Baked Pumpkin Mac and Cheeze

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Baked Pumpkin Mac and Cheeze

4 small servings or 2 large

½ lb WW Penne

Salt & Pepper

1 T Olive oil

1 T Margarine (I prefer Earth Balance)

1 small Onion, diced

1 t Dried Thyme

3 T AP Flour

1 C Vegan “chicken” broth (I used Imagine No Chicken Broth)

1 small Pie Pumpkin, roasted* or 1 can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie)

½ C Unflavored Soy Milk (or non-dairy milk)

½ C Vegan Cheese Spread (I used Wayfare cheese spread however you can use any  vegan cheese spread you like or vegan cream cheese would work great as well)

1/4 C Nutritional Yeast

¼ t ground nutmeg

Topping:

1/3 C WW Bread Crumbs

1/3 C French Fried Onions (I like the Trade Joe’s Brand)

Mix together.

*For the pumpkin: Preheat oven to 350F.  Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds.  Lay cut side down on a baking sheet and place in the oven to roast for 35-40 min, until the pumpkin can easily be scooped out of it’s skin.  Scoop the pumpkin out and set aside.

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425F
  2. Heat a pot of water to boil for the pasta.  Salt the water and add the pasta, cook until al dente (will cook a bit more in the oven).
  3. While pasta is cooking, heat a medium heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.  Add the oil and margarine.
  4. Add the thyme and onion to the melted margarine/oil and cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes.
  6. Whisk in the stock.
  7. Stir in the squash and soy milk and bring to a simmer.
  8. Stir in the cheese spread, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
  9. Once everything is well combined stir in the drained pasta.
  10. Transfer the mac and cheeze mixture into a baking dish and top with the bread crumb mixture.
  11. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 min, until browned and bubbly.
  12. Remove from oven and let sit for 5minutes before serving.

12 Days of Giveaways- Day 2 Newman's Own Organics Chocolate

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The Winners Are:

Here are your random numbers:

48- Molly 
19- Shannon
24- sara

Timestamp: 2009-12-04 12:59:32 UTC

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Day 2 of “12 Days of Giveaways” is Newman’s Own Organics Chocolates.   There will be three lucky winners of these yummy chocolate bars.  So leave a comment by 8am December 4, 2009 for your chance to win.  I will choose 3 random winners.

Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For a Vegan Lover received this product free from Newman’s Own Organics

ChocAlive! Raw Chocolate

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ChocAlive! chocolate truffles are one of the best chocolates I have ever had and they are raw vegan which makes them even more exciting.  I tired the Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Crunch and Coconut Truffles which were all delicious but I think my favorite was the Dark Chocolate Crunch, the crunch was a great addition.  The truffles are creamy and delicious just like the non-vegan ones I remember.  My husband was surprised that these creamy truffles could be raw, he didn’t believe me until I showed him the packaging.

Julie Glick the owner/president of ChocAlive! says it best “ChocAlive! Truffles make people so happy.  They are so undeniably healthy and incredibly delicious too.  That’s why I say that they are too good AND they’re true!  ChocAlive! Truffles were even featured on Colin Cowie’s website as one of his “Fantastic Finds!”  Quite an honor coming from Oprah’s Party and Event Planner… Here’s the link: http://colincowie.com/products/chocalive I don’t even know if he knew how super-food good for you they are!”

You can check out the ChocAlive! website to find out where you can find these yummy chocolates. *If you’d like to purchase ChocAlive! Truffles you can also do so at www.naturalzing.com and www.sunfood.com

Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For a Vegan Lover received this product free from ChocAlive!

12 Days of Giveaways: Day 1- Everyday Raw

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Winner of Everyday Raw: Kelly of http://www.trimommylife.blogspot.com/

Congrats! Everyone make sure to stop by later tonight to check out the next giveaway! This one is going to be edible!

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Today marks the first day of “12 Days of Giveaways” and my first giveaway will be one of my favorite Raw books Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney.  I have been making a lot of recipes from this book lately and they are great.  Just this weekend I made Vanilla-Almond Macaroons which are so delicious.

I have also made some other great items from here such as the Eggplant Bacon, Sweet Green Juice, Baked Macaroni and Cheese and the Sweet Miso Dressing.  All of these dishes are easy and delicious and I can’t wait to try more.  This book is great but you will need a blender or food processor to make some of the more interesting dishes, a dehydrator is nice if you have one otherwise you will miss out on some of the recipes.

You can try some of Matthew Kenney’s recipes from his newest book Entertaining in the Raw on GLiving.com.

To learn more about Matthew Kenney you can visit his site here and you can also read his interview on Crazy Sexy Life.

If you would like to win your own copy of this great book leave a comment by December 2nd at 8am. Don’t forget to check back daily to see what the 11 other giveaways are.  You could also follow me on twitter @cookveganlover to find out when I post a new giveaway.

Dinner for my Mum

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Last night my mum and dad came over for dinner for my mum’s birthday.  Her birthday dinner consisted of greens tossed maple balsamic dressing, Thanksgiving Tart from Vegnews and rutabaga and turnip toss.  For dessert we had peanut butter mousse pie topped with peanut brittle and chocolate sauce.

 

 

 

Balsamic Dressing:

  • 2 T olive oil
  • 3 T balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 T Dijion mustard
  • 1 T maple syrup

Whisk together.

 

Rutabaga and Turnip Toss 

  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 2 small rutabaga, peeled and sliced
  • 5 purple topped turnips, peeled and sliced
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 2 t cumin
  • 1 t chili powder
  • 1 t thyme
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/4 t pepper
  • 3 T nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 c water
  • 1 T earth balance

Heat oil over medium-high heat and add the onion, rutabaga and turnips.  Cook for 7 minutes until slightly soften.  While the onion, rutabaga and turnip cook mix together cumin, chili, thyme, salt, pepper and water together.  After the 7 minutes add the cumin mixture to the rutabaga mix and toss.  Cook together for 3-5 minutes until all cooked through.  Add the nutritional yeast and earth balance toss to coat.

A Week of Food

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Monday I received a load of goodies from Newman’s Own Organic which I just can’t wait to try (and do I smell a giveaway?)  My husband and I broke into the Cinnamon Hermits right away and these were delicious! My husband brought the Original Newman-O’s with him on his trip to New Brunswick so I have yet to hear back his opinion of them. 

Tuesday night we made pizza which was delicious it had broccoli, garlic, almond cheeze, pizza sauce and marinated buffalo “mozzarella” (AKA marinated silken tofu tester recipe). 

For dessert we ate the entire box of Nicobella Vegan Dark Chocolate Truffles which were delicious.  The truffle flavors were Blueberry Almond, Ginger Green Tea, Pumpkin Chai, Pure Cocoa Bliss, Walnut Flaxseed Crunch, & Sunflower Banana Butter. Our favorites were Pure Cocoa Bliss and Blueberry Almond. 

I received a bunch of samples of Non-Dairy Cheese Spread & Dip from Wayfare Foods. Currently you can only purchase We Can’t Say It’s Cheese in Montana and Florida for specific locations look here.    Wayfare Foods is looking to expand their market up to NY/MA/CT shortly after January 1st!  I received Cheddar Style Spread, Cheddar Style Dip, Mexi Cheddar-Style Spread and Hickory-Smoked Cheddar-Style Spread. I immediately dived into the Hickory-Smoked Cheddar with some reduced-fat Wheat Thins.   I then used some for my Thanksgiving Dinner- I mixed the Hickory-Smoked Cheddar with some brown rice, sauteed Brussels sprouts, white beans, garlic and shredded carrot.  It was delicious.  I used the Cheddar Style Spread on my veggie burger Friday night and made Mac and Cheese with it Saturday.  It was delicious!

For dinner last night I did some testing for Happy Herbivore’s upcoming cookbook – I made her Herbed Homefires and served it up with Vegan Brunch Tofu Scramble.