Tart Skillet Apples

God I love skillet apples! I put a lil' twist on these

Serves 4-6
20 minutes

6 Granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
2 Tbsp Vegan butter
1 Lime
1/3 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Arrow root

1. Melt butter in large skillet, add apples and squeeze the content of your lime over the top. Cook 5 minutes, stir occasionally.
2. Mix all your dry ingredients in a separate bowl, add to skillet. Cook another 5 minutes or so, don't let ya apples get mushy.
3. I garnished mine with lime zest. Serve on their own, over quinoa, or vegan ice cream. The possibilities are eeeeendlessssss!

Vegan Pistachio Pudding

If it isn't evident by my last few posts, I am in Winter hibernation mode. All comfort food, all the time. My taste buds say yes, my jeans say no. I'll figure out which one to listen to while I eat my pudding.

Serves 6
20 minutes active + 3 hours to soak nuts & another 2 hours to set

1 cup Pistachio nuts
3 cups Almond milk (or vegan milk of choice)
1/4 cup Baby spinach
1/4 cup Corn starch
3/4 Sugar
1/8 tsp Salt
2 tsp Vanilla extract (the quality stuff, always the quality stuff)

1. Shell nuts if needed, soak in water for three hours, drain and add to food processor (or Vitamix) along with 1 1/2 cup milk and spinach. Blend until very smooth.
2. In saucepan add all your dry ingredients and mix. Mix in your pistachio mixture. Put pan over medium heat and stir in remaining milk. Stir continuously, until pudding coats the back of your spoon. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
3. Split into little cups, bowls, ramekins, whatever your heart desires. Place in fridge for two hours, possibly the longest two hours of your life. Serve!

Original recipe from Your Vegan Mom

Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

2 months ago
Me: Are you sure you don't want two pie pans? That way I can make you two pumpkin pies at once?
Boyfriend: No, one will be fine.
Yesterday
Boyfriend: You should make two pumpkin pies.
Boyfriend fail.

This recipe is not a quick one but there is plenty of time for clean up and/or working on other recipes. Multitasking is what will make this world a woman's.

Serves 1 to 8 (Depending on the amount of pumpkin pie love per person)
3 hours +3 hours in fridge

Crust
1/2 cup Vegan butter
2-4 Tbsp Water + ice
1 1/4 cups All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
     + extra for rolling
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar

Filling
1/4 cup Maple syrup
3 Tbsp Cornstarch
2 1/4 cups Canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup Almond milk
1 Tbsp Vegan butter, melted
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ginger, ground
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
Pinch Cloves, ground

Icing
1/2 cup Vegan cream cheese
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
3 Tbsp Powdered sugar

1. Crust: Cut butter into pieces and freeze for 15-30 minutes. Place some ice in your water. Meantime mix your dry ingredients in a food processor. Add butter to processor and pulse till mixture is crumbly. Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time till dough clumps together. Do not add too much water, dough should mold to hands when you squeeze it. Remove dough from processor and form into disk, wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least one hour.
2. Filling: Mix maple syrup and cornstarch together. In a larger bowl mix all of the filling ingredients together and set aside.
3. Crust: Take dough out of fridge and allow to warm for 5 minutes. Lay wax paper out and dust with flour, place dough disk on top, dust disk with flour and lay another piece of wax paper on top. Roll to 12 inches wide. Carefully transfer to pie pan*  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pie crust in freezer for 30 minutes.
4. Icing: Beat cream cheese till smooth, mix in vanilla extract then add powdered sugar. Set aside in fridge.
5. Crust: Remove from freezer and bake for 20 minutes or until crust is golden. Pull crust out and allow to cool. Fill with pumpkin filling, top with cut outs and cook for 45 minutes. Remove from oven, cover crust edges with tin foil and return to oven for another 15 minutes. Allow to cool for one hour then place in fridge for three hours (this is a must). Decorate with icing and serve!

* Make sure there are no children within ear shot as there is a lot of cursing at this point. I often find myself simply molding the crust into the pan wondering: what was the point of rolling this out? If you have any tips on this, please feel free to share (aka HELP ME!)

Original filling recipe from Oh She Glows
Original crust recipe from Simple Gluten-Free

Pumpkin Wontons

My friend Candace is a nerd about food and together we have magical food nerd conversations. She requested a pumpkin recipe and I thought this would be perfect because she's Asian! Don't worry, this wont offend her, she knows she's Asian. Be sure to check out her blog Cui Bites, it's about enjoying the good things in life: food.

This is a perfect example of taking a non-vegan, gluten laced recipe and making it work pour moi. Also, this would be a great recipe to make if you have left over pumpkin pie filling after Turkey Day.

Makes 18 wontons
1 1/2 hours

Filling
1/2 cup Pumpkin puree
3 Tbsp Vegan cream cheese, room temperature
3 Tbsp Powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
Pinch Clove, ground
Pinch Salt

Wontons
2 cups King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour (found at Whole Foods)
      + extra for kneading
1 tsp Xanthan gum
3 Ener-G Eggs prepared
      + 1 extra for wonton sealing
3/4 cup water
      + more if needed
Vegetable oil

Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup 100% Real maple syrup
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
If you don't like the idea of this dipping sauce make a cinnamon sugar mixture to dust the wontons with.

1. Mix all your filling ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl add flour and xanthan gum together, mix. Mix in eggs then mix in water a few tablespoons at a time until dough molds to hand when you squeeze it.
2. Break dough into two equal balls, dust counter and first ball with flour and knead dough. Add flour as needed until dough is no longer sticky. Repeat with second ball. 
3. Roll out balls one at a time, continuously sprinkling with flour (You don't want your balls sticking to the counter) until they are 1/8 inch thick. Cut dough (A pizza cutter rocks for this) into 4-5 inch squares.
4. Mix your extra Ener-G egg and brush the edges of the wrapper with some of the mixture. Add about a tablespoon of filling, fold in half and press edges together (I can never get them lined up perfectly so I cut them to make them so). Repeat until all your wontons are assembled.
5. Put a big soup pot (or cast iron) on medium heat and fill with about an inch of vegetable oil. Heat to about 350 degrees (if you don't have a thermometer, imagine what it's like when you put your hand in a 350 degree oven, then hold your hand over the oil, yeah, freakin hot). While the oil is heating mix your dipping sauce (or dusting) ingredients together and set aside.
6. Put a few wontons in at a time, don't crowd the pot. Be sure to scoop out any vagrant pieces between batches. Cook on each side for 1 minute then place on paper towels. If you're using the cinnamon sugar dusting, now is the perfect time to sprinkle it on your wontons.
7. All done!

Original recipe from A Cozy Kitchen

Raw Cashew Dreamcake

It's ma birfday! I considered just picking up a VGF cake some where because my original attitude was; It's my birthday why should I make my own cake and then I remembered I'm Type A. I actually hate baking; some one asked me today if I ever completely ruin something and have to trash it in it's entirety. Of course I do, you don't actually think I know what I'm doing, do you? Anyway, the things I usually ruin are baked goods, they are the red wine stain on my wedding dress. I guess this would be an exception as it is not actually baked.

This was my first raw cake so I followed the recipe to a T. I'll spare myself retyping the recipe and send you straight to a favorite site of mine My New Roots for the original.
My Asshole Diet