For the crust simply fill the bottom of your pie plate with tatertots and bake according to label. Once done, smash them down to form a crust.

For the filling:

I sauteed half of a red pepper, some onion and crimini mushrooms and layered that on top of the tots

Blend together:

1 package silken tofu

1/4 C arrow root

1/2 C dairy free milk (I used So Delicious Coconut Milk)

1 t salt

1 t garlic powder

1 t dill

Pour on mixture and top with shredded vegan cheese (I used Teese this time but I prefer Daiya) then bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

We have brunch with friends and family later but to tide us over I threw together a beautiful fruit salad with the fresh strawberries I brought back from South Carolina – they are so sweet and delicious! I also made the crescent rolls for later and figured we could have a few this morning – there will be plenty left for later If you didn’t know, Pillsbury crescent rolls are vegan, so I filled them with some of Justin’s chocolate almond butter – what a yummy combination!

The recipe said they’d be crisp – which initially turned me off as I prefer soft cookies but I baked them on the shorter end of the time window and they were perfect for my taste!!

These are the delicious Valentine’s Day treats I’m enjoying today…

These blueberry muffins are adorable done in heart shapes.  A couple of years ago when I was visiting a friend in Boston the breakfast restaurant we went to grilled their muffins and they were fabulous!  I did the next best thing, sliced these and put them under the broiler and then topped them with a bit of Earth Balance vegan butter.

These mini chocolate cakes are delicious.  I tried one last night after baking them and decided they definitely would be better with buttercream frosting.  The only reason I didn’t do that is because I made them for friends and thought they’d be easier to package up if they didn’t have frosting – instead I topped them with some cute sprinkles.

I got the recipe from MarthaStewart.com and surprisingly it was vegan to start with!  No veganizing necessary!

Here’s the recipe…

Pop open one package of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and unroll 4 rectangles of dough.  Spread a thin layer of Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread over the dough then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  Roll from the shorter side then cut into 3.  You’ll come out with 12 small rolls.  I should’ve used a smaller pan – I used a pie plate but that was too large so some of the rolls fell over – no problem, they still tasted fantastic!  Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.  While baking, melt a tablespoon of butter, add a few tablespoons of vegan milk, a teaspoon of vanilla and then enough sifted powdered sugar to come to a decent consistency for pouring over top the rolls when they come out of the oven.  You’ll be in heaven – so easy and so delicious!

I only wanted enough for myself so I cut down the recipe:

1/2 C nog

1/2 banana

a few sprinkle of cinnamon

blend until smooth, pour into a wide bowl, soak your bread

slice the other half of the banana in half and sautee in earth balance vegan butter along with a few crushed pecans

put your bread in a frying pan with a bit of earth balance, when finished, top with the bananas, pecans and real maple syrup – DELICIOUS and so easy!!

Back in 1993 I received “Favorite Brand Name Cookie Collection” cookbook for Christmas. One of my favorite things to make from this book was the Kahlua Pumpkin Squares with Praline Topping. My nana especially enjoyed these and I have fond memories of us enjoying these over a cup of tea as an evening treat. The other day I realized I hadn’t had them in years and set out to veganize them.

1 C flour

1/4 C powdered sugar

1/2 C Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks

1 C pumpkin

1 8oz pkg of vegan cream cheese (I usually use tofutti but this time used Galaxy Nutritional Foods brand as I was so excited to see they are also making a chive & garlic version – yea! I don’t have to flavor my own cream cheese now!)

2 T arrowroot powder or corn starch

1/4 C So Delicious French Vanilla Creamer

1/4 C Kahlua (this time I was out so used amaretto – was good but doesn’t compare to using Kahlua!)

1 C chopped walnuts or pecans

1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar

3 T Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour and powdered sugar, cut in 1/2 C butter until mixture forms fine crumbs – you can do this right in your 8 inch square pan, press mixture into bottom of pan and bake for 18 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, in food processor or blender, puree pumpkin, cream cheese, arrowroot/corn starch, creamer, sugar and Kahlua until smooth. Pour mixture over warm baked crust; return to oven and bake about 25 minutes or until set. Cool, cover and refrigerate.

In small sauce pan melt 3 T butter and combine with nuts and brown sugar. Sprinkle over top just before serving.

The other night I threw together this delicious and super easy vegan cream of cauliflower soup. I love cookbooks but I rarely seem to use them for anything other than baking as I typically create a meal out of what I have on hand. That being said, I don’t have a precise recipe for this soup but that’ll be part of the fun for you – personalize it as you like.

sautee 1/2 onion in olive oil

add in 3/4 head of cauliflower and about 3/4 cup of broth (I used a table spoon or so of miso paste and diluted it in boiling water then added it to the onions and cauliflower), sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste and cook until soft

while that is cooking chop one or two carrots and sautee in another pan (I used two carrots seeing as Eric is a huge carrot fan – he loved it but I would’ve been happier with just one carrot)

pour mixture into blender add enough non-dairy milk (I used So Delicious Coconut Milk) to get it blend and blend until smooth (or use one of those hand held immersion blenders – I normally do that with soup but this time thought it might be faster to do it all in the blender and sure was)

pour it back into the pot add a bit of garlic powder and a bit of nutritional yeast (I added around 1/4 of a cup) and the sauteed carrots – add more So Delicious Coconut Milk if you want it thinner

I served the soup with a garnish of those fried onions you often see on green bean cassaroles at Thanksgiving and more fresh ground pepper

super easy and great for a cold fall evening

photo and recipe by Kathy at Happy.Healthy.Life

I’m seriously obsessed with this insanely easy pumpkin pudding from Lunch Box Bunch!  It takes 5 minutes to make and calls for only 5 ingredients (silken tofu, salt, maple syrup, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and coconut oil optional) tossed in the blender.

Kathy suggests using coconut oil to thicken it - I’m out of coconut oil right now but I have a raw coconut butter so I melted 1/4 cup of that and added it.  Next time I’ll definitely add 1/2 cup in hopes that it sets up a bit more.  It’s not as thick as a traditional pudding is but it’s not too far off and the flavor makes up for that.  If you can hold off eating it until the next day it will be much more set up, if not, it’ll still taste just as good

Thank goodness my Dominick’s had silken tofu on sale for $1 a package – I stocked up so I can make more of this!

Enjoy!!