Additionally, I’ve styled this as a one pot recipe. Any method that dirties fewer dishes is a plus in my book!

Recommended Tools

I’ve mentioned it before, and I can’t stress it enough, if you chop a lot of vegetables, you’re going to want a mandoline. I linked to a couple of fancier versions in the Cheater Chickenless Noodle Soup recipe, but the one I use at home is much more basic:

And then there is the immersion blender. This thing is so. useful. I use it all the time, and it is so much easier and less messy than a traditional blender. If you don’t have one, you need to get one:

Recipe

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Colcannon Soup (Vegan)

This vegan colcannon soup is a hearty, satisfying winter soup hiding a lot of cabbage and an unrivaled depth of flavor.

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Irish

Keyword comfort food, Vegan

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Equipment

• Immersion Blender

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 1/2 a green cabbage
• 2 tbsp olive oil or cooking oil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 15 oz can cannellini beans, undrained
• 1/4 cup vegan butter
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1-4 cups water
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Scrub and slice or dice the potatoes. Shape doesn't matter since they'll be blended later. No need to peel.
• Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are fork soft all the way through.
• While the potatoes boil, dice the onion and finely chop the cabbage.
• Drain the potatoes and leave them in the strainer.
• Add the cooking oil to the pot followed by the onions, cabbage, and thyme.
• Sautée the cabbage and onions until the cabbage is fully softened, stirring frequently to evenly coat with the oil and evenly sautée. About 10 minutes.
• Return the potatoes to the pot with the cabbage and onions, and add the vegetable broth.
• Add enough water to bring the level of liquid almost level with the vegetables in the pot.
• Simmer 5-10 minutes.
• While the soup is simmering, blend together the cannellini beans (with the aquafaba – liquid from the can), nutritional yeast, and butter until smooth.
• OPTIONAL: For a chunkier soup, remove some of the cabbage and potatoes from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside. Stir back into the soup after blending.
• Pour the blended bean cream into the simmering soup and use an immersion blender to blend it all together until reaching the desired consistency. I like to leave mine just a little bit chunky, but others prefer it completely smooth – especially if you have picky eaters in the house! If necessary, add more water during blending to thin out the soup.
• Season to taste with black pepper and salt.

The post Colcannon Soup (Vegan) appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

Amy’s No Chicken Noodle Soup is vegan and nails the chicken noodle soup flavor, but just isn’t hearty enough for me. Actually, I rarely eat a canned soup without at least adding a bunch of frozen veggies to it. The Amy’s soup can be a little hard to find at some grocery stores, but it’s easy to pick up on Amazon either by the can:

Or a case of 12:

Preparation Tip: Fast and Easy Slicing

If you cook with a lot of vegetables, a mandoline vegetable slicer is an amazing tool you will use ALL. THE. TIME. With mine, I was able to slice all the veggies for the soup in about 4 minutes.

Do you have a favorite “Cheater” recipe?

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Cheater Chickenless Noodle Soup (Vegan)

This vegan Cheater Chickenless Noodle Soup is a quick and easy weeknight comfort food that is "Cheater" because it uses some ready-made grocery store ingredients.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword cheater, comfort food, soup, Vegan, vegetarian

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cans Amy's No Chicken Noodle Soup
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 3 celery stalks, sliced
• up to 7 cups water
• 1 can cannelloni beans, undrained
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• 1 package noodles of your choice eggless dumpling noodles, orzo, and ditalini work well
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic salt
• 1 tbsp oregano measurement is for dried, but fresh is phenomenal in this soup; adjust to taste
• 1 ½ tbsp thyme measurement is for dried, but fresh is phenomenal in this soup; adjust to taste
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp vegan butter
• 1 lb frozen mixed vegetables or frozen peas* See note below
• Salt to taste

Optional Add-ins:

• Diced mushrooms shitakes are especially good
• diced potatoes
• green beans
• diced root vegetables parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, etc.

Instructions

• Heat oil in a soup pot on Med-High heat.
• Add the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery.
  
• Sauté until the onions are translucent.
• Add 2 cups of water and the pepper, garlic salt, oregano, thyme, and cayenne.
• Bring to a boil.
• Add the 2 cans of Amy's Soup, the cannelloni beans, and nutritional yeast.
• Add 2 to 5 cups of water based on your broth preferences. I typically use the soup cans to rinse out anything that gets left in them.
• Add the noodles and butter and bring to a boil.
• Boil until the noodles are soft, add the frozen vegetables.
• When the soup returns to a boil, it's ready to serve!

Notes

*Frozen Veggies Mom Hack:  I seriously felt like a genius when I thought of this.  If you are going to need to cool this soup off quickly (say, for instance to children who are starving to *death* and cannot possibly wait 3 minutes for it to cool down), hold back some of the frozen vegetables and add them when you serve the soup.  So much better than adding an ice cube because it doesn’t water down the soup!  Bonus:  If you let the kids add the veggies themselves, they’ll often take even more than you would have given them.  BAM.  #momgenuity

 

The post Cheater Chickenless Noodle Soup (Vegan) appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

Sourdough Inspiration

The day after our wedding in October, I was watching The Great British Baking Show and suddenly became moved to make sourdough starter. I had been thinking about it ever since I read Sourdough by Robin Sloan. If any book will make you want to bake sourdough bread, it’s that one. I love the subtlety of a novel that is just about the struggles and beauty of every day life with tiny bits of science fiction and fantasy sneaking in. Robin Sloan’s first novel, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, is one of my favorite books of all time (granted, that’s a long list, ha), and I know many a sourdough baker who started after reading Sourdough.

I knew I would need bottled water to create a starter since our tap water is chlorinated, and I thought I needed grapes (turns out I didn’t) – and I had both bottled water and grapes left over for the wedding! What better way to begin a sourdough starter that would live with our family than from ingredients from our wedding?

Sourdough Starter

So I created Lancre, my sourdough starter named after the home of most of the witches in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I used the water from the wedding and the grapes (even though they weren’t necessary), along with some wild grapes from our backyard. If you’re interested in creating a starter of your own, I find the information over at The Clever Carrot to be the clearest and most helpful of all the sourdough websites I’ve explored.

I’ve been trying recipes here and there to use the starter that I need to discard when I feed Lancre each week. I made some great pancakes a couple weeks ago and failed miserably at making crumpets not long after that. I was really excited to find some recipes for soft pretzels using sourdough starter discard, but none of the recipes gave me exactly what I wanted: vegan, soft pretzels using sourdough starter discard and not using added yeast. I found a great recipe for vegan sourdough pretzels from Holy Cow! Vegan, but it called for added instant yeast.

Vegan Sourdough Soft Pretzels Recipe

What I present to you below is my variation on that recipe without the added yeast. To accommodate the change, I handle the dough much more similarly to sourdough bread dough and my recipe calls for a much longer rise time. For a quicker version, if you have instant yeast on hand, check out Holy Cow! Vegan’s recipe.

If you try these out, please let me know what you think and leave a rating!

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Soft Pretzels – Sourdough Starter Discard (Vegan, no added yeast)

Vegan soft pretzels made from sourdough starter discard with no added yeast.

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Cooking with Kids, sourdough, starter discard, Vegan

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 27 minutes

Servings 12 Pretzels

Ingredients

• 1 cup sourdough starter discard
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup warm plant milk (soy, almond, oat, etc.)
• 3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups all-purpose and 1 cup bread flour because that's what I had on hand)
• 1 tbsp maple syrup or other sweetener (sugar, agave, etc.)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt (plus some to sprinkle on top of pretzels if desired)

Glaze

• 1 tbsp sweetener
• 2 tbsp water

Instructions

• Combine the sourdough starter, water, and plant milk. Stir until starter is dissolved.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until a shaggy dough forms.
• Autolyse: Cover the bowl and allow the shaggy dough to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. This will allow the gluten to start forming and make the dough more workable.
• Knead the dough until it comes together and forms a workable ball. If the dough is too dry or hard, add small amounts of water.
• Place the dough ball in a large, lightly greased (I use coconut oil to grease, but any plant oil will do) bowl. Cover in a relatively airtight manner. I will sometimes layer two plastic shopping bags over the top and secure with a rubber band, and have also found that a heavy pot lid without vents works well with one of my bowls. If you use plastic wrap, that works.
• Allow the dough to rest until it grows 50% to 100% – ie, until it gets half way to doubling or more. I rested it for 12 hours overnight. You can also put it in the oven with the oven light on to gently increase the warmth, which will cause it to rise more. This step will take anywhere from 3 to 12 hours depending on your starter, air temperature, and schedule.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
• Place the dough on a lightly greased surface and knead a few times into a ball.
• Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, covering the portions you are not working with a damp dish towel while they wait.

Shaping the Pretzels – Great fun for kids!

• Take one piece of dough and roll it out into a long snake – about 8 inches long.
• Lay the snake in a hill or "n" shape.
• Cross the legs of your n so you now have an upside down teardrop with legs.
• Cross the legs over again the same direction you did the first time. Now you have an upside down teardrop with a twist at the bottom and very short legs.
• Grasp the loop of the teardrop and fold it down to the bottom of the twist. This will result in the loop making a circle around the twist, the traditional pretzel shape. You may need to stretch the loop a little during this step to get the shape right, and that's totally fine! Also, you'll see from my pictures that they don't have to be perfectly shaped. It's more important that they're fun to make and taste great!
• Place the pretzel twists on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
• Mix the glaze.
• Brush the glaze evenly over the top of all the pretzels. We used our fingers for this since my kitchen brush has gone missing!
• Sprinkle lightly with salt if desired. Ours were very lightly salted with regular table salt.
• Bake for 27 minutes. For darker pretzels, you may want to place them on the top rack or bake them slightly longer.

The post Sourdough Soft Pretzels – Vegan, no added yeast appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

A few tips to keep in mind:

• It is best to use “second snow” or “later snow”: snow from after the first couple hours of snowfall.
• Make sure to collect your snow from a clean surface (above and below) that has not been trodden on or touched.
• Fluffy, dry snow works best for this recipe.  That’s one of the bonuses.  My kids are always disappointed when the snow is not packing snow, but at least we can make snow cream!
• Packing snow occurs when the temperature is within a couple degrees above or below freezing.  Fluffy snow comes when the temperature is more than a few degrees below freezing.

Vegan Snow Ice Cream Recipe 

INGREDIENTS
All amounts are approximate and should be adjusted to taste 

• 4 – 8 cups clean snow
• 1 cup soy milk* (or other plant milk)*
• 1/3 cup or maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt

* You can use any flavor of milk that you choose – vanilla, chocolate, sweetened or unsweetened, almond, coconut, hemp, flax, macadamia, cashew, etc.  If you use a flavored and/or sweetened milk, you may desire to adjust the amounts of sugar and vanilla.

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk together all the ingredients except the snow in a large bowl.  (Leave the snow in a bowl outside or in the freezer until ready to stir it in.
2. Place the mixture in the freezer for 10 minutes.  (This step is optional, but snow cream melts very quickly and this step helps it last just a bit longer).
3. Mix in the snow about 1/2 cup at a time until the snow cream reaches a consistency just thicker than soft serve ice cream.
4. Serve and enjoy immediately!

As always, if you try this recipe, please let me know in the comments, like, and share this post!

Disclaimer:  All food comes with a risk.  I can’t guarantee that eating snow is safe, though I certainly feel comfortable with the snow ice cream we make and enjoy.  I find this article has good information on the comparative safety of consuming snow:  So You Want To Eat Snow. Is It Safe? We Asked Scientists

The post Snow Ice Cream appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

• 3-4 cups cubed butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into small cubes
• 1/4 cup vegan butter (something like Earth Balance)
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth*
• 2 tablespoons miso paste (yellow or red), dissolved in the broth
• 1/2 cup unsweetened plant milk (soy, almond, etc.)*
• 1 and 1/4 cups nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Optional: shredded dairy-free cheese (like Daiya cheddar shreds)

* In a pinch you can do all broth or all plant milk, for a total of one cup liquid.

1. Boil the squash cubes until completely tender and then drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat all the other ingredients except the optional shredded “cheese” in a saucepot until the butter, miso paste, and nutritional yeast are dissolved and the liquid is hot.
3. Combine the cooked squash cubes with the liquid and blend until smooth using a standard blender or an immersion blender.
4. Serve over prepared noodles of your choice.  I prefer to stir the noodles and sauce all together in the saucepot.
5. If desired, stir in Daiya cheddar shreds until they start to melt and stretch.
6. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

The post Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

A friend of mine was kind enough to share her Taco Soup recipe quite some time ago, but I lost my phone (and therefore the pictures) shortly after I tried it out.  I think that actually turned out for the best, as it was even better this time!

For the fast, easy version of the recipe, simply go with the canned versions of all the listed ingredients, pre-mixed taco seasoning, and don’t bother with the toppings bar.  For a fun twist on Taco Night, lay out a whole spread of toppings – lettuce, diced tomatoes, olives, avocado, various salsas, tortilla chips, and so on.

Taco Soup Ingredients:

• 1 – 2 diced onion(s)
• 2 tbs oil suitable for sautéing (I used grapeseed)
• 46oz can tomato juice (low sodium preferred)
• 29oz can crushed tomatoes (low sodium preferred)
• 1 – 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 ½ cups prepared red kidney beans (or one can rinsed)
• 1 ½ cups prepared black beans (or one can rinsed)
• 4-5oz can of diced green chilies (mild to hot to your taste)
• ½ – ¾ cup Salsa (chunky)
• Taco Seasoning* to taste
  • Cumin
  • Garlic powder
  • Chili powder and/or cayenne
  • Cilantro
  • Garlic Salt
• 1 diced green bell pepper

Serve with:

• Diced avocado
• Shredded lettuce
• Tortilla chips (crunched up)
• Nutritional Yeast
• Olives
• All your favorite taco toppings!

*If you want to mix up taco seasoning to keep on hand, try this recipe.

Directions:
Note: This is a super flexible recipe.  The amounts of vegetables, beans, salsa, and seasonings are all completely flexible based on your tastes.  You could even add a lot more vegetables or tailor it to you preferred taco ingredients/toppings.

1. Dice the onion(s) and, in the pot the soup will cook in, briefly sauté them in the oil – only until they just start to soften.
2. Stir in everything else except the green bell pepper and the “serve with” ingredients.
   • You can thaw out the corn first, for slightly faster cooking
3. Bring to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add green pepper; simmer for 3-5 minutes, just long enough to heat the pepper through but not soften it.
5. Serve! Top bowls with crunched up tortilla chips, diced avocado, shredded lettuce, olives, nutritional yeast, and/or all your favorite taco toppings!

The post Vegan Taco Soup – Fast, Easy, Delicious appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

    Summer is the time for BBQ, and these Vegan BBQ Pulled Mushroom sandwiches are a major crowd pleaser in addition to being super easy to prep.  I hate to even reference meat here, but this really is an amazing vegan pulled pork alternative – and much healthier (though BBQ sauce is still pretty high in sugar – and watch out for brands with high fructose corn syrup).

I’ll lay out the basic recipe with a few alternatives to kick it up a level or two:

Required Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb Mushrooms (should be about 3 cups when raw and roughly sliced)
  • Best mushrooms for this recipe are, in order:
  • King Oyster
  • Oyster
  • Shiitake
  • Other mushrooms are an option as well, but the best texture is achieved with mushrooms similar in firmness and texture to those listed above.
• 1 cup BBQ Sauce
• Buns
• Oil appropriate for sautéing

Optional Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 small Onions
• 2 tbsp minced Garlic
• 1 Red Bell Pepper
• 2 tbsp vegan Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 tbsp Liquid Aminos
• 2 tbsp Dry White Wine
• 1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
• Thick Sourdough Toast
• Hoagie Rolls

Amounts:

• This is a very flexible recipe and the amounts of the various ingredients will vary based on the overall amount you want to make.  For the purposes of this recipe, I will include rough amounts that make enough to feed 4-6 people (depending on the size of the buns you use).
• If you don’t use onions, you will need more mushrooms.  My amounts presume you are using onions.

Easiest Possible Preparation:

1. Slice Mushrooms into rough, thin strips.
2. Saute mushrooms over medium high heat until they begin to soften.
3. Add BBQ sauce.
4. Mix well and continue to sauté until desired consistency is achieved (mushrooms will get softer and sauce will get thicker as dish cooks).

Preferred Preparation:

1. Dice onions and place in pan (no heat yet).
2. Dice red pepper  and place in pan (still no heat).
3. Slice mushrooms into rough, thin strips.
4. Saute the onions, garlic, and pepper over medium high heat until the onions just start to become translucent.  If desired, add white wine, liquid aminos, and/0r Worcestershire sauce (I use all 3!).
5. Add the mushrooms.  Stir.  Saute until the mushrooms start to soften and release their liquid.
6. Add the BBQ Sauce.  Stir and Saute until the sauce thickens and reaches desired consistency.  Add more Worcestershire or liquid aminos to taste.

Note: Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.  Avoid over-cooking the mushrooms, you want mushrooms not mush!

Scoop some onto a thick slice of sourdough toast with some nutritional yeast (or a hoagie or a regular bun), and enjoy!

The post Vegan BBQ Pulled Mushrooms appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

I grew up eating, and loving, Hamburger Helper Stroganoff.  Both my desire for nutritious food and for ethically produced food have long since separated me from this childhood favorite.  Last week, I finally created a vegan mushroom stroganoff that completely fills that comfort food sized hole Hamburger Helper had left behind.  Bonus: it is totally good for you.

This is such a convincing stroganoff that MacGyver actually asked if it had meat in it, even though he obviously knows better.

As a personal triumph, this is possibly the first recipe I have created entirely from scratch.  Most of my recipes are either amalgamations of a few other recipes or veganizations of my mom’s recipes.  It all started with one very important realization:  porcini mushrooms are the key to a good stroganoff.

The recipe feeds four – including one voracious breastfeeding mama (me) and one pre-teen in a constant state of growth-spurt (Punky).  There were no leftovers.

Ingredients
SAUTE
1 onion, diced
1 c (or more!) chopped mushrooms (I used a wild mushroom mix, but almost any mushrooms, including regular button, will do)
1-2 tbsp minced or chopped garlic
1/3 c dry white wine (optional)

SAUCE
1/2 oz (or more!) dried porcini mushrooms + 1 1/2 c water
1/2 c raw cashews, soaked
1/2 lb silken tofu (half a standard package)
1/3 c nutritional yeast
1 tsp thyme and/or oregano (dried)
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
vegetable broth, water, or unsweetened plant milk (like almond milk) as needed to obtain desired texture.
optional: truffle salt to taste

SERVE
1/2 lb wilted greens or vegetable of your choice (I used 1/2 a bag frozen kale) – Because, as Punky will be the first to tell you, I have to put green vegetables in everything.
Pasta of your choice, prepared – I’d love to have this over some high quality pappardelle noodles, but this kids chose penne this time around (whole wheat, of course).

Directions
1.  Soak cashews while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  If possible, soak for an hour.

2.  Dice onion and set aside to maximize nutritional value.

3.  Place a minimum of 1/2 oz of dried porcinis, broken up into small pieces, into 1 1/2 – 2 cups of water and bring to a boil (I just did this in the microwave).  Let sit at least 5 minutes.

4.  In a large pan, sauté the onion, garlic, and chopped mushrooms in white wine (or vegetable broth or water or a little oil) until the onions start to become translucent, the mushrooms brown, and the wine evaporates.

5. While that is going, combine all the sauce ingredients, including the water the porchinis simmered in, in a blender and blend until smooth.  Add vegetable broth, water, or almond milk (or similar) as needed to achieve the desired consistency.

6.  Add the sauce from the blender to the pan with the mushrooms and onions.  Mix and heat through.

Top your noodles with the greens followed by the sauce.  You can also mix it all together in one pot before serving.  Or keep the sautéed mushrooms and onions separate to top the sauce (noodles, greens, sauce, mushrooms and onions).  Sprinkle with just a dash of truffle salt if desired.

The post Perfect Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

Firey leaves, cozy sweaters, hot apple cider, and ALL THINGS PUMPKIN.  That time of year is just around the corner.  Normally, I would wait until at least September to post my recipe for Vegan Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer, but an excellent article published on Food Babe yesterday, combined with a couple other factors, has me breaking out my favorite recipe early this year.

Fall is my very favorite season.  I could wax poetic for pages about the tangible magic I feel in the air throughout the autumn season (but I won’t!  I promise; no need to click away).

I will be the first to admit that I still feel some lingering trauma from the Polar Vortex that turned a glittering Michigan winter into a flesh cracking Jack Frost  Hell dragging its icy talons across the midwest all the way into MAY.  I am still joyously embracing every moment of muggy heat and asphalt fumes this August, and I refuse to openly admit that I enjoy a feeling of anticipation on the intermittent Fall-like days.  I still cringe at every buzzword mention of the Polar Vortex, whilst battling flashbacks to the 90’s and the most overused weather buzzword of all time:

And yet, even while fighting every inkling that there is yet another winter just around the corner, it didn’t take much to push me into Fall mode several weeks early.  And that little push was this incredibly well researched, and fairly disturbing, article on what actually goes into a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.

It is completely unethical for Starbucks, or any other business for that matter, to attempt to cover up their use of unsavory ingredients just to preserve profits.  Either come up with better ingredients, or accept the fact that a lot of us don’t want that garbage in our bodies.  Especially when making something just as delicious and MUCH more nutritious is so easy.

Similar to the Starbucks confection, most grocery store coffee creamers are full of all sorts of yucky stuff: hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and worst of all (in my opinion) factory farmed milk. The way those cows are treated is enough to make me wretch. And I can’t even bear to think about what they do to all those little baby calves.  Not to mention the stomach-turning health detriments caused by dairy.

Any way you slice it, whether it’s health concerns, sugar issues, fat issues, lactose issues, ethical, or humane issues, I just couldn’t continue buying those creamers. Your purchases say something! Not just about you, but about where you stand on various issues. I try very hard to keep my money where my mouth is, so to speak.

So here it is, my most popular recipe, which also happens to be on of my easiest, Vegan Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer:

Special Holiday Note: This creamer makes a wonderful and ethical gift.  Pour it into a clean, reused glass jar, maybe paint or glue some used wrapping paper on the cap, use strips of re-used wrapping paper to create a ribbon or bow, and pop on a gift tag made from old holiday cards or wrapping paper, and Voila!  An affordable, easy holiday gift sure to please!

Ingredients
Makes about 2 cups of creamer
2 cups Almond Milk*
2 tbsp mashed pumpkin (canned is fine, but make sure it’s just pumpkin and not pumpkin pie)
2 tbsp maple syrup**
1 tsp cinnamon***
¼ – ½ tsp nutmeg***
¼ – ½ tsp ground cloves***
¼ – ½ tsp ground ginger***
½ tsp vanilla extract*

* If you use Vanilla Almond Milk, you may not need to add any additional vanilla. You can also use Soy Milk, Rice Milk, Flax Milk, or Hemp Milk. Do not use animal milk – it will separate, go spoil quickly, and taste off.

** Adjust to taste and desired sweetness. If you use sweetened Almond Milk, you won’t need as much sweetener. Fair Trade/Equal Exchange brown or white sugar or agave nectar can be substituted for the maple syrup. The Maple just Falls up the flavor that much more.

*** Adjust spices to taste. You can also substitute pre-mixed “pumpkin pie spice.”

Directions

1. Whisk all the ingredients, except vanilla if you’re planning to add some, together in a sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Ensure all pumpkin is completely mixed in.

2. Heat until steaming, but not boiling.

3. Whisk in vanilla.

4. Pour into a jar for storage.

It’s that easy!

Shake before using, as the spices may settle.

This stuff makes my morning!

In addition to being a great gift, substituting this creamer for milk in any recipe is a great way to fulfill all your pumpkin spice desires:
Cookies,
Cakes,
Cupcakes,
Oatmeal,
Pancakes,
Chia Seed Pudding, …

What flavor would you like to see me try out next?  

What do you put in your coffee?

And as a final Fall themed bonus, I would like to share the following link in memory of my brother, Boo.  I spend days cracking up every time I read it, and I can see and hear him reading it in my head.  Fair warning, it is heavily peppered with rather “colorful” language:

It’s Decorative Gourd Season Mother******s.

You’re welcome.

The post Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer and Why to Avoid the Starbucks Version appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

So here is MacGyver’s Guest Post, Sweet and Spicy Swiss Chard Wraps:

This recipe is broken up into three segments, the filling, the sauce, and the wraps:

Sauce

You can cheat and just buy the Asian style sweet chili sauce that comes in a jar.  Most grocery stores carry it, and you can get higher quality versions in Asian food stores, or you can make an authentic version of it yourself ensuring you know exactly what is in it.

It’s pretty easy and the ingredients aren’t hard to find or exotic by any means.  First off, I don’t normally use any real premeasured amounts in my cooking.  So all measurements below are estimates and should be adjusted to suit your tastes.

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Vinegar – Apple Cider Vinegar or Rice Vinegar work best, avoid distilled or balsamic
• 1 Cup Sugar (aim for ethically sourced brands)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp red chili flakes
• 2 Tbsp ketchup or 1 tsp tomato paste (DO NOT use ketchup with high fructose corn syrup)
• 1 Tbsp garlic (minced preferred, but can use powdered as well)
• 2 Tbsp ginger root (minced preferred, but can used powdered as well)
• Thickening agent (a roux made from arrowroot powder or cornstarch mixed with water, or use agar agar)
  • If you use agar agar, just add with rest of ingredients and simmer for 4 minutes as directed below.
  • If you use roux, stir in slowly to thicken to desired consistency.  Don’t use too much or it will change the taste profile of the sauce.

Sauce Directions:

Vinegar to Sugar is a ratio of 1 to 1.  So 1 cup Vinegar to 1 cup sugar.  You can make however much you need or make a large amount and save for later.

1 Mix in sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil.

1. Turn heat down and stir in chilli powder, red chili flakes, garlic, ginger root, and thickening agent.
2. Simmer for 4 minutes.
3. 4.  If you used agar agar to thicken, place the sauce in the refrigerator or freezer to cool until it starts to thicken around edges.  Stir again before adding to roll-ups.

Filling:

You can put whatever you want in them.  We’ve used them as substitutes for tortillas, for a Mexican twist to a burrito (though without the Asian sauce).  I use them often to wrap up leftovers – rice and beans, quinoa, veggies, or some combination.

For the recipe pictured here, something more fresh and spring-roll-like, use crispy salad fixings like cucumbers, romaine, radish, carrot sticks, celery, shredded broccoli, bell peppers, pea pods, green beans, green onions, etc. sliced into thin sticks 2 – 3 inches long.  Avocado as a great addition, and so are certain fruits like slices of apple or mango.  Unless you’re ready for a messy meal, avoid juicy fillings like tomatoes.

It is also nice to add some sushi rice or other sticky rice to these rolls.

For the wraps pictured here, we also sliced and baked extra firm tofu in strips the size of fat French fries:

–          Drain and gently press the moisture from one package of extra firm tofu.

–          Slice into extra large “fries.”

–            Carefully roll them through any powdered seasonings you like (such as kelp flakes, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, ect).  I used TVP crumbles (TVP = textured vegetable protein, makes for a very crispy coating) seasoned with a little garlic.

–          Bake at about 350 for 10 minutes or until light brown or to desired crispness.

–          You can also marinate your tofu by placing it in a sealed container with the marinate of your choice overnight (after draining and pressing).  Some tamari or soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and garlic, maybe with a touch of orange juice, might make a good marinate.  Teriyaki is another option for this.

Wraps:

There are several kinds of large leaved greens that will work as wraps:  Swiss chard, Cabbage, Collard Greens, or Kale for starters.  You can use any, as long as the leaf is larger than your hand (palm to fingertips).  You may even want to use a couple different types at a time, layering them before rolling them.

You can usually find larger leafed varieties at farmers markets, so best try there first.

I prefer using Swiss Chard for these.  It is less bitter than some of the others and the color adds a bit of flare to the wrap.  You can also cut the stalks you chopped off into sticks to add to your fillings, which we did here.  Otherwise it makes a great addition to the pile of scraps in our freezer for our homemade vegetable stock.

Preparing the Leaves:

1.  Start by chopping the bottom of the stalk from the base of the leaf.  Make sure you clean them well.  Many times dirt can get trapped in the crevices of the leaves and you don’t want to spend all this time preparing them just to bite into a gritty leaf.  It would be like sharing a bag of chips at the beach with your 3 year old.
2. Steam them for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the stalks.  Make sure not to over steam them or the leaves themselves will fall apart as you try to roll them. .  Steam those with larger stalks longer or put them at the bottom of the pile in the steamer.

–          Don’t have a steamer?  Pile them on a large plate, splatter water in between each leaf, and microwave them for 3-5 minutes, longer if needed.

1. This step is the most important:  You will need to rip the backbone out of the leaf.  This can be tricky without tearing the leaf, but the tips below should help you do it like a pro after a couple tries

• Make a slit in the base of the stalk (as pictured).  If the stalk is somewhat rounded, don’t cut flat across the stalk, make more than one slit as needed.
  
• Before pulling and ripping the stalk from the leaf, put your hand down around the stalk (as pictured) making sure you put enough pressure down where the stalk branches out like veins into the leaf.
  
• You don’t need to remove the entire stalk.  Just the part which gives it most of its strength.  You also don’t need to pull it off all the way to the tip of the leaf (and trying to do so will tear the leaf)
  
• Hold up the leaf by the stalk (after steaming it) and you will notice right away at what point the stalk no longer supports the leaf or you may be able to simply look at it and tell where it isn’t worth pulling it off.  When the stalk is about the same size as those branching off into the leaf, you can stop there.

  2.  Dry each side of the leaf off before adding fillings.

The secret art of filling and rolling your wrap:

1.  Place fillings in wrap.
2. Pour 2 tbsp (or desired amount) of sauce over fillings.
3. Wrap

There is a big trick to this (another one)….add fillings moderately.  Add too much and you won’t be able to close it.  If you have ever eaten at Chipotle or Moe’s you’ve seen them wrap the ginormous burritos.  The secret is in the method.  When starting to wrap it, the fillings shouldn’t be in the center of the wrap.  They should be towards the butt of the leaf where you chopped off the stalk.  This is where you will start to roll it.  Also make sure the leaf is face down, stalk up.  So you’ll be putting fillings on the side you cut and ripped the stalk from.

Fold the sides over your fillings.  Wrap over the end, slightly squeezing and folding the leaf under the fillings, then wrap the sides up and roll it.  Don’t just roll it down to the end.  Roll it by pulling the remaining leaf under and keeping the roll tight.  When it starts to cool, this will ensure the wrap sticks together and doesn’t unfurl.

Finally, arrange it all artfully on a plate and soak up the adoration and praise from your happy, healthy family.

Bonus Tip for Packing Lunches:

Want to send you kids with a salad, but don’t have a salad bowl or are afraid the dressing will drip out of the container?  Wrap it up in a large romaine leaf by put several small horizontal slits down the spine of the leaf so you can roll it.  Wrap it properly and everything should be contained in the wrap.  No forks necessary.

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