Stuffed Pumpkin

On By karmarstenIn Hearty, ThanksgivingLeave a comment
StuffedPumpkin (1)

Things Needed

  • 1 medium Sugar Pumpkin (cut open as you would a jack-o-lantern or as seen straight across)
  • 3 medium carrots (thinly sliced)
  • 2 medium onions (thinly sliced)
  • 1 green bell pepper (thinly sliced)
  • 4 to 5 cloves of garlic (minced)
  • 1 can drained garbanzo beans
  • 1 package vegan crumbles
  • 1 can drained corn
  • 1 tsp Chili Powder (keep this available)
  • 1/4 tsp Cumin (keep this available)
  • 1 14.5 can diced tomato
  • Veggie Broth
  • Olive Oil
  • Cajun Seasoning (optional)
  • 4 cups rice (cooked)

Directions

For the Pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the pumpkin either as you would a jack-o-lantern or straight across the top so that you have what appears to be a lid and a bowl.  Discard any seeds/stringy “guts” but try to leave as much of the pulp intact.  Rub the fleshy part of the pumpkin with a bit of chili pepper and a bit of cumin. In a oven safe glass dish with a bit of olive oil place the gourd parts flesh side down.  Let this cook for 1 hour 30 minutes.

For the Stuffing

Over medium heat add olive oil, garlic, onion, carrot and bell pepper stir to a large soup pot for about 3 to 5 minutes (or until the onion is nearly clear).  Add the crumbles, spices and tomato stir (the consistency should be somewhat like chili), let cook for 3 to 5 minutes.  Add Garbanzos and corn again stir and let cook for 3 to 5 minutes.  Add the veggie broth just enough to cover the mixture and let simmer between 1 and two hrs.  As needed, add additional veggie broth and other spices (I used typical cajun seasoning: pepper, paprika, thyme, etc.).  At the very end of the cooking time, add the cooked rice and stir.  The rice will pick up all of the sauce.

To serve I turned the pumpkin back right-side up and over-filled it with the stuffing then placed the cap back on the bowl.

Carrot Cake with Tangerine Glaze

On By karmarstenIn DessertLeave a comment
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Things needed

  • non-stick cooking spray
  • 2 cups Flour
  • 1 cup vegan sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup carrot juice
  • 4 oz vegan margarine (chopped into small chunks)
  • 2 cups grated carrots (this is about 4 or 5 smallish-to-medium carrots)
  • pumpkin pie spice (to personal flavor)
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup tangerine juice (about 2 tangerines)

Carrot Cake

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Spray bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray
  3. Stir together all dry ingrediants (adding a dash of the pumpkin pie spice) in a large bowl. Set aside.
  4. Bring carrot juice and raisins to a boil (i again have added a bit of pumpkin pie spice to this)
  5. Take the carrot juice/raisins mixture off the burner and add the vegan margarine and stir it around til it melts.
  6. Add the carrot juice mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until it forms a dough.
  7. fold in the grated carrots.
  8. Pour into the Bundt pan and cook for 45 minutes.  Let stand for 5-10 minutes in the pan.

Tangerine Glaze

  1. In a mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and tangerine juice.  (note that this can be exchanged for citrus of choice)
  2. whisk this til the outcome is creme like

While the cake is still warm, pour the glaze mixture over the cake.  It will set and keep the cake moist.

Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup over Rice with a Italian Kale Garnish

On By karmarstenIn Hearty, SoupLeave a comment

ParsnipSoup

Things Needed

  • Olive Oil
  • Approx 1 lb of carrots (cut into 1/2 inch rounds)
  • Approx 1/2 lb of parsnip…I used 1 large parsnip (cut into 1/2 inch rounds)
  • 2 small red onions quartered
  • 2 small red onions sliced
  • 8 to 10 cloves of garlic crushed
  • 4 1/2 cups of Veggie Broth
  • 1 head of Kale/Chard (your choice) ripped into chunks
  • about 1 cup of pinenuts
  • 2 cups of Red Wine
  • About 4 TBS of italian spices (your choice)
  • Rice (prepared with veggie broth and italian seasoning)

Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a large roasting pan with some olive oil combine and spread out the carrots, parsnips, 6-8 of the cloves of garlic and the 2 quartered red onions and about 3 TBS of the italian seasoning.
  3. Stirring occasionally, cook for 1 hour.
4) In a blender, puree the all of the contents from the roasting pan with the 4 1/2 cups of veggie broth and 1 1/2 cup of red wine.  Transfer the puree to a Pot and warm over medium heat.

Italian Kale Garnish


  1. In a large saute pan combine olive oil and the pinenuts along with the remaining italian spices
  2. Add the onion and remaining garlic cook until the onion is transparent
  3. Add the Kale and the red wine and saute til the greens are bright green and wilted (they can even be a little darker)

I served this in layers.  The rice at the bottom of the bowl, the Soup on top and as a garnish the Italian Kale.

Veggie Cacciatore

On By karmarstenIn HeartyLeave a comment

b1b83-Cacciatore

Things needed:

  • olive oil
  • 1 large butternut squash
  • about 3 small red onions (diced)
  • 2 green bell peppers (either diced or in strips)
  • about 2 large carrots (either diced or in strips)…i used about 5 smallish carrots
  • 2 to 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 1 14.5 oz can tomatoes diced
  • 2 cups chunky tomato sauce
  • veggie meatballs or veggie chik’n
  • rice (cooked about 2.5 to 3 cups)
  • approx 1 tsp Thyme
  • 3 bay leaves
  • approx 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
  • approx 1/2 tsp salt (this is by taste)

Steps

Squash

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
  2. Clean and cut squash lengthwise and remove the seeds (you should now have two halves that resemble boats)
  3. In a glass/pyrex dish lightly coat the bottom with olive oil and then place the halves in the dish(es) cut side down. Cook for 35min (then reduce the temp to 350 degrees and cook for another 10 minutes)

Cacciatore

  1. over medium heat in a pot with a bit of olive oil cook onions and garlic until they are somewhat see thru
  2. add carrots and green peppers continue cooking for about 3 to 5 minutes
  3. add tomatoes and tomato sauce and mix together
  4. when this comes to a boil add all spices remember salt is optional
  5. lower the heat a bit and let simmer for 20-25 minutes
  6. add veggie meatballs or veggie chik’n
  7. continue to simmer for 10 minutes

There are multiple ways to serve this. In the picture, the rice was added to the Cacciatore and placed in the Butternut Squash Half. You can put the Cacciatore on top of the rice….without the Butternut Squash….