than that until Southern California decides it wants to hire people again.  I always love making gift baskets or bags because it's cheap but takes a lot of effort.  I thought I'd share my formula with you.

I try to go with something sweet, something savory, something inedible, and something d-i-y.  I'm still trying to narrow down the cookies I'm making.  But I think I'm going with a couple of different cookies, biscotti, breads, and crackers.  Also thinking candy and spiced nuts.  Each person gets a little of each.  Here are examples of stuff I did in the past.

Breakfast Basket
Jam, Wholesome cookies
Cocoa/Coffee
Mug
Pancake Mix

Secret Santa
Coffee
Mug, Tin
Three kinds of cookies
Savory Crackers

Christmas 07
Candles
Cookies, toffee, bread
Mugs

Game Night
Board Game, Cards
Popcorn
Candy
Chips, Snack Mix

The possibilities are endless.  That's why I love giving them.  It's never a boring ordeal.  What do you like to put in a gift basket or bag?

VeganMoFo IV: How Many Pics Does It Take...

...'til you get to the center of a Thanksvegan?!  Seriously, though.  This year was insane with the food!  INSANE!  I was really happy with most of it.  The stuffing and gravy from the vegan turkey was horrible, but I totally made my own as well.  Are you ready for the pictures?  Here's the full spread (with links)...

this food wouldn't fit on the table so we used our counter

Martin Cisneros ThanksVegan 2010 Menu

Appetizers

Smoky and Tex Mex Deviled Tofu

Black Olives

Spicy Pickled Okra

Main

Vegetarian Plus Whole Vegan Turkey

Gummy Bread Stuffing

Gravy Puddin'

Sides

Cornbread Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce from Veganomicon

Sweet Potatoes

Smashed Potatoes w/ Mushroom Cashew Gravy

Smoky Collards

Maque Choux

Mac N Cheese

Green Salad

Unity Inn Dinner Rolls (Thank you, JohnP!)

Desserts

Triple Apple Cider Bundt Cake (or the half that actually came out of the pan...ha!)

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie from 500 Vegan Recipes

clockwise from top left: collards, sweet potatoes, smashed potatoes, salad, triple apple cider bundt, mushroom cashew gravy, pumpkin cheesecake pie, rolls, pickled okra, gravy pudding, olives, vegan turkey, and maque choux

Prep work saved my arse this year!  We were eating by 1PM, and that's only because I woke up late.  Everything exceptin' the aforementioned gravy and stuffing was AMAZING.  The only mishap was an undergreased bundt pan and half a cake clinging to the bottom of it.  Still, the cake is so frickin delicious!

This was a lot of food.  Today is leftovers, tomorrow I'm having my sammich, then all of this gets packed the fork up in a freezer or potpie or something.  More than ever, I wish we had friends in this city because it's such a shame to have such good food and not share the wealth.

various shots of my leftover plate...and pie

Here's how crazy things were yesterday.  I didn't even begin to finish my one plate of food!  Neither did Era...which is pretty much unheard of.  Even my leftover plate, which only had one single soup spoonful of each food, was a lot of food.  I think that's the best problem to have because cooking will be so easy for the next week.

The shining star of the show was definitely the rolls!  I have been ogling these things since John wrote about them.  I didn't even test them to see if I'd like them.  I just knew!  And they were gorgeous coming out of the oven!  Era and I tasted them before we ate because we couldn't take the taunting.  I even told my mom they were the best rolls I've ever had.  Her response?  A totally unamused, "You're treading into my territory now."  Bahahahaha!

Unity Inn Rolls of DOOM

I didn't change the actual recipe, but streamlined the execution to make my life easier.  Instead of rolling them out (I had no counter space at the time), I just made 24 balls.  I flattened them and folded them in half like the recipe stated.  I also didn't dip them in Earth Balance.  I brushed the pan and rolls with EB.  They were gooood.  These things are even great the next day!

I was also majorly in love with the Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie.  It's basically a veganized Keebler recipe.  Imagine a pumpkin pie/pumpkin cheesecake hybrid and that's what you've got.  I don't even like pumpkin pie and this was truly excellent to me!  Mmmm.

So, that was our Thanksgiving!  How was yours?  Today, I'm buying nothing because my schedule is lookin' like this: leftovers, pie, nog, maybe booze, Buffy, reading blogs, rinse, and repeat.

Happy Friday, y'all!

VeganMoFo IV: Vegetarian Plus Whole Vegan Turkey Review

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  I'm drinking cider laced with Jameson and watching Buffy right now.  I thought I'd share my experiences with the Vegetarian Plus Whole Vegan Turkey.  That way, it's here for anybody else looking for reviews.

The entire thing comes with one turkey shaped roast, stuffing, and gravy.  It's a huge box and the price is around $40 (but it is 4 times the size of a Tofurky).

photo from Vegetarian Plus website

Roast: It's just cooked in foil and no basting necessary.  It was pretty moist coming out of the oven.  It's also ginormous.  4 lbs.  I was incredibly weirded out stuffing it, though.  It split on one side and I said to Era, "Hold this so I can stuff the cavity."  I never want to say that again.  Ever.

Stuffing: I had to add sage, salt, and pepper.  It was okay before it went into the oven, but sorta gummy after being baked.  Plus, there was way too much to fill the roast.

Gravy: When it thawed, it was weird.  The starch completely separated from the broth.  When I cooked it, it had the consistency of pudding.  Pudding!  I don't know what starch they use, but I didn't like how fast and fiercely it thickened.  The flavor was pretty okay.  Nice and peppery.

Pros
4 lbs
moist out of oven
no basting
comes unstuffed so you can put what you want in it
texture looks freakily turkey-like

Cons
gummy stuffing
gravy pudding
comes unstuffed so you have to stick your hand in a cavity...brr
though the texture looks great, it's not Gardein chick'n scallopini great

Basically, if you are crazy enough to spend 40 bucks on a Thanksgiving main just buy 4 Tofurkys.  I think I just want to make my roast from now on.

I'll update with the full meal tomorrow.  Hope everybody is enjoying their day.

VeganMoFo IV: Preparation Thanks

I am seriously burned out right now.  I haven't finished editing the show yet, so that's coming tomorrow.  Sorry for the lack of commenting lately.  I promise I'm going to catch up with blogs super soon.  I have Thanksgiving on the brain and I won't be thinking of anything else until I am chewing on some pumpkin cheesecake on Thursday.  So, this post is really about the prep work I'm doing. Since I'm a fan of lists, this will be in listy format.

Monday
thaw vegan turkey
chop vegetables and bread
make Viva Vegan chorizo

vegetables/bread for stuffing, onions for collards and onions/poblano for maque choux

Tuesday
marinate vegan turkey
make 4 cups vegetable broth
bake sweet potatoes
bake cornbread for stuffing

the marinade is Jess' method: sparkling cider, garlic, rosemary, and I added tamari

Wednesday
cook greens
prep mac n cheese, stuffing, and sweet potatoes up to baking point
make maque choux
prep deviled tofu
make desserts (apple bundt and pumpkin cheesecake)
make cranberry sauce
prep gravy

Thursday
make rolls
cook vegan turkey
bake sweet potatoes, mac n cheese, and stuffing
make mashed potatoes and gravy
eat and fight "the -itis"

I'm sorta surprised I've kept on track.  I usually have the best intentions but end up cooking for 5 hours on the actual day.  This is going to be one speedy Thanksgiving!

How are your Thanksgiving plans coming along?

VeganMoFo IV: Thanksgiving Tryouts

Before I begin, run to your nearest Trader Joe's and pick up the pear cinnamon cider!  So. flippin. fantastic.

Thanksgiving is most definitely my favorite eatin' day of the year. It's always a recipe for disaster when your entire family gets together, but the food is good (and the booze is even better). I usually start planning as early as September, trying to narrow down the menu. This year is different because I'm really trying to find the perfect recipes to keep as regulars. We never have the same menu every year and things would be simpler if I kept some staples and maybe had one rotating dish a year.

I've been trying to figure out the main dish since last month. We actually bought a Vegetarian Plus vegan turkey, but I had (and still have) extreme doubts. Era thought it would be a good idea to have one less major thing to worry about, so he bought it anyway. As far as mains go, I've already made the Festivus Loaf and Seitan En Croute from 500 Vegan Recipes. Right now, the Seitan En Croute is winning as an alternate to what we already have.  I took this picture when my camera broke so it's not the best:

I still need to make Bryanna's soy and seitan turkey to see if that's what I'm going with. My sides are pretty set.  I'm just trying to find the best version of them  Tonight I made some mac and cheeze, collard and sausage stuffing, baked tofu, and cashew gravy.

The mac and cheeze was good, but I'm probably just making Jess' adaptation of the New Farm recipe.  The stuffing was a ridiculous thing on my part because I was never a fan of meatiness in stuffing.  This called for andouille, but I used the sausage I had on hand (Yves Italian).  The collards and sausage took away from the "cornbreadiness", which is my absolute favorite part about stuffing.

closer look at stuffing

The baked tofu is just something I threw together.  I marinated extra firm tofu in fresh squeezed orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, poultry seasoning, thyme, and slivered garlic.  The cashew gravy was from Megetarian, and that ish is the jam!  It's seriously good and frickin' easy.  Totally added to my menu.  I might throw some mushrooms or thyme in there, but it was delicious as is.

Thanksgiving at our house is a meal with huge variety and it's usually filled with soul food.  Growing up the sides were cornbread, mac and cheese, pinto beans, collard greens, cornbread stuffing, canned jellied (brrr) cranberry sauce, and dinner rolls.  Maybe some other stuff that I can't or don't want to remember.  This year I'm going back to that sorta...except I always needed green salad and tons of color.  Also, I cook entirely too much food because I have to have variety.  At least there are guaranteed leftovers.

The Tentative Menu
Appetizers
deviled tofu
pickle and olive tray

Main
cornbread stuffing
mashed potatoes
collard greens (adding garlic and veg broth to this)
sweet potatoes
maque choux (w/ Viva Vegan chorizo)
mac and cheese
pea salad (maybe)
green salad
cashew gravy
cranberry sauce from Vcon (w/ orange juice/zest and brown sugar)

Dessert
Pumpkin Cheesecake

After tonight and the two slices of meat cake last week, I'm almost Thanksgivinged out.  I'm gonna freeze all of tonight's leftovers so if I get a hankering for stuffing in March it's there.

What about you?  Have you finalized your menu yet?

P.S.-Thanks for all the great words yesterday.  Y'all made me smile when I was having a bad day.
P.P.S-Smackers and I baked a mini gay cake.  I'll be sure to post it later this week.
P.P.P.S.-I forgot to say that I won a giveaway!  I'm getting Vegan Unplugged!  Thanks again to Robin Robertson!

A Tale of Two Pies

Thanksgiving this year was kinda ridiculous. We had guests coming but they couldn't make it because one of the kids got sick. Era and I had a decent amount of food, but it got done so late that I couldn't photograph it. My kitchen has no overhead lighting. There's one small fixture that is supposed to light the kitchen and dining room. Ridiculous! But the dinner was absolutely delicious and drama free.

Clockwise from top: cornbread dressing, cranberry, mac n cheeze, green beans, wellington w/ madeira gravy, cajun corn maque choux, champ, roasted brussels/sweet potatoes/onions, and seitan roast w/ mushroom gravy.

My absolute favorites were the wellington and the cajun corn maque choux.  These will be staples at every Thanksgiving henceforth!  Ha ha.

What I was really looking forward to was the pie.  In my pregan days I was all about the lemon meringue and pecan.  Of course these are probably the hardest pies to veganize.  I just have to be difficult.  I made Bryanna Clark Grogan's Reliable Vegan Pecan Pie.  Unfortunately, it wasn't so reliable for me.  The filling tasted good, but it really didn't set.  Somewhat disappointing because it means I'm still on a quest for great pecan pie.

What wasn't a disappointment: the lemon pie with cheesecake topping and shortbread streusel.  It was just a combo of a few recipes.  I used a premade crust and baked it according to directions, but took it out a little early.  I used this recipe for lemon filling and let it set.  I topped it with the Mini Ice Box Cheesecake from My Sweet Vegan (leave out the lemon juice and add 2 tsps of tapioca starch).  Then I topped it with the Old-Fashioned Pie-Plate Shortbread recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.  I didn't add too much because this was my first time making it, but it was good.  After I assembled the pie, I threw it in the oven at 375 until the shortbread turned a little golden.  SO GOOD.

And now for a cocktail "recipe."

Spiced Caucasian
ice
lowball glass
1 oz coffee liqueur (recommended: Kahlua)
1 oz espresso vodka (recommended: Seagrams)
vegan nog

Fill a lowball glass with ice.  Pour coffee liqueur and espresso vodka over the ice.  Top with nog and give it a little stir.  Enjoy the deliciousness.

Triple Caffeinated Caucasian variation: replace regular coffee liqueur with mocha liqueur (recommended: Kahlua).

Perfect for sipping on while you lounge around in your bathrobe.  Mmm.  I hope everybody had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Thanks4Giving Me Dandies!

I love this time of year.  Some people hate it, but the only thing I really hate are those cinnamon scented brooms that stink up every grocery store.  I love fall/winter/holiday season.  There is nothing cozier than curling up on the couch, downing Spiced Caucasians*, whilst watching Bill Murray's brilliant performance in Scrooged.  I like all the shiny lights and pumpkin love and cornbread dressing with the cranburrrry**.  Oh, I completely forgot to mention that I avoid every store and holiday sale like the plague.  I think this keeps me hella sane.

Today was awesome.  Era and I went shopping for our Thanksgiving menu.  First, we went to Target to replace the food processor that he broke.  Take all my appliances away and I could get by with the food processor.  I felt so lonely without one!

Next, we went to Winco because I love their bulk section and the prices are okay.  Today's discovery: bulk corn chips with flax seed in them.  REPEAT: they frickin have Fritos with flax seed in them!  So good.  I was dreaming of making frito pie with them.  Maybe next time.

Next was Fresh and Easy where they have the inexpensive olive oil.  They also had boxes of cereal on sell for 15 cents!  Era only wanted two.  I would've gotten at least twice that much.  Oh well.

We ended the trip by driving up to Clark's Nutrition, where I bought 2 containers of silk nog, 1 container of rice nog, and West Soy's chocolate peppermint stick (never tried it before).  The holidays are lonely without Holly Nog because that stuff tasted insanely good with some booze.  I also discovered that the place now sells Dandies!  YES!  Now, I just have to figure what to do with them because last time I just ended up eating them out the bag.

This store is getting to be seriously awesome.  They got Teese recently, now Dandies, and looky what I found today:

Yeah, it's a crappy cell phone pic, but that is 1 gallon's worth of Vegenaise!  Seriously.  I contemplated getting it, then realized I don't have an army living with me.  But it's awesome to know I could purchase the stuff if I ever had to make a lot of pea salad!

So, I've finalized the Thanksgiving menu.  It's not mini because I have a lot of stuff to make and it would take way long.  Plus, we're entertaining, yo!

Thanksgiving '09

Mixed Greens w/ Vcon Mediterranean Vinaigrette

Everday Dish TV's Turkey Roast (half recipe filled with cornbread stuffing)

Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Onions, and Sweet Potatoes (w/ the roast)

Bryanna Clark Grogan's Seitan Wellington (half recipe)

Cornbread Stuffing

Macaroni (sans bread crumbs and veggies)

Irish Champ (doubled recipe)

Green Beans w/ Shallots and Red Pepper

Cajun Corn Maque Choux (made with Vegan Dad's andouille)

Rolls

Vcon's Mushroom Gravy

Cranberry Sauce

Bryanna Clark Grogan's Pecan Pie

Cheesecake topped Lemon Pie w/ Shortbread Streusel

*tentative title, loosely based on the Dude's love of white russians :)

**misspelled on purpose because you must pronounce it kran-burr-reh

Thanksgiving Ideas

I don't know about you, but I have to plan out what I eat for Thanksgiving every year.  Mostly, I'm looking to make a new tradition for Era and me.  My family was all about the brown until I started asking why we never had colorful dishes for the holiday a few years ago.  Now, I pretty much have to bring the color.

This year I think I really am going to do a mini Thanksgiving.  It will be a lot easier on me and I am just dreading the long cooking process that comes with a traditional feast.  I decided to take a look back at my past Thanksgiving dinners.  I only went back to 2007 because there was no way I'd remember before then.

The way Era and I usually do it is one all vegan dinner for us and we take vegan sides and/or desserts to my parents' house.  My parents always make vegan cornbread stuffing, vegetarian sides, and tofurky for us.

Thanksgiving 2007 Menu
Seitan Wellington w/ Marsala Gravy
Cranberry Chutney
Cornbread Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole
Maple Carrots
Smashed Potatoes w/ Kale
Macaroni and cheese
Smlove pie (1 for the office, another for the fam)
Pumpkin pie cheesecake (for the family)

You can read about it here.  My favorites from this were the chutney, pumpkin pie cheesecake, and wellington!  So good.

Thanksgiving 2008 Menu
Onion, Pepper, and Spinach Quiche Bites (for the fam)
Pumpkin Baked Ziti (for the family)
Tofurky
Pumpkin Cornbread Dressing
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Champ
Mushroom Gravy
Green Beans w/ Walnuts and Shallot Crisps
Classic Chestnut Soup w/ Marsala Mushrooms
Cranberry Sauce
Lemon Bars

What I learned from last year's Thanksgiving is that chestnuts are incredibly expensive, and I don't find them to be tasty at all.  Also quiche bites are the shizzle.  You can read about it here.

This year I am going to try, once again, to make the tofurky meatballs.  I also want to make mini wellingtons, lemon pie, macaroni bites, roasted root vegetables, and some sorta salad.  I'm a little stuck still.  I want a miniature colorful Thanksgiving.

Do you have any ideas?  Preferably stuff that can be made miniature.  Also I despise sweet potatoes with the marshmallows on them so I will never make them!  NEVER!

Also, I started doing an outline for my possible zine.  I say possible because I know how I procrastinate and then forget about things.   Hee hee.  A happy belated World Vegan Day to all!

Vegan MoFo III: Miniature Thanksgiving Part II

I love mini stuff!  It's so adorable and really allows you to taste something without overindulging.  So the food doesn't weigh you down.  I'm thinking I will definitely do this for Thanksgiving this year.  I mean, after day two of cornbread stuffing I'm ready to never eat the stuff again until next year anyway.  Plus, all of the food was surprisingly filling.

Mini Thanksgiving Menu

Starters

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup Shooters

Apple Salad w/ Spinach and Candied Ginger Skewers

The soup was from Vegan with a Vengeance.  It was ridiculously easy to make and super delicious.  The salad was a slight adaptation of a Kittee MoFo entry from last year.  I used spinach leaves for the skewers and left out the apple mint.

Main Course

Seitan Turkey Meatballs w/ Cornbread Stuffing

Cornbread Dressing Squares

Macaroni Bites

Mini Twice Baked Potatoes

Okay.  The seitan turkey meatballs did not turn out as great as I imagined.  I have to rework them because they were too bread-like.  The stuffing was good, though.

Macaroni bites are ridiculously easy to make.  I used Jess' macaroni recipe (minus the optional veggies and breadcrumbs) and a mini muffin pan.  They are little bites of creamy deliciousness.

The mini potatoes were very loosely based on this Ray Ray recipe.  However, I just did my own thing with the innards. 

So, back to the stuffing.  I came up with the recipe by starting with a basic outline and doing some research of other recipes.  It tastes similar to my mom's so I'm happy.  The cornbread recipe is adapted from Veganomicon's.  Except I like my cornbread sweet because that's what I grew up on.  If you don't, you might want to half the sugar.

Cornbread Stuffing

1 recipe cornbread, cubed (recipe below)

3 cups bread, cubed

1/2 Tbsp rubbed sage

1 tsp thyme

2 Tbsp margarine

1 large white onion, diced

1.5 cups celery, diced

2-3 cups vegetable broth, added in 1/2 cup increments until moistened

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9X9 pan with nonstick spray. Set Aside.

Add cornbread, bread, sage, and thyme to a large mixing bowl. In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the margarine. Sautee the onion and celery until softened. Add to the bowl with the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Slowly add the vegetable broth in until the mixture is moistened. It should be wet enough to stick together but dry enough to be held in your hands. Now add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour mixture into casserole dish and bake for 35 minutes or until the top is slightly browned and dry to the touch.  For bites, let it cool for a bit then cut into small 1 inch squares.

Cornbread

1 cup non-dairy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch cake pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Combine non-dairy milk and vinegar. Set aside. Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and oil in a mixing bowl. Mix in the almond milk and vinegar mixture. Pour into the cake pan.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Dessert

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

Oreo Truffles

These pumpkin cheesecake bites are adapted from My Sweet Vegan's Mini Icebox Cheesecake.  I love these for two reasons.  1) Making a whole vegan cheesecake is expensive!  This is not a 15 dollar cheesecake, but it's oh so good.  2) My Aunt Evelyn is pretty much known for her no bake cheesecake.  Cooked cheesecake has been dead to me since I was 7.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

(makes 2-3 dozen)

8 oz package vegan cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp cinnamon, plus more for garnish

2 tsp vanilla

pinch of ginger, allspice, and nutmeg

2-3 dozen gingersnaps or phyllo cups (baked according to instructions)

candied nuts or crystallized ginger for garnish (optional)

Blend cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and spices in a food processor until smooth.  Spoon into a pastry bag or freezer bag (if your piping tube melted in the great churro frying incident of '09) and refrigerate until firm enough to pipe.  Meanwhile set up your gingersnaps (or phyllo).  They are going to be the crust for these bites.  Once the filling is firm enough, pipe onto the crust.  Place candied nuts or crystallized ginger on top and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Place in the freezer.  I find I like these best right out of the freezer.  They don't get firm or anything.  Instead, it's like eating cheesecake ice cream or something.

How easy is that?!  I'm telling you: mini Thanksgiving is where it's at!  Two turntables and a microphooooone.

Vegan MoFo III: Miniature Thanksgiving Part I

Sweet, merciful Zeus!  Never has a day gone so horribly wrong before.  I'm not in a bad mood, though, because all of this is incredibly hilarious to me.  So I started out today knowing that I needed only three ingredients.  When I got home this afternoon, I decided I would make as much food as I could until I had to get the ingredients.  What should have been a quick trip to the store...really wasn't.  First, I couldn't find cranberries anywhere!  No fresh, no frozen, no canned.  What the frack?!  I didn't even know this was possible.  C'mon Food 4 Less.  Stop being lame.

Then I was getting ready to make my cornbread dressing when I realized I never got bread.  I had to stop once again and walk to the freaking store to get bread.

So, of course, by the time I finished cooking everything it was too dark to get a decent picture.  Plus, did you know Thanksgiving food is really brown?  So not food porn worthy.  Most of the photos will have to wait until tomorrow.  But here's the crappy proof that I did make the food:

Oh, and I made these awesome pumpkin cheesecake bites.  This was also something I had to adapt.  I wanted those mini phyllo cups, but Winco didn't have them.  I have never missed HEB more than I did this week.  I ended up using gingersnaps.

I'm way too tired and frazzled to post any recipes right now.  But I'll do it tomorrow.  My freezer and fridge are filled with so much food right now.  I need to give some of the sweets away because it will take us forever to get through them.

More to come tomorrow.  By the way, macaroni bites are the absolute best!