Cranberry guacamole with pastry chips.

Some sort of stuffed mushroom. Not sure what it was or who made it. I was pretty jittery and starving by the time this made it to my mouth.

Again, not sure who made this or what exactly it was. Both were delicious though.

Mary’s pumpkin rolls. These were so much better than I expected. So full of pumpkin flavor and wonderfully soft. Truly amazing.

Jay’s fall classic. Very tasty. In involved squash and pasta and I have no idea what else. Maybe I should have been paying more attention.

Cas’s mac & cheese.

Jerk tofu with sweet potatoes and pineapple—Megan. A really good sweet/savory balance.

Everybody loved Keith’s wild mushroom gravy, obviously. I, however, hate wild mushrooms, so I passed.

Kandiss’s salad.

Megan’s seitan roulade. It held together beautifully.

I think this was ginger cranberry sauce—Steven.

The thing that made the car ride to Megan and Jay’s smell like farts, a.k.a Brussels sprouts poached in cider with apples and onions—me. Stinky but tasty.

Cas’s cornbread stuffing.

Steven’s green bean casserole. Possibly the first time in all my years such a concoction has ever been consumed by me. Cream of mushroom soup generally means run away. This was good though.

And the reason we eat large amounts of delicious food, so we can then eat large amounts of delicious dessert. I made little chocolate pumpkins following these instructions. I had a few problems, as the mixture warmed very quickly, making it stick to everything, but after a few minutes in the refrigerator it was wonderful. Maybe it was because I cheaped out and used chocolate chips instead of straight chocolate. But they came out cute and tasted like tootsie rolls, so I was happy.

And of course there was pie. I tried to veganize Cook’s Illustrated’s recent pumpkin pie recipe (transcribed here), and the result was delicious but didn’t set up too well. So I’ll just call it pumpkin/sweet potato pudding pie and no one will care. It’s pudding pie! It’s supposed to be wiggly! I’m genius, obviously. The flavors were perfectly balanced; none of that over-spiciness from too much cloves. Luckily the only crust issue this time was that the pretty, perfectly fluted edge shrunk and got all wonky when I pre-baked it. Next time I’ll just have to take a picture before I bake it and pretend it’s perfect.

Pumpkin Sweet Potato Pudding Pie

1 package firm silken Mori-Nu tofu
1/3 cup soy creamer
1 tsp vanilla
1 can pumpkin puree
1 cup sweet potato puree
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger

Since I obviously haven’t mastered pie dough, I’ll just say to use whatever works for you. Prepare dough and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, then line with foil, fill with pie weights or dried beans, and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove foil and weights and bake for 5 to 10 minutes (my crust puffed up at this point, but it deflated as it cooled a bit and was fine). Set aside and assemble filling. Mix tofu, soy creamer, and vanilla in a blender until very smooth. Combine pumplin, sweet potato, brown sugar, salt, and spices in saucepan and cook over medium heat 10 to 15 minutes. I may have cooked it less than this, but it needs to reduce and darken a bit and be warmed through. Remove from heat and add tofu mixture. Mix thoroughly then strain mixture through a fine-meshed seive (this will take some coaxing and patience, but it will help the texture). Pour strained mixture into prepared pie crust and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. At this point the top of the pie should look set and crack a bit, but the inside will still be jiggly.

Finished pie, with cinnamon Soyatoo and chocolate leaves.

After being smushed in the car, then devoured.

I didn’t get a picture of Megan’s gingerbread trifle before the wolves pounced on it, but it was incredible.

Oh, and hazelnuts are delicious and crunchy and all, but it’s much more fun to call them filberts. Especially if you say it in the voice of an eighty-year-old woman. Filberts.

Tempeh Cheesy Mac

1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cup water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp turmeric
3 Tbsp margarine
paprika
1 1/2 cups macaroni, slightly undercooked
1 recipe tempeh sausage crumbles

Mix nutritional yeast, flour, water, soy sauce, garlice powder, and turmeric together in a small saucepan and heat over medium until thickened. Melt in margarine. In an 8×8 casserole dish, mix together sauce, macaroni, and tempeh and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

And to totally mess up the “healthiness” of the cheesy mac, Dan made his “world famous” garlic bread. Whenever he cooks something, he calls it world famous, even (or maybe especially) when it’s the first time he’s ever made it. I think the only time I’ve disputed this title was when he found a cucumber in the fridge, thought it was a zucchini (not sure how one makes that mistake), and put it in chili! Then again, maybe that is world famous, just not in a good way.

And dessert. Strawberry shortcake, with biscuits from Martha, with WAY less sugar on the berries, and whipped Soyatoo. Oh my God, Soyatoo is the best thing ever. Seriously. I whipped it up with half a vanilla bean and a few spoonfuls of sugar, and it reminded me of being a kid and eating spoonful and spoonful of Cool-Whip straight out of the package. I loved that stuff. But knowing that it’s 99% chemicals, 1% whey freaks me out now. So thank you, Soyatoo, for actually resembling whipped cream (or whipped-cream-like product) without being icky. The whole thing was incredible, and such an improvement over those weird little sponge cakes at the grocery store.