Vegan Gluten Free PUMPKIN PIE

So this recipe was lifted from another blog, the author said not to deviate and substitute ingredients too much, or it might turn out weird. They were right. But this time I think I got a diabetic safe sugar free variation to work alright, the 3rd times the charm I guess.
I am going to post the recipe as I found it, and give you my deviations in parenthesis.

Ingredients:

Crust:

* 1 Cup gluten free rolled oats (if it doesn't say gluten free on the bag, they are not GF and could cause problems for those allergic/intolerant to wheat/gluten, like me.)
* 2 Cups raw pecans (yes, these guys are expensive, but I tried substituting almonds instead, and it didn't turn out as good. Hot Tip: buy these in the bulk section, so that way you can save a little money)
* 2 Tbsp Sugar (I used xylitol, which is supposed to be safe for diabetics -my boyfriend- But you could use coconut sugar and make it lower glycemic as well, but I don't think I would give it to a diabetic.)
* 3 Tbsp ground flax
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 cup brown rice syrup/honey (I melted the xylitol in water to make it syrup like, and used that instead)
* 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

Filling:

* 2 1/4 Cups cooked pumpkin puree (I baked my own pumpkin, simply cut a small pie pumpkin in half, scrape out seeds and stringy stuff, cover with foil, place on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours, then let cool, peel, and mash.)
* 1/2 cup sugar (again I suggest xylitol or coconut sugar)
* 1/4 cup full fat coconut creme (to separate coconut creme from milk, place a can of regular -not light- coconut milk in the refrigerator for a bit, and the creme will separate out and rise to the top.)
* 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
* 1/4 cup maple syrup (I used xylitol syrup that I made from boiling equal parts xylitol and water, but it was a bit thin, I would add less water next time, this syrup could also be made with coconut sugar)
* 3 Tbsp Arrowroot powder
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/ tsp ground ginger
* 1/2 tsp nutmeg
* pinch of ground cloves

To make the crust:
Preheat oven to 350, grease a 9" pie pan well, grind oats into flour(you can use a coffee grinder, or food processor), process nuts in a food processor or blender until they start to clump together, melt coconut oil, mix with syrup, stir, transfer pecan oat mixture into a large bowl and mix with the rest of the crust ingredients, combine well using your hands, it should form a ball, if it's too dry add more oil. smooth into a pie dish, press firmly. Poke with a fork all over, then pre-bake 10 - 12 minutes, watch that it doesn't burn. remove and let cool 10 minutes.

To make the filling:
in a large bowl whisk together syrup and arrow root powder, now add all filling ingredients and whisk. Adjust spices and sweetness to your liking.

To bake:
scoop filling into crust and smooth. cover crust tightly with foil (mine burnt a little because my foil was too loose). Bake for 50 to 55 minutes at 350. Place on a cooling rack for 1 hour, then transfer to the fridge to set for 3 hours or overnight.

Raw "Pumpkin Pie" Chai Smoothie

This tastes AMAZING. I was a bit skeptical when reading the ingredient list, but decided to give it a try, and holey s*it it's like drinking liquid pumpkin pie! recipe from Crazy Sexy Juices and Succulent Smoothies e-book.

1/2 avocado (yes, avocado. You're just going to have to trust me on this)
1/2 cup of raw sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 lb + 2 carrots
1 baby romaine heart (again, trust is key)
stevia to taste
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

juice the carrots and romaine, place the cubed sweet potato, avocado flesh, spices and juice in a blender, add a sprinkle or two of stevia and blend well. If you don't have a fancy high-power blender you will need to blend for an extra few minutes to ensure the creaminess and smoothness of the smoothie.

Tate the smoothie and add more stevia or spices as needed. You can also add some ice and blend until smooth, or you can serve it over ice, straight up, or slightly warmed. Best if drank from an armadillo mug.

Chocolate Almond Butter Cups

Ingredients:
1 bar or more of dark baking chocolate
however much sweetener you like
1/2 jar of Almond or peanut or any other nut butter
whatever else you want to put in them, nuts, cocoa nibs, coconut flakes, etc.

Equipment:
double broiler, or 1 small pot that fits inside of another small pot, with a bit of water in exterior pot (note: do not get water into the inner pot, chocolate and water don't mix well and it will make the consistency of your chocolate all weird)

How to make cups:

it's so easy, just melt 1/2 of the chocolate (I use baking chocolate and add some sweetener to it, taste test - careful it's hot), then pour melted chocolate into muffin wrappers, put just enough to cover the bottoms, then once you pour all of them, rotate the wrappers to get the chocolate to cover about 1/2 inch up the sides, then put them in the freezer for a few minutes so that the chocolate sets up.

Once chocolate is hard, remove from freezer and add a 1-2 Tablespoons or so of almond butter to the middle, up to the top of the chocolate sides (you can mix sweetener or pieces of nuts or whatever into the nut butter before you do this) then melt the other half of the chocolate and pour it on top, again rotate cups around in your hand to get it to fully cover, watch that you don't make it too thick or you cups will be jaw breakers.

That's pretty much it, just play with in until you get them the way you like. It took me a couple of attempts, but you can always eat the mess-ups.

bloody beautiful beet carrot cucumber juice

I confess, I have not been doing a lot of exciting cooking lately, but I have been making a lot of juice! A whole LOT of it. I got my mommie's avocado-green Champion out of the storage, washed it up, and I have been going to town, juice town that is. Oh and if that were a real place I would totally live there. This juice was really tasty, and is supposed to be extra detoxing. So drink up.

here's what you need:
A juicer (duh, but sorry to all you poor juicer-less people in the world, I don't know how you can make this without one)

1lb carrots
1 large red beet
3-4 Persian cucumbers (or 1-2 regular cucumbers)

feed these through you juicer, give the pulp another run through when your done to get every last ounce of juicy goodness out of it. Stir, and drink. Makes about 3 cups of juice (depending on how good a juicer you have) I find this to be enough for one person, but you can share if you like, or stick in the refrigerator for later, it will only keep a few days though.

Note: organic produce is best, for many reasons, it also tastes better...

I've gotten really into Salad lately...

Weird, since I never really much liked salad before. But that was back when I was eating WEAK little BABY salads. I have since moved on to Hardy Salads that you can make a whole meal out of and not get immediately hungry again afterwards.

The Secret:
It's all in the Greens - go for Dark Leafy Greens, none of that pale, wimpy, weak stuff. Kale and Spinach are my personal favorites.

More Secrets: Make them Fatty - but in a good way - add healthy fats from Avocado, Tahini, Nuts and Seeds (Almonds, walnuts, pipitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds etc.) and Cold Pressed Oils (olive, flax, hemp, walnut, etc.) p.s. good fats don’t make you fat unless you eat ridiculous amounts of them so get over that idea right now.

Make it lemony! I squeeze 1/2 to a whole lemon on every salad I eat.

Salt is not the Enemy! as long as you use good quality salt such as pink Himalayan crystal salt, or Celtic sea salt, just stay away from the bleached mineral deprived white nasty table salt.

Massage your Kale – Kale is a bad-ass tough green, but it can be a little chewy, which can turn people off from it. But all you have to do is give it a nice deep tissue massage with some salt and lemon and it will be much friendlier, it’s like most tough guys and gals, all it really wants is a little love.

Carrots are amazing: I eat them every day and I will keep on eating them until I turn orange, and then I will be most pleased with myself and celebrate by eating more carrots. I also add them to my salads because they taste amazing in salad. On that note so do grated Beets, Turnips and Burdock too! and many other grated root vegetables,

Salad doesn’t have to be cold: I myself usually like to eat a warm lunch/dinner, so I will either leave my salad ingredients out of the fridge for a bit before making my salad so it won’t be so chilly, or I will add warm sprouted quinoa, or lentils, or chickpeas, etc. to my salad and mix them into to make a warm wilted salad. This also ups the hardiness factor.

Sea Vegetables are Exciting: if you are into them that is, I know some people who won’t touch them, but if you are a fan of nori, or kelp, or what have you, try tossing it into your salad to up the mineral content and add an amazing chew. (if you use it fresh or soak the dried stuff.)

Experiment! I have been making a different salad every night, some are better than others, I make mental notes of what tastes amazing together and what combinations not to repeat. The possibilities for exciting salads are endless, Go Wild.

Behold: Spinach-avocado-carrot-beet-salad topped with lemon, olive oil, salt and chia seeds.

Beet Nori Rolls with Cashew Cream

Adapted from Color Me Vegan

Orange Cashew Cream:
1 cup raw cashews
½ to ¾ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 to 2 Tbsp tamari soy sauce

Wraps:
5ish nori wraps (the kind used for sushi)
2 carrots, grated or shredded
1 medium beet, grated
¼ cup alfalfa sprouts
2 avocados, sliced
salt, for sprinkling
Black sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

To make cashew cream, add cashews, ½ cup orange juice, and tamari to a blender and blend until you have a creamy consistency. Taste, tweak if necessary, (I like to add a little orange zest), thin out with more juice, if needed, and then transfer to a bowl.
Place all of your ingredients in separate bowls so that they will be easy to grab when making the wraps.
place a nori sheet on a sushi mat or cutting board. You will be tempted to put way too much filling in your first roll, that’s okay, you’ll learn by doing it what is the right amount. leave yourself some room around the edges and place a layer of carrots, beets, sprouts, and avocado in a horizontal line going across the upper quadrant of your nori sheet, drizzle with cashew cream. Sprinkle with a little salt. Now it gets tricky, use your sushi mat to help you roll the nori into a cute little roll. Follow illustrations. Use a little water to seal the seam, place seam down on a cutting board and cut roll with a sharp serrated knife into 2-inch rounds. repeat with remaining ingredients. You should have enough veggies to make 5ish wraps. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with extra cashew cream as dipping sauce.

Beet Burgers

I must confess that I have not always been a fan of the beet, but these burgers flipped me, after eating them I could never go back to my dull pre-beet loving existence.
*A word of warning, these burgers are hardy! they put Erin, Ulysses and I into quite the food coma, consume slowly, and know that seconds are not for the weak.
Recipe from Color me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (I love that lady!)

Ingredients:
2 cups grated beets (about 2 large beets)
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup minced onion (about 1 small onion)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (or flour if you don't have any crumbs)
1/4 cup oil
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour (perhaps a little more)
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley (dried works too in a pinch)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 to 3 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
salt, to taste

In a large bowl, combine beets, quinoa, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, onion, bread crumbs, oil, flour, garlic, tamari, and cayenne. Add salt to taste.
test to see if you can make a patty that will stay together, if not, add more flour until it does. Continue forming uniform-sized patties, you should end up with 10-12 of them. Heat up some oil on a skillet over medium heat and fry up your patties! This is a bit tricky, watch your temperature and don't be discouraged if the first couple end up as sacrifices to the skillet gods. If you don't want to fry you can bake them on a lined baking sheet at 350f for 25 minutes, flipping 1/2 way through the baking time.
Serve warm, on a whole wheat bun, topped with your favorite fixings, I enjoy them with vegan mayo, ketchup, KC style BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato slices, mustard, avocado, etc... Makes enough to feed about ten regular folks, or three to five very hungry vegans.