More Fun With Pumpkin!
I have today and tomorrow off, so I've been relaxing today by working on my book, cooking and playing with my blog. Can you believe it took me 4 hours to design the banner for this layout! Time always goes fast when you're playing in Photoshop. But I like this color scheme better. I think you need to have warmer colors when you're showcasing food, and the other template was too dull.
My brother-in-law and his wife are going to be coming down from Seattle to have Thanksgiving with us in a few weeks and I'm SO excited. I love hosting big dinners and what dinner is better than Thanksgiving? My family was never really into doing anything for the holidays. My mom, who does not cook at all, would resort to making weird, processed turkey loaves and we'd eat and watch TV, so having real, family-based holidays has been a big deal for me since we've been married.
I want to make pumpkin pie, but I never have before, so I thought it would be good to do a trial run before the big day. I made this pie based off of Bryanna Clark Grogan's pumpkin pie recipe, with a few minor tweaks.
I had a little crust dough leftover, so I used a small turkey cookie cutter to decorate the edges with. You are supposed to let the pie set in the fridge overnight, so we haven't tried it yet, but I'll give a report tomorrow. It smells heavenly.
So then I had a bunch of leftover pumpkin. What to do? I did an internet search and ended up making these delicious bars from a patchwork recipe I derived out of a couple that I liked. I posted the recipe on my recipes page
They are really light and cake like, so they're almost like a sheet cake, but I think I'm still going to call them bars, because I'm stubborn like that.
But before we could have dessert, we had to eat something substantial!
Brown rice and orzo pilaf with mixed green veggies (asparagus, broccoli, spinach, green beans and edamame) on top, a drizzle of a roasted garlic sauce that I threw together with some corn starch, soy milk, minced roasted garlic and salt and some more french bread with roasted garlic butter on it.
14 comments:
Really like the new layout.
The comments window does not have a whole page button...
I make Bryanna's pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving [and often at Christmas, as well]. It doesn't really need to sit overnight. Many times, I make it in the morning and it is fine by dinnertime.
Ooooh those pumpkin bars look fabulous!! Man, I love pumpkin... I might need to make that. :)
Also, on the webstuff, up in the address bar (and on my Sage feeds list) it used to say Squirrels Vegan Kitchen and now it just has a dot. But the new banner is great!
right just a dot here also.
Love the new layout. Since I’m moving and will be near my family for the first Thanksgiving in ages I’m super psyched about bringing veg food to dinner! No longer will I survive merely on mashed potatoes, corn, and butternut squash. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but this time I intend to show up with vegan pumpkin pie and a Quorn “turkey” roast and some gravy for me (even thought my grandma still insists there’s no meat in gravy.) Thanks for the inspiration, I want to make a pie just as pretty!
LOVE the new look! Your post has made me very hungry...must go eat now. lol
Have a great evening!!!
Thanks for your feedback, on the technical end of things, folks. There are definite limitations with blogger, so I had to change my banner around to get the dot to go away, but I like the new banner better than the one from yesterday, anyway. I'm going to work on the comments page. I think I'm just going to change it to whole page comments, anyway.
I love your banner!! Nice photoshopping! :)
Your pie and pumpkin bars look great! (yeah, it pretty much looks like a cake, but I'm going along with you! Lol!) YUM! The frosting looks really good too. Thanks for the recipe link!
I love the rice and veggie dinner you made. Good idea with the roasted garlic sauce on top!
love the layout...nice design touch.
the roasted garlic sauce sounds great. I have a bunch of roasted garlic in the fridge that I now know what to do with.
I also like your new layout. Very nice! Although I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie, I think yours looks fab! I've tried cutout designs on my crust, but it always looks lame. Yours looks very pro. Now, pumpkin bars on the other hand, mmmm! And your dinner!! I'm hungry now.
Thanks for the comment on Tofutti slices. I haven't tried them yet, but a grilled cheese sandwich is in my near future.
Squirrel, I envy your creative blog skills, it takes me ages to decide on things for my blog, and I don't even go the photostop step.
Is it going to be a totally vegan thanksgiving? Regardless, I want to hear everything you are planning on making! Thanksgiving was actually the first full meal I cooked vegan (with courses, not just pasta,ha) and I'm looking forward to my 4th vegan thanksgiving.
Hey, I love your blog. I just made that pie of Bryanna's for the first time yesterday--it's really fabulous! Your crust came out a lot prettier than mine did...
I linked you on my blog! You don't mind, do you? :)
mmm vegan pumpkin pie! i bought one at the daily grind a month ago and it was delicious! i went back there today, and the store was for lease :( i'm a terrible pie maker, do you know of a place in portland that sells vegan pumpkin pie? i was excited to bring one with me to thanksgiving.
The pumpkin bars were amazing!! Great recipe! I made a sour cream (non-vegan) frosting, but I'm sure the better-than-cream-cheese one would be great too! Thanks for sharing. Cheers!
Deb
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