Comfort food…a MAJOR diversion from the norm.
I’m not entirely sure why this happened. I never cook things like this. But yesterday…I actually made American comfort food? Yeah, I know what you’re thinking (“Whaaat?). It’s so odd. I felt all Southern (y’all). The only difference is that what I made is healthy, low cal, and meat free! What I ended up making was a bean loaf, with mashed “potatoes,” alongside homemade bread.
Funny story about the bread. I didn’t actually make it over the weekend. I made it. Friday night. At two-thirty in the morning. Because I had insomnia. Because it is totally normal to bake loaves of bread when you have insomnia. Anyways, by the time I was ready to go at (6) in the morning, it was as if a bunch of little baker elves had been busying around all night…I had fresh bread!
And for the rest of dinner we had some of my garlic whipped potatoes, because Rigby actually eats them. Which aren’t just potatoes at all – thank god for the versatility of cauliflower.
Cauli-Tatoes
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 3 cup peeled and chopped potatoes
- 3 cups chopped cauliflower
- 2 tbs tofutti better n’ cream cheese
- 2 tbs almond milk or 1 tbs soy yohgurt
- 1 tbs garlic powder (more or less to your taste)
- salt to taste (I use about 1 tsp)
Bean Loaf
Yields: 1 9×5 loaf
Ingredients:
- 2 14oz can beans (your choice), drained and rinsed
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup butternut squash or pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tbs braggs liquid aminos
- a splash of malt vinegar (optional)
- 1 1/2 tsp each garlic powder and onion powder
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- a few cracks of fresh cracked black pepper
- 1/4 cup ketchup, mixed with 2 tbs water
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375F.
Pulse the beans in a food processor a few times or mash them with a fork. Don’t puree them – make sure the good majority of the beans are broken up, yet whole. Transfer these to a bowl. To the beans add the breadcrumbs, squash puree, 1/4 cup ketchup, the liquid aminos, and seasonings. Using your hands, mash and smush everything together (for all of you mums out there, this would be fun for the kiddies, probably). Transfer this mixture to a 9×5 loaf pan sprayed liberally with nonstick cooking spray and press in. Spread overtop the ketchup-water mix. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 25 minutes. After the 25 minutes, remove the tinfoil, reduce the oven’s heat to 350F and bake for another 15 minutes. Allow to cool for around 5 minutes before slicing.
And for dessert I did a twist on your basic pumpkin bar. I made it sugar free, fat free, and with butternut squash rather than pumpkin so that mum could actually eat one.
Butternut Squash Cake with Cinnamon “Cream Cheese” Icing
Yields 1 8-9″ round/square, or 11×7 cake
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup stevia (or sugar)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp each: ground cloves, ground allspice, salt
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup butternut squash puree
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 1 tbs vanilla extract
- (optional) 1/2 tsp maple extract
Icing:
- 1/2 cup tofutti better n’ cream cheese
- 1 tbs vegan margarine
- 3/4-1 cup icing sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare your pan of choice with nonstick cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together your “dry ingredients.” Add in the wet ingredients, mix to combine, spread evenly into your prepared cake pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.
While the cake is in the oven, in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the “cream cheese” and margarine. Then beat in the icing sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla until no lumps remain. Frost the cake when cool.
What are you thinking of having as your main course at Thanksgiving this year? Are you having a totally vegan Thanksgiving, or are you going to a “mixed” event?
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