Lasagna and Brownies...

Let's start out with dessert shall we? These are a little thin just because the pan I used was a bit too big. That just meant bigger portions! yipeee! My favorite brownie recipe comes from Vivacious Vegan with whom I can't find on the internet anymore so below is the recipe. If you prefer your brownies more fudgey than cakey this it it! Then the show stopper on this one is that I swirled in some pumpkin butter! Ohhhhh yaaaaaaahhhh! (you can't tell too much because I was playing safe). I saw this done at Vegan Visitor last year and I finally tried it. I'm going to make a thicker brownie next time and swirl in more pumpkin butter. If you love chocolate(I do) and pumpkin butter give this a try. It's a nice twist for the holidays.

This was the first time in I don't know how long since I've made lasagna. I've been craving it for the last week. I thought I would try something a bit different with it. I made two sauces, a marinara with veggie crumbles and a bechamel sauce(white sauce). I also made half of a tofu ricotta with spinach mixed in. The layers were tofu ricotta, bechamel, marinara and noodles. My husband loved the marinara but could do without the bechamel. I have to agree with him on that. Personally I could do without the veggie crumbles too just cuz it's too "meaty" for me.

Brownie Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup soymilk

1.5 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup semi/sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8 inch square pan.

Put the oil, maple syrup , soy milk and vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture with a rubber spatula. Don’t overmix.
Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Put the batter in the pan and spread it out evenly. Bake for 35 minutes.
Don't overbake.
Cool before cutting.

It's the time of the season for Pumpkin butter.la la la.... and The Vegan Table

Sprouted wheat bagel smothered with raw almond and pumpkin butter. Ahhhh so so good!

It's that time of year again that you can find Pumpkin butter on the shelves and this one from Trader Joe's is really good along with there awesome raw almond butter. It tastes like dessert but it alot healthier for you minus the sugar in the pumpkin butter. :)

I was able to get a copy of THE VEGAN TABLE cookbook by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau from our library. It's nice to be able to check it out before you buy. It's a lovely book with beautiful photo's and it's based on entertaining. She gives great tips, food and historical lore, and also a page to those non-vegan family members who may feel at a loss as what to feed a family member when they become vegan. I loved how she dedicated the book to the animals by sharing examples on how we can learn from them, this is just one quote from it "May we have the intelligence, loyalty, and affection of the pigs and the inquisitiveness, sensitivity, and playfulness of the turkeys." She then concludes "May we learn from the animals what we need to become better people." I think that says it all.

My first recipe I made from the book was this lovely Butternut Squash Timbale. It looks like alot of work doesn't it? It would be great to serve when company comes over because it looks so pretty. My husband didn't want to eat it because it looked so nice. It actually was very easy to make and it tasted really good. I added some mushrooms to the butternut squash, sauteed up some spinach and drizzled a black current reduction on top.