Tag: fall

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins for World Vegan Day

Happy World Vegan Day!

To celebrate, I’m going to share another recipe from Dough, vegan Pumpkin Walnut Muffins. This was one of our most popular muffins at the bakery and while we made it year round, it’s particularly suited to this season.  And bonus, these muffins don’t require any weird ingredients. It’s all stuff you can get at any grocery store.

vegan pumpkin walnut muffins

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (or half all-purpose & half whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin (just pumpkin, not pie filling)
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 cup oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 cup chopped walnuts plus one walnut half for top of each muffin

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tin with 12 liners.

2. Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a mixing bowl. In a another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, milk, oil, and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just mixed. Stir in chopped walnuts.

3. Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 with batter or if you have one with #12 scoop. Put a walnut half on the top of each muffin. Bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

vegan pumpkin walnut muffin closeup

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte

When I saw that Califia Farms had a vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte almond milk coffee blend I got pretty excited. Sure, there are plenty of recipes online for making one at home. But a jug of it already made is, well, already made. Then you don’t have to think about partial cans of pumpkin, etc.

Soon enough, it was spotted in Atlanta and Kevin picked me up a jug because he’s cool like that. So I broke into it pretty quickly. It’s pumpkiny, spicy and not too sweet unlike most of the other holiday drinks out there. But where’s the coffee? I can’t taste it at all. I had a glass before dinner a few times and never felt the caffeine either.

califia farms pumpkin spice latte

Not enough coffee, hmm? The next thing I tried to do was pour it into my coffee like a creamer. That wasn’t good. I’ve used their regular almond milks as creamer just fine, but this wasn’t fatty or creamy enough.

coffee in mug

 

So I finished off the rest just as a drink, usually before bed as an after dinner snack. Sadly, I didn’t like it enough to get any more. Oh well, next new vegan product, please!

P.S. Why yes, that is a Jeannette Zeis vegan mug that I’ve had forever. I think it was a second but around here it’s my first.

Japanese Gardens

After walking around Pike Place Market and looking at gum stuck to a wall, and checking out the giant REI, we managed to put off eating again a little while longer by heading over to the Japanese Gardens at Washington Park Arboretum. We must have visited near or at the Fall peak. Amazing.

You can see the rest here. I would send you to the set, but Flickr Uploader crashed 3 times during the upload and completely jacked up my sets.

Golden Curried Pea Soup

The weather finally broke here. I think we had a record number of 90+ degree days in Atlanta this year, or close to it. Now that we’re done with that and can even occasionally open the windows, it’s officially the beginning of soup season. Digging around in my MacGourmet recipe box, this recipe for Golden Curried Pea Soup looked appealing. It’s from Nava Atlas’ Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons. The barley makes it extra filling. It matures nicely in the fridge. I finished a whole recipe of it on my own by taking it for lunch and never got bored of it. You’ll see some green in there. I had some kale all cleaned and chopped up so I threw it in. It worked nicely. I also occasionally stirred in some garam masala when I felt the need for a little extra spice kick.

 

Autumn Vegetables and Tofu Roast

So, I’m copying people again. But hey, isn’t that what VeganMofo is all about? Well, partly about. Getting yummy new ideas from other people. I impulse bought a delicata squash and needed something to do with it, then I saw this. Perfect! Is there anything more comforting on a cool day than some lovely roasted vegetables? This recipe is pretty simple, but amazingly tasty. For the herb option, I went with rosemary and thyme. To go with it, I made polenta. Creamy polenta, roasty vegetables. Mmmm….

Also, if you haven’t tried delicata squash yet, you must. It’s a great lazy squash because the skin is fairly thin and you don’t have to peel it. See the little striped bits? Tasty!