love like a vegan

What to do with all the leftover pumpkin puree?  I wanted something savoury so after some searching I found this recipe.

Creamy and comforting.  I added kale because I love the stuff and I have a bunch to use up. (and to give it a little more colour)  I loved the wonderful backdrop the coconut milk provided to the spices and the sweet potato.  Overall, it was simply a very tasty combination of flavours.

So I’m writing from a hotel room, I’m helping my sister move today and instead of driving all the way home we’re spending the night up here.  I decided to totally go with the flow as far as food goes on this road trip.  (I didn’t pack a single food item!)  I’m totally regretting this, I get really cranky when hungry so I’m sure I was a less than enjoyable traveling companion on the way up here.  But I was able to stop at a supermarket in a small town and stock up and some food.  (By the way, this supermarket had the Amy’s pizza with the soy cheese!  I  haven’t seen that anywhere in Halifax.  Odd.)  I got a few Luna bars, little cartons of soymilk, fruit and a box of original Puffins, my stomach should be happy now.  (I tried the S’mores Luna bar for the first time, it was really good!)  I’m in Fredericton by the way and I’m hoping to try this vegan cafe my sister told me about, I’m not sure if I’ll get the chance to tonight though.

This is my first post written on my new laptop which is going to take some getting used to.  I’ve discovered that I’m really bad at typing on laptops.  (This post was actually pre-maturely published)  Also, does anyone know how to get rid of the dull, washed-out look the screen has?  I have a feeling Windows and I will be taking a long time to get acquainted.

Edit-Ha ha, I figured it out, when the computer is plugged in as opposed to running only on the battery, it has a much better picture.  Simple enough.

My sister’s leaving for university in the next few days so a going away/early birthday cake was needed.

It was simply a variation on the Raspberry Blackout Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance.  It was delicious!  I decorated it with fresh strawberries (no pic of the cake with the berries because the lighting was horrible last night) and filled it with strawberry jam.  This was actually my first experience with a ganache frosting and I was impressed.  It was so simple and the results were very pretty.

I’m going to miss you, sis!

Celine’s Pumpkin Chocolate Brownie Cake

I love pumpkin. It’s probably my favourite thing about fall. And lately the weather has me thinking fall (actually not only the weather has, I work in retail and we’ve had our Halloween stock since July). I also love chocolate (shocking, I know). But believe it or not, I’ve never tried the two together. (!!) So I thought Celine’s Brownie Cake would be the perfect introduction of the combo to my taste buds.  And it was!  The cake was wonderful, the flavour was heavenly and the texture was light, moist and fluffy, not dense at all like some brownies can be.

Here’s the inside shot-take a look at that gooey goodness.

I now have a lot of pumpkin puree left over (I always buy a huge can) so be prepared for more pumpkin posts!

Have you ever had Puffins? I’ve been meaning to try them for quite awhile. I have eyeing them at my local Health Food Store but the price always scared me away. A few months ago, they finally arrived at the supermarket for a bargain price. I haven’t been eating cereal too much in the morning lately, I prefer my oatmeal as I have control over what ingredients will go into it (like sugar for example, I don’t like sugar in the morning) but yesterday I finally broke down and bought a box of Puffins of the Cinnamon variety. Despite the possible drawbacks of cereal of the boxed variety, I do love cereal so I decided to have a bowl for dessert last night.

These were pretty delicious, crispy, not too sweet and full of cinnamon-y goodness. And they made a perfect dessert (as I said, I love cereal, it’s a delicacy to me), and light!  Afterwards, my stomach didn’t feel as if it was running in slow motion (hmmm, that’s an odd way to explain over-eating, isn’t it?).

Benji even approved of them!  After playing with one for awhile, he deemed it acceptable to his discerning palate.  I tried in vain to get a picture of him with it but damnit this dog is hard to photograph!  Anyone have any tips on how to get a good picture of animals?  (None of the animals in my house are particularly photogenic, Benji used to be when he was a puppy, I have so many cute baby pics of him)

Back to Puffins, poking around on their site, I discovered that there is more than the two varieties the stores around me carry-like, ahem ahem, Peanut Butter!  I need to try this!  Even though, it could prove to be very, very dangerous to have in my cupboards.  And the company, Barbara’s Bakery seems to be a company with morals!  They support conservation projects and check out their Adopt-A-Puffin project.

So, I am definitely not regretting my breakdown in my “I’m not buying cereal anymore” belief, it tastes great and I’m helping a delightful little bird-even though techinically I’m not cheating because I’m eating it as a dessert. So there.