Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

'tis the season of all things pumpkin. You know this because there was a riot in the streets when Starbucks brought the pumpkin spice latte out a few weeks ago.

Okay, so maybe there was no riot. But if the fact that it's out doesn't mean anything to you, a quick browse around Pinterest Food & Drink sections will certainly clue you in. Pumpkin goes in / with everything. Donuts. Mac n cheese (I will be doing this later this week hopefully...). Baked oatmeal. Not just for pie anymore!

I pinned a non-vegan pumpkin baked oatmeal with the intention of veganizing it, so here we are. I just googled 'freezing baked oatmeal' and looks like that should work, so I might make another batch, cut it into squares and freeze it as part of the freezer meals for when Lip comes.

Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal

1 1/4 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c coconut yogurt (vanilla flavour)
2 tbsp ground flax
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c almond milk (I actually had to top up the almond milk with a bit of Silk Creamer, maybe 1/4 c, because I was too lazy to open a new container when I ran out at 1 1/4 c)
2 1/2 c oats

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with cooking spray of some variety.

Mix everything but the oats together until smooth; then stir in the oats, toss it all into your pan, and bake for 30 minutes covered in foil. The original says to bake for 15 more uncovered, but I ended up doing a whole 'nother half hour uncovered to get it actually baked. Remove.

Before baking.

I let it cool for 10 minutes before slicing into it, putting it into my bowl and drizzling it with maple syrup and vanilla Silk creamer.

Out of the oven

It was super delicious. I would probably add more spices next time; I think more cinnamon and ginger would have been great. I don't actually know what 'pumpkin pie spice' is so I was just making things up as I went along anyway. You can do whatever you like!

Ready to be eaten!

Carrot Soup

Part of my plans for this MoFo include making some freezer foods for when I have Lip and won't want to do / be able to do anything other than sit around in my underwear because, let's face it, the first few weeks of newborn having are kind of less than glamorous.

I had a Carnival squash sitting around not doing much of anything. I get really excited when it's squash season and buy them with no plans at all for them.

Then I decided I wanted carrot soup. Squash goes with carrots, right? So I threw that squash in the oven in the afternoon (cut in half & scooped, inch of water in the pan, 400 degrees, 45 minutes or so). Then the entire adventure of my day was braving the grocery store on student discount day, which is the worst, because many of them have never learned the amazing life skill of grocery shopping and have zero shopping etiquette, plus there's a million of them.

So I didn't follow any particular recipe; I'm sure that there's all kinds of various recipes floating around in my head because I've made lots of carrot and / or squash soups in my life.

Soup

1 carnival squash
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and chopped or however you like to prep ginger
2 tsp masala
2 tsp hot curry paste
1.5  - 2 lb carrots, chopped
4 c veg broth
1 can coconut milk (I used lite)

Cook your squash however you like to cook squash. I suppose that if you want to peel it raw and chop it into chunks and toss it in the soup and cook it a bit longer you could do that too. Put your soup pot over medium heat and put in the oil. Saute the onions with a sprinkling of salt until softened and translucent; toss in the garlic and ginger, cooking until fragrant. Add the two curries and cook for a minute or two. Add the squash, carrots and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until carrot is tender, stirring occasionally. When everything is cooked, turn off the heat and add the coconut milk.

If you want to pull out your blender, you can blend and nom; just make sure to let the steam escape. I used my immersible hand blender because it's awesome and convenient.

The only problem with this soup is that we ate the majority of it for dinner instead of freezing any, so I'm going to have to make some again soon to toss in the freezer.