Cover your pan or the butter will leak out and make a mess of your oven 

These are the cookies I used for the crust but any vegan gingersnap cookie will do.

Crust

• 1-cup (gluten free) gingersnap crumbs (I used 10 gingersnaps and processed them in a food processor until crumbs)
• 1 tablespoon melted Earth Balance Traditional
• 1 teaspoon evaporated cane sugar

Filling

Wet Ingredients

• 2 cups canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/4 cup soy creamer
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance, melted
• Half of a banana, mashed (edit: pureed banana)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Dry Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Sucanat
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice (Check out my homemade Pumpkin Spice)
• Pinch of table salt

For the crust

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut a sheet of parchment paper and trace with a pencil the bottom of a 7” springform pan. Cut the tracing and line the bottom of the pan. Combine gingersnaps and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and toss with a fork until well combined. Add crumbs to the pan and press crumbs firmly and evenly into the pans bottom. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Turn up heat to 350 degrees.

Sorry I did not take more pictures of the crust making but this is what it should look like before it goes into the oven.

For the filling

In a large bowl combine all the wet ingredients.

In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined. Add filling to the prepared crust and bake for 40 minutes.

Before cooking the pie

After cooking the pie. It will darken as it cools.

The sides of the pie should be cooked but the middle still wet when you take it out of the oven. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Cover with tinfoil and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Remove pie from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving. When ready to serve, unlock the springform and gently slide the pie into a serving plate. It is ok if the parchment paper comes with it. Cut and serve with vanilla ice cream. I like Coconut Bliss vanilla flavour.

 Want a thicker crust? Just double the crust recipe and cook the same way

No ugly first slice here! Happy Thanksgiving!

The post Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust appeared first on Sprouts and Chocolate.

 Fried Leeks

•  1 medium leek, white and light green part only
• 1 ½-2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and cracked pepper

Cut the leek in half but leaving the root in tact. This will keep it together and easier to cut in pieces.

Slice leeks in very thin half moons. Throw away the root. Place the sliced leek in a medium sized bowl and fill with water. Rinse the leeks thoroughly and drain over a fine mesh strainer.

Dry with paper towels.

Line a plate with new paper towels. In a small bowl, toss the leeks in the flour.

Heat half the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Working in batches, add half of the leeks shaking off excess flour. Fry until golden brown, about 5 minutes. If they are browning too quickly, turn down the heat. Transfer fried leeks to lined plate. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Repeat with the other half, adding more oil if necessary. Set leek aside. Clean out the pan and use for the green beans.

Green Beans

•  1-teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pound green beans, trimmed and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance Traditional Butter
• 1-teaspoon fresh minced thyme
• 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• Cracked black pepper to taste

Heat oil in the non-stick skillet over medium heat until shimming. Add beans, salt and pepper to taste; cook, stirring occasionally, until brown fleck appear on the beans, about 5 minutes. If browning too quickly turn down the heat.

Add 1/3 cup of water to pan, cover and cook for 2 minutes. Uncover and increase the heat to medium high. Cook until water evaporates (it should only take 40 seconds). Add the butter, thyme and lemon juice and continue to cook until beans are slightly wrinkled. Add fried leeks to pan and mix until combined. Transfer to serving plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

The post Sautéed Green Beans with Fried Leeks appeared first on Sprouts and Chocolate.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with family and friends. I am sure everyone is going to try and sneak a bite off your plate with this dish.

Stuffing Dry Mix

•  2 cups whole-wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed and cut into ½ inch cubes
• ½ cup whole pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

This can either be left out overnight to become stale or you can bake it at 200 degrees for 40 minutes. Just don’t forget you have it in the oven and accidentally crank the heat for something else like I did. When the bread is ready, place in a large bowl with the pecans and set aside.

Oh silly me forgetting stuff was in the oven. Thankfully I did not burn down the house, just the bread. With some planning, let the bread cubes sit overnight to become stale.

 Squash Puree

• 1 delicata squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1½ cups low sodium vegetable stock

Over high heat bring stock to boil and add the squash.  Turn down the heat to medium and simmer until squash is fully cooked.

Place stock and cooked squash in a blender or food processor and process until very smooth. This step replaces the eggs in traditional stuffing recipes and adds a great flavour to the stuffing.

Squash Prep

• 2 acorn squash
• 1-tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To prep you acorn squash, cut a slight amount of the bottom so it is able to stand on its own. Cut 1 inch off the top so it creates a lid for the squash.

Scoop out all the seeds and fibres.

Pierce the squash all over with a fork; coat both squashes (inside and outside) with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes standing up on a heavy-duty baking sheet or broiler pan lined with tin foil. While the acorns are cooking, make the stuffing.

Stuffing Wet Mix

• 3 tablespoons Earth Balance Traditional
• 1 yellow onion, chopped fine
• 1 celery rib, chopped fine
• 2 green apples, peeled, cored and cut into ½ inch cubes
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh marjoram
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
• 1½ cups low sodium vegetable stock

 Do not substitute dried herbs for fresh ones for this stuffing. Fresh ones add more depth and flavour than dried. 

In a 12-inch skillet, melt butter over medium high heat until bubbling.  Add onions, celery and apples and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the seasonings and herbs and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the stock and pureed squash to the skillet and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the skillet mixture to the dry mix bowl and combine with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated.

Add the stuffing to your semi-cooked hollowed out squash. If you have a bit of extra stuffing, add it to a broiler safe loaf pan and cook along side of the squash.

Cover the squash (and loaf pan) with tin foil and add the caps (with a drizzle of oil) to the baking sheet (cut side down) with the stuffed squash. Put it all the oven and cook for another 30-35 minutes.

The squash caps and squash should be easily pierced with a fork. Take the caps off the baking sheet and take tin foil off the tops of the squash and loaf pan and crank oven up to broil. Allow the stuffing to brown for 1 minute keeping a careful eye to ensure it doesn’t burn.

Serve with the caps on top of the acorn squash (like a lid) or on the side.

Let this vegan entree stand tall on your plate this Thanksgiving

The post Roasted Acorn Squash with Apple and Pecan Stuffing appeared first on Sprouts and Chocolate.

Now for the cooking process. I mean, just cut it up into cubes and add to boiling water right? Nope not these spuds. I once saw on a Food Network show the host (I can’t for the life of me remember who) put the potatoes whole unpeeled in a steamer basket. I have never in my life seen potatoes cooked this way but the potatoes looked pretty good. After some Googling, I read that steaming or boiling them with their skins on reducing the surface area of absorbing water. Waterlogged potatoes are gluey when mashed and certainly not what I wanted. Unfortunately, I do not own a steamer basket large enough to accommodate the amount of potatoes I wanted (2 pounds). I choose to boil them in their skins and it worked perfectly. Quick trip under the cold tap water and the skins peeled off very easily.

Usually I would just throw in the milk and butter all together but I did not want them to absorb all the milk too quickly and become gluey. Butter first to coat the potatoes and then the warmed milk. I was generous with the seasoning (taste as you go always!) and literally stood in front of the pot taking heaping spoonfuls of potatoes. Practice some self-control if you can (I managed to only mildly burn the roof of my mouth) but these potatoes were soooo good. Served alone or top with Mushroom Gravy, either way this is no gluey spud. I just made this recipe for Mark and I but this recipe double or triples very easily if you are serving for a crowd. See my tip for keeping your potatoes warm when serving a crowd.

Serves 4 side dishes

•  2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes (about 4 medium sized potatoes)
• 4 tablespoons Earth Balance Traditional Butter
• 1/3 cup soy creamer (I used Silk, this may seem like a lot but when researching I saw a recipe have a whole stick of butter plus cream)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• Salt and pepper, to taste (I usually put in the measurement but with potatoes it is very much a matter of personal taste, just remember to taste as you go and add little bits at a time. You can add more but can’t take it out if you add too much)

Place potatoes in a large pot and top with water. The water should fill up to 1 inch above the largest potato. To check, I placed my finger in the water and it came up to the first knuckle.

Bring to boil on high heat and then turn down the heat to medium and allow to simmer for about 25-30 minutes depending how large your potatoes are. Use a fork to test the doneness of your potatoes, not a knife since it can just cut through it. When the potatoes are fully cooked, drain over a colander and rinse with cold tap water. While the potatoes are cooling slightly, add the cream and milk into a small pot and warm over medium low heat.

When cool enough to handle, the skins should peel off without the need for a vegetable peeler. Chop in half lengthwise and then chop into quarters.

Return the empty pot to the burner and set on med low. In the pot, add the half of the butter and melt. Add half of the chopped potatoes and with a masher, mash into the butter. Repeat with the other half. Add the warmed cream mixture and mix until incorporated but do not over mash. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve piping hot.

To keep warm for the large party, transfer to a slow cooked and keep on a low heat. If they become dry, add more butter and milk until desired consistency.

The post Mashed Yukon Gold Potato appeared first on Sprouts and Chocolate.

Makes 3.5 cups

•  2 firm bartlett pears, peeled, cored and chopped
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup evaporated cane sugar
• 1 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries, picked through and rinsed (I used Ocean Spray since it is readily available in most grocery stores this time of year)

In a medium saucepan, add the chopped pears, cinnamon, water and sugar to a boil over high heat.

Stir in cranberries and return to boil.

Turn heat down to medium and allow to simmer for about 7 minutes until most of the berries have burst.

The sauce will thicken as it cools. Transfer to serving dish and bring down to room temperature. Serve.

How easy was that? No more canned sauce for this girl. What is/was the most dreaded holiday food item for you?

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