Ghetto Thanksgiving

Sans turkey...
Cornbread stuffing, blackened garlic and asparagus.

Times are tough when I haven't gone food shopping in a while!

Pumpkin Cookies!

It's been sort of a tradition for me to make these cookies every year for Thanksgiving. Since we are having a Turkey Day Pot-Luck lunch tomorrow at work, I decided to make them a bit early.

They're super delicious AND super non-diet friendly. :D


I can't believe the cookies photographed so well through saran wrap!! It looks like it's not even there! I obviously forgot to take a picture when they were fresh out and had already wrapped them for tomorrow. :)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks) - I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter - Light" to make it a bit less unhealthy. :P
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 cups flour - I used Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat
lots of chocolate chips! - I use Nestle mini-chips, around 1/2 a bag

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin. Keep mixing.
Sift the dry ingredients together and mix into batter-pumpkin mixture.
Once combined, add chocolate chips and mix a little more.
Spoon onto greased baking sheet - I use parchment paper to cut down the grease.
Cook for 30 minutes, checking often.

Broccoli Mushroom Cheesy Pie

This is totally from scratch.

Ingredients:
1 10oz package of frozen chopped broccoli florets.
5 large mushrooms, chopped
2 packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls
2 cloves of garlic, chopped.
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups of shredded mozzarella

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Thaw out the broccoli and dice up the mushrooms. Make sure to drain broccoli of excess water.
Line the bottom of the pie pan with 1 package of crescent roll dough.
Combine broccoli, garlic, mushrooms a big bowl of the shredded mozzarella.
Stir in the beaten egg.
Place mix inside the pan and cover with other package of crescent rolls dough.
Cook for about 25 minutes or until the crust is lightly brown.






Verdict:
Delicious!! Although too cheesy, even for me! Next time I think I'll cut the cheese down to 2 cups and add 1 cup of ricotta instead.

Fat-Free Vegan Strawberry Banana Muffins

I've been updating this blog like a mad woman!

Today I decided to make fat-free vegan muffins that sounded super delicious. The recipe was actually posted by another chikkie in the vegan cooking community on Livejournal. I decided to give it a go since the recipe was super simple and well...yum! I'm SO glad I did!



Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. soymilk
1 tsp. vanilla
15 or so strawberries, chopped.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. "Cream" together bananas and sugar. Mix together dry ingredients and add, then blend in soy milk and vanilla. Make sure it's well mixed, then quickly stir in the strawberries (the more you stir once they're in, the more squished-up they get). Grease muffin tins, and spoon in. This made 12 large muffins for me. Bake 25-20 minutes.

These muffins are about 170 calories a pop and super delicious! Even my vegan-food hating boyfriend liked them!

Tofu Loaf

Last night for dinner, I really wanted a hearty meal - something to hit the spot. Since I didn't eat much throughout the day, and kinda felt like baking, I decided to attempt making a tofu loaf. Although it didn't turn out quite "loafy," I thought it was utterly delicious.

Ingredients: (Serves 4 people)
1 lb. Tofu, Firm
1 cup Dried Bread Crumbs
1/2 medium White Onion
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
4 tablespoons Tomato Ketchup
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 tablespoons Italian Herb Seasonings
1 teaspoons Pepper, Black
1/2 cup Carrots (I used 1 cup of canned mixed veggies since I didn't have anything fresh)
1/2 cup Celery
(I also added a long squirt of Dijon mustard, which was probably overkill and contributed to the consistency problem)


Some of my ingredients. The asparagus and chopped garlic were served on the side.

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350°F.
2) Drain and press the tofu for about 15 minutes.


3) Dice up the tofu and put all the ingredients in a food processor, except for the carrots and celery.

How gross does THAT look?

4) Blend until smooth. Add the carrot and celery, and blend in the tofu mixture.

Looks like hummus!

5) Put in a greased loaf pan and bake for one hour.

Don't mind the white stuff, just some excess seasoning.

Now, while this loaf was baking, I fried up the asparagus and made some (instant, boo!) mashed potatoes. When it came out, I was sooo starving, and it smelled sooo good that I completely forgot to take a picture of it, or of my delicious looking, full plate. The best I could do is this, which is clearly after I had already taken my share.



The only major problem with this loaf was that, although it doesn't look like it here, it's texture was actually that of mashed potatoes. It was definitely not slice-able. Also, it was a bit too pungent for the normal person (at least according to my boyfried). I'm not sure how I could modify the recipe for next time. I would definitely omit the mustard, and probably add a tiny bit less soy sauce. The tofu might have to be a bit drier, as well.

It was very good though and I would DEFINITELY make this again. As a matter of fact, it's my lunch today!