Autumn Calling Soup

October is such a great month, I know I have said this before but it really is. Not only is there the changing of the leaves, my birthday, Halloween but it’s the perfect time to eat the squashes and pumpkins that come straight from the garden. I unfortunately do not have a garden because my backyard is a) too small b) gets little to no sunlight because of the trees c) my dogs would tear it apart!! So I rely on the wonderful farmers market on River Street. Its not huge but it fits the needs of us Moose Javians very nicely by supplying us with a great assortment of veggies and some fruit. 

The last time I was there (picking out the pumpkin and butternut squash for this soup) it was there final get together because here in Saskatchewan it gets pretty cold in October. This news makes me so sad, because I now have to go back to eating grocery store cucumbers and tomatoes, which just are SO NOT the same. Oh the hurdles I have to face on a day to day basis. *cue in the song Don’t Cry For Me Argentina* its really a horrible day for my taste buds to have to eat the grocery store knock offs, they do not taste anything like the real thing!

But I digress. Back to this amazing soup. It is so earthy, creamy, rich and warm that it just gets down to your bones and makes you feel all good inside. Soup is truly the ultimate way to ward off the winter time chills, because not only does it warm your hands by holding the bowl, but your face, mouth and your tummy. Plus if you are like me it really fills you up because you end up eating half of the pot in one sitting (its that good!!!)

Autumn Calling Soup

1 small pumpkin – I used a sugar Pie pumpkin, if they are out of season you could use a can of pumpkin puree too.

1 butternut squash

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

7 stalks of celery, diced

3 carrots, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, diced

6 cups of water (you can add some vegetable broth if desired)

1 can coconut milk

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp coriander

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt pepper to taste

Pre heat oven 450 degrees.

Split the pumpkin and squash in half and de-seed each. Using the melted coconut oil brush on the insides of the squash/pumpkin halves. Place face down on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 25 mins, or until fork tender.

While those are in the oven, dice up your veggies and in a large soup pot fry them in the left over coconut oil on medium/high heat for 15 mins.

Pour in coconut milk and spices and cook for 5 mins, letting the flavours all meld together.

Remove the squash/pumpkin from the oven and using a knife, cut away the skin. Be careful these will be hot!!! You could wait until they cooled but I am impatient so I just used a oven mitt.

Throw the squash/pumpkin and the water into the pot and stir in. cooking for another 5 mins, again letting the flavours all meld together.

Finally blend the soup in a high speed blender until smooth! Serve with roasted pumpkin seeds on top and enjoy!

Thanks for reading 

xoxo -N

A Very Vegan Thanksgiving: As seen on Global TV Regina

I am super excited to announce that Ashley Clark from Naturally Ashley featured my Quinoa Stuffing recipe on Global Regina News this morning . Ashley was brought on to the show to talk about how to veganize your Thanksgiving meal this holiday season. Her recipes included my Qunioa Stuffing and her raw vegan pumpkin pie.

With the holidays are upon us you start to get excited about spending time with your family and eating a ton of amazing food. However, some of us get stressed out in the kitchen trying to get the food all done on time, while others are relaxed because they know they just have to bring buns to moms house and everything else will be made for them. Well, this year my sisters and I plan on helping out my mom in the preparations of this huge meal and the stress that can come with it. So we divided up the dishes and took some of the responsibilities off my momma (aren’t we great kids!) Plus it doesn’t help that all three of us are vegans, with Ashley being gluten free/raw vegan and Chelsea being gluten free/vegan, it can make for a lot of bowls on the table.


So what were we going to bring?
Ashley – salad, raw vegan pumpkin pie
Nikki – vegan/gluten free stuffing, vegan gravy, S’more Pie
Chelsea – mashed potatoes, cranberries 

I am most excited for my stuffing, cranberries and my sisters raw vegan pumpkin pie. Those are definitely the three top things I crave when Thanksgiving comes around. Before we discovered quinoa my mom would always make a rice stuffing for my gluten free family members, it was good and everyone like it, but I thought it was missing something. So last year when quinoa came to my attention I just knew that it would take gluten free stuffing to the next level. 
Then there is my sisters raw vegan pumpkin pie. Something that may not sound as good to you,  but trust me when you try it you will fall in love with it! It is rich, creamy and perfectly spiced just like a cooked pie is, the only major difference is the fact that it has to be served cold. To find the recipe for this awesome pie go to Naturally Ashley's blog found here. As for my stuffing I have re posted it along with some helpful tips to make your Thanksgiving vegan friendly this year!


Tips and Tricks to Make your Thanksgiving Vegan
- Mashed Potatoes: instead of using milk or butter, use almond milk and Earth Balance
- Make a mushroom gravy instead of a poultry based one *see recipe below
- Buy a mock meat substitute if you want to keep up the turkey tradition 
- For appetizers go with hummus or salsa with chips and veggies for a dairy free snack option 
-Salads are usually vegan, all you have to do is choose a dressing that is vegan and voila you got yourself a vegan side dish!
- Try to keep the meat/dairy/egg dishes away from the veggie ones, you could even prepare some of the veggie ones the night before to elevate stress 




Gluten free Vegan Stuffing
·         1 cup of quinoa
·         2 cup s of water
·         1 cup of wild rice
·         4 cups of water
·         1 white onion, diced
·         2 medium carrots, diced
·         5 stalks of celery, diced
·         1 small pkg mushrooms, diced
·         2 tbsp of coconut oil
·         1 clove of garlic, minced
·         1 cup vegetable broth
·         3 tsp of sage
·         2 tsp of cumin
·         Salt and pepper
.
First you will need to clean your wild rice and quinoa. A simple way to do that is to put it in a strainer and run cold water over it.

To make the wild rice: combine rice, the 4 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for approximately 45 minutes, until the rice has opened and fluffed out. Strain out any excess water. Or if you have a rice cooker use that instead, it’s a lot easier!

To make the quinoa combine quinoa and the 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for approximately 20 minutes, until the water has all evaporated.

Next dice up the mushrooms, carrots, onion, and celery into bite size pieces, and place the mushrooms aside for later. Heat up a medium/large sized frying pan on Medium/High heat, add your oil and sauté the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery for about 15 minutes, or until they are soft. Add the mushrooms and broth, spices and quinoa/rice mixture to the pan,  and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
Serving bowl and enjoy!  

Gluten Free Vegan Gravy
1 medium Onion, diced
1 cup of Mushrooms, diced
1 tsp of Coconut Oil
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/4 cup of gluten free Flour, I used Quinoa Flour
1 cup of Vegan Broth
2 tsp of Soy Sauce, Vegan Gluten Free 
1 tsp of Worcheshire Sauce, Vegan Gluten Free

In a small sauce pan saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms in oil until soft. Gradually alternate adding flour and broth to the onions and mushrooms until there are no clumps. Add the soy sauce and the worcheshire and continue to cook for another 5 mins. If the gravy is too thick then add more broth/water until you get your desired consistency. I like my gravy to have a smooth texture so I blended mine in my Magic Bullet until smooth. However, if you like the chunky texture then exnay the blender.

Halloween Puking Pumpkin Dip

TIS THE SEASON TO BE HAUNTED!! 

This past Friday we got to host our annual Halloween party, which is one of my favorite parties to plan. I love all the decorating, the costumes and the food.

For a costume I decided to dress up a Katy Perry this year, the candy themed one. NOT the ET one. She is a little too scary for my liking in that video. So I went to You Tube and searched for the video California Gurls and put it on repeat! I probably watched this video 10 times, just to get a her outfit seared into my brain. If I was going to make this costume, it was going to look great. Next was to the closet to see what I had that was Katy Perry-i, and I had.... a white tube top! Perfect, that's all I need! Well except for rhinestones, felt, dog chew toys (the cupcakes!), stickers, pipe cleaners, a headband, satin fabric (skirt) and a pair of tights. I am truly happy I had that white top, because its fricken hard to find one in October!

So I started to sew and hot glue gun the crap out of that top; which lead to burning myself with said glue gun and then sew some more to make the skirt. 8 awesome hours later...TA DA! I'm Katy Perry!

For the food I decided to do the typical munchies, chips, popcorn and something new: The famous Puking Pumpkin. I have always thought he was kind of cute and gross at the same time, which I think is perfect for a Halloween Party.

Ingredients

5 large Avocados
3 large tomatoes
1/2 cup of Cilantro
1 lime, juiced
1/2 large Onion
1 Garlic Clove, minced
Salt to taste

Dice it all up, throw it in a bowl and mix it unit it gets a smooth consistency. I like to leave some chunks of avocado in the mix to add more texture! Enjoy!



Me and my sisters, Chelsea is a Dinosaur and
 Ashley is a Banana!



Yes I Glued each one of those rhinestones on!





Thanks for reading!

xoxo - N