Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! My treat for you today is a post chock full of photos of more decorations, candy, and of course, Mystery!

Since my last Halloween post, I've gotten two new decorations, as well as some adorable old cookie cutters that my mom found for me.

Painted by my aunt.

Scarecrow from my mom.

 

I've also made two more apple cider jug ghosts.

  

*narrows eyes* "Another one? Really?"

 

"Hmmm...I guess this one's alright."

The whole group of ghosties.

Oh, and I did some spooky sketches, too.

My favorite Halloween candy when I was younger (and obviously not vegan yet) was Reese's peanut butter cups. But there's nothing to fear, for there's a delicious vegan version that I just recently tried out: Justin's organic dark chocolate peanut butter cups. They are awesome!

Zach and I bought a good amount of vegan Halloween candy – Skittles (original and sour), Jolly Ranchers, Sour Patch Kids, and Swedish Fish – so we will be prepared for the trick-or-treaters tonight! I'm so excited; I love giving out treats and seeing all the cute, creative costumes!

I'm going to be a witch again this Halloween, but little old Mystery decided she didn't want to be my familiar. Instead, she wanted to be the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. 

I found her practicing a couple days ago, sitting up in bed, all snuggled in, just waiting for some noms to be brought to her by an unsuspecting do-gooder who might have believed she was their grandmother.

"My, what few teeth you have!"

"The better to gum you with, my dear!"

Peace. :)

Bookmarked Recipes (Part 2)

Hello everyone! I've been making more progress on trying out some bookmarked recipes, so here's the latest installment!

Cheezy Twice Baked Potato

Last week, I made the Cheezy Twice Baked Potato from The Seattle Chickpea. My changes to the recipe: I used slightly less nutritional yeast and baked it the second time for 20 minutes at 350°F. 

It smelled amazing coming out of the oven and tasted delicious; Mystery was climbing all over me trying to get at it. I'll certainly make this again and experiment with different fun fillings. 

Pumpkin Brownie Cookies

I also made the Pumpkin Brownie Cookies from the vegan marshmallow. My only change was to use oat bran as I didn't have any almond meal. The dough was indeed sticky as Tina warns in her post, but it wasn't all too difficult to form into cookies. 

They turned out perfect, nice and soft and chocolately, definitely a great cookie recipe for fall/Halloween! 

Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate

Finally, last night, I made the Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate from Fo Reals Life. My changes: I left out the cardamom and used cocoa instead of chocolate chips (and only made a single serving). 

It was a nice treat for a fall night and easy enough to make; I'll likely return to this recipe soon enough!

In other news, today is National Cat Day, though Mystery doesn't see how it's different from any other day.

"Every Day is Cat Day!"

Peace. :)

Roasted Acorn Squash with Wild Rice Stuffing

Hello everyone! Here's a new fall recipe I tried out last week.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Wild Rice Stuffing

I found the recipe here (just use a vegan butter & the recipe's vegan). My other changes included leaving out the shallots and celery, only making a third of the recipe (one acorn squash/two halves), and roasting first at 400°F for 15 minutes and then another 15 minutes, filled with the stuffing.

I had to poke the squash a couple times with a knife and then microwave it for a couple minutes to make it easier to cut in half. 

Cute little seeds.

 

Then I scooped out the seeds and the pulp (I later roasted the seeds).

The roasted acorn squash turned out OK, but not as good as I was hoping it would be. When I had the second half the next day as leftovers, it was a bit better, though. I think if I were to make it again, I would cook the rice in vegetable broth, add the celery back in, use less brown sugar, and leave out the cranberries as well (maybe use raisins instead?). (It was a bit too sweet for me.)

I also had a spinach salad and baby carrots with vegan ranch dressing.

 

As promised, here's the first picture I got of Mystery lying in the sun.

Peace. :)