Showing posts with label carrots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carrots. Show all posts

Sunday, October 25, 2009

countdown to Halloween

Fall weekends full of playdates and leaf raking necessitate some cool Halloween munchies...

Jack O' Lantern carrot platter with black olives & celery stem.

Pumpkin Curry Hummus

2 cans (15.5 oz.) chick peas, rinsed & drained
1 T. tahini
2/3 cup pumpkin (or other orange/red winter squash)
1 tsp. garlic powder, or ~1 T. chopped garlic
1/4 cup or 1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. grated ginger
1 T. lemon juice
2 T. olive oil
1/3 cup water
paprika for garnish

Steam cubed pumpkin, or thaw and drain frozen pumpkin. I love using red kuri squash for its colour, but butternut squash is also a good choice.
Put everything in a food processor, adding water slowly as hummus mixes. Garnish with paprika.

I'm gonna call these muffins because I started baking them at 6:45am and served them with breakfast. And they are thicker and less sweet than cupcakes, so I'm just gonna keep on pretending, haha...

Chocolate Chili Mini Muffins

2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup vegan sugar
3 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer Powder + 3 T. water, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup soymilk
1/2 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped (optional)

Mix all ingredients together. Scoop into non-stick mini muffin tin. Bake at 350F degrees 18-20 minutes.

We gave Fashion Peace's Absolutely Fabulous Vegetable Pasta with Marinara Sauce a try. Super yummy! I lightly steamed the zucchini ribbons though, and left out the agave nectar simply because I was out of it--we served it alongside a baked potato. My husband really enjoyed this combo and we have enough sauce leftover for another use soon!

And finally, when you have lots of beans in the pantry, fall is perfect weather for chili. We usually eat a fresh bowl piping hot, then serve leftovers with bread, a baked potato, cous cous or other similar small grain.

3 Bean Chili

2 T. olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3-4 large garlic cloves, finely diced
1/2-1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (I use homemade but store bought is fine too)
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1 T. dried oregano
1 chile in adobo sauce, chopped (optional)
1 15.5 oz. can kidney beans, drained
1 15.5 oz. can black beans, drained
1 15.5 oz. can chick peas, drained
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. ground cumin
2 T. chili powder
1 cup soy crumbles (optional)

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until just soft. Add garlic and hot sauce and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover. Simmer at least 30 minutes, preferably 45 minutes.

Friday, October 23, 2009

pbj to the rescue

Nate had a field trip this morning, so everyone had to be ready to go before 9am. I just had too much to do to put a lot of effort into lunch today, especially after baking cookies for the field trip and having the bottoms burn in our crappy old heat leaking temperature skyrocketing 1960s falling apart oven. Um, yeah, anyhow...

Ryan's lunch: mini banana blueberry muffin; cucumber slices; pbj english muffin sandwich decorated with a soy cheese moon & nori bat; carrot sticks.

Here are a few cute picks of Nate at Verrill Farm...they also had a terrible pumpkin season, so the kids picked carrots instead!