Pumpkin party extravaganza!
last sunday josh and i held our 2nd annual pumpkin party! a day full of pumpkin carving, fall welcoming, and most of all eating delicious food that celebrates the season, such as pumpkins!
for appetizers josh made this ridiculously good cheesy spread made with roasted butternut squash, roasted garlic, tofutti cream cheese, fresh thyme and rosemary, and topped with chopped pecans. holy crap was it good!!! slightly sweet, savory, cheesy…just the best fall dip imaginable.
my nanna made a french onion dip using tofutti sour cream (if you didnt notice..hah!) and chopped up some fresh veggies to dip. perfect!
there was a lot of pumpkin carving going on, and we all sifted through the pumpkin insides to save the seeds for roasting! that’s one of the best parts of carving pumpkins, right? josh and i roasted the seeds for about 20 minutes, added salt, and mixed them in with dried sweetened cranberries. the combination of the sweet and salty was great!
for drinks, my sister ally and her boyfriend william brought 3 half-gallon growlers of their favorite pumpkin beer from sweetwater, and i made mulled apple cider too! we put cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and allspice berries into a tea bag and submerged it in apple cider. then i heated it on low heat all afternoon, making a delicious hot cider!
thanks to everyone’s great suggestions i decided to make baked pumpkins for dinner! my dad had made this recipe a long time ago for thanksgiving, and i thought it would be perfect for the main course. it has sauteed onion, pumpkin, carrots, and zucchini, all in a tomato and vegetable broth based sauce, mixed together with pasta shells! to serve this yummified meal, you spoon everything into the baked pumpkin shells…which we learned not only makes a gorgeous centerpiece on the dinner table, but it also helps to keep the food really hot when you put the lid of the pumpkin on it..score!
i made a double batch of our corn muffins to go with the meal and they were even better this time then the first time i made them! best, corn muffins, ever! seriously, go make them now..and bring me some because i’m starving.
my dad made this awesome butternut squash soup too! lousy picture, excellent soup! it really complimented everything else on the table perfectly.
when the time came to make dessert, i was burnt out from cooking all day…so josh and my super amazing cousin/baking-partner-ever-since-we-were-little, emilee, took over and made the pumpkin coffee cake with pecan streusel from veganomicon. it was soooo delicious. perfectly pumpkiny with all those great pumpkin pie flavors all wrapped up into a coffee cake with yummy pecans and brown sugar on top. ally and william brought the BEST pumpkin coffee to serve with dessert too. such a great way to finish a meal!
this pumpkin party is a new tradition that josh and i started that i think is a really great way to celebrate the change of seasons. fall is by far josh and my favorite season too! here’s some shots of everyone enjoying the pumpkin party!
ally and william’s baby girl evie out on the porch enjoying the beautiful fall day!
emmy and daddy carving pumpkins
yet another one of daddy’s kickass pumpkin carvings!
ally and jack pooped out at around 7:30!
14 comments October 23, 2008
Corn muffins and chili!
our yummy corn muffins served in the gorgeous new plate my aunt mar gave me for my birthday!
we haven’t made a batch of chili in close to a year, so last night we thought it was time to make some! i have to be in the mood for chili..meaning it has to be at least a bit nippy outside in order for me to want to eat a bowl of hot beans and such. but i will say that i am ALWAYS in the mood for cornbread!
i told josh i wanted to make corn muffins instead of our usual corn bread..i thought cute little muffins would be easier to eat then having to cut out a piece of corn bread and all that..wow i sound lazy. anyway, i adapted our corn bread recipe a bit and made corn muffins!
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 cup flour
1 cup corn meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup canned corn
preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a muffin pan. whisk the soy milk and vinegar together and set aside to curdle, about 5 minutes. mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. in a separate bowl, mix the soy milk mixture and oil. add the wet ingredients and corn to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. spoon into greased muffin pan and bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
they came out super delicioso! perfectly moist, just a bit of sweetness, and so cute and easy to eat! the chili came out great as well. i had forgotten how good it is! i used our three bean chili recipe and let it simmer on the stove for about an hour and a half. i bet you could let it simmer all day if you had the time! chili is definitely one of those perfect fall weather meals!
5 comments October 17, 2008
Pumpkin Party
so josh and i are throwing a fall pumpkin party this weekend at my parent’s house! we’re going to be carving pumpkins and eating fall/pumpkiny foods..and we need your help!
i have ideas for appetizers and snacks, my dad is going to make a butternut squash soup, and i think i’ll be making some pumpkin crumb cake from veganomicon, but i have NO idea what else to have for dinner! i want the soup to be like a side dish or maybe first course type of deal, but i’m completly drawing a blank as far as what else could be served for the main course. i’m looking for fall ingredients and flavors and something that would go well along side some yummy soup!
any suggestions would be GREAT! thanks guys!!! <3
9 comments October 15, 2008
Veganmofo- scrambled tofu and homemade bagels!
josh and i LOVE us some scrambled tofu. it’s one of those things where you can really throw in whatever veggies you have in the fridge and it will always come out amazing. josh went camping a few months ago and he really wanted to bring scrambled tofu-makings to cook for breakfast, but realized that would be a pain in the ass to have to do all that chopping and stuff out in the woods. so instead we put all the chopped veggies, crumbled tofu, and spices into a plastic ziplock bag and shook it up really well to combine all the spices. we figured tofu is usually better after it’s marinated for a while, so letting it soak up all the veggie and spice flavors would probably make the scrambles taste that much better..and it did! josh says that it was the BEST scrambled tofu he has EVER had! so we’ve been making our tofu scrambles like that ever since!
just throw whatever it is you want in your scrambles in a bag and let it mingle for about 30 minutes, or even over night and all the flavors will get all yummy and delicious! try doing THAT with eggs!
i also spent an entire afternoon making homemade bagels! i took the recipe and cut it in half to make 1/2 plain bagels and 1/2 cinnamon raisin. let me just say i wish i wrote down what i did for the cinnamon raisin bagels because they were DELICIOUS! i’ll have to try and make them again. the one thing that was weird was the bagels came out a bit flat this time for some reason…but still yummy!
by the way, the BEST way to eat this is to squirt some ketchup on the bagel and pile on the tofu scrambles. delish!
6 comments October 15, 2008
veganmofo survey!
i saw this survey over at happyveganface who got it from food snobbery is my hobbery (<—great blog i just discovered!)
since it’s 12:15 on a saturday afternoon and i just rolled myself out of bed, i figured it would be a good post to write before i dive head first into a long weekend of slaving at my computer to finish my project that’s due tuesday. yeahhh dont you just love school?!
1. name a song that involves food in some way.
atom and his package- does anyone else in this room (”we’ll dine on the samples at the grocery store”)
2. what criteria do you use when choosing a new cookbook to buy?
i usually like there to be pictures for each recipe (food porn!) but i mostly look through to see if it has some different recipes from what i already know/have
3. what did you eat today?
ooohhh…yeah…nothing yet. but i think i might eat the leftover banana chocolate pancakes in the fridge before josh gets them!
4. name a vegan food that you know exists but you have never tried.
vegan philly cheese steaks!
5. the Food Network just called and needs you to start your new show tomorrow. what will the title of the show be?
no whey jose!
6. favorite hot sauce or other spicy condiment?
cock sauce! (sriracha)
7. how old were you when you became vegetarian/vegan?
4 when i became vegetarian and 19 when i went vegan
8. favorite vegan cheeze?
tofutti cream cheese!
9. cutest baby animal?
baby panda!!!!!!!
10. favorite type of jam/jelly/marmalade/preserves?
strawberry jam for sho
11. do you take any vitamins/supplements?
nope.
12. what food/dish most embodies the Fall season?
any kind of yummy body-warming soup…mmmm
13. what food would you have a hard time living without?
sandwiches
14. coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?
iced coffee!
15. it’s 10PM and you’re starving. what do you eat?
i usually just complain about being hungry and then realize there’s no food in the house and go to bed. haha!
16. if you have an animal companion, what is his/her favorite food?
green beans!! we used to give her green beans along with some dog food to help her lose weight and she would go CRAZY for them! no weight loss though 
17. worst injury you’ve gotten in the kitchen?
just a few burns, nothing major.
18. when you have a food-related question, who do you call?
my daddy!!! i usually text him with some crazy question like “is it dill weed or dill seed that goes in your salad dressing!?”
19. summer is ending- what food will you miss most?
fresh local tomatoes and squash..you will be missed.
20. what snacks do you keep in your purse/backpack/desk at work?
dry cereal
21. favorite soup to make on a rainy day?
cream of broccoli soup!
22. what’s your favorite combination of fresh vegetable and/or fruit juices?
carrot, apple, pear
23. favorite brand of root beer?
richbrau (they microbrew their rootbeer!)
24. make your own question: who’s your favorite person to cook with in the whole wide world?
josh <3 because, as my dad says, we don’t fight when we’re both in the kitchen together, and my dad because i’ve always cooked with him ever since i was a wee girl
5 comments October 11, 2008
veganmofo- composting!
there hasn’t been many super exciting things happening in our kitchen the past few days so i thought i’d write about composting! (isn’t that picture amazing?!?)
my parents have been composting for several years now, and it’s such a great way to reduce waste and to get awesome organic matter to mix into soil for planting. they’ve always wanted to buy or make a compost bin but instead they just have a huge pile of compost at the edge of the yard. since josh and i live in a tiny apartment with no yard to speak of, composting has been a bit of a struggle. i HATE having to throw away food wastes..not only does it make the garbage smell bad but it’s also a constant reminder that we don’t have the yard with an organic garden and compost bin that we dream of. sigh. anyway, i came across an article about vermicomposting, or composting with worms, and what peaked my interest was that they say you can easily do it inside!
i’ve always loved worms, and i’ve known for a long time how composting with worms is a great way to compost, but never really got around to doing it. i wish i could say “but alas! we’ve got worms!”…but i can’t. the intentions are there, but we haven’t bought a bin yet and yada yada yada we rarely do the things we say we’re going to do. hah.
we have, however, started to save our food scraps in preparation for our soon to be indoor worm composting bin! the article mentioned that if you freeze your food scraps it will cut down on any odors and also won’t attract fruit flies, so we have 2 big freezer bags full of scraps just waiting to be eaten by adorable little wormies.
so do any of you guys compost? or have intentions to compost? we’d love to hear about your composting adventures!
8 comments October 9, 2008
panic! veganmofo!
is anyone else having anxiety about being taken off of the veganmofo list if you don’t post 5 times a week?! i am!!! EDIT!! thank you paula for pointing out that you’ll be taken off the list after not posting in 5 days, not 5 times a week…phew!! school makes it difficult to make time for posting every day but we’re trying! we just got back from my parent’s house this weekend and i feel so out of touch…they don’t have high speed internet out there in the boonies so i haven’t been able to get online all weekend *gasp*
this weekend was a celebration of my birthday that was last weekend as well as my sister’s boyfriend (william)’s birthday that was a few weeks ago… this was the first weekend we could all get together and celebrate both birthdays. i’ve been taking tons of pictures with my new camera but i’m not used to not being able to hook it up to my computer and dump all the images to look through and post on here. and of course my dad’s camera wasn’t working, and i took some pictures on my sister’s camera but then she left without me being able to take the pictures off of it. blast! i did however take some video which i will post on here after i have josh show me how to upload it. until then let me tell you the yummy food my parents made over the weekend for us!
for dinner on saturday my dad made a big batch of chickenless noodle soup and a huge bowl of tempeh salad (or faux chicken salad) to have on sandwiches. it was amazing! my sister ally brought over some bread from panera and we made delicious sammies with tofurkey slices and tempeh salad. it was a perfect meal for a crisp fall day! then for dessert josh and ally made william and i (the birthday kids!) chocolate raspberry cupcakes. ally is notorious for messing up when she bakes (when she was little she made muffins from a muffin mix, and baked the whole thing without realizing that she forgot THE MIX!), and she almost messed up the icing but she caught herself just in time and it came out great!
sunday morning my mom and ally made us all belgian waffles which were delicious..and then for dinner we made our yummy white pizza and a pizza with onions, red peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, and tofurky sausage. mmm! and josh was in total cooking/baking mode that he made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies!
i’m so mad that i don’t have photos to post but i promise we’ll get that video up here later on. but hopefully this post will keep us from getting kicked off the veganmofo list.. i swear i have anxiety from that!
5 comments October 6, 2008
veganmofo kick-off
there’s a lot that’s been going on the past few days that need to be accounted for! first off, yesterday marked the first day of veganmofo! which means we’re going to be trying to post as much as possible this month about vegan food…shouldn’t be too hard considering this blog is about vegan food. ha!
ok, second important thing is september 28th was my 22nd birthday! woohoo! josh and i went up to my parent’s house last weekend to celebrate..josh and my parent’s bought me a diana f+ camera and it’s been super awesome experimenting with lomography. for my birthday dinner my parents made me a spinach lasagna with tofu ricotta cheese and my daddy’s super amazing tomato sauce. what made it even more special was that my mom actually helped cook! she doesn’t do much cooking (unless it’s her famous arroz) but she assembled the lasagna for us, and did a kickass job! it turned out so yummy.
third important thing, josh and i went for back to back tattoo appointments on tuesday, and i got this!!
i think the photo speaks for itself 
josh got one side of his zombie chest piece finished..i’m sure he’ll be posting pictures of it on his blog sooner or later.
the fourth important thing is september 30th was no whey jose’s 1st birthday! one year of blogging..super cool.
ok, and last but not least..today is our 6 year anniversary! i’m planning on cooking josh a surprise dinner tonight for when he comes home from work. we’re a little low on food but we have tofurky italian sausage and some canned tomatoes, so i’m thinking a big pasta dish is in order. can’t go wrong with that!
13 comments October 2, 2008
Pizza bites!
my mommy and daddy came down to visit josh and i last weekend and we really wanted to pump up the level of our appetizers. usually it’s the same old hummus and chips, pretzels, blah blah blah. not that i don’t LOVE that, but we wanted to do something a little more fancy josh suggested we make bite sized pizzas..and i thought it was a great idea. there’s something really amazing about bite sized things, right?
i’ve recently realized that the ingredients to many amazing pasta dishes can easily be translated into a super amazing pizza. so we decided to go with sausage and caramelized onions as a topping. we used our usual packaged dough mix and added some fresh rosemary from darren’s garden. i rolled it out and used a small circle cookie cutter to cut a bunch of small dough circles. then i added some leftover tomato sauce, some sliced tofurkey italian sausages (i fried these a bit first to brown them a bit), salt and pepper, and caramelized onions that i made up while i was cleaning the house earlier that morning. we baked them for about 10-15 minutes and then josh garnished them with some fresh basil. they turned out amazing!!!
the only thing i wish i did differently would be to make more! the 4 of us tore through these little baby pizzas in about 10 minutes. they were super scrumptious and i’ll definitely be making them again. i’ve also had a lot of ideas for variations…maybe bite-sized white pizzas or i was even thinking about doing a dessert version using sweet dough and maybe some fruit and melted chocolate. mmmm yes please!
in other news…..MY VESPA IS RUNNING!!!!!! i went to pick it up wednesday night and holy shit it’s runs so well. it’s like a brand new bike! for anyone who doesn’t know the story of this scooter, let me recap for you:
- i bought it 3 years ago…in boxes.
- a year later we finally pieced it together and got it running (yay!)
- after two months of riding it and one night of forgetting to lock it up outside, it was stolen (gasp!)
- our local scooter shop owner tracked it down after the guy who bought it from the kid who stole it brought it into her shop
- josh and i went to the guy who bought it (for like 1/4 of what it’s worth with still-wet red spray paint..dumbass) and he gladly gave it back to us (yay!)….in boxes (awww..shit)
- josh and i spent months sanding all the paint/rust off and repainting it a gorgeous off-white
- in march we asked our friend darren to do a complete engine rebuild (since the old one was blown up, thanks stupid kid who stole it!)
- it’s finally done!!!!!! (SUPER YAY!!!!)
8 comments September 12, 2008
local scooter-fixin grub
as some of you might know my vespa small frame is being completely rebuilt after it was stolen around this same time last year. our friend darren owns a scooter repair shop out of his garage and i went down there today to give him my gas tank and to take a look at the progress. my bike is SOO close to being done and i’m super excited..even though i totally missed the season but i will ride that damn thing through winter once i get it back
anyway, darren has a garden and every time we go down there he always gives us some herbs or whatever he has an abundance of.. awesome right? well this time i was on my way out and he stopped me to tell me to go pick some basil. so of course i obliged since who can ever have too much basil? well before i knew it he had gone inside the house to get a plastic bag and he filled it with all of this:
mint, rosemary, parsley, basil, tomatoes, banana peppers, and jalapeno peppers. you know that fresh from the garden smell that veggies and herbs have? i wish i could bottle that summery smell. well my car smelled just like that the whole way home…a mix between mint, basil, and that fresh tomato smell that you just can’t get from store-bought tomatoes.
i’m so excited. i already have a batch of mint sun tea out on our back porch. i probably should have waited until tomorrow to get a full afternoon’s worth of sun but i just couldn’t wait.
this is exactly why i can’t wait to have a house with a yard. apartment living is fun but there’s only so much you can grow in pots. we have a few pots on our porch with herbs and tomatoes, and the herbs really took off but we only got two tomatoes this year…and they were the size of grape tomatoes (which would be good, but it was supposed to be a big heirloom tomato plant). josh always says the reason why they didn’t get big is because they weren’t in a big enough pot..but i’m just so sick of pots, i want to plant them right in the ground damnit. someday though, right? in the meantime we’ll just keep buying veggies from farm stores and getting scrumptious fresh veggies from awesome scooter fixing people thanks darren!
3 comments August 30, 2008
