Dairy Free Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Cups

It's pumpkin season, and tonight I'm going to share with you one of my favorite quick and easy dairy-free dessert strategies.  

In grad school, I briefly became obsessed with microwave mug cakes.  The great part about these sorts of things is that you can get a sweet fix without having to use up a ton of ingredients making (and then eating) a whole batch of cupcakes.  

When I moved into my current apartment, neither myself nor my roommate had a microwave of our own.  And being raised by vegetable steaming health nuts, it was hard to justify spending money on such an appliance.  

But I was still a writer with a late night sweet tooth, so I went back to a strategy I had discovered during a homemade candy phase a few years back.  It's the same basic formula using coconut oil I used to come up with the coconut bars I posted about last year.

Vegan Comfort Food for Fall: Creamy Butternut Squash Casserole and Apple-Chard Quinoa Bowl

I love fall.  I love layers, and warm beverages, and piling covers high.

But mostly, I love fall because as the weather gets cooler, I have an excuse to cook again.  While the summer heat makes the idea of sweating over a hot stove less than appealing, in the fall and winter all I want to do is cocoon.  Sometimes when I'm having a rough day at work, fantasizing about what I will make when I get home is about all that gets me through.

Vegan Creamy Butternut Squash Casserole

Such was the case last Saturday, when I made the completely logical decision to work a midday shift at Trader Joe's while fasting for Yom Kippur.  When not eating, it's amazing how much you realize the large role it plays in your life.  No point in getting up early if I wasn't making lunch or planning to swipe some free samples at the demo station. And then during my lunch break, I couldn't help but torture myself flipping through all the luscious pumpkin-themed items in the company bulletin.  

As the rain poured outside, I started to dream about all of the things I could cook when I got home. The more I read and thought about the new pumpkin products, the more I decided that winter squash was the way to go.  Like the "Chopped" addict I am, I thought about what I could do with the items in my refrigerator: namely, an open can of coconut cream.  Having just paid my rent, I was loathe to drop too much cash on a boatload of emotional grocery purchases (which is how I ended up with the coconut cream in the first place).  I had been living on soup the previous week to get over a cold, and felt like doing something with a little more "oomph" and texture than simply pureeing some veggies.  

So started conducting an informal survey among my customers, asking what they would make with the coconut cream.  The typical answer was some kind of soup or curry, that was too much in like with what I had been eating lately.  I had a taste for something creamy, something almost cheesy--but I knew if I went down the cheese rabbit hole who knows what I would end up buying.  One customer, a Caribbean guy, bought four cans of coconut milk. I asked him how he thought it would be if I used the coconut cream as a base for a gratin. "I cook everything in coconut milk," he said.  So it was settled.  

Now I had a plan:  I would buy a butternut squash, and make some kind of cream sauce.  I could even use this as an excuse to use up the remainder of a cauliflower head and some apples I bought a few weeks ago that I never got around to eating.   Because Trader Joe's was out of whole butternut squashes by the time I was done working, I had to debase myself by purchasing the pre-cut product.  

The result:  comfort.  Pure, vegan, autumnal comfort.  

This evening, I found myself leaving Rutgers weighed down with the latest round of student essays to read.  While my bus was stuck in traffic outside the Lincoln Tunnel, I started to think about what I would make for dinner.  I could always make some couscous or pasta with parmesan, but I'd had variations on that theme for the past week.  I had a yen for something green.  But because I went to the theatre last night, I was unable to bring home anything fresh from Trader Joe's.  

After I got back to my neighborhood, I lugged my tote bags full of folders to the local food mart.  My eyes lit on some gorgeous organic red chard for only $1.69.

Apple-Chard Quinoa Bowl

I decided to cook the chard in some apples and onions and eat it on top of red quinoa.  And it was good.

Here are the recipes.  Note:  all of the measurements are approximate.

Dairy-free, Gluten-free Almond Joy Bars

A few weeks ago I had my friend Amanda Berry over to make vegan lime coconut cupcakes.  I ended up having A LOT of extra unsweetened coconut, so I've been looking for fun ways to use it.  It was then that I rediscovered this recipe for vegan coconut crack bars.  I picked up some agave and set myself to work.  However, when I made them I forgot to add the salt, so the flavor came out a bit "off." Undeterred and unwilling to retreat, I turned to one of my late night sweet tooth short cuts: mixing cocoa powder with some coconut oil and agave nectar.  I spread on my chocolate, popped them back in the freezer and well...judge for yourself: 

Vegan Almond Joy Bars

1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 teaspoon agave nectar

In a food processor or personal blender, shred coconut.  Add coconut oil, agave, vanilla, and salt and blend to combine.  

Press mixture into a small tupperware (I used a 24-ounce container) and place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

To make the chocolate, combine ingredients in a small bowl and spread over top of the coconut mixture.  Cut into squares.

  

Coconut Oil and Sugar Face Scrub

A facial scrub may seem like an out-of-place subject for a food blog.  But it's made out of food so that still fits the rules, correct?

At any rate, I discovered this facial scrub a few years ago and I thought I needed to share.

Growing up, I never had a problem with dry skin.  But one semester in college took a stage makeup class while also starring as the Rabbi in Angels in America, which forced me to load massive amounts of liquid latex onto my face every day for weeks.  My skin has never really forgiven me for this assault, and every winter since I have been afflicted with horrible dryness. (That month canvassing outside last January probably didn't help).

Over the years I tried several strategies to alleviate it, from vaseline to cocoa butter sticks.  I found relieve from certain Aveda lotions, but those became pricey.

My last year of grad school I acquired two different books that detailed homemade body care and household remedies.  While many of them required prohibitively obscure and expensive ingredients
(who has grapefruit essential oil around?) they sparked my imagination and sent me to the internet to find remedies with ingredients I already had. My first success was an olive oil, lemon, sea salt scrub.  But then I acquired a jar of coconut oil for a vegan cheesecake recipe and I was sold.

So here it is--so easy it's ridiculous.

Coconut Oil Sugar Scrub

1 tablespoon of virgin coconut oil (Trader Joe's sells it for $5.99)
1 tablespoon organic sugar (I usually use white, but some also advocate brown)

Mix ingredients in a small bowl with a fork or popsicle stick.  After washing makeup off face, apply thin layer of scrub.  Leave on for a few minutes.  Rinse off.  Enjoy your soft, silky skin.

Moroccan Couscous Stew with Soy Chorizo

Every cook--particularly a vegetarian one--needs to have a couple of go-to recipes, dishes that you keep in your back pocket that look amazing and require minimal effort or extra ingredients.    Moroccan couscous stew has been one of those dishes for some time now. It's quick, easy, and the best part is you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand.  What distinguishes it from the usual vegetable soup is the spices--the cinnamon and cumin really give it that North African flair. In my stew, I like to use some fresh orange juice and zest, a tip I gleaned from an online recipe about a year ago.  And the soy chorizo is by no means necessary; I happened to have some lying around and wanted to find a use other than chili to use it up. 

Interesting fact: so in the US, when we think of couscous, what usually comes to mind is the tiny pasta.  When I was living in France, where Algerian and Moroccan food is extremely popular, "couscous" specifically referred to the pasta topped with the stew.  Without the stew, people simply referred to it is "semoule" (semolina, the flour used to make it). 

And now, the recipe.  Like most of my recipes, measurements are eyeballed.  The idea is to get your mind started.

Moroccan Couscous Stew With Soy Chorizo

1 cup couscous, dry
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup diced potato or butternut squash (optional)
1 tomato, diced
3 cups water or broth
1/4 cup any of the following: frozen peas, zucchini, squash or anything else you have lying around
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 orange, diced
1/2 cup chickpeas
1/4 cup soy chorizo
cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper to taste

Cook couscous according to package instructions.  Set aside.

Heat oil in pan.  Add onion, garlic, carrots, and turmeric.  If using potato or butternut squash, you can add those at this time as well.  Cook until tender.  Add tomatoes and saute another few minutes.

Add water or broth.  Next, add veggies, orange zest, diced orange, chickpeas and soy chorizo.  Add spices to taste.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until flavors are adequately melded.  Serve over couscous. 

Vegan Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Bisque

I'm back, veggies!  Sorry for the long absence.  Been kind of a crazy couple of years.  But now I have a working computer and an apartment I've been able to nest in, I finally have the mental space to devote to food blogging again.

If you followed before, you'll notice some changes around here.  Namely, a new title. I absolutely hate creating titles, and I've long felt that "Color Me Veggie" was corny and generic.  "Sometimes a Vegan" better describes how I identify with the culinary world.  As many of you know, my parents are vegan, and while I very much enjoy cheese and eggs, I don't consider them integral parts of my diet.  I still buy almond milk and make a mean cashew cheesecake.

Today's sweet potato peanut butter bisque was inspired by a soup created by Ely Pugh at the Flaming Ice Cube in Youngstown, OH.  Like many of Ely's soups the combination may seem odd--mushroom almond and mushroom pistachio are others--but when I used to order it in high school it was quite magical.

I got the idea to make my own a few days ago when I realized I only had one sweet potato left.  Because of my crazy work schedule, it was difficult to set aside the necessary time to steam it (I currently lack a microwave).  But last night I finally had time off, so I set to work.

Because I never knew what was in the original soup, I improvised with what I had.  While the potato was steaming, I sauteed some onions and garlic.  Once the potato was soft, I blended the potato and onions and garlic in my personal blender with some water (if I had been thinking about it, I would have also mixed in the peanut butter at this stage as well).

Next, I transferred the blended mixture into a small saucepan and added spices.  The rich orange color made me think of the approaching fall, and I thought it appropriate to add nutmeg, cinnamon, and cumin (along with salt and pepper).  I also ground a little bit of the Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning to give it a little something something.  Next, I added enough water to give it a soup-like consistency.

And then I ate it.  And my god was it good.  Like really effing good.  I mean look at it.

After getting about 20 likes on Facebook, I decided to share it.

Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Bisque for One.
(Inspired by Ely Pugh)

Serves 1.  Can totally be expanded to accommodate more.

1 large sweet potato, cut into chunks (if not organic, peeled)
1/4 cup onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
olive oil for sautéing
2 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter (I used Trader Joe's chunky salted)
1 tablespoon of water, followed by 1 cup.
salt, pepper, cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon to taste

Steam the sweet potato.  While the potato is steaming, heat the oil in a pan and saute the onions and garlic until soft.  Put potato, onions, garlic and peanut butter into blender with the tablespoon of water.  Blend until ingredients are combined.

Transfer to a small saucepan.  Add 1 cup of water--or until the soup reaches desired consistency.  As the mixture heats, add spices to taste.

Garnish with fresh herbs for serving.

Might Just Turn Me Vegan "Cheese" Sauce

When I cook for my friends, they sometimes will gush and tell me what a great cook I am and say how they could never make anything like that.  What I try to tell them, however, is that cooking doesn't have to be terribly complicated.  In many cases, getting a basic handle on a couple of magic ingredients can open the door to a plethora of possibilities.

A bit of corn starch, for instance, can do wonders for an overly watery stir-fry.  Heat in a saucepan with some frozen berries and sugar and you have a five-minute fruit filling or yummy pancake topping.

Powdered sugar is another.  Say you have a craving for cupcakes but don't feel like running out to the store to buy canned frosting:  mix two cups of powdered sugar with 1/8 cup butter (or vegan margarine), 2 tablespoons of milk (or substitute) and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Or eliminate the butter for a glaze to drizzle onto everything from sugar cookies to cinnamon buns (you can also try substituting lemon or grapefruit juice for a flavor you will just have to taste to believe).

Which leads me to my latest discovery:  nutritional yeast.

Now, I had heard of nutritional yeast before, read it on ingredient lists in obscure vegan cookbooks.  But when you're raised by a mom with celiac disease, anything containing the word "yeast" was strictly forbidden (even though it seems the nutritional yeast sold by Bob's Redmill is okay for people trying to avoid gluten).  As many of you know, living with Sneha this year has already opened me up to a wide array of culinary experiences, from coriander powder, to okra, rolling chapatis and increasingly heightened levels of chili sauce.  Sneha is also a big advocate of nutritional yeast, sprinkling it on everything from rice and veggies, to popcorn, to salads.  I've used it a bit myself, to generally underwhelming results; it's not that I was against it, per se, but it never really blew me away.

Tonight, however, I was having one of those nights where I was starving but not hungry for anything I'd been eating the last few days.  I'd already had vietnamese fresh roles and cashew dip w/ chips for lunch (recipe coming soon), and canned soup sounded less-than-appealing, especially as I'd already finished  off my homemade loaf of bread at breakfast this morning.  And stir-fry just wasn't feeling that exciting.  Usually on these days I give into the boxes of mac and cheese we keep on the top shelf of our cabinet, but I didn't feel like dealing with the congestion that would inevitably follow.  Spying the giant container of leftover pasta from the dinner we hosted friday night, I sighed as I sauteed it with some frozen tomatoes, spices, and spinach.  It wasn't going to be terribly glamorous, but it was going to be dairy-free and the pasta wouldn't go bad.

Still, I couldn't stop thinking about the creaminess of mac and cheese.  If we weren't out of it, I probably would have broken down and tossed in some parmesan cheese.  Often I like to drizzle a bit of white wine into my pasta, but because I planned to share with Sneha this was out of the question.  It was then that I remembered a stuffed baked potato recipe I found over winter break that used nutritional yeast to make a cheese sauce for pouring over broccoli.  Desperate, I did a quick google search and found a  just what I was looking for on vegweb.  The process was simple enough, and luckily I actually had in stock the only weird ingredient, ground mustard powder.

After heating it all up in a saucepan, I poured the creamy mixture onto my pasta and lo and behold:  the perfect creamy tomato sauce.  It's rare I outwardly gush over my own cooking, but this seriously blew my mind.  I've been burned so many times by vegan recipes claiming to taste exactly like the real thing (I'm looking at you, raw Nutella), only to find them watery, grainy, or just downright flavorless.  But this sauce has it all:  color, flavor, creaminess.  It's got all of the warm, creamy qualities of our favorite comfort food without all the lingering guilt.  You could probably even get by if you felt like eliminating the ground mustard if it's not something you keep in stock.

But trust me:  you'll fall in love.

Might Just Turn me Vegan "Cheese" Sauce (from Vegweb)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (I used asafetida)
1/8 teaspoon dried yellow mustard powder
1 cup water

1. Mix dry ingredients, add water, whisk until clumps are gone.

2.  Put in small saucepan with margarine and heat on medium until thick.

Add to pasta, scalloped potatoes, or mix with salsa for queso dip.  The sky's the limit!