Vegan Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

This may be the best oatmeal I have ever eaten! I'm not always an oatmeal fan. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but it isn't something I crave or even go out of my way for.

Making cashew milk last week has given me so many ideas!  I am planning on making mashed potatoes with it, and this morning, I thought it would go beautifully in oatmeal.

Last week, I roasted a pie pumpkin while I cooked my acorn squash for my soup. I used some in my smoothies, and a little in my tacos with some peppers. Luckily I still had about a cup left. I suppose canned pumpkin purée would work, too.

Ingredients:

3/4c. Steel cut oats

1 c. Water

2c. Cashew milk

Dash nutmeg, ginger, cloves

1c. Cooked pumpkin

2tbsp maple syrup

Put oats, water, and 1-1/2c. milk in a pan. Bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer, stirring frequently for 6-7 minutes. Add spices.

Meanwhile, blend remaining milk, pumpkin, and syrup. Add pumpkin mixture, and stir.

Serve with a sprinkle of brown sugar. If I'd had some vegan whipped cream, I would have added that, too. I also think that sour cream would make a neat addition.

This is a perfect autumn Sunday morning breakfast! My girl enjoyed hers this morning while catching up on a guilty pleasure. We're on Season 8 of Supernatural.

Cashew milk and squash soup!

I had a great idea for some squash soup, but first I needed some cashew milk. I've been doing some research into making my own non-dairy milk (call me weird, but eventually I would really like to remove all processed foods from my kitchen), and I've heard that because cashews are so naturally soft, you don't need to strain them. Mia bought me a cloth straining bag for making milk, but I haven't tried it out yet.

Cashew milk is super, super easy, and really darn tasty.

Ingredients:

Raw, un salted cashews, 2 cups

Water, 4 cups

Agave nectar for sweetness

I opened the container of cashews, rinsed them, and put them in the blender, then I added 4 cups of water. I let them soak for about an hour and a half. From what I understand, you need to soak them for an hour. Some say that they should soak overnight, but an hour and a half was perfect.

I drained the water, and refilled the blender with water, and put the setting on high until I had a nice, frothy milk.

The cashew milk was so good, I ate it straight out of the blender with a spoon! I used about half the milk for my soup, and saved the rest for morning, when I used it in my breakfast smoothie.

For dinner, I wanted squash soup.  While at the store, there were lots of gourds on sale. I ended up buying two acorn squash, a carnival squash, and a pie pumpkin. I thought I would use the other gourds sometime later in the week, but I ended up using both acorn squash and the carnival squash in the soup. 

Squash soup ingredients:

Two acorn squash, one carnival squash

4 cups vegetable broth

2 cups cashew milk

Onion, chopped

Garlic, minced

Cayenne pepper

Nutmeg

Old bay

Cut the squash in half, and place face down on cookie sheets. Bake at 350degrees for an hour. Let the squash cool, and then scoop out the flesh, and mash with a potato masher.

Meanwhile, sauté the onions and garlic in a large soup pot. Add the squash and vegetable broth, and cook on medium heat for about half an hour. 

Add the cashew milk, and cook for15-20 minutes.

I served this soup with a sprinkle of cilantro, and some pumpkin muffins (1 box spice cake mix, 1 large can pumpkin, flax seed, hemp seed, chia seed).