October is a month of transition, a perfect time of year to give something up. This year I chose to do Vegan October --> Vegantober (it's truly veegantober as I still eat eggs, yum).
I love cheese, and have discovered that cashew cheeze is the true delight of all the nut alternatives. With some helpful pro tips from my chef friend and a bit of googling, I made a delicious cashew cheeze:
1 cup cashews, soak them in hot water (like 3 cups) for 1 hour, drain them
blend together (I used an immersion blender but i think a regular blender or a food processor would work fine) said cashews with the following:
1 cup veggie stock
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs nutritional yeast
1 Tbs lemon juice
sauté some garlic in about 2-3 Tbs of olive oil for maybe 1 minute. Add oil and garlic to the mix and blend. It should look kind of like humus and taste delicious.
Ok, pumpkin time! Yes, vegan cooking takes a very long time, but this was delicious and it was fun.
Shopping list:
1 winter luxury pumpkin (or other pie pumpkin but seriously, get this variety)
1 can coconut milk
1 small loaf crusty bread
veggies: kale, mushrooms, carrots, red onion, garlic
sage, fresh or dried this herb is a pumpkins best friend. I bet i used about a tbs total
-Cut the top off, as though to jack-o-lantern, and scoop out all the seeds and stringy stuff. Pour some oil and salt in the pumpkin and roast for 45 min to an hour at 350 F.
-While the pumpkin is roasting, sauté some veggies to go inside. I chose red onions, carrots, kale and mushroom. You'll need roughly 1 cup of each I'd guess but I never measure, hence the overflow problem. Do what you feel.
-add 1 can of coconut milk to your sautéed veggies, add cashew cheeze, stir until smooth.
-When the pumpkin has baked for about 45 min to an hour, remove from the oven.
-Cut bread into cubes and put them in the pumpkin. Then pour the veggie, coconut milk delight over the bread and try not to spill everything all over the place. I tried to stir everything once inside the pumpkin but that proved challenging so I only did this minimally.
-Roast (top on or off) for about 30 more minutes at 350F.
-Put it on a cute cutting board, serve with a spoon and enjoy. The pumpkin flesh should just scoop away from the sides, just make sure not to break the outer wall as that will make yet another mess!
Happy Vegantober, eat more pumpkins!
<3 your Frisky Girl Farmers