Pumpkin Muffin Recipe - Gluten-free, Vegan and Updated

 For quite a while now I have needed photos of my very successful and popular Pumpkin Muffin Recipe - gluten-free, vegan and delicious.  This morning I made another batch, which turned out splendidly, I might add, and I grabbed my camera as soon as they were out of the oven.  They need to cool just a little bit you know before you take a bit out one.  I don't want anyone to burn their mouth. 

So hurry over to my Pumpkin Muffin recipe, gather the ingredients and make yourself a nice batch of yummy, moist muffins.  For those of you who have been there before, go ahead and take a look too, because I have tweaked the recipe, sharing a few improvements I've made. 

Thanksgiving Dinner 2012

Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous.  We enjoyed the vegan, gluten-free dinner with my parents, and two other families, all of which brought food to contribute.  I had enough plates by alternating two sets of china.  There were just enough pieces of stem ware for everyone to enjoy some sweet apple cider brought by one of the guests.  She also brought a yummy apple crisp, topped with pecans, and a bowl of peas.  I'll have to see if she can share the recipe for the crisp.

Another family brought mashed potatoes, gluten-free vegan gravy with mushrooms, and homemade cranberry sauce.  To make the cranberry sauce she simply boiled one cup of fresh cranberries with 1 cup of pineapple juice with 1/4 cup of brown sugar for 15 minutes until the cranberries popped and became soft and thick.

 

I made some home made gluten-free, vegan stuffing with a loaf of frozen millet bread.  I sautéed some onions, garlic and celery and mushrooms.  I added sliced olives and some chopped walnuts.  I made up some chicken like broth with LaChicky seasoning and dried Italian herbs, (but I think I might like Bill's Best brand better).  Pour the broth over the cubbed millet bread, and stir, taste to make sure you like the flavors.  Place mixture in a casserole dish and let it set for a while to soak it all in, and then bake at 350 degrees until there is a nice crust on top.

I made some bake tofu slices as my kids requested.  I got some very, very firm tofu and sliced it into triangles the night before.  House Foods, organic 2 pound bricks is a brand I really like for this.  Softer tofu can work, but it is more likely to crumble.  I made a marinade sauce out of Bragg's liquid aminos, and lemon juice.  I spread the tofu triangles out in a pan, and poured the marinade over it and let it set overnight in the refrigerator.  First thing in the morning I turned all the pieces over so they could sit a while on the other side.  Later I made a breading meal out mostly nutritional yeast, with some rice flour and tapioca flour, onion powder, garlic powder and salt.  Then I dipped each triangle into the breading meal and put them on a sprayed cookie sheet.  The oven was pre-heating to 425 degrees.  I baked them about 25 minutes on each side.  They turned out great, a nice little cutlet for a turkey free table, and not fried either.

The entree was the Chickpea, Veggie Walnut Loaf, I posted earlier in the week.  I think I would make it again, but I think I might tweak the seasonings a little bit.  I definitely think it needed more dried cranberries, or a good dollop of cranberry sauce on top, but then I love cranberries.

The pies were the greatest success in my mind.  I loved how the pumpkin pies turned out, especially the crust.  But I am feeling a little guilty, because the crust was not low fat, but rather full fat.  But at least they weren't bricks or crumbles this year.  Gluten free crusts are so hard to manage, unless you add a good measure of fat.  So I can decide if I should tell you what the crust recipe was or not.  I don't want to lead anyone astray, but is going to be the recipe I made next time.  I love pies.  They have been one of my favorite desserts since I was a little girl, but I haven't made them very often for the last 5 years or so, because of the crust and fat problem.  If any of you wise gluten-free, vegan eaters can help me out, I would be very grateful. 

We are now taking a break before the next festive meals are upon us.

My New Favorite Vegan Pumpkin Pie Filling

Pumpkin Pie and Raisin Pie, ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be a great success.  The table was surrounded by gluten-free, vegans, my soy, flax, and lentil -free friend, my peanut and almond -free daughter.  It was a challenge to make food everyone could eat, but we were successful.  But with that combination of people I couldn't make my regular pumpkin pie recipe, because it contains soy and flax.  I searched and thought until I came up with what I thought to be the perfect recipe.  And it is now my new favorite.  I hope you enjoy it too.


My New Favorite Vegan Pumpkin Pie Filling
awildflowermorning.blogspot.com

• 2 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup natural cane sugar, such as Florida Crystals
• 1/4 cup full-fat coconut cream
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3 tbsp arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves

Mix together all the ingredients until smooth.  Pour into a pre-baked pie crust.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Note:  The dark colored pie in the photo is a raisin pie, made with a recipe from My Cozy Kitchen blog.  It was delicious, and we will make it again too.  I found it very easy to make, once you have a pie crust.  Gluten-free pie crust is another story, that I'll write about in another post sometime.

Chickpea Veggie Walnut Loaf - Gluten-free, Vegan

Chickpea Veggie Walnut Loaf
awildflowermorning.blogspot.com

Gluten-free, Soy-free, Corn-free, Vegan

Saute, (then move to a large mixing bowl):
1 cup diced celery (about 2 stalks)
1 large onion diced
5 medium-large garlic cloves, pressed

Process in a food processor, (then move to a large mixing bowl):
3 cups of chickpeas, drained  (reserve an additional 3/4 cup chickpeas for later)
2 T lemon juice
1 T La Chicky seasoning, or other gluten-free, vegan chicken style seasoning, or tamari or Bragg's Liquid amionos
1 1/2 tsp italian herbs
2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp dried basil
When finished with this group, rinse and dry the food processor bowl for the next step

Toast, (then move to a large mixing bowl)
1 cup of walnuts in a dry frying pan on medium-low heat, then place into the cleaned out food processor bowl and pulse to make crumbs with
3/4 cup of gluten free rolled oats (reserve an additional 1/2 cup of gluten-free rolled oats for later)

Add and Mix the remaining ingredients into the large mixing bowl with all the above.
3 cups shredded potatoes
1 cup shredded carrots
1 - 10oz. package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cooked garbonzo beans (the ones you reserved up above)
1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats (not processed)
1/4 cup tapioca starch

You may adjust the salt as needed according to if you used canned garbonzo beans or if you used the saltier canned beans.  I used home cooked garbonzos, and thus needed more salt.  Also, the potatoes will absorb salt during the cooking time.

Place in a 9 by 13 casserole dish, or divide between two loaf pans.   Lightly spray or oil the dishes.  Spoon in the mixture and smooth. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.

Serve with cranberry sauce.

Cashew Gravy

Cashew Gravy

1 cup of raw cashews
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1.5 tsp onion powder
0.5 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp LaChicky seasoning or other chicken like seasoning (optional)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
4 cups of water

Blend until very smooth.  Pour into a sauce pan, and heat until it thickens.  You may need to add more water at the end.  As it gets closer to a boil stir continually so it won't stick and burn.  (It is a very real danger.)

Roasted Root Vegetables

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES

Peel and dice any of the following root vegetables:
sweet potatoes/yams
red skin or Yukon Gold potatoes
beets, golden (red’s bleed)
butternut squash
rutebega
parsnips
carrots
whole crushed garlic

Toss them all into a large pan and drizzle with olive oil, kosher salt and freshly
ground pepper. Add some sprigs of rosemary too, if you like. Roast, stirring once
or twice, at 375 for at least 45 minutes. (If you’re using rutebega, start roasting that
first, as it needs extra time to soften.) Very little olive oil is necessary. 1 T at the
most for a 9 x 13 pan.

Thanksgiving Menu

I thought I'd share with you what I'm making for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  I'll add photos when I have them.  For now, I'll just put the list up, in hope that it might help you make a decision.  I am trying some new recipes, so I'm not sure how everything will turn out, so I'll come back with a report on that too.

Menu

Chickpeas and Veggie Walnut Loaf
Baked tofu
Mashed potatoes and Cashew Gravy
Roasted Root Vegetables
Homemade Stuffing with Millet Bread
Cranberry Sauce
Veggie Platter
Apple Cider
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Crisp