Be Thankful for Pumpkin Pie

Ahhh… it’s that time of year again when we are getting ready to give thanks (which lets face it, should be a daily goal for all of us). I am considering a new name for this holiday of feasting – ThanksLiving Day.  The name makes sense to me since really what the day is about giving thanks to ALL living things  🙂

I stumbled across this awesome little coloring zine on another blog and I just have to share.  You should totally order one (they are only $5) if you have kids, especially if they are vegetarian or vegan (it has a veggie theme).  It is simple & cute (and will help keep the kids busy will you’re busy cooking)! It also poses the questions what can we do to peacefully live together and give thanks for our world, & makes the idea of growing, cooking & eating vegetables exciting and fun! You can get your own at www.thorathinks.com

I cant wait to cook a meatless vegan feast for my family this year.  My Thanksliving feast is usually pretty traditional .. turkey (I make my own homemade tofu “turkey”, though I also enjoy Tofurkey’s boxed Tofurky), stuffing, 2-3 vegetable dishes and of coarse some kind of delicious pie.  I always try to make everything homemade for the best quality.

This year I am making a pumpkin pie to bring to my mothers for our yearly family feast.  I have concocted a new recipe to meet all my family’s food-needs, so this pie will be vegan, and also soy & gluten-free.  Most vegan pumpkin pies use tofu (regular pumpkin pies contains eggs) but it is really easy to make one without tofu.  I am going the easy route for the gluten-free crust (in order to avoid having to buy 5 different kinds of flour) and am planning on using a gluten-free pie crust mix (though I will have to veganize some of the add-ins, like replacing the eggs & butter with Egg-replacer and a special kind of Earth Balance margarine that is soy-free & dairy free).

I am not going to lie – the crust shown in the pictures is not gluten-free, however, there should be no problems in replacing the crust for a gluten-free one.  The pie crust pictured is a ready-made frozen brand called WhollyWholesome.  Its very good and vegan, but not gluten-free.

(Gluten & Soy-free) Vegan Pumpkin Pie

 * cheesecloth required

First you have to roast 2 large pie pumpkins… Cut them in half, scrape them out and place them face down on a pan.  (Dont forget to save the seeds for roasting later!)

These 2 pie pumpkins ended up being small and I learned (the hard way) that it is best to use 3 small or two large pie pumpkins!

Cook for about an hour at 400 F.  Let them cool and then scrape the pulp out of the shells.  Plop the pumpkin pulp in the center of a piece of cheesecloth (a mesh like fabric), gather the cloth around them and twist tie the tops. Next you want squeeze out all the liquid you can!  This may take a couple of minutes.  I was surprised by how much water I was getting out!  After squeezing them as much as you can (without squirting pumpkin all through the mesh!), you ideally want to end up with about 2  1/4 to 2  1/2 cups of pumpkin.  (If you can’t get large pie pumpkins, roast three small ones.  I actually used two small ones the last time I made this pie and I fell short on pumpkin after squeezing the water out – so I opened up a can of pumpkin, but the consistency was so much different than the pumpkins that I had roasted myself, I went ahead and roasted another entire pumpkin to ensure that it would all be the same.)

This is BEFORE squeezing the water out... as mentioned before, I ended up having to roast another pumpkin to get the amount I needed!

Next puree the pumpkin with the following ingredients.

• 2/3 cups packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup (original) coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/4 cup arrowroot flour

Pour into a gluten-free crust (use a gluten-free pie crust mix or make your own – there were several recipes I saw on about.com and other gluten-free websites).

before baking...

Bake the pie at 350 F  for an hour.  Let the pie cool to room temperature first, then chill for 2-3 hours (or more) until ready to serve! 

The beautiful finished product! Yum!!

What are you planning to make this year and how are you going to give thanks to the earth & the people you love on this upcoming Thanksliving Day?