Vegan Blueberry Crisp

Today is Spirit Day. I didn’t realize it until yesterday when I saw a friend post about it on Facebook. I don’t even think I knew about it until yesterday, but regardless, I was inspired to do this post. A post about blueberries and suicide.

In a nutshell, today is supposed to be about trying to stop lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning kids from killing themselves, and standing up to bullying. You might see a lot of purple t-shirts and sweaters and dresses today. Purple means that you’re standing in support of LGBTQ youth. I, too, am wearing purple.

Spirit Day 2011

But earlier this week, before I knew about Spirit Day, I saw in the news about another gay teenager who killed himself. I watched some of his videos (all singing – and seemingly happy), and I visited his Tumblr site – full of depression, talking about self-harm, being alone, and many posts tagged with “suicide”. The last one had the tag of “suicide note”. He said he didn’t want to wait for it to get better. Three years would be too long.

You probably remember a few weeks ago a gay teenager who committed suicide, even after he had made his own It Gets Better video. He seemed to be a stable kid, but apparently his classmates egged him on to kill himself until he finally did a few months after making that video. Then they went on to continue bullying his sister.

Of course, we can’t forget all the other teens who killed themselves. The kids who felt like they weren’t loved or worth it. The kids who weren’t gay, but straight, and who were killing themselves because they felt alone. The kids who were killing themselves despite the efforts they, their families and their schools were making.

What bothers me in all of this, aside from the caustic and lethal bullying, is that any of these human beings decided that they were not loved enough, either by themselves or anyone else. Well, let me tell you – as soon as I watch one of these videos or read one of these news stories, all I feel is love. Well, and loss, too. We will never know what brilliant things these people could have done with their lives, rather than having to have society be reactive in their fight against discrimination because someone else was a casualty of a complex and hard world.

The thing is that teenagers hear us adults railing on about how much we love them, and how difficult things were for us when we were that age, but they don’t always understand that we really mean it, that we really have been there. I could recite a whole list. All of my education happened at Christian schools, but I was bullied in elementary school and in high school. I’ve been called a bitch, told that I was ugly and worthless, and had people tell me I was going to hell. I, too, have thought it would be easier to kill myself than to have to deal with the stress of real life, but I think that I never wanted that enough. Life was always more appealing. Still, I have, time and again, felt like no one would understand my situation, whatever I was going through. Yet I’ve discovered that more than enough people, perhaps too many, understand.

I’ve come a long way, a very long way, and so have they.

I want to share three things that have saved me from my feelings of hopelessness and depression.

• Love. I finally learned to focus on me, and to be spiritually aware of my place in the Universe. Life is a roller coaster ride no matter what age you are. But I know that I’m here, awake and alert and conscious, because my life is valuable. No matter what you believe, if you are a Buddhist or Muslim or Christian or atheist, you cannot discount the amazing opportunity you have to make the most of this existence. So I love myself, and most importantly, I give myself permission to accept the love of others.
• My talents. I don’t just bake and cook – I write, I draw, I play with clay. Depression took its toll on me for quite a while, but then I took some art classes and I felt amazing. It was as if I had trapped my creative self deep down and had forced it to stifle, until I was losing oxygen. It was a huge relief to finally allow my imagination to run wild. Some of my pieces have already shown up on Novel Eats. A whole bunch more are soon to make an appearance. It feels good to hold onto – and show off – physical manifestations of inner healing.
• Therapy. For a long time I wanted to work things out on my own, but there came a time not too long ago that I realized that I couldn’t solve all my challenges by myself. I think that a lot of people believe that they are weak or stupid or shameful if they see a therapist. I am here to tell you that it is okay, more than okay to get help and talk to someone, someone who has seen other people like you or me and helped them become happier and healthier people. I have been seeing a therapist regularly since the beginning of this year and I can tell you that while it isn’t easy to go to each appointment, I am better for it.

There are amazing people in my life who I am grateful to have met. I have met and worked with some wonderful gay men who I still consider friends. I recently had the privilege of digging into an apple crisp next to a warm fire with a lovely lesbian couple. One of the people who is most dear to me is a transgender woman. There are also amazing straight people in my life who have struggled, but who are better for the struggle. Mothers, fathers, family members, old friends from college and high school and new friends from the past few months. They are each finding their way, regardless of what has hit them full force in the gut or heart. You can, too.

So I decided to make blueberry crisp for the people who are considering suicide, whether they are kids, teenagers, adults, gay or straight, bi, trans or questioning. If you are considering suicide, I know that blueberry crisp isn’t going to change your mind, but I want you to know that people like me do love you. I’m just a silly food blogger who tries to make things better with some berries, sugar and cinnamon. Sit down, have a bite with me and let’s be friends, if not in real life, then virtually. Then, as a friend, I’m going to ask you to please get help, and if that help isn’t enough, then get more. Get so much help that you finally realize that it’s okay to stick around until that day that we all die, when we haven’t planned it, but when the cells in our body and the Universe say it’s time.

• LGBTQ Youth – If you are considering suicide, please call The Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386.
• Everyone and anyone – If you are considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
• Visit GLAAD’s website for more on Spirit Day.

Blueberry Crisp
This recipe is taken from the Blueberry Crisp II recipe on Allrecipes.com

• 4 cups fresh, frozen or canned blueberries
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup vegan sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise, like Vegenaise or MindfulMayo
• Vegan whipped cream, like Soyatoo, or vegan vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

If using canned blueberries, drain and rinse them.

Rinsing canned blueberries

Place the blueberries into an 8-inch square baking dish, or smaller if cutting the recipe in half.

Spread the blueberries evenly in your baking dish

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon.

Mixing together the dry ingredients

Stir in the vegan mayonnaise until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If they don’t turn out like crumbs, it’s okay.

My topping didn't turn out like it was supposed to, but that's totally okay

Pinch little pieces off the dough and place them on top of the blueberries until the berries are covered. Otherwise, just sprinkle the drier mixture over the top of the berries. (Either way will taste pretty good!)

Adding the topping for the blueberry crisp

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is lightly browned.

Yum.

Let cool for a few minutes before serving, then top with vegan whipped cream or vegan vanilla ice cream.

A spoonful of goodness

I’d love to end the ills of the world with a few helpings of blueberry crisp, but I know that more needs to be done. What ideas do you have to make the world a more loving, respectful and compassionate place?

Let's have another serving of love please!

Irish Boxty, vegan-style

When I was a kid, one of the things I most remember about my North Carolina grandmother was her breakfasts. They weren’t exactly healthy and they were most certainly not vegan, but they were rich and delicious. One thing I recall her and my mom making when we’d visit was potato pancakes, usually made with leftover mashed potatoes and eggs (to bind), and for the last several years I have wished I could find a similar no-egg recipe. When I was looking for Irish recipes for St. Patrick’s Day, I kept seeing recipes for Boxty, which is such a common food in Ireland that it even has rhymes and sayings created in honor of it:

Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in the pan, If you don’t eat Boxty, you’ll never get a man.

When I finally took a look, I was pretty excited. Despite the minor differences from what I experienced growing up, this was pretty much the recipe I had been longing for for years, and when learning more about Boxty, I discovered that it doesn’t always have eggs. It’s a bit of work and takes a little time, but it’s so worth it to make every few weeks or months for breakfast – savory, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

My biggest recommendation is that you make mashed potatoes the night before to save time, and a minor suggestion from a personal flavor perspective would be to grate in an onion along with the grated potatoes.

Irish Boxty
Recipe based upon a Boxty recipe on the BBC

• 7-8 small to medium-sized potatoes, cooked, mashed and cold
• 7-8 small to medium-sized potatoes, peeled, grated
• 1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
• 1-2 tablespoons melted vegan butter
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 3/4 cup vegan milk
• Olive oil
• Maple syrup, to serve

First, if you do not already have mashed potatoes available, peel, cube and boil about 7-8 small to medium-sized potatoes until they are tender.

Preparing mashed potatoes for Boxty

Drain and rinse the potatoes under cold water, then cool them down quickly by putting the bowl or container of boiled potatoes on top of some ice and water in another container. This will help to bring the temperature of the cooked potatoes down. Mash the potatoes well, but don’t worry if you still have lumps. To save time, mash the potatoes and refrigerate the night before using in this recipe.

Mashing potatoes for Boxty

Peel and grate your other 7-8 small to medium-sized potatoes, then rinse well.

Grating potatoes

Wrap the grated potato in a clean kitchen towel and/or paper towel and wring well to get rid of any excess liquid.

Removing excess liquid from grated potatoes

Transfer the mashed potato and grated potato to a mixing bowl, then mix until well combined. Add the flour and baking powder to the potato mixture and mix again until well combined. Stir in the melted vegan butter and season, to taste, with about one to two teaspoons salt and a few dashes of black pepper.

Mixing together the potatoes and dry ingredients

Add the vegan milk, a little at a time, to the potato mixture, beating after each addition until the milk has been fully incorporated into the mixture. When all of the vegan milk has been incorporated into the potato mixture, it should resemble a thick, heavy batter. If the mixture is too sticky, add more vegan milk as necessary.

Adding the vegan milk

Meanwhile, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium to high heat. Add spoonfuls of Boxty batter into the oil, leaving enough space around each spoonful for the mixture to spread. Fry them on medium to high heat for about five minutes on each side, or until the patties are golden-brown and the grated potato is cooked through.

Frying it up!

Remove the Boxty patties from the pan and set aside to drain on paper towels and keep warm. Repeat the process with the remaining Boxty mixture. You may need to continue adding oil each time you add a fresh new batch of batter.

Draining on paper towels

Serve with maple syrup, if desired, and some vegan breakfast meat (I had some yummy Yves breakfast patties). If you refrigerate these for later, you can get them crispy again by sticking them in your toaster oven for about five to 10 minutes or you can warm them up on the stove over medium to medium-high heat for about the same amount of time.

Fried Boxty goodness!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Do you have a favorite Irish recipe?

Carrot cake muffin with vanilla soy yogurt

A couple of weeks ago when we went strawberry picking at Boxx Berry Farm, we also had the fortunate opportunity to pick some vegetables from a small farm called Half Acre Farm located on the same property. They had a variety of vegetables ready, but we decided to pick only a couple of items – some Walla Walla onions and two of bunches of carrots. As we dug the vegetables up, we had a really nice visit with the couple who are running this one-acre farm (yep – it’s one acre). They both work full time, but are passionate about gardening, so decided to start up a little vegetable farm. Seems ambitious, but I admit that we were standing there feeling a bit jealous. In our minds, being able to garden and have a positive impact on the community is a worthy combo.

When we got home, Matt opted to juice the carrots which resulted in a rich and sweet liquid. The other thing that resulted was about a cup of carrot pulp that I couldn’t face throwing away. After doing a little bit of research I realized that juicing takes away a lot of the flavor of the carrots, so if you try to make dishes where grated carrots are a large part of the ingredient list, you’ll find that you won’t taste them quite as much. I finally decided to try making some muffins. In the end the carrot flavor was definitely mild, but if you are not a big fan of carrot cake, this may be a viable alternative for you.

Carrot Cake Muffins
Makes about 12 regular sized muffins

• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons hot water (or egg replacer for one egg)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup vegan milk
• 1 cup grated carrots or carrot pulp
• Vegan vanilla yogurt, optional

Turn on your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners or grease them with vegan butter (or spray with a cooking spray).

In a large bowl, sift your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger together. Mix in the brown sugar.

Mixing together the dry ingredients

In a separate bowl, mix together the flax seed mixture or egg replacer, oil, vanilla extract and vegan milk.

Mixing the wet ingredients together

Take the shredded carrot or carrot pulp and mix it in with the wet ingredients.

Mixing in the carrot pulp

Add the carrot mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until it is just combined.

Carrot cake muffin mixture

Add the mixture to your cupcake/muffin tin, and then bake in the oven for 25 or 30 minutes.

Carrot cake muffins about to go into the oven

Allow the muffins to cool before serving. You can serve with vegan butter or with a dollop of vegan vanilla yogurt.

Fresh out of the oven carrot cake muffins

The carrot flavor of the muffins was definitely mild, but I felt that what really made these was the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. They added a nice balance of spice with the other ingredients. The muffins were also dense, yet moist.

Also, while I don’t really like nuts or raisins in my muffins, I am sure the addition of a handful of walnuts, pecans, raisins or cranberries would be a nice complement to these.

Carrot cake muffin

Do you ever bake or cook with carrots? If so, what is your favorite recipe?

Baked apples

I am a big fan of apple crisp – the sweet, crunchy topping with the tender, juicy apples – but sometimes I just don’t have the right amount of apples or time on my hands. And sometimes I don’t really want to make all that extra effort of peeling and cutting up the fruit. I decided to try to find a recipe that would allow me to make apple crisp on a smaller scale and that would still have the taste of crisp without too much extra effort.

This baked apples recipe is so versatile – it’s hard to mess it up. Make it yours – add raisins and walnuts, or bake it in apple or orange juice. It’s really up to you what the final dish will be. Plus it’s great for breakfast or dessert.

Baked Apples
This recipe yields four servings.

• 2 apples, cut lengthwise and cored
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup white flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• Cinnamon
• Dash of salt
• 2-3 tablespoons vegan butter
• Raisins or nuts, optional
• 1 cup water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your apples by cutting them in half. You can also peel your apples if you do not like the skin, and you can also discard the stem.

Cut your apples in half

Core your apples with a melon baller. It might not be entirely even, but that’s okay because you’re going to cover it up with topping.

Coring apples with a melon baller

Mix all of your dry ingredients together. Note that since this is a small batch, I didn’t measure out the cinnamon. I just sprinkled in a little bit (probably about 1/4 teaspoon).

Mixing the dry ingredients together

Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, add the vegan butter and incorporate with your bare hands. It should become a crumbly mixture, yet still a little moist.

Mixing in the vegan butter

If you want to add in nuts or raisins, now would be a good time to add those. Just mix them in with a spoon or with your hands.

Place the apple halves in a deep dish and spoon the topping onto each apple. The topping should cover as much of the top of the sliced apple as possible.

Adding the topping to the apples

You can add the raisins and nuts on top of the topping, but when I did this it did dry out the raisins a little bit.

Add the water to the baking dish (don’t pour on top of the apples), cover with foil and put in the oven for about 30 minutes. The apples may not be entirely done at this point, so remove the foil and bake for another 10 or 15 minutes. Check with a knife to see how soft the apples are. If you need to continue baking them, allow them to bake for 10 or 15 minute intervals.

Once done, allow them to cool for a few minutes and then serve. You can serve with a vegan ice cream, vegan whipped topping or just by themselves.

Yum - the taste of apple crisp without too much effort!

I do admit that the apples didn’t seem to bake long enough. I think that next time I might try increasing the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or I might try to bake for a little longer. Still these turned out really nicely, and I liked the addition of walnuts and raisins.

Do you ever make baked apples or apple crisp?

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

For the last several weeks, many farmers at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City have had a sea of organic blueberries covering their tables. They’re both good looking berries – a purplish blue – and have a lovely flavor when you pop them into your mouth. If you are luckier than I, you will be able to go to a pick-your-own farm and get to harvest your own bounty. If you’re in that situation, you may already have a list of blueberry-themed foods you can make, but hopefully at least one of those you plan to have are good old blueberry muffins.

This is a very easy recipe and doesn’t take long to make, plus it just tastes good. If you top your batter off with a good sprinkle of sugar you’ll wind up with a crunchy top, which adds to your texture experience as you’re eating the muffins.

Blueberry Muffins
Based on VegWeb.com’s Very Simple Blueberry Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup vegan milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup frozen blueberries (if you don’t have frozen, you can use fresh)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place baking cups in a muffin pan.

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl.

Mixing dry ingredients

Add vegan milk and oil, and mix.

Adding vegan milk and oil

Fold in blueberries. (Hint: If you mix the blueberries first in a little bit of flour, the blueberries will not sink to the bottom of your muffins.)

Folding in the blueberries

Add the batter to the baking cups.

Adding blueberry muffin batter to baking cups

Sprinkle some sugar on top of each muffin prior to putting them in the oven to make the tops crunchy. Or you can leave them as is.

Adding sugar to muffins

Stick in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes prior to serving (if you can wait that long!).

Fresh Homemade Blueberry Muffins

What’s your favorite muffin? And if you have a nice bounty of blueberries in your neck of the woods, how have you been using them?

When we moved into our new apartment we gained a display case for knick knacks, so for the first time in my marriage or our relationship, I broke out The Collection. I’d never really had a good way to display my various rabbits until now – sure I had placed a few pieces here and there. But my husband really had no idea that I was “one of those” until a few weeks ago. You know, like the guy with hubcaps all over his yard or that lady with the zillion Christmas trees all over her house. I’m in the beginning stages, but I think that I’m young enough that in thirty years Channel 5 will be over at my house asking me, “So what got you started collecting rabbits?” and I’ll reply, with a contented sigh, while holding up a very worn out looking bunny, “I don’t know. I just love them.”

Maybe the reason is because of Easter, though. When I was a kid Easter was one of my favorite holidays. One parent would run outside while I wasn’t looking, deposit a basket of goodies outside the front door, and the other would say, “Did you hear someone knock at the front door? You’d better go see who that is.” Then I’d open up the door and I’d see an Easter basket and probably wonder where the Easter Bunny went (or where my other parent went). Then there was the Easter egg hunt, which my cousin and I proudly continued playing with plastic eggs long into the summer when he was visiting.

My latest acquisitions from an antique store in Massachusetts

These days, we don’t really do anything for Easter (this year I might admire my rabbit collection), but one thing I do attempt to do is to make something good to eat (of course – what else did you expect?). This year I decided to give VeganYumYum.com’s crumb cake recipe an early try, and I have to tell you – even if you don’t celebrate Easter, you should still make this. The cake has a dense, yet moist texture and the crumb is a perfect amount of crunch and sugary goodness. It’s rich, though, so you’ll want to have this with some coffee or tea.

Crumb Cake

Crumb Topping

• 8 tablespoons vegan butter, melted
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Cake

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil, or 6 tablespoons vegan butter, softened
• 1/3 cup vegan milk, plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water
• 1-2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put the sugar, molasses, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.

Add in the vegan butter and whisk well with the other ingredients.

Mix in the flour.

If it doesn’t seem to be mixing well, go with the old fashioned method of using your hands.

A thick dough should form, but as in my case, if a thick dough doesn’t form just add in a tablespoon or two of vegan butter at a time until it gets to the right consistency, similar to that of cookie dough.

Let sit to cool for about 10 minutes. It should be ready when after you’ve put together the batter for the cake.

Line an 8×8 pan with aluminum foil (two sheets in a cross formation, leaving excess draped over the edges to help you remove the cake later), and then spray with vegetable oil.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Add oil, vegan milk mixture, cornstarch mixture and vanilla extract.

Whisk until smooth, but do not overmix.

Add the batter to the lined pan.

Begin to break apart the crumb mixture into smaller, pea sized pieces. You want to take chunks from the bowl and gently break off the crumbs. Cover the batter evenly with all the crumb mixture.

Bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or until the crumbs are slightly browned and a toothpick in the center of the cake comes out clean. Grab the aluminum foil and gently lift the cake out to cool for 20-30 minutes on a cooling rack, then serve with a pot of coffee or tea.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend no matter what you do. But if you make some crumb cake, make sure you eat an extra piece for me!

Not all vegans eat the same things, but just like everybody else, we’ve got our own common meat and potatoes items. One thing that eventually winds up on a vegan’s plate is tofu scramble (or scrambled tofu, depending upon your preference), and we vegans are known for making it a variety of ways. Even my husband and I make it two different ways, but I’ll share my preferred method here.

Tofu Scramble
Since I don’t follow a recipe when I make Tofu Scramble, this recipe is only an approximation, and should be used more as a rough guide (although feel free to follow exactly, too).

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 package extra firm tofu, drained
• 2 teaspoons chicken or beef style seasoning I use McKay’s
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon spice blend of your choice I use McCormick’s Smoky Sweet Pepper Blend

Chop up a medium to large onion.

After slicing off the ends of the cloves of garlic, slice down the middle and remove the center stem. This part can taste a little bitter, so it is sometimes best to remove it, although it’s no problem if you leave it in. Chop the garlic.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, and add the onion and garlic and saute over medium heat.

One package of tofu should suffice for two people, but if you are feeding more people you can do more (and you may want to increase the other ingredients as well to make sure the dish is still full of flavor).

Once the onions and garlic have sauteed for a few minutes, push them to one side of the pan and then add the block of tofu to the bare side of the pan.

Grab a potato masher and begin mashing the tofu starting on one edge and working your way through the entire block.

Before you incorporate the onions and garlic with the mashed tofu, first add the spices to the tofu. I usually start off with the chicken or beef style seasoning.

Then the nutritional yeast – you can add more or less depending upon your preference; not everyone likes nutritional yeast.

Finally I just sprinkle the pepper spice until I think I’ve added enough.

Mix everything together now and let it saute without stirring for a couple of minutes.

After a couple of minutes, the tofu should start browning.

It’s up to you how long you let it brown. I usually stir, then let it sit for a couple of minutes, stir again and let it sit – I do this for probably up to six to eight minutes.

Once it’s done it will have a nice texture that reminds me a little bit of hearty scrambled eggs (sorry – not of the taste, though).

Aside for making it differently, my husband and I usually eat it two different ways, too. He normally eats his on toast with ketchup, vegenaise, and sometimes hot sauce.

I tend to have my tofu scramble on it’s own, and then a slice of toast and jam (in this case marmalade!).

Tofu scramble is such a versatile recipe. We sometimes make it with sliced mushrooms, green and/or black olives, and other spices. It’s great for breakfast burritos or pita sandwiches, too. Really, you can eat it much the same way as you would scrambled eggs. That’s kind of the point, I think, for vegans.

How do you make yours? And do you eat yours any differently than we do?

These last couple of weeks have been a bit of an adjustment for our cat, Pixel. When we first got him, he was still young and pretty resilient, but I think as he has gotten older he’s become a bit more fussy and picky. Even though we moved very close to our last apartment, he was fairly traumatized and weirded out by the whole thing. Here’s the palatable version – pretty soon his system essentially stalled and we were desperate to figure out how to get things moving along again. After a failed visit to the veterinarian (don’t get me started), we relied on the internet for hints on what to do. One way to get a cat or dog to do its business? Feed it pureed pumpkin.

Now things are back to normal and I had quite a bit of leftover pumpkin, so I decided that I’d use it for less practical purposes and indulge in making some pumpkin muffins for breakfast.

Unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan (I did not fully read all of the instructions on the recipe, plus I’m still getting used to our oven), so my muffins didn’t exactly turn out right. Thankfully not all was lost, so I wound up with pumpkin bread instead.

Pumpkin Bread
For the original recipe that this is based on refer to theppk.com for their Pumpkin Muffins

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1 cup pureed pumpkin (fresh or from a can)
• 1/2 cup soymilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons molasses

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease muffin tin(s) and/or small cake or bread pan with vegetable shortening or vegan butter.

Sift together dry ingredients.

Quick note – I ran out of granulated sugar so without really thinking, I dropped in some turbinado sugar to be sifted as well. The grains are too large, so they would not sift.

Anyway, I just stirred them in later. :)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.

Pour wet into dry and combine.

If you are making muffins, fill the tins 2/3 of the way, then bake for about 15 minutes (you’ll need to check to make sure they don’t need more time).

If you make pumpkin bread, bake for 27-30 minutes in a baking pan, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Unfortunately, I was doing something else as I was making these and didn’t pay full attention to the original instructions which says to bake your muffins for less time if they are not going to be jumbo muffins. So I wound up with six very sorry and burned muffins. Sadly, they were beyond repair.

Thankfully I did use the rest of the batter in a larger pan and made pumpkin bread. The edges were only slightly singed, but otherwise it turned out pretty well.

Aside from being a bit overdone, these were very moist and chewy. I spread slices with vegan butter, but they didn’t really need it. It was nice, but they were so rich on their own that it was just probably unnecessary.

I definitely plan on making these again – just next time I’d better pay closer attention so I can make sure to not miss out on all of the chewy goodness. Also, I hope that next time I go out and buy pumpkin that it isn’t in a desperate attempt to fix the cat. :)

Farm season is well upon us again, which means we have been getting fruit for a few weeks now in our local community supported agriculture program. We have participated in our local CSA for a few years by getting vegetable shares, but last year another farmer joined in the fun and was providing us with fruit, so we got a fruit and vegetable share last year. Holy cow. We got some of the most amazing fruit, so much so that this year we’ve said good bye to the vegetable share (Good bye! Perhaps we’ll see you another year!), and said hello to two fruit shares.

The first couple of weeks we didn’t get a whole lot of fruit, but the last couple of weeks we’ve gotten more than our share (hehe) of peaches and plums. As soon as I saw the peaches I couldn’t think of anything else but when I was growing up next to Grandma.

We lived next to my grandparents for a good number of years during my childhood. I had mixed feelings about it because on the one hand they were really old and uncool, but on the other my grandparents were great sources of food. They grew much of their own fresh food, and they supported a lot of local farmers (these days I think that is totally cool and awesome).

One thing that Grandma made was peach cobbler. She’d somehow whip up magic and it was quite good with ice cream or whipped cream. Mmmm… So, of course, I couldn’t get that peach cobbler out of my head. Sure I could do a crisp, but I had to deviate this one time. I’m pretty glad I did, because this wound up being both very good and an easy peach cobbler recipe to boot.

Peach Cobbler
Recipe based on a peach cobbler recipe at VegWeb.com

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 cup sliced peaches (about 6 medium peaches)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup soy or almond milk
• 3 tablespoons vegan butter

Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, the cornstarch and cinnamon in a 2-quart saucepan. Stir in the peaches and lemon juice. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir for one minute.

Pour into an ungreased 2-quart casserole.

Mix together the rest of the dry ingredients, then cut in the vegan butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk. Drop dough by six spoonfuls (more or less) onto hot peach mixture.

Bake until topping is golden brown – about 25-30 minutes.

I’ll be honest and tell you I was very afraid of that batter. It seemed way too runny to me and I was very tempted to add more flour to it, but I decided against it just to see if I was wrong.

I was wrong.

The batter basically turned into little lumps of biscuits and it was an excellent compliment to the sweet, warm peaches below. The only thing I would do differently is to increase the batter so there would be more biscuits.

I also wound up adding the coconut flavor of Sharon’s Sorbet (so far, the best brand of sorbet I’ve had – and vegan), and it was an excellent addition. Warm peaches, delicious biscuits, and creamy coconut sorbet. I just have to say, almost like Grandma used to make! Mmmm…. :)

I recently had a hankerin’ for some cherries. I am not usually a cherry kind of girl, but when they’re in season I’ll indulge in a pound or two. If you get a perfectly ripe cherry, you’ll get a perfectly sweet and spicy flavor – too soon and it will be tart (not my favorite), too late, well it will just be too late.

After gorging myself, I decided that I needed to do something else with them. What I wound up with was a variation on (or very much inspired by) apple crisp.

Mini Cherry Pies
Makes approximately 6 mini pies

• 1 cup cherries, pitted
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 6 – 8 tablespoons vegan butter

First, pit your cherries. I’ve heard that cherry pitters can make things go a bit faster, but just cutting them out with a knife works too. What I did was slice each cherry in half from the top to bottom, then open it up and pry the pit out with my fingers.

Once you have all of the cherries pitted you can mix a couple of teaspoons of sugar with them, but it is not necessary.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (I used my toaster oven). Mix together the remainder of your ingredients (dry first, then incorporating the butter). Press a small amount into each muffin round of a greased muffin pan, making a pie crust of sorts. Make sure that you have some mixture leftover.

Place your muffin pan into the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. When you take it out the crust will have puffed up, but take a spoon and press each back down.

Take your cherries and put some in each of the crusts.

I wound up with almost too many cherries, so you may have to get creative to make sure that they will all fit. Remember that as they bake they will sink a little bit, so more is usually better.

Once all of your crusts are filled, sprinkle the remainder of your crust mixture on top of the cherries.

Put in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, monitoring after about 10 minutes to make sure that the top doesn’t burn.

I’ll warn you – these are a little bit of a challenge to take out of the pan, but I found a spoon to be pretty helpful. Surprisingly these stayed intact for the most part, so if you have to do a little extra coaxing they probably won’t break apart.

You can serve with some vegan vanilla ice cream and some of your leftover fresh cherries (if you have any, of course).

These were quite good. I think it would have been easier to just make a cherry crisp, but then it wouldn’t have been as cute, and I probably wouldn’t have wound up with as much crisp/crust.

So that’s the second mini dessert/breakfast I’ve made – the other being mini apple pies. Any other mini ideas?! :)