Thanksgiving Round-Up

Each Thanksgiving, our family extends an invitation for our family to participate in a vegan meal with us. Thus far, it has centered around the traditional type meal. Last year the Tofurky was a big hit, so it will be making an appearance again.

It was not always so revered, until I discovered a fool-proof way to cook it. This my friends, included an important ingredient:

We roasted our Tofurky in the oven, half-submersed in Imagine Vegetarian Wild Mushroom Gravy. In a 1.5 quart (1.5 L) glass round pyrex bowl, we emptied two packages of the gravy, pouring some over the top of the roast. Then we baked it for 30 minutes, completely flipped it over, and roasted another 30 minutes. We basted the Tofurky half-way through the second round of roasting.

Viola! No spongy, chewy texture here, just nice and juicy Tofurky! Seconds please...

Below are some of our tried and true recipes, which would be a delicious addition to any Thanksgiving meal. There are also a couple non-traditional ones like Irish Stew, Pecan Pie Truffles, and Tofu Fingers, but they'd make an excellent option for anyone looking for dishes that are "off the beaten path."

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Green Bean Casserole

Squash Casserole

 Kale Chips

Breaded Crispy Tofu Fingers

Irish "Root" Stew

Pecan Pie Truffles

Pumpkin Pie Bars with Biscoff Crust

Easy Pumpkin Pie Bites with Pecan Butter Creme Topping

Pumpkin Pie Spice Bars with Biscoff Crust

Pumpkin spice is a flavor my family can't seem to get enough of this time of year.  When munching on a Biscoff cookie, it dawned on me that they'd make a perfect cookie crust for a fall bar or pie.

While it has been ruminating awhile, today I finally got around to making a recipe. It is pretty quick if you are using a food processor or Vitamix to make it. Just check out that delicious cookie crust!

Pumpkin Pie Spice Bar with Biscoff Cookie Crust

1 15 oz. can pumpkin purée
1 package of Silken Firm Tofu
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1Tbsp. Corn starch
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Biscoff Cookie Crust 

1 package of Biscoff Cookies
4 Tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Sticks

Preheat oven to 350. Put entire package of Biscoff cookies into the food processor, and grind until large chunks are gone. Add in melted/softened Earth Balance margarine and combine. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Mix tofu in food processor or Vitamix until creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and blend well. Pour over crust in pan and spread evenly. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Pumpkin Shaped Bars: Use a pumpkin cookie cutter to make pumpkin shaped bars. To create a jack o'lantern, slice up chocolate into triangles and a mouth.

Kitty Cat Halloween Cupcakes

My latest creation for our Vegkins Annual Halloween Party. I wanted to do something simple, but festive. The head of the cat was made using a 1M frosting tip, but you could replicate it by using a large sandwich bag and cutting a large hole in the corner utilizing a 'homemade'  frosting bag.

To make the eyes, I used vegan "M & Ms," but Skittles would work well too. The pupils were drawn on using an edible ink marker (Wilton makes these). The nose is simply lightly dyed pink vanilla frosting. The ears are chocolate wafer disks cut into quarters*. These were from Trader Joe's. Lastly, the whiskers and nose were made using vanilla frosting.

*Tip: In glass measuring cup boil water in the microwave. Put the knife in it for a few seconds before quartering the chocolate.

Chocolate Wacky Cake Recipe

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups cool water
2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients. Mix in wet ingredients, being careful to scrape the sides of the bowl. Only mix until well combined. Fill lined muffin/cupcake pan with liners and fill them 1/2 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely until frosting.

Makes 3 dozen cupcakes

Fluffy Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 tsp. vanilla
4-6 Tbsp. non-dairy milk
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream together the margarine, vanilla and shortening. Slowly mix in powdered sugar, cocoa powder and non-dairy milk, alternating between the two. Once mixed well, beat for about ten minutes until frosting is nice and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar or soy milk to obtained desired texture.

Vegan Wolf Pupcakes with Pecan Butter Frosting

Wolf pupcakes are what I made for my sister's baby shower. Why wolf pups you say? Her baby was nicknamed "Little Wolf," because both parents have a lot of hair. The theory was their baby would too. It turns out they were right, and my adorable little nephew Oscar was born with a full head of dark hair.

My sister really loves the pecan butter frosting recipe I created, as well as veganized "butter" cupcakes. There were also chocolate flavored cupcakes, utilizing the infamous chocolate crazy cake recipe.

The inspiration for the pupcakes came from ones I saw fashioned like dogs. I had to made a few adjustments to made it more like a wolf, such as a longer nose. It was not too complicated to put together, but it did take time. The bottom cupcake was frosted like a sunburst, starting at the middle. Then a mini-cupcake was attached sideways onto the large one using a toothpick.

The nose and ears are made from Dandy Marshmallows cut into noses and ears, which were also attached with toothpicks. I made the eyes from vegan white chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips attached together with a small bit of frosting. The nose was also a small chocolate chip attached with a bit of frosting.

To make the face, first attach the ears and nose with toothpicks. Then frost around ears and on the face. Lastly, attach the eyes and nose chocolate chips. Viola, you've got yourself a wolf pupcake. Enjoy!

Vegan Mofo 2012

Get ready, it's coming! I am using Mofo as my motivator to get off of my duff and get blogging again. There are a lot of ideas I've had brewing, and Mofo is giving me that nudge.

New to Vegan Mofo? Alas, I can give you the skinny on the details. Vegan Mofo stands for: vegan month of food. Essentially once a year from an entire month, bloggers from around the globe commit to a goal of publishing twenty posts about vegan food.

This will be my third year participating. If you are curious, feel free to check out my previous Mofo posts. I'm focusing on a few topics this year: quick and easy meals, lunch box ideas, Halloween/Fall themed recipes, and fresh from the garden.

Hundreds of bloggers have signed up. Go ahead and check out the blog roll, which includes ways to sort through them by category, language, country, state, and post punk kitchen mofos. Happy Mofoing!

Mystery Machine Birthday Cake

My kids have become smitten with old school Scooby Doo cartoons. While I'm not a huge fan of television, it is one kid's show I don't mind watching, conjuring forth nostalgic glimpses of my childhood.

For my son's birthday he requested a Mystery Machine cake. The party was only a couple days after my birthday, so it worked out nicely. The less cake I've got around here, the better.

The cake was made using the marble cupcake recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I doubled it. In cake form, it made a dense cake perfect for stacking. I love putting the new mixer I won in a VegNews contest to good use!

Decorating the cake consisted of a layer of dairy-free butter cream frosting with fondant detailing. The vegan fondant I used was Satin Ice, which says right on the front page: 0g trans fats, 0mg cholesterol. Allergen information: Gluten free, dairy free, nut free. Contains no animal derived products (vegan). Certified kosher pareve. 

To top it off, we added figurines of the whole gang standing next to the Mystery Machine. I picked them up at Toys R' Us.

My husband helped with the detailing for the cake, and printed out versions of the mystery machine from all angles. Then he cut out and used them as a template for the rolled fondant.

1. The cake was made using two 9 x 13 inch cakes. They were cut first length wise and the on the end to get the correct size. 
2. I crumb coated the bottom layer of the first large piece of cake on it's own, making sure to cut out cake board slightly smaller than the cake. (we stacked it on a sturdy construction paper wrapped book to align the wheels properly).
3. Add another onto the bottom one by piecing together the cut parts from the rest of the first cake.
4. Next I put in dowel supports to hold up the two layers on the bottom.
5. Cut the second cake and put it on its own cake board, cut to match its exact size.
6. Add crumb coat and then last layer from the leftover pieces again, add crumb coat to it too.
7. Stack the second cake on top of the first one. 
8. I pushed a dowel through all layers, to hold both layers steady.
9. Put the cake in the freezer for an hour.
10. Remove and ice with blue colored frosting.
11. Print off copies of the Mystery Machine to scale to create detailing. 
12. Using a toothpick to trace the patterns on rolled out fondant.
13. To attach fondant detailing onto the Mystery Machine, lightly wet the back of the fondant with water.
14. The wheels we made using Oreos, piped frosting, and fondant flowers. 

That is the basic jist of making it. If you are interested and have questions, feel free to leave a comment or email about it.

My son thoroughly enjoyed his cake, as you can see below. Vegans can have their fancy cakes and eat them too!

Twin Cities Veg Fest

Coming up next month will be the first ever Twin Cities Veg Fest. I beyond excited about it! Every issue of VegNews, I peruse through the upcoming events, hoping and wishing for a local one. Now it is finally happening on July 14th from 10 AM to 5 PM at Coffman Memorial Union!

There is a huge list of exhibitors, you can check out on their site. Along with that, there will be vegan food samples! If you are curious and want to learn more about veganism, I highly recommend attending this event.

If you are anticipating Veg Fest as much as I am, you can help support it through Kickstarter. They are REALLY close to meeting their goal, so please pitch in if you can help out. If they don't reach the goal, then Kickstarter does not fund it.

Either way, you can be sure I'll be there. I'm helping out with the children's area, as well as visiting the exhibitor booths. Ethique Nouveau, our local vegan store, will be there too, as well as local business Bee Free Honee. Our family sampled their honee at Whole Foods, and are now hooked.

Hope to see you there!