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

Stupid Hearty Corn Chowda' (+Broccoli)

As I stated in a previous post, I've got my eyes on the prize for another awesome Thanksgiving meal. One dish I have yet to recreate is my mothers amazing Corn Souffle but seeing as how it calls for every animal product plus corn, the idea of recreating it has been intimidating. I figured I would take a step back before approaching this one. My step back being Corn Chowda'. I threw in some broccoli because there's no such thing as too many vegetables.

Serves 8
30 minutes

1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 White onion, finely chopped
1 Bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
8 Red potatoes, some diced, some chopped
2 Stocks celery, diced
3 Carrots, diced
1 Head broccoli, finely chopped
2 Bay leaves, broken
8 cups Vegetable broth
3 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon, No Chicken Base
1 cup Cashews, soaked 8 hours in water (I wont lie, I spaced this and soaked them for an hour and lived to tell the tale)
1/3 cup Cornstarch
3 cups Fresh or frozen white & yellow corn
Pepper to taste

1. Heat a big ol' pot with EVOO in the bottom. Saute onions for a minute or so, than add the rest of your chopped veggies plus bay leaf pieces, saute for about 5 minutes.
2. Add 6 cups of your broth and than your bouillon.
3. In the meantime do two things: First, add cashews (minus water) and 1 cup of veggie broth into processor and process till smooth. Second, add cornstarch into your last remaining cup of veggie broth and mix.
4. Once taters are tender, add cashew blend, corn starch blend, corn and pepper, bring to a nice hot temperature again.
5. Eat. Watch out for bay leaves.

Original recipe from Cheeky Kitchen
My Asshole Diet 

Green Bean Casserole

This was always a favorite growing up and one of my first challenges after going vegan. In my search for a solution I found one of my favorite (and now revitalized) sites: VeganYumYum. I was very proud to serve this to my boyfriend when we first met but he quickly protested the gravy with the simple statement: I hate mushrooms. I, of course, took this as a personal challenge. As always, I've added my own changes to the recipe and listed the original below.

Serves 4
20 minutes

1 lb Fresh Green Beans
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Cups Mushrooms
2 Ribs Celery, diced
4 Tbsp Earth Balance Margarine
4 Tbsp King Aurthur's Gluten-Fee Flour
1 to 1 1/2 Cups Almond Milk
Salt to taste
1 tsp Thyme
1/4 Crushed Red Peppers
1/8  Liquid Smoke
S*#! ton Black Pepper (probably 1/2 tsp)
Walnuts for garnish, roughly chopped

1.Start your steaming mechanism. I throw the mushrooms in a food processor for a more smooth gravy texture. Heat up the EVOO in a skillet and saute mushrooms, celery and a pinch of salt for a hot minute, than remove to a bowl on the side.
2. Start steaming your green beans.
3. Meanwhile; melt "butter" in the same skillet, then add "flour" and whisk. Slowly add "milk", whisking all the way. When milk is all in, add your spices.
4. Add mushroom/celery combo. Add more milk as/if needed.
5. Assemble: green beans down first, dollop of gravy, throw them walnuts on top.

The boyfriend completely approves of the newest version btw.

Original recipe from VeganYumYum 
My Asshole Diet

Mashed Cauliflower

This being my 3rd year as a vegan, I'm still getting used to vegan holiday meals. About this time of year I start warming up with ideas of what to cook. I was having a conversation with a fellow A Hole dieter who suggested this recipe (for the record Katherine couldn't be any more far removed from an A Hole,... besides her diet). I feel like mashed potatoes are so personal, there are so many different ways you can make them: truffle oil, spicy, "cheese & bacon", Italian spiced, wasabi, etc. This is just your jumping point.

Serves 2-4
25 minutes

1 Head of cauliflower, roughly chopped
3 Garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp Earth Balance "butter"
2 Tbsp Almond milk
Salt & pepper to taste
Chives for garnish

1. Steam cauliflower till you can easily slice through it with a spoon. Throw it in a food processor for a quick smooth mashing (or mixer, or labor intensive with a masher)
2. Mix all, minus the chives
3. Devour.
My Asshole Diet