Vegan MoFo Day 2 : Pumpkin Recipes! Favourite Blogs Pt. 1! Sam!

Yesterday we learned how to bake a pumpkin and make your own pumpkin purée, now how about putting that purée to good use?  I know there are as many pumpkin recipes out there as there are reasons NOT to vote Republican in the U.S. (ou bien UMP ici en france!) but I thought I’d do a round up of some of my favourite recipes, from some of my very favourite blogs. Ever. Love you!

I know these blogs are a favourite for many of you, too! However, if you’ve never paid them a visit, do stop by and tell them “hello”!

Have Cake, Will Travel is my friend (and fellow francophone) Celine Steen’s blog.  I have been lucky to test for all of  Celine’s cookbooks, and I can’t recommend them enough.  I often blog about her test recipes, and get snarky comments like “where is the recipe?”.  Well fear not! Her blog has tons of her recipes (some from her cookbooks, others are inédit or not published elsewhere) so go give them a try.

Pumpkin Bagles

Pumpkin Molasses Bars

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Another great place for recipes (and witty banter) is Diet, Dessert and Dogs, where friend and cookbook author Ricki Heller blogs.  Ricki is funny (and also francophone by birth…what’s up with that?) and her recipes are delicious, nutritious and they make you feel ambitious!* without refined sugars!

Curried Pumpkin Hummus

Apple Pumpkin Crumble Bars

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Warm Caramel Sauce

Today’s last great blog for recipes is Seitan is My Motor, where friend (and fellow Bad Religion) fan Mihl shares her creations in English and German. Ha! a germanophone! Though I don’t know much German, I do know how good these recipes are!  Try them and see!

Beans with pumpkin seed pesto

Tomato-Pumpkin Soup

Roasted Pumpkin & Parsnip Soup

And because I hate blogging without photos, how about a little Sam love?

*I am such an “I Love Lucy” nerd.

Delicious Savory Zucchini Bread (Vegan)

I grew up eating sweet zucchini breads and muffins, but never anything savory coming from the zucchini-infused bread basket. When dear Mihl of Seitan Is My Motor blogged her Savory Zucchini Bread recipe, I couldn’t wait for our heat-wave to break – I just had to try it! Mihl’s got the most delicious recipes on her blog, if you’ve never been you really ought to pay her a visit.

Please don’t blame Mihl’s delicious (and super-easy to follow) recipe for the unsightly nature of this fabulous loaf. If it must be someone’s fault, it’s mine. Well, mine and Mother Nature’s who blessed us with extremely warm temperatures very early in the day.

Thinking I could “beat the heat” I mixed my dough early and let it rise while we prepared for the day. The second rise isn’t very long, and since I only had a few errands to run I thought we’d be safe…well… (if you’ve ever watched the television show I Love Lucy just imagine her saying “well…”) the errands ended up taking longer than planned (bien sûr) and the heat shot up faster than I’d planned, and we returned home to two very over-risen loaves.

Sigh.

But really, who cares? So it’s not as beautiful as I’d hoped (Guppy asked me if I could make it look like an escargot and I said pourquoi pas?). It does look like an escargot, one that had been crushed, perhaps? The important thing is the taste, and it was voted delicious by 3 out of 3 Fish (myself, Guppy and Monsieur). I was going to freeze one of the loaves, but I didn’t even have a chance, Monsieur F. digging into it, topping thick slices with the Raw Ranch Dressing I’d made. That’s ok. Just an excuse to go make more!

I’ll be submitting this lovely loaf to Yeast Spotting, your weekly dose of home-baked goodness over at Wild Yeast (thanks as usual, Susan!).

Jessy’s Butter Bean Burgers & a 60-Day Project Update

You 60-Day Project People are all just amazing! I can hardly keep up with all your generosity! Huge thank yous go out to: Maria Rose of Little Things Are Big, Sophie of Her Heart, My Hands, Amanda of Walking The Vegan Line, Carmen of About a Girl, Jessy of Happyveganface, Meg of Becoming Whole and Amanda of Gemusings! It would be impossible to show you all how grateful I am for you and your helping my mother’s 60th birthday the best yet! I’d also like to wish Maria Rose a very happy (late) birthday (again)!

If I could, I would make you all delicious and healthy veggie burgers like these :

I regularly sing the praises of Jessy’s culinary creations, but have I told you how amazing all her burger recipes are? A few of us are trying to convince her she needs to write a Veggie Burger cookbook, because she is just so talented!

Jessy’s Butter Bean Burgers recipe is easy and delicious and everyone agreed they were fabulous! We ate them with regular buns and “the works”, and the next day the left-over patties were a fun lunch just served on a bed of fresh baby cabbage leaves. If you’re ever in a slump and you’re not sure what to make for dinner, head over to Jessy’s most excellent recipe index – you’ll find the inspiration you need to get your dinner on!

Now I really need to get cracking on Guppy’s brithday gifts…I have less than two weeks to get things done! She’s going to be 4! Aaarrrk!

Taters & Wingz : Friday Fun Food !

Sometimes there are blogger food favourites that circulate tirelessly, popping up again, seemingly just taunting you with their deliciousness.

Enter “Katie’s Wingz” and “Crash Hot Potatoes“, two tasty items that I had yet to meet, culinaraily speaking.

Two very snappy women with unquestionable taste, Jessy and Guava, have been talking up (and eating up!) the crash hot potatoes for so long that I finally decided to stop fighting and make some myself. I am such a fan of the humble potato, being as it’s full of vitamin C and super-affordable and all. A food of the people. Let the proletariat eat their pomme de terre, apple of the earth, damn it.

But what to serve with my crashed spuds? I had about 220g firm tofu in the fridge (two soy yaourts, jar of tahini, mustard, apple juice…huh, better get shopping…). Katie’s Internationally-famous wingz are usually made with tempeh…ha! Forget convention, who says I need to use tempeh? No one, that’s who!

I pressed and fried the tofu crispy in some oil, and then just pretty much stuck to the recipe. I admit to playing with the spices, but that’s just normal after all.

We were a very thrilled Fish Family, though I must claim ignorance as to the authenticity of the wingz. I have of course had chicken, but I’ve never ever had those ity bitty baby wing things people eat in bars or order in with their pizza. My first memory of seeing the marketing coup of wingz in play in my rural hometown was after I’d stopped eating animals, and this was a looong time ago. A Bush was in the Oval Office, and hey, there was also a war on Iraq…humm…funny how things change, yet stay the same.

Monsieur Fish, however, has had the wingyness, and he was smitten with the re-capturing of the saucy-spiciness and gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up!

I’ll have a 60-Day Project up-date for you next time, kids. You rule, and Mammafish is one happy chica.

Whatever Happened To Sunday Dinners : Indian night!

Things have been a little quiet around here, haven’t they? All is well, I’ve just been a very busy bee, mostly playing catch-up with things I *should* have been working on while on vacation. Since I spent my two weeks playing with Guppy (also on vacation) and crafting, well, my lesson plans needed some emergency attention last week! But I don’t regret it, though. A holiday is for resting, not working after all!

But let’s talk about the deliciousness! This is actually a little pre-Lenten Sunday dinner that I very purposefully scheduled before giving up baking. Two of my favourite bloggers, Jessy and Gail had me longing for some Indian cuisine, and I knew I had to try Gail’s Naan recipe before turning my back on all that is bake-able!

Good gravy, Marie! (I don’t actually know who Marie is. My mum used to say this when we were little and I think it’s funny.) These naan were out of this world, and so easy to prepare. They were really delicious, and I know I’ll be making them again once my Lenten baking fast has ended.

The most tragic thing about them is that I don’t have a picture to show you! I recently lost a folder o’ photos, much to my chagrin, but that’s the rock and roll life of a food blogger! But frustrating. Don’t despair, Gail has some scrummy pictures on her blog, so just go see hers!

Feeling like some Indian curry fantasticalness? Do try Jessy’s Chickpea-potato-tomato curry of deliciousness that is so amazing my mouth is actually watering just thinking about it! The name pretty much says it all, and it’s all good. I love recipes that call for things I have on hand, in addition to being healthy and tasty!

I made another Jessy-inspired meal last night, too, which I will be blabbing about soon. Jessy!!! What would I do without you and your recipe index of sublime awesomeness!?

And with no segue at all, I just want to take a little moment and say thank you : thanks for your comments which bring me so much joy and insight, and thank you for your little messages of love and groovy-ness. I’m so thankful for this blogging community and all its brought me! You rule!