Pumpkin Pudding with Maple Cream and Granola

Sometimes things are greater than the sum of their parts.

People changing the world.

Chocolate and almonds.

This recipe.

The pudding's good on it's own, and so it the granola, but when you combine them all together something amazing happens. It's ridiculously easy as well, which makes it all the more worthwhile.

You can used canned pumpkin, but I'd really recommend trying, at least once, roasting your own. Tis the season after all, you can buy canned pumpkin whenever you want. The real deal only comes around once a year! For directions on how to roast a pumpkin, go here.

Pumpkin Pudding with Maple Cream and Granola

Pumpkin Pudding
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 small banana
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1-2 packets of stevia(to taste)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves, nutmeg, ginger

Blend pumpkin, banana, chia seeds, maple syrup, almond milk, and stevia in a blender til smooth. Add in the spices and blend til incorporated, let set in the fridge for about an hour.

Maple Cream
1 cup vegan whipped cream
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Stir maple syrup into whipped cream.

Maple Almond Granola
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Stir everything together, and bake for 12 minutes in the oven at 350, or until slightly crispy.


Serve pumpkin pudding with a dollop of maple cream and a sprinkle of granola on top!

Pumpkin Pudding Oats

Chocolate Protein Oats are still my favorite breakfast, but they've been fall-i-fied now by the addition of pumpkin. Protein, carbs, fibre, and deliciousness all in one bowl! They're extra good with chopped apple on top, tons of cinnamon, and maybe a dollop of vegan whipped cream....

Yeah you can use canned pumpkin I guess. But this is so so so much better if you roast your own pumpkins. Which is way easier than it sounds. Canned food freaks me out.

Make sure you purchase Sugar Pie Pumpkins, the little tiny ones. They're sweeter, and the flesh is more tender. Leave the giant monsters for hacking at later.

To roast them, chop the pumpkin in half, removing the stem. Scoop out all those seeds in the middle, and save them for later. Place cut side down on a baking sheet, and bake for about 45-50 minutes at 350. They're done when you can poke them easily with a fork, and the skin comes away easily.

Peel off the skin, then chop the pumpkin into smaller pieces. Toss those in a blender and blend until smooth. Voila! Told you it was easy.

As a side note, the 'pumpkin' that you purchase in cans is not actually all pumpkin. It's a mixture of a couple types of squashes, including hubbard and butternut. Weird, no? So now your pumpkin baked goods can actually be real pumpkin!

Pumpkin Pudding Oats

1/2 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup almond milk
1 scoop protein powder
1/4 cup pumpkin puree

Mix oats and protein powder together, then add almond milk. Stir til combined, then add pumpkin and stir some more. Top with a chopped apple and cinnamon!

Butternut Squash Soup

Now that October is in full swing and fall is falling, I feel like it's appropriate to unveil my Autumn food obsession. It started weirdly early this year, with me craving soups and the like in August. But now that the trees are starting to get naked, I think it's okay to indulge in my obsession with squashes, and cinnamon, and roasted everything. By next month you're going to be so sick of seeing pumpkin on here. Or you'll be orange. I won't judge.

I've been on a soup binge as of late. Travelling a bunch tends to make you crave homey things, soup is nothing if not homey. I had this cute little butternut squash hanging out in my fridge, so I roasted it up with some garlic and onions(no colds here!), then tossed it into the vitamix. This was the first time I've used the vitamix for making soup, and it turned out like silk. With all that vitamin A, C and B6 from the squash, and the generous helping of onions and garlic, this'll help ward off all those nasty colds everyone seems to be getting. And vampires too.

Roasted garlic is one of my favorite things, it takes on this nutty mellow sweetness that's kind of divine. Same goes for the onions, something magical happens when you put those babies in the oven.

This soup is great just on it's own, or if you want to make it more of a meal some quinoa and veggies tossed in would be great too. With lots of crusty bread for dipping, if you're into that thing.

Roasted Garlic Butternut Squash Soup

1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced
6-8 cloves of garlic
1/2 sweet white onion, chopped into pieces
1 tablespoon dried parsley
S&P
1 tablespoon coconut oil
3 1/2 cups veggie stock
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 375, combine squash, garlic and onions with parsley, s&p and coconut oil. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 40 mins, or until squash is tender and golden. Allow to cool slightly.

Put half of squash into blender, with half of stock and almond milk, and rosemary. Blend until smooth, repeat with second half. Stir in lemon juice, and serve!

The next squash on my list is pumpkin. I purchased two adorable little pie pumpkins yesterday and have been making more pumpkin themed things than I ever thought possible. Pie. Pudding. Oatmeal. You'll see.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

Back in the day KD was my favorite thing. I'd come home from school, whip up a box in the microwave and then pretty much eat the whole thing in a sitting. I've got so many childhood memories centered around KD, eating it at a friend's birthday for the first time. At a friend's for breakfast after a sleepover. At a cracked and weathered picnic table at a cottage on Saltspring Island. I love how so many memories can be tied to a food, or a smell or a song.

After going vegan I pretty much stopped eating it(obviously), and from before I had all these weird food hangups about pasta and not eating it. Gradually over the past little while I have been trying to revisit 'fear' foods. Things that I crossed off my mental checklist of things I could never consume, cause one glance would make me fat. It's amazing how some mental patterns can become so ingrained into your brain. Trying these foods now is interesting. Some of them I eat them and realize I don't really care for them, it's just more of that 'you can't have it so you want it' thing.

While I'm still steering clear of wheat pasta, quinoa pasta is totally a go. My stomach seems to figure it's fall now and is looking for all kinds of hearty, comforting, tasty foods. Yesterday I got it into my head that I wanted to attempt some vegan mac and cheese.

I also tried a new health food store yesterday. The Big Carrot, on the Danforth, a neighbourhood I don't visit too much since it's out of the way. Visiting new health food stores is a favorite hobby of mine however, so I went to check it out. I love how big it is, and it has an adjoining juice bar and wholisitc wellness shop beside it. It's got a large beauty section, bakery, bulk section, a vegetarian cafe, and carries most of the usual suspects of products on the shelves. It's priced fairly well, a bit cheaper than Whole Foods(my measuring stick for all health food stores!). It's still not as affordable as Herbs and Nutrition though, which is quickly becoming my favorite place I've ever been. I visited the Juice store after and got a huge wheatgrass/beet/carrot mix which was delicious.

Something I hear a lot is that health food stores can be intimidating. And I guess they can, but I generally tackle it like I would any other store. I walk all the way around it and down all the aisles, just to see what they have. Then I usually make another round and pick up the things I'm looking for. Produce and other perishables, like milk, tofu, meat etc. are always around the outside. The inside shelves are sundries and whatever else doesn't go bad quickly. And I totally know that healthy food can be expensive. I'm not going to deny it, but shopping around a lot helps. Seeing all your options and knowing where you can get products for their best value makes it much more affordable. If a certain store carries something you use lots of for cheap, stock up on it! Freeze it, if possible. Healthy eating is an investment on your health, and if you don't invest in it now you'll most likely be paying for it later!

I'd seen a couple recipes for vegan cheese sauce incorporating sweet potato, so I decided to give this a shot. That paired with lots of Nooch and cashew milk it turned out super tasty! You could use whatever non-dairy milk you like, I just love the creamy flavor cashew gives.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

Cheese Sauce:
1 Sweet Potato
1/2 cup cashew pieces
1 cup water
7 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon Earth Balance, melted
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/8 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp mustard
pinch of cayenne(optional)
salt and pepper to taste

8 oz Macaroni shells

1. Cook Macaroni shells according to package.

2. Preheat oven to 350. Prick sweet potato all over with a fork, then wrap in tin foil and bake for 35-40 minutes(until soft).

3. In a blender, blend water and cashews together til smooth.

4. Add in nutritional yeast, garlic, apple cider vinegar, Earth Balance, curry powder, parsley, mustard, and cayenne. Blend until smooth.

5. Scoop sweet potato out of skin, measure 2 cups and add to blender. Blend until smooth.

6. Mix into pasta, serve!