Happy Halloween

No recipe tonight, just a final post for this Month of Vegan Blogging.

It's been challenging, coming up with a recipe (and the time) EVERY day to share in my blog, but a lot of fun as well.

Not to fear, I'll be back in November, maybe not posting EVERY day but certainly as often as I can.

To start the day I made fun little goody bags for my oldest 'Sprout' and her friends in the dorm; they got pencils, erasers, yo-yos, raisins, spider-rings, Skittles, "Jack'o-lantern" oranges and apples.

Lots of fun to make/assemble and better than tons of candy! No matter how "grown up" you think you are, everyone loves a few goodies on Halloween, right? (Oh, and all vegan, how about that!?!)

Then of COURSE, on to Trick-or-Treating with my two younger 'Sprouts' and friends.

I have no yummy food pics, so thought I'd share a couple pictures of kids, costumes and general sugar-induced silliness.

No, the candy they collected wasn't vegan, but then neither are my children - ALL the time; but it's all good.

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Hope your evening was wonderful, crazy, filled with fun, and shared with people you love...

Happy Halloween.

Happy Almost-Halloween!

OK, I think I'm ready to start blogging after the Great Computer Disaster of 2008.
First; Gratuitous cute-kid pictures,
then my Pumpkin-Lentil Stew:

OK, not they're not "kids" but teens ("Come on Mom, get it right!").

In Halloween costumes.

And they don't like being called "cute" I've been informed.
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But I'm their Mom,
so I get to say what I want.
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. They attended a Halloween Costume party the other night, and before I get to my recipe, I just had to show off their great costumes.
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. Snow White and Pippi Longstockings (sorry, I don't know who Zorro is).
And if you knew my kids, you'd know how perfect those costume choices were for them. They got a lot of compliments and had a great time with friends!
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When they came home from the party all chilly and frozen-nosed, I had this soup in the crock-pot because it seemed very fall-ish and warming and the Good Mom thing to do.
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Seemed pretty popular with my resident story-book characters too. Enjoy!
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Pumpkin-Lentil Soup (or Stew)

3 cups sugar pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and diced in 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup brown lentils
2 cups coined carrots
1 can stewed diced tomatoes
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup diced onion or leeks
3 cups vegetable or vegetarian "chicken-flavored"broth
1/2 tsp ground mace
1 tsp salt
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Fry the onion and carrots in oil in a pot over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Rinse the lentils. Add the lentils, veggie broth, salt and mace to the pot. Stir and bring to the boil.
Turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and pumpkin, stir well, recover and simmer for another 20 minutes until the stew becomes thick and the pumpkin is tender, adding more broth or water if needed.

For a crock pot, fry veggies as directed above, then add everything to crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours or until veggies and lentils are soft.