Butternut Squash Turmeric Curry

Oct15

This curry is everything I want on a weeknight. Scratch that – it’s everything I want… any time. I’ve been eating this as leftovers for lunch, dinner… I even ate a bowlful for breakfast the other day.

The recipe is particularly Monday night friendly – it’s quick to make yet packs a punch of flavor. It’s filled with cozy, nourishing vegetables that will help you recover from a weekend of maybe… I dunno… too much pumpkin cake?

The ingredient shot above makes this recipe look more complicated than it actually is. Once you’ve chopped the vegetables and measured the spices, you’re only about 20 (mostly hands off) minutes from a creamy, delicious hot curry dinner on the table.

I find this recipe really fun and soothing to make. There’s nothing better than this moment when the coconut milk and spices hit the vegetables. Of course, this moment will happen on the stove and not on the countertop, I just had to move my pot near the window to show you:

The ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom… it all smells so good! You’re going to have to take my word on it unless you can smell through your screen.

During the last five or so minutes, stir in the green things and add squeezes of lemon and lime to brighten everything up. So healthy!

This recipe is very flexible, so I encourage you to use it as a template. Don’t have butternut squash? Use sweet potatoes. Don’t have cauliflower? Use broccoli. If you want more heat, spice it up. You can serve it with basmati rice, brown rice, or even quinoa. You can also customize this with any type of protein that you like in your curry, or you can just make the recipe exactly as it’s written, a.k.a. my favorite version 🙂

Vegan Pumpkin Snack Cake

Oct11

vegan / fall / dessert

I’m not really a dessert person. Who I am is someone who rummages through the freezer or the pantry around 3pm, with coffee in hand, looking for something sweet because I often enjoy a little sugar rush in the afternoon. Enter: snack cake. Snack cake is a little indulgence that’s ok to enjoy at any time of the day, because it’s just a “snack” after all.

This recipe is based on my Vegan Pumpkin Bread that I make every fall. The texture of this cake is moist, similar to that pumpkin bread. And while these cake squares resemble the size and shape of a blondie, they’re not dense or fudgy… they’re just little cake squares that happen to not be tall.

Below, you’ll notice that I list 2 options for the frosting. The second option is a very delicious cashew-maple frosting with a tangy touch of apple cider vinegar. It’s yummy on this fall cake, however, it’s a little thinner (like a thick glaze) and the color is a not-as-photogenic light brown.

The first option (pictured here) is a more traditional cream cheese frosting, using vegan cream cheese, vegan butter, and powdered sugar. The cashew version is a tad healthier, the cream cheese is more indulgent – so the choice is yours!

I love chocolate and pumpkin together, so I topped my cake with chocolate chips. Some chopped pecans would be a delicious seasonal topping as well.

Happy snacking! I’m off to finish the last square that’s still in my fridge 🙂

Curried Red Lentil Dip

Oct09

vegan / gluten free / snack

You know how much I love chickpeas, and you know how much I love hummus, but today I’m going out of my chickpea comfort zone with this red lentil hummus-like dip. It’s creamy, it’s tangy, and it’s nicely spiced with turmeric and other curry-type spices, because sometimes you run out of chickpeas but you still want a dippable snack.

We’ve been enjoying this with veggies, naan, crackers… I’ve also been caught sneaking spoonfuls straight from the fridge.

The first time I made this, I tried it in a food processor, but I was able to get it much creamier in a blender. See up there? So luscious.

This dip is best straight from the blender, although it’ll keep well in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. If it gets a little thick, stir in some water before serving.

Here’s another tip: when you have just a little bit left at the end, thin it to a drizzle-able consistency and pour it over a roasted veggie bowl with some quinoa. That was our quick dinner a few nights ago and it really pepped up an otherwise boring bowl.

Don’t let this ingredient list intimidate you – it’s all spices – hopefully you have most of them on hand in your spice drawer already. 🙂

Yellow Split Pea Corn Chowder with Sweet Corn

Oct04

vegan / gluten free / soup

If I had to choose 2 favorite foods, they would be, without question, peaches and corn. While we’ve made our peace with peaches for this season, there’s still some wonderful corn at our farmers markets, which inspired me to make this corn chowder! It’s such a wonderful recipe to transition from summer to fall.

I’m a big fan of making healthy soups that are thick and creamy without using actual cream, like this creamy broccoli soup or this creamy tomato soup. While I usually use coconut milk to thicken my corn chowder, I love that this version uses yellow split peas – they thicken the soup nicely while adding some great plant-based protein.

This recipe comes from my friend Gena Hamshaw’s book Power Plates, which is full of 100 well-balanced vegan meals. You may know Gena from the book Vegan, which is another one of my favorite cookbooks. Power Plates is full of hearty salads, great grain bowls, soups, stews, and healthy pastas. It’s the perfect book to have as we head into the fall and winter because she has so many delicious, nourishing comfort food recipes. I have my eye on the Curried Tomato Stew with Chickpea Dumplings, and a beautiful recipe for Korean Tempeh Bowls with Broccoli and Brown Rice.

But let’s get back to this chowder! I love how it’s thick and creamy but in a light, feel-good way. I crisped up some coconut bacon for my topping, then added some chives and fresh parsley.

Serve it in a big mug with some crusty bread and enjoy fall!

Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes

Oct01

vegan / breakfast

It’s October 1st – let’s do this pumpkin thing!

I’ve been baking up a storm of pumpkin-ey things lately… mostly because when you open a can of pumpkin, there’s always some left over. I think that’s the true reason why people are so pumpkin-crazy in the fall. If you start with pancakes, you might as well go ahead and make pumpkin bread… and then, well, maybe some pumpkin cookies. After all, you have to use it up! (she says while eating said cookie)

Anyway, I’ve had so many requests for vegan pumpkin pancakes, so here we go! Flax replaces the egg, and the pumpkin gives them moisture and lift, making these nice and fluffy.

As for the pumpkin-type spices – I use straight up cinnamon here. I think its simple flavor is perfect once the maple syrup hits the hot pancakes. But if you want to use pumpkin pie spice, or add nutmeg, ginger, allspice, etc… feel free to get creative.

And, um, if you’re going to un-veganize these like I did for the sake of the photo below, Stonyfield’s double cream plain yogurt was insanely delicious as a topping with some toasted pecans (not sponsored, just saying). If you’re vegan, coconut yogurt would be delicious too.

These are best the day they’re made, but I enjoyed the frozen leftovers as well 🙂

Love and Lemons

Healthy, Seasonal, Whole Food Recipes Blog

Butternut Squash Turmeric Curry

Vegan Pumpkin Snack Cake

Curried Red Lentil Dip

Yellow Split Pea Corn Chowder with Sweet Corn

Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes