Author: betsy

by betsy

Vegan Chorizo and Sweet Potato Hash with Black Salt Cashew Cream

Yikes, today almost came and went with no MoFo!

But never fear, I’ve got the perfect fall recipe for when you need to dish up a little comfort, and who doesn’t need that these days?

Since hash is traditionally served with an egg, and I had a little savory cashew cream in my fridge, I wondered if I could flavor it with black salt, whose distinctly sulpher-y taste is uncannily reminiscent of an egg, and use it as a topping.  Indeed!  It was perfect.

Thank you, Isa, for turning me on to the wonders of Indian black salt, which is actually a beautiful gray color.  Pick up a bottle at Indian markets or specialty food stores.  I snagged mine at Napa Style (and probably paid a lot more) while on vacation in San Francisco this past summer.

Begin making the Cashew Cream the day before you plan to use it:

Cashew Cream

You will have lots of leftover, but you’ll be glad you do!

2 cups raw cashews, divided in half

2 cups water, divided in half

Sea salt to taste

In a covered bowl, soak 1 cup cashews in 1 cup water overnight in the refrigerator.  Rinse and drain.  Process the cup of soaked cashews with the additional cup of raw unsoaked cashews and the remaining cup of water in a food processor for several minutes, or until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Add salt to taste, process just to combine, and store covered in the refrigerator.

Vegan Chorizo and Sweet Potato Hash with Black Salt Cashew Cream

Yield: 4 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

1 large clove garlic

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (it is very important to patiently cut the dice this small

1-12 ounce package vegan Chorizo, casing removed (I use Trader Joe’s brand)

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

Garnishes:

4 or so tablespoons of plain Cashew Cream, seasoned to taste with a pinch or more of black salt (recipe above)

4 sprigs of fresh thyme (it’s especially pretty when in bloom)

In a large cast iron skillet over medium-high, heat olive oil to shimmering.  Add onion and saute, stirring frequently, until softened and a little bit of color starts to develop, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Add garlic, bell pepper, and sweet potato, and saute, stirring frequently about 5 minutes or slightly longer until the bell pepper is quite soft and the sweet potato is beginning to become tender. Crumble chorizo into the pan and saute, still stirring very frequently, for an additional 5 minutes or slightly longer until sweet potato is very tender.  At any point, if the mixture appears to be drying out, you may add another tablespoon of olive oil or water, and/or slightly reduce the heat.  Sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves and heat through for another 30 seconds to a minute.  Serve hot with dollops of the Cashew Cream mixture and a sprig of fresh thyme.

by betsy

Vegan Baked Pumpkin-Bourbon French Toast with Pepita Caramel Syrup

I know it’s just Tuesday, but I’m posting this now, so you can gather the ingredients and be all set come the weekend!

I love vegan French toast as it de facto lacks that “egginess” that I found unappealing in the dairy version even as a vegetarian.  I similarly prefer baked to pan sauteed French toast, as the former lacks the equally unappealing greasiness of the latter.  And, especially in the fall, I am crazy for all things pumpkin.

So my Baked Pumpkin-Bourbon French Toast is about as good as it gets for weekend morning fare at our house.  I spike this iteration ’cause I’m a South’ren girl.  But you can simply omit the bourbon.  Or, you can substitute brandy or a nut-flavored liqueur if you like.

Note that I’m not a big breakfast eater, so these are very moderate portions.  If you like to really get your breakfast or brunch on, just make more.  Or serve something on the side like, say, some baked fresh and dried fruit.

Oh, and don’t forget the decaffeinated fair-trade coffee.  It’s practically a must with this dish, as I find the body of coffee provides better balance with this dish than tea, though I’m usually a devout tea-drinker.

Yield: 4 servings

French Toast:

8 (1-inch thick) bias-cut slices of a long whole grain baguette (if bread is fresh, dry it out by placing it on a baking sheet in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 3-5 minutes)

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

3/4 cup soymilk (unsweetened or plain)

2 tablespoons chickpea flour

2 tablespoons natural sugar (or maple syrup which is not quite as sweet)

Optional: 1 tablespoon bourbon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or to taste (or a combination of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg)

Pinch sea salt

Vegan Pepita Caramel Syrup (recipe follows)

Optional garnish: a dusting of powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients except bread and syrup in a medium bowl.  Pour the mixture into a shallow pan or food carton that will just hold all bread slices in one layer.  Add the bread slices and let soak for 10 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Oil an 8-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.  Flip bread slices and let soak for another 10 minutes.  (You make soak each side longer if desired, but a total of 20 minutes should be the minimum amount of time.)  Remove bread to baking dish and drizzle each slice with remaining custard.  Bake for 20 minutes or just until set.  Custard should still be moist.  Serve hot drizzled with Vegan Pepita Caramel Syrup and dust with powdered sugar for a nice contrast if desired.

 

Vegan Pepita Caramel Syrup:

1/4 cup vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup roasted and lightly salted pepitas (pumpkin seeds; I purchase Trader Joe’s brand)

2 tablespoons plain soy creamer

In a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, combine butter, maple syrup and pepitas.  Simmer gently, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes or until thick and caramelized.  Lower heat if necessary to prevent mixture from scorching.  Add soy creamer–the mixture will bubble up–and cook for about another minute or until well-combined and heated through.  Serve immediately over Pumpkin-Bourbon French Toast.

For 150+ additional recipes that celebrate fall, not to mention winter, spring and summer, I invite you to hop on over to Amazon and take a look at my new cookbook, The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes.

by betsy

Vegan Chorizo, Chickpeas & Kale in a Creamy Coconut Milk-Pumpkin Sauce with Pepita and Sage Pesto Drizzle

This is one of my dream dinners: super healthy, lusciously creamy, beautiful to look at, and a “twofer” in that both the chickpea mixture and the pepita pesto can easily stand alone. Plus, it’s an anti-oxidant powerhouse of a one-dish meal.

I first made the pesto to drizzle over my Roasted Turks’ Turban Squash.  It was addicting!  So I knew I had to create other dishes with which to enjoy it lest I spend the fall eating nothing but Turks’ Turban squash.  Stay tuned for more to follow.

You can serve up a nice bowl of this thick spicy melange and serve the grilled bread on the side, or you can serve it as a crostini, like you see in the photo.  Either way, you’ll be licking your lips.

Yield: 4 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 of a medium-large yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

1/2 of a large orange bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice

Sea salt to taste

2 large cloves garlic, minced

2 cups of very finely chopped kale (I used a food processor for this task)

1-15.5 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

6 ounces of vegan chorizo (I purchase Trader Joe’s brand)

1-15 ounce can coconut milk (I use the lite variety)

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Optional: 2 tablespoons apple juice (this sounds like an odd addition, but adds a little hint of something delicious but unidentifiable)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon Pomegranate Molasses

Zest of 1/2 of a lemon

Vegan Pepita and Sage Pesto (recipe follows)

Optional Garnish: a few lightly salted and roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and sprigs of fresh sage

Accompaniment: grilled slices of bread (about 3/4-inch thick)

In a large cast iron skillet, heat the tablespoon of olive oil to sizzling over medium-high.  Add onion, bell pepper, and a generous pinch of salt, and saute, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and kale and saute, still stirring frequently, for another 3 minutes. Add chick peas and chorizo, stirring just to combine after each.  Stir in remaining ingredients, except lemon zest and pesto, and heat, stirring occasionally, for another 3-5 minutes.  Stir in lemon zest and serve hot drizzled with Pepita and Sage Pesto or pass the pesto in a small bowl with a serving spoon.  Garnish with pepitas if desired.  And serve with or on top of grilled bread.

 

Vegan Pepita and Sage Pesto

1/2 cup roasted and lightly salted Pepitas (I buy Trader Joe’s brand)

1 medium clove of garlic, peeled

8 fresh sage leaves (or pineapple sage leaves)

1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg (freshly grated is especially nice)

1/8 teaspoon of chipotle chile powder

1/2 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon maple syrup

Juice of 1/2 of a small lime

Optional: 1 1/2 teaspoons nutritional yeast

Sea salt to taste (I like a “goodly” amount in this)

Place Pepitas, garlic, sage, nutmeg and chili powder in the bowl of a food processor.  Process until a coarse paste forms.  With the motor running, add olive oil in a steady stream until the mixture is pulpy-smooth.  Turn off the motor.  Add maple syrup, lime, optional nutritional yeast, and salt to taste, and pulse just two or three times to combine.  Adjust seasoning if desired, and use immediately or store, covered, in the refrigerator.  Allow to come to room temperature or heat slightly before serving.

For 150+ other fresh seasonal recipes, I hope you might check out The Blooming Platter Cookook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes!

by betsy

Winner of The Blooming Platter (Vegan) Cookbook Announced

Congratulations to “Joy” for winning a copy of The Blooming Platter Cookbook:  A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes!

As many of you know, it was my pleasure to offer a giveaway of my brand new cookbook in recognition of the first week of Vegan MoFo 2011.  The deadline was midnight last night, and I just had the honor of choosing a random winner using Random. org.

Now the fun begins: responding to all of your wonderful comments!  I couldn’t “reply” prior to selecting a winner without throwing off the total number of responses needed for the “True Random Number Generator.”  But now I can, and I look forward to doing that this week.

Thanks to all for takng the time to participate and for your support of The Blooming Platter.  I hope you’ll come back often for a visit and share with your friends.  The more the merrier when it comes to community-building.

Happy Vegan MoFo!

by betsy

Vegan Peanut Butter-Chocolate Layer Bars AND Blooming Platter Cookbook Giveaway Reminder

Yea, I know, I’m a seasonal vegan cook, and this recipe hardly fits that description… unless, like me, you consider chocolate to be a perennial food.

This recipe was inspired by a pan of dessert bars I spied in our administrators’ kitchen at school about a week ago.  Theirs had a thin chocolate crust topped by a thick peanut butter layer and another thin chocolate ganache layer.  They looked so good that I thought I would absolutely perish if I didn’t figure out how to make a vegan version and fast.

However, I couldn’t get started on them as quickly as I’d hoped because, after I went to the  store, I came home to put the groceries away and could not find my (honey-free) graham crackers anywhere.  Figuring that I must have stuck them somewhere really odd, I looked in places like the freezer…and the washing machine.  No luck.  So, I went back a couple of days later, bought another box, and made them on Sunday for my students’ National Art Honor Society meeting last Monday.  A hit!

After just a little research, I put a couple of recipes together and fell head over heels for the result.  They are FAR better than my memory of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  And they are very well-behaved, slicing beautifully.  They do need to stay refrigerated, but that’s a small price to pay for creamy perfection!

Yield: 24 bars

Crust:

1 3/4 cup finely crushed vegan graham crackers (Nabisco brand “original” are honey-free), that’s one wrapped package within the box

1/2 cup vegan butter, melted (I like Earth Balance)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Filling:

2 1/2 cups natural creamy peanut butter (crunchy is fine, but the mixture is processed and ends up creamy anyway)

3/4 cup vegan butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Ganache:

1/4 cup soy creamer

11 ounces vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, stir together all crust ingredients.  Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13″ pan.  I like to use the bottom of a glass to help with this task.  Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, and cool completely.  Once partially cool, I like to place the pan in the freezer for the crust to finish cooling.  (Avoid placing a hot pan in the oven as it might raise the temperature of the compartment to a potentially dangerous level.)

In the bowl of a food processor, combine all filling ingredients and process just until smooth.   Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar and process until combined, pulsing if necessary.  Add the remaining cup of powdered sugar and do the same.  Dollop the mixture over the cooled crust and pat evenly to cover.  Cover the pan and refrigerate until the ganache is cool enough to use.

In a 1-quart saucepan, bring  soy creamer to a simmer.  Remove the pan from the heat, add chocolate chips, and stir or whisk until mixtures is smooth.  Let it cool to room temperature and then spread thinly over the peanut butter layer.  It will look like there might not be enough ganache, but there is the perfect amount (if you don’t eat too much of it while frosting the bars!).    Cover and refrigerate for 2 more hours.  Slice into bars and serve.  Store any leftovers–leftovers, yea, right–in the refrigerator.

This recipe was adapted from Midwest Living (Eagle Ridge Inn and Resort).

 

Just 2 days left in my Blooming Platter Cookbook giveaway!  Go here for the details and simple directions on how to enter and win!

 

by betsy

Only 3 Days Left to Enter The Blooming Platter (Vegan) Cookbook Giveaway!

In honor of Vegan MoFo 2011, as many of you know, it is my pleasure to offer a giveaway of my brand new cookbook, The Blooming Platter: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes.  It’s simple to enter.  Just go here for all the tasty details.

And to entice you into entering and, oh, I don’t know, purchasing a few copies as Christmas gifts, following is a photo and an excerpt from one of many generous reviews on Amazon:

“I am seriously impressed with the recipes in Betsy DiJulio’s new book THE BLOOMING PLATTER COOKBOOK.

“These are some of the most elegant and impressive recipes I have ever seen collected between two covers yet each one is easy doable by any cook.”   ~Terri Merritts

by betsy

Vegan Grilled Tempeh Over Sauteed Baby Spinach with White Wine Pan Sauce and Roasted Thyme-Scented Grapes

This recipe was inspired by a recipe for a side dish of roasted grapes in a current issue of a home and garden magazine.  My recipe is slightly altered, including that it makes use of the lovely grape drippings in a silky pan sauce in which grilled tempeh is bathed before being served on a bed of bright green baby spinach under a tumble of the thyme-scented roasted grapes.  The result is perfect to tuck into when you’re starved or to enjoy smaller portions, almost like tapas, when noshing is more the order of the day.

Yield: 2 servings (easily doubles)

Roasted Thyme-Scented Grapes

1 1/2 pounds of seedless green or red grapes, or a combination (I like a combination for both color contrast and more a of a sweet-tart contrast in flavor; you will have grapes left over)

1 scant tablespoon olive oil (about 2 teaspoons)

Sea salt to taste

Approximately 1 tablespoon very loosely packed fresh thyme leaves

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Grilled Tempeh Over Sauteed Baby Spinach with White Wine Pan Sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place grapes in a metal roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt.  Toss to coat.  Place the pan in the center of the oven and roast for 5 minutes.  Open the door, give the pan a gentle shake, close the door, and roast for 3 more minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven, drain off and reserve as much liquid as possible.  Sprinkle the grapes with the thyme and black pepper, gently stir, and return the pan to the oven for another 4 minutes or until the grapes are lightly roasted but still hold their shapes (it’s fine if a few split open).  Remove the pan to a wire rack to cool slightly.  Serve the grapes immediately or store covered in the refrigerator.  Allow them to come to room temperature or heat them gently before serving.

Minnie the Moocher

Grilled Tempeh Over Sauteed Baby Spinach with White Wine Pan Sauce

1-6 ounce package of tempeh, cut crosswise into 8 slices

Approximately 1/3 cup reserved grape drippings

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 cup water

1 tablespoon powdered vegetable base or 1 bouillon cube

1/3 cup plain soy creamer

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1-2 teaspoons olive oil

4 loosely packed cups of fresh baby spinach

Garnish: sprigs of fresh thyme

While grapes are roasting, heat an oiled grill pan over medium-high.  Add tempeh slices and grill approximately 2-3 minutes on each side or just until nice grill marks develop.  Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high, heat grape drippings, white wine, soy creamer, and salt and pepper to simmering.  Simmer until thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes.  Add tempeh slices, turn to coat in the sauce, which will be quite reduced, and heat for about 1-2 minutes.  Meanwhile, in another skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high, add spinach, and saute for about 30 seconds or until slightly wilted and bright green.  Divide spinach between two serving plates.  Arrange 4 slices of tempeh on top of each bed of spinach.   Drizzle with remaining sauce if there is any.  Top each with a spoonful of grapes and a sprig of fresh thyme.  (Store remaining grapes, covered, in the refrigerator.)  Serve immediately.

For a celebration of 150+ additional recipes, I invite you to check out The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes. 

by betsy

Blooming Platter Cookbook Giveaway Reminder PLUS Vegan Chickpea Sausages with Roasted Apples, Onions, and Jalapenos with Cashew Cream & Pomegranate Molasses Drizzle

This Mediterranean riff on sausage and sauerkraut is perfect for Oktoberfest.  A fresh take on its forebear, my version will perfume your kitchen with warm North African spices when its cool outside.  And the presentation is so special, yet simple, that you can turn dinner into a dinner party.

Yield: 4 servings

Note: you will need to make the Cashew Cream a day in advance.

Cashew Cream

You will have lots of leftover, but you’ll be glad you do!

2 cups raw cashews, divided in half

2 cups water, divided in half

Sea salt to taste.

In a covered bowl, soak 1 cup cashews in 1 cup water overnight in the refrigerator.  Rinse and drain.  Process the cup of soaked cashews with the additional cup of raw unsoaked cashews and the remaining cup of water in a food processor for several minutes, or until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Add salt to taste, process just to combine, and store covered in the refrigerator.

Vegan Chickpea Sausages

1 1/2 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained (1-15.5 ounce can)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup vegetable broth

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Pinch of sea salt

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Freshly ground black pepper or white pepper to taste

Roasted Apples, Onions, and Jalapenos (recipe follows)

Accompaniment: 8 cups of very lightly packed fresh baby spinach lightly barely sauteed in about 4 teaspoons of olive oil over medium high heat for about 30 seconds to 1 minute

Optional Garnish:

Cashew Cream (recipe is above)

A drizzle of Pomegranate Molasses (available at Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Markets)

Tear off 4 sheets of foil about 6 inches wide. Place a steamer basket in a 4-quart saucepan and fill with water just to the bottom of the steamer. Cover the pan and bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer.

In a medium bowl, mash the chickpeas and garlic until creamy. A few small pieces of beans may remain. Stir in the vegetable broth, olive oil, and Worcestershire sauce, and set aside. In another medium bowl, whisk together vital wheat gluten, salt, coriander, cumin, paprika, and pepper.  Pour the bean mixture into a well in the center of the dry ingredients and, using a fork, stir the dry ingredients around the edge of the bowl into the wet center until all of the ingredients are completely combined.

Divide the dough into four equal parts. Place each part on a sheet of foil and shape into 5 to 6-inch long logs about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, pressing mixture together fairly firmly. Lay each log along one long edge of the foil and roll snugly, bending up the foil at the ends. Place the logs into the steamer–either  vertically or horizontally, two on the bottom and two on top of them–and steam for 40  minutes, adding more hot water to the saucepan
if necessary to prevent it from evaporating completely.

Remove the sausages from the steamer and unroll them when cool enough to handle. Be careful that you don’t burn yourself with escaping steam. At this point, I like to split the sausages lengthwise and grill for 2-3 minutes on each side on my stovetop grill pan.  Serve the sausages on a bed of the lightly sauteed spinach topped with the roasted apples and garnished with a dollop of cashew cream and a drizzle of pomegranate syrup.  While the sausages steam, make roasted apples.

Roasted Apples, Onions, and Jalapenos

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 gala apples (or your favorite sweet-tart variety), stemmed, cored, and cut into 8 wedges each

1/2 of a large Vidallia or other yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch slivers

1 jalapeno, stemmed, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/8-inch slivers (you can use two if you choose, but that makes for a really spicy dish!)

Sea salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Pour olive oil into a large metal roasting pan.  (If the ingredients are crowded, they will steam instead of roast.)  Add remaining ingredients and toss to coat with the oil.  Roast for 20 minutes, stirring after 10.  Remove the pan from the oven and serve as described above.

 

Blooming Platter Cookbook Giveaway

For more than 150 additional mouthwatering recipes to celebrate all year long, I invite you to check out The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes.

Enter to win you very own copy by clicking here.  Deadline is Saturday, October 8 at midnight!

by betsy

Blooming Platter Cookbook Giveaway AND Vegan Pumpkin Pie Espresso (with REAL pumpkin puree)

First, don’t miss my cookbook giveaway by going here.  Deadline is next weekend.

And, second, it is Day 3 of Vegan MoFo and, Starbucks, you know I love ‘ya, but you can’t touch this!…

In recognition of this season of vegan eating and drinking, it is my pleasure to offer you my brand new breakfast beverage that is quick enough for a hurried weekday morning.  But it’s also perfect for a weekend morning when the first nip of fall is in the air.

 

As a pre-vegan child, I was never much of a breakfast eater, especially on weekdays.  Getting out the door to school–which I actually loved–was enough of a challenge.  So, my nourishment of choice was Carnation Instant Breakfast.  Always Chocolate.  Remember those?  It was (and I guess still is?) a vitamin and mineral-fortified powdered mixture that is whisked into milk.

Turns out that the most important meal of the day (though there is now some debate about that) is still not my favorite on weekdays.  On the way to school, now as an art teacher, I whip into Starbucks and grab a venti Green Tea Soy Frappuccino to go–hold the classic syrup and, of course, the whip–in one of their insulated travel cups.   (An aside: my neighbor, Joe Pitt,  who “tricks out” high-end custom motorcycles is making a bracket so that he can attach a cup holder to my Vespa!)

On weekends, though, I love to make, especially, pancakes a zillion ways, but also French toast and other fruit pastry type dishes (you’ll find many on this blog and more in my cookbook.)

However, after one of my favorite SB baristas told me about an apple cider and soy concoction, I decided to try to make one at home.  It was a miserable failure.  The soymilk curdled the apple.  I’ll have to find out her secret.

In the meantime, still craving a warm and comforting beverage of some sort–and with some pumpkin puree on hand–I created Pumpkin Pie Espresso which I hope might become a staple in your home. It’s quick, delicious, nutritious, fragrant, and super-satisfying.  The real pumpkin puree lends just the right of body so that it is still very sip-able, but with a lusciousness about it.

Minnie in the Morning--when food is involved, Minnie is never very far away!

Yield: 1 1/2 cups (that’s a single serving for me!)

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

Sweetener of your choice: agave or maple syrup, natural sugar, Stevia, Splenda (eek!), etc.

Pumpkin pie spice, to taste (or a combination of small pinches of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves–go lighter still on the cloves–etc.)

1 1/4 cups unsweetened, plain or vanilla soymilk

1 rounded teaspoon of instant espresso (about 1 1/8-1 1/4 teaspoons)

1 cinnamon stick

Saucer garnish: a star anise pod

Optional: Rosemary-Caramel Sauce to drizzle (I love the rosemary, but if that sounds odd to you, just follow the recipe but omit the rosemary)

In a microwave safe 2-cup measure or a 1-quart saucepan, whisk together pumpkin puree, sweetener and pumpkin pie spice to taste.  When you have it just right, whisk in the soymilk and espresso powder.  Drop in the cinnamon stick and either microwave for about 2 minutes on high–watch closely so it doesn’t spill over–or simmer for approximately the same amount of time over medium to medium-high heat.  Remove the cinnamon stick to a mug and then pour in the pumpkin-espresso mixture.  Serve with a star anise on the saucer.  [I love the way these look–so organic and autumnal, but they aren’t to be eaten, so when I’m finished, I just pop it back into the jar (with clean hands) and use it again.]

To make this beverage ultra-decadent, serve it with a caramel drizzle.  Mine isn’t formulated to float on top like Starbucks is, but mine also isn’t dairy!  And since it sinks, it adds flavor, but it’s also about the overall presentation.  A little bowl of caramel sauce and a pretty silver spoon just looks so inviting sitting on the table.

 

For more than 150 additional mouthwatering recipes to celebrate all year long, I invite you to check out The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes.

 

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