Thanksliving!

Holidays are without a doubt one of the most challenging times to be vegan. Loved ones comfortable enough with you to say whatever they're thinking, practicing your "grin and bear it" face, and everyone sitting around the table to celebrate around a dead body. You can expect to hear such classic quips as "what about killing the vegetables? You don't think they feel pain", "I'd rather die than give up X", "I tried being a vegetarian, and it didn't work", "I love meat", "what other purpose do they have", and "mmmm, xyzzzzzzzzzzzzz". I feel like it's a disservice to people trying out this lifestyle to claim that it's always a piece of cake. Saying "no" to your grandma's famous X, or sister in law's delicious y can be sucky. But even suckier would be ignoring your moral and ethical feelings just to appease others. Over time, loved ones will(hopefully) accept your choices, learn how to veganize foods with a little guidance, and maybe even like some of it themselves. So this brings me to "Thanksliving" at our house. Not bound by tradition and the same old, I can try out fancy recipes each year to my heart's content. This year's comes courtesy of vegnews.com (a great source for just about everything) and the Vegan Dad blog. Check out the recipe here!

As you can see, mine turned out almost identical to the fancy photo-which means it's pretty easy to do. It was paired with a really decadent sweet potato casserole topped with walnuts/brown sugar/veg butter topping, additional stuffing because that's my favorite part and pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream frosting for dessert. Yum, I wish every day was Thanksliving!

It's mother pumpkin muffin time!

Yay, fall! All the cliched fall things are here, and after 4 years in Texas everything is new and exciting again. Changing leaves! Meals from a crock pot! Pumpkin in a can! No wait, pumpkin in a can isn't very exciting. Until now! *cue high temp Euro pop music and imagine me dancing* I am going to impart to you what is promised to be "The best pumpkin muffin" recipe, and so far the hype has legit. I got this book from "Vegan with a Vengeance", which in my humble opinion is the very first book you should add to your vegan cookbook collection. This recipe is at least marginally healthy, and if you swap the white flour for whole wheat, half the sugar and use apple sauce instead of oil- you can eat it for breakfast guilt free. Or just make it as is and eat 4 for breakfast because you deserve it :)

The Best Pumpkin Muffins

From Vegan with a Vengeance

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 TBS baking powder

1/4 TSP salt

1 TSP ground cinnamon

1/2 TSP ground nutmeg

1/2 TSP ground ginger

1/4 TSP ground allspice

1/8 TSP ground cloves

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 TBS molasses

Preheat oven to 400f. Lightly grease or line a twelve muffin (or mini muffin but reduce cooking time accordingly) tin. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, soy milk, oil and molasses. Pour the wet and dry together and mix. Fold in a cup of chopped walnut/fresh or dried cranberries/combo/or not. Fill cups and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick or knife in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy!