Eat: Roaster Pear and Squash Soup

To all the mom's, Happy Mother's Day! My gift to my mother this year, is my graduation from university. I will walk at commencement and pick up my very expensive piece of paper. My parents are both is a state of bliss at my university accomplishments. 

This soup is a wonderful dish to serve mom, grandma, or whomever else. The soup is easy to prepare and tastes great. 

Butternut Pear Soup

1 butternut squash ( or 1 can farmers market purred butternut squash)

4 large pears 

1 sweet onion

2 tbsp coconut oil

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup non-dairy creamer

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 cup agave syrup

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 35O. Cut the squash, and the pears in half and remove the seeds/core. Slice the onion. Brush the squash, pears, and onion with oil and bake in a shallow pan for 30-35 minutes. 

Scrape the squash out of its shell ( if using fresh) and transfer the squash, pears, and onion to a food processor. Puree until smooth and well combined. 

Add 2 cups of the vegetable broth and continue to puree. 

Once smooth pour the pureed mix into a large sauce pan. Add the remaining vegetable broth. Stir in the non dairy cream, nutmeg, allspice, paprika, cloves, agave syrup. Bring to a boil, and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add the salt and pepper to taste. 

Cheesy Croutons

1/2 ( 2 cups) loaf of french bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 gloves garlic minced

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

(keep oven at 350)

In a large bowl cut up the bread and leave in cubes. 

In a small bowl combine the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and nutritional yeast. 

Pour the "cheesy mix" onto the bread cubes and mix until well combined. 

spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet; and bake for 10-15 minutes. ( Or until toasty brown.)

-Enjoy!

Eat: Pumpkin Pie Brownies

I'm taking a persuasion course right now, and the course focuses more on the innate and intuitive manipulations and observations of persuasive messages in action. Because, persuasion, is seen as a communication variable the course is classified as a speech class. As the class name would suggest speeches and presentations are a crucial component of the course. I gave my presentation just before the weekend on scarcity and its effects on persuasion. The question being, do we value what is scarce, or what has recently become scarce. Social Scientist, Stephen Ward, conducted an experiment to test the effects of scarcity on the desirability of an item. The test, being: "The Cookie Test."

Stephan Ward, had two test variables. The first being a cookie jar, jam packed with cookies, and the other being a cookie jar with only 2 cookies. In every situation, and with every participant the cookie jar with fewer cookies was considered more desirable. The scarce cookies were exactly the same, and had no proof of enhanced taste. Since my presentation, dealt with persuasive concepts and with cookies-I thought what would be a better way to "persuade" my class mates to pay attention to my presentation; then through the subtly bribery of freshly baked treats. 

I was inspired by a can of  Farmer's Market Organic canned pumpkin pie, and a recipe I found for Pumpkin Pie Brownies. I felt strangely inappropriate baking with pumpkin in March, sort of like wearing white after labour day. There is no law against pumpkin consumption and it is just so tasty. Pumpkin is loaded with antioxidants and in  anti-inflammatory. The high levels of beta-carotene in pumpkin are great for health and skin health 

Vegan (GF) Pumpkin Pie Brownies:

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Brownie layer

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (melted)

1/2 can Farmer's Market "pumpkin pie"

3/4 cup sucanat or brown sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup non-dairy milk

1 tbsp vanilla

1/4 cocoa powder

1 tbsp arrowroot powder

1 cup spelt flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

In a small microwavable bowl, nuke the chocolate chips for a minute and a half, or until melted. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine the pumpkin, sugar, oil, milk, and the vanilla. Stir until well the coconut oil is well cut in and the mix is combined. 

Shift in the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, arrowroot powder, and the salt. Then stir in the melted chocolate until smooth. 

Pumpkin Layer

The remaining 1/2 can Farmer's Market "pumpkin pie"

2 Tbsp arrowroot powder

1/2 cup non-dairy milk

1/4 cup molasses

1tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix all the pumpkin layer ingredients together and stir until evenly combined.

In a lightly greased  9" square baking pan pour the brownie mix into the pan. Then with a spatula pour the pumpkin mix on top of the brownie mix. Try to really evenly spread out the pumpkin layer. 

Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the pumpkin layer looks firm. Remove the brownies from the oven and let them cool. 

Eat: warm and freshly baked, or chilled. Make sure to store these tasty treats in a refrigerator.

-Enjoy!