I'm Baaaack! And I made breakfast!

Hey everyone!! I'm back! I know it's been a little while.

A Little Punkin' Never Hurt Nobody

I am the Pumpkin King!!! (Uh-hem... I mean Queen)

I am quite fawned of pumpkin and always have been, it probably stems from loving been called pumpkin (actually pronounced "punkin') by my mother and father.

I even got one on my arm :) (it's upside-down)

A couple months back I purchased a copy of the Veganomicon, by Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero (suuuch a good book), anyway I came across a recipe pumpkin baked ziti. Pumpkin+pasta sounded like heaven. So the other night my family was coming over for dinner and I figured this would be the best time to try it out.

With rave reviews from both my mother and father and brother's girlfriend, I highly suggest you give this recipe a shot!

Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Bread Crumb Topping: (from the Veganomicon) serves 6 - 8

• 3/4 lbs uncooked ziti or penne pasta 
• 2 onions, sliced very thinly 
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tbsp brown sugar 
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 
• white pepper and cayenne 
• 2 cups pureed pumpkin or 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix) 
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth 

• Sage Bread Crumbs: 
• 2 1/2 cups bread crumbs, preferably fresh and homemade 
• 1/3 cup walnut pieced chopped in a food processor until resembling coarse crumbs 
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance 
• 2 tsp dried, rubbed sage 
• 1 tsp dried oregano leaves 
• 1/2 tsp ground paprika 
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Cashew Ricotta: 
• 1/2 cup raw cashew pieces (approx 4 oz) 
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 2 cloves fresh or roasted garlic 
• 1 lb firm tofu, drained and crumbled 
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil 
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
  
  

  Directions

  To make the Cashew Ricotta: In a food processor, blend together the cashews, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic until a thick creamy paste forms. Add the crumbled tofu to the food processor, working in two or more batches in necessary, until the misture is thick and well blended. Blend in the basil and salt.
  
  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 11-inch lasagne type baking pan with olive oil, or use two smaller pans.
  
  Prepare the ziti according to the package directions, about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. Set aside.
  
  While the paste is cooking, make the caramelized onion: preheat a large heavy-bottomed pan, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Saute the onions in oil until some onion bits are very brown and caramelized, 12 to 15 minutes. Set aside.
  
  Place the Cashew Ricotta in a large bowl and fold in the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, nutmeg, white pepper, cayenne, and vegetable broth and mix. Add the cooked ziti and caramelized onions, stirring to coat the pasta. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and press lightly with a rubber spatula to level it.
  
  Make the sage breadcrumbs:
  Melt the Earth Balance in large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Stir in the bread crumbs, walnuts, dried herbs and paprika, and season with salt and pepper. Stir constantly until the mixture is lightly coated, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and sprinkle evenly over the ziti.
  
  Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, until the top of the ziti is golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
    

 And as promised, here's a little dessert :)
 

Pumpkin-Cranberry Scones: (from the Veganomicon)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour  
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar 
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated vegan margarine, cold
• 3/4 cup sold soy creamer or rice milk
• 4 teaspoons ground flaxseeds
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped coarsely 
• 3 tablespoons shelled pepitas for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl mix together flour through salt. Take your cold margarine and cut it into small chunks and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or fork, until the mixture looks crumbly.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together soy creamer through zest.

Make a flour well and begin to fold in the wet mixture to the dry. Fold in cranberries. Stir until a soft dough forms but be careful not to over mix.

Dived to into two place on separate baking sheets. Flatten each into a circle 1" thick. Run a Knive through each circle creating 6 - 8 wedges. (I just made mini circles) Brush with extra creamer and bake for 30-34 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean from the center. Let cool 10 minutes before re-slicing.

I made a maple dizzel for mine :)

This video is my newest love, it's amazing. So artfully shot <3

Feelin' All Warm and Squashy Inside! Butternut Squash Soup

Hey everybody!!! It's been a little while, I've been working like a mad woman so I haven't had much time for blogging, but trust me when I say that I have a ton of recipes to post!!!

So Christmas is only 5 and a half days away! And as always I still have shopping and baking and cleaning and on top of that work to do... Anyways like a lot of you I'm usually in a pinch for dinner (or breakfast, lunch and dinner... Just call me Mrs. On Top Of Things) So came about the creation of this really easy and fairly quick soup that will warm up all of your gushy little insides and make your tummy happy :) (Plus you know I loves me some squash)

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup:

• 1 medium sized butternut squash, roasted and pureed (to save time use 1-2 cans of already pureed squash)
• 3c veggie broth
• 1c plain soy milk (or other non dariy milk)
• 2t cinnamon
• 1t cumin
• 1/2t pumpkin pie spice (optional, I do it for good measure)
• 1/2t fresh grated ginger
• 1/4t garlic powder
• 1/4t salt
• 1/4t nutmeg
• 1/4t cayenne (or more if your feeling spicy)

Mix erry'thing together in a pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil (side note: watch so that it doesn't boil-over and create a huge mess of your flat top stove...)  reduce heat and simmer for 20 mintues (longer if you want it thinker, less if you like it thinner).

Tada! you now have yummy soup, your welcome. (anotherside note let it sit for like 10 minutes before you haul off and destroy the inside of your mouth...)

Tomorrow dear children, we'll will continue this squashy lovefest with a little pumpkin baked ziti and possibly scones (we'll see how motivated I get) but I'll leave you off with the only Christmas song I can really stand haha, you know to get you in the holiday spirit and whatnot :)

Sugar Skull Cookies!!!!

Soooo I'm a day late, the day of the dead was in fact yesterday. but in my defense I did make these yesterday and it's getting closer to that baking time of year so here's a fabulous cut out cookie recipe that I found.

Cut-out Cookies: (adapted from The Decorated Cookie)

• 2 sticks Earth Balance
• 1c powdered sugar
• 1T flax seed meal + 3T water (or other egg replacer)
• 1t vanilla extract
• 1/2t almond extract
• 2t lemon zest (plus a little juice for good measure)
• 2 1/2c all-purpose flour
• 1/4t salt
• (optional: 4t matcha powder or 2T lavender)

Cream together Earth Balance, and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in flax mixture, exracts and zest. Then incorporate flour salt (and matcha or lavender). Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 375. Roll out cookies on floured surface cut with cookie cutter place on a baking stoone or lightly greased baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Remove, cool completely and frost! (see below)

Icing

• 2c powdered sugar
• 3t light corn syrup
• 5t non-dairy milk

Mix together in a bowl and adjust as needed to get desired consistency. 

Dear Whole Wheat Bread...

You will allude my no longer! Consider yourself officially dominated.

Love,
Cara

Cabiny Inspiraition: French Toast Redux

 

 
Last week was a week full of great food! There is a wonderful grill up at the cabin the Hubby and I had no shortage of ways to utilize said grill. One that I'm most proud of: Grilled French Toast with a grilled fruit compote.

Rise and Shine Like You Mean It: Moving Forward Starts with Breakfast

Hello cats and kittens, tonight I found myself with a lot of unexpected time on my hands and no idea of how I should spend it. Seeing as I've been rather lazy in regards to posting I figured I'd get my ass in gear.

How Sweet It Is: Sweet Potato Oatmeal

Good morning everybody!

I know a couple of days ago I mentioned I hadn't gotten around to grocery shopping... yeeaa... still haven't done it. So once again, I had to get my creative juices flowing and I came up with this bowl of awesome after a quick bout of google research.

Sweet memories: Kheer (Indian Rice Pudding)

Even though I'm Colombian born, I'm Minnesota raised and my experience with ethnic food as a child was almost non-existent. Basically limited to tacos and spaghetti... But I have one faint memory back when I was in maybe preschool, of a day that they tried to introduce us to foods from other cultures. I honestly can't recall the majority of what we tried that day, but there was this one dish... it was simple, rice with milk raisins and cinnamon. I remember going home that day and demanding my mom making rice because I wanted the rest of my family to try it!

Running A Riot!

When I was a kid I dreaded running... I absolutley hated LOATHED doing the mile in gym. Mostly because I'd get winded within the first 30 seconds, which is always awesome... Now a days I have a love hate relationship with it. When I'm in my zone I LOVE it, I could run forever. I feel so at peace, so centered... just free. It's the best feeling ever. But on an off day (when my legs are sore) it's like I can barely squeak a in mile, and my motivation is no where to be seen. Like I said, love/hate haha.

In my experience I've found that nothing complements a running session like a good set of music! Maybe you feel like your cardio out playlist is lacking, or you're just looking for some good music. Well you're in luck! I here's a list of my personal favorite running/workout songs just for you guys :)



But what good is an old fashioned body beat down without a little recovery? No worries, I have a post workout smoothie recipe for those of you sick and tired of the same old vanilla and chocolate crap.

Mango Chili Recovery Shake: (serves 1)

• 1/2 banana
• 1/2c mango cubed
• 1/4t - 1/2t chili powder
• 1/2 lime's worth of juice
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cayenne (optional)
• 2 -3 ice cubes
• 1/4c lite coconut milk (or other non dairy milk)
• 1/4c water
• 13g (one heaping Tbsp) brown rice protein powder

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

Just of curiosity, what do you guys listen to when you work out?

New Best Friend: Cashew Milk

 
I can't get over how amazing this stuff has been. Today I've been putting it in everything possible. I cooked my oatmeal in it (p.s. there is nothing wrong with breakfast for lunch) and it turned out super creamy. I steamed a sweet potato and smashed some into it, sooo good! I even just straight up drank a glass.