Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is my (and a lot of people's, I'm sure) favourite type of pie, and the type I have the least self-control around because it's so easy to just take a little slice from the fridge, and then one more little slice, and suddenly you've eaten a whole pie just like that.  Ryan has been wanting to buy a pumpkin pie for weeks now but I told him that since it would just be the two of us eating it (and I intend on eating much more pumpkin pie in the coming months!) I wanted to try making a healthy pie that we wouldn't feel guilty about eating!

This pumpkin pie is pretty healthy and also happens to be vegan.  The crust is made from low-fat graham crackers mixed with a bit of coconut oil, so the crust alone has a lot less "bad" fats than a typical butter or shortening-packed pie crust.  (Not that I have anything wrong with eating the occasional piece of traditional pie, but like I said, I wanted to make a healthier version!)  I could have made a healthier crust with nuts and dates but I wanted to keep this as easy and inexpensive as possible since we wanted it to be more of an every day dessert pie.

The filling is made up of pumpkin puree, unsweetened almond milk, no eggs, a reduced amount of brown sugar and some pure maple syrup for sweetening, cornstarch to help everything set, and of course the usual pumpkin spices.

For a topping, I made a batch of coconut whipped cream, which is a great vegan alternative to traditional whipped cream!  To make it, you basically put a can of coconut milk in the fridge for a while so that the cream separates from the liquid, then you scoop out the coconut cream and whip it in a chilled bowl until it's fluffy.  It doesn't need much sweetener but I added a tiny bit of powdered sugar and vanilla extract to mine.  It tastes amazing and the slight coconut flavour really complements pumpkin pie!  Oh She Glows has a great tutorial for making whipped cream if you've never tried it before!

I was worried that either the taste or texture of this pie wouldn't turn out right but it turned out so much better than I'd even hoped!  It had a really nice bold pumpkin flavour from all the spices and addition of molasses (you can cut back if you don't like a lot of spice though!), the filling set perfectly and was smooth and creamy, and the crust sort of softened but stayed firm.  I won't say that it tastes exactly the same as a traditional pumpkin pie, but we both loved this and will likely be making it again soon!

With (Canadian) Thanksgiving quickly approaching, this would be a great dessert if you'll have any vegans at the table, or just want a lighter option after a big meal!

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Recipe inspired by and adapted from several sources, including Vegetarian Times, Minimalist Baker, and Oh She Glows

Makes one 9-inch pie

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

10 sheets of low-fat graham crackers (about 1.5 cups of crumbs)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup melted organic coconut oil

For the Filling:

2 cups canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

3-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly spray a 9” pie pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Pulse graham crackers in a food processor until they form fine crumbs. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the cinnamon with a whisk or a fork.  Add the melted coconut oil and mix together (I use a fork) until well combined.  Pour crumb mixture into the prepared pie pan and press evenly across the bottom and up the sides to form a pie crust.  Bake in preheated oven for about 7 minutes, then remove.  Leave oven on.

For the filling, mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, whisking together until just combined.  You could do the wet and dry ingredients separately if you like but I saved bowls and just mixed everything together in one.  Pour filling over the baked pie crust, return to oven, and bake for 55-60 minutes, until set. 

Remove from oven and let cool at room temperature for at least an hour, then transfer to refrigerator and let cool for 3-4 hours or overnight before slicing and serving.

Serve with coconut whipped cream, if desired.  Follow the link for instructions on making coconut whipped cream; note that your coconut milk will need to be in the fridge the day before so plan ahead!

Strawberry Beet Chocolate Chia Smoothie

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Whether you celebrate the occasion or not, today is a great time to remember to show yourself some love in addition to the love you give out to others either today or any/every other day of the year! 

And what better way to treat yourself on Valentine’s Day than with this festive red chocolate flavoured smoothie that will feed your body with some of the good things it craves, especially during a time of year when many of us (definitely myself included) are indulging in a few more desserts than usual!

This smoothie gets its red colour from fresh strawberries and a roasted beet, darkened a bit by the cocoa powder which gives the smoothie a noticeable chocolate flavour that almost makes this feel more like dessert!  With the addition of chia seeds (aka little nutritional powerhouses), banana, almond milk, and oats, this is a great way to start your morning, or pick yourself up anytime of the day! 

If you’re worried about the beets, you could leave them out, but I gave one of these smoothies to Ryan when he woke up and he loved the strawberry and chocolate flavour, with absolutely no clue there were beets in it (which he claims not to like) until I told him after he drank the whole thing.  I love tricking him with vegetables!  I will make up for it tonight though by cooking a nice Valentine’s dinner (which I still need to figure out!). 

Hope you all have a great day!

Strawberry Beet Chocolate Chia Smoothie

Makes 2-3 smoothies

Ingredients:

1 medium beet, roasted* and chopped

2 cups milk of your choice – I used an almond/coconut milk blend

2 tablespoons chia seeds

1-1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

1 frozen banana, chopped

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 cup rolled oats

Directions:

*Before making this smoothie you will need to have a roasted or otherwise cooked beet on hand.  I roasted mine the night before: wrap the beet in foil, place on a baking sheet and roast in a 400°F oven for one hour or until tender.  Let cool then peel, chop, and transfer to refrigerator.   If you have a very powerful blender, you might be able to use the beet raw, but I haven’t been able to try this with my blender.

If you don’t keep frozen ripe bananas in the freezer (and you should, they are great for throwing in smoothies!), then be sure to put one in the freezer the night before too!

To make the smoothie, add all ingredients to a blender and puree until smooth.  Taste and adjust any amounts to your liking; you may wish to add a sweetener such as honey or agave depending on your tastes.  Pour into 2-3 glasses, garnish with a strawberry, and serve!

Pumpkin Spice Breakfast Quinoa

Happy October!

I can’t believe it’s already October – I have absolutely no idea where September went (or the whole year, for that matter). I’m hoping this month goes a lot slower because fall is always over so quickly here and there are too many things to enjoy before they’re gone, like the beautiful red and gold leaves on the trees, sunny weather with crisp air, being able to wear light jackets and boots before the parka and heavy boots come out for what feels like forever, and of course, pumpkin spice everything!

This is the first pumpkin recipe I’ve made this fall and I know I’ll be making it several more times before the season’s over!

I love pumpkin oatmeal, but replacing oats with quinoa retains the comforting porridge-like texture while adding lots of protein to give you energy to start your day! And because quinoa can be left alone while it cooks, it’s still easy to make this on a weekday morning while you’re getting ready for work or school.

All you need to do to turn plain quinoa into this cozy pumpkin breakfast quinoa is replace some of the cooking water with milk, then stir in some pumpkin, vanilla, spices, a little maple syrup for sweetness, and top with some pecans for crunch.

If you usually add milk to your oatmeal, you can do the same with this breakfast quinoa too – your choice! And if you want this to be even more of a treat, feel free to throw in a spoonful of chocolate chips!

Pumpkin Spice Breakfast Quinoa

Adapted from several sources, including a recipe by Two Peas and their Pod seen on Make and Takes

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk – I used almond milk but any milk will work

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Pinch of salt

2-4 tablespoons chopped pecans

Directions:

Bring milk and water to a boil in a small to medium sized saucepan.  Add quinoa, cover, reduce heat to simmer, and let cook 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes.  Uncover and fluff with a fork, then stir in the pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.  Taste and adjust any amounts to your liking (i.e. add more sweetness or spices).  Divide into two bowls (add milk if desired) and top with desired amount of pecans.

Strawberries & Cream Baked Protein Oatmeal

I was recently contacted by the nice folks at Visalus to see if I wanted to participate in their '90 for 90' series, where 90 bloggers will create 90 recipes using their Vi-Shape Shake Mix.  For those who haven’t heard of Vi-Shape or their Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge, the shake mix is a low-fat, low-calorie, gluten-free, lactose-free, high protein nutritional shake (like a protein powder but with more vitamins, from my understanding) that tastes and smells like cake mix!

I haven’t loved a lot of protein powders I’ve tried before, but this one actually smells just like cake mix, and I liked that it had more than just protein in it, so I was intrigued to try it in a recipe!

I came up with a few ideas before settling on my favourite one, this baked strawberries & cream oatmeal.  I love having oatmeal in the morning because it’s healthy and filling, but I’m usually too lazy to stand over a pot and wait for it to cook in the morning (and the instant stuff doesn’t usually cut it for me).  Baked oatmeal is so much better because you can mix together a batch, throw it in the oven to cook (hands-off), then have a bunch leftover for breakfasts through the week!

I looked at a lot of baked oatmeal recipes in developing this recipe, and most seemed to use a technique where they dump the oats and dry ingredients into the baking pan, then pour the wet on top and throw it in the oven, so the wet ingredients would slowly seep down through the oatmeal as it cooks.  The problem I had with this was that all the finer dry ingredients just fell right to the bottom, so you’d get super strong bites of cinnamon and salt when you got to the bottom, and the wet ingredients didn’t sink all the way down so I ended up with little bits of cooked egg on top, which wasn’t very appealing.

So the next time I just mixed all the wet and dry ingredients together before going in the pan, and it worked so much better, giving me firm, evenly mixed, and evenly baked delicious oatmeal.  The pictures I took were of the first version, but since they turned out well I didn’t bother redoing them because the next version looks almost the exact same.  Just picture this but a little more evenly cooked :)

Because the mix tastes like cake mix, it almost seems like you’re eating dessert for breakfast, and yet this is a healthy way to start the day, with only minimal sugar, no butter or oil, and lots of protein and vitamins from the Vi-Shape.  Some baked oatmeal recipes require lots of sugar and butter, and I tried this with more sugar and some olive oil instead of butter at first, but found I could reduce the sugar a lot and that the olive oil wasn’t even necessary.

I’m in love with this breakfast now, but I might have to use the rest of my Vi-Shape in some of the other amazing recipes I’ve been seeing, like individual vanilla cakes from Running to the Kitchen, yogurt covered blueberries from The Hungry Housewife, power waffles with cinnamon cream syrup from The Family Feed, or breakfast strawberry shortcake from A Nutritionist Eats - yum!

Strawberries & Cream Baked Protein Oatmeal

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups large-flake rolled oats (old fashioned oats)

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup Vi-Shape nutritional shake mix

1-1/2 cups sliced strawberries

2 cups low-fat milk (any type, as long as it's unsweetened - I’ve used almond milk and coconut-almond milk)

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F and spray an 8x8-inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and Vi-Shape.  In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together with a flexible spatula until combined.  Stir in about 1 cup of the strawberries.  Pour mixture into prepared pan and spread out evenly as best as possible with your spatula.  Arrange remaining strawberries evenly on top (don’t press down on them so they stay on top).

Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and set.  Let cool for a few minutes before slicing.  Serve warm, with maple syrup if desired.

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Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Visalus.  I'm happy to talk about their product, but they didn't tell me to - all thoughts and opinions I share on this blog are completely my own. :)  If you have any questions about Vi-Shape, please check out this page.

Mini Irish Soda Breads for Two

So I know you've probably seen a hundred Irish soda bread recipes before and they're popping up all over your feeds lately with St. Patrick's Day coming up, but don't turn away quite yet - this one's different, I swear!

First of all, this recipe only feeds two people (or four if you like sharing, but you probably won't want to share these).

Second, these are vegan if you use almond milk like I did (though I've also tried it with dairy, which works too), and they use half whole-wheat flour, so they have some nutritious quality to them!

Third, they're ridiculously easy to make!  I know that's true of most soda breads because the whole point is that you use baking soda as your leavening agent instead of waiting for yeast to rise, but these are even easier and so much faster than a regular loaf because they're mini-sized.  So while an average soda bread needs to bake for about 45 minutes, these only take 15 minutes to bake (and only 5-10 minutes to make)!

Convinced?  Good - then read on!

The first time I made these was actually not for St. Patrick's Day at all but because I had absolutely nothing to eat for breakfast one morning.  For some reason, I recalled that Irish soda bread is pretty easy to make, so I found a recipe for mini versions then reworked it to feed only two people and use ingredients I had on hand (aka not buttermilk).

I didn't have high hopes for these at the time because I was just desperate for something to spread peanut butter on and fill my empty stomach, but I absolutely loved them!

These are perfectly crunchy and golden on the outside, and soft and dense on the inside, with a hearty texture and flavour from the addition of whole wheat flour.  They make a great base for peanut butter or jam in the morning, but would also work as a side for your dinner with a little pat of butter!

If you've seen a hundred soda bread recipes but have never actually tried it yourself, you really have to give this a try - it's so easy, takes no time at all, won't give you leftovers to deal with, and is "in season" for St. Paddy's, so there are no excuses!

Mini Irish Soda Breads for Two

Adapted from Baking Bites

Makes 2 biscuit-sized soda breads

Ingredients:

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons milk – almond milk or dairy milk both work

1/2 tablespoon vinegar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine milk and vinegar in a small bowl or measuring cup, stir, and let sit for about 5 minutes until milk thickens slightly.

Whisk together the two flours, salt, baking soda, and sugar in a large bowl.  Form a well in the middle and pour the milk mixture into the center.  Stir together with a wooden spoon or flexible spatula just until combined.  Dough will be sticky.

Divide dough in half and drop each half onto the prepared baking sheet.  Wet your hands and shape each dough into a circle if necessary.  Cut an ‘x’ shape into the top of each ball of dough, cutting about halfway into the dough.  Bake for about 15 minutes in preheated oven, until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool slightly before eating.  Serve with peanut butter, jam, butter, or your favourite spread.