Pumpkin Ice Cream

Did you put away your ice cream maker because summer is over? Well get it back out and put it in the freezer where it belongs! That's more like it. Pumpkin ice cream needs to be made as many times as possible before New Years gets here, when the "holiday season" sadly ends.

You will need:
Ice cream maker **Put the bowl of the ice cream maker in the freezer right now!! It needs to be in the freezer for 24 hours before you start to make your ice cream.
Blender
To refrigerate all of your ingredients the night before, or at least 8 hours prior to making the ice cream

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cans of coconut cream or full fat coconut milk
1/2 can pumpkin puree (or 8 oz fresh pumpkin, steamed & cooled)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon coconut oil

Directions:
Blend all ingredients except for the coconut oil on high speed or puree mode for 20 seconds or until thoroughly blended. Put the blender and its contents in the freezer for 45 minutes so the ice cream base can get nice and cold.

Now, grease the paddle of your ice cream maker with the coconut oil. If you do not grease the paddle, there is a very good chance it will stick when the ice cream maker starts turning and then you won't be able to make ice cream!

After 45minutes have passed, take the ice cream maker bowl and the blender out of the freezer. Turn your machine on BEFORE you begin to pour the ice cream base into the unit. Follow your ice cream maker's manufacturer's instructions but it should only take about 20 minutes for your ice cream to freeze.  Eat and enjoy!

Green Bean Casserole

Cooking Soundtrack:  Motley Crue - Home Sweet Home (because almost everyone goes home for the holidays)

Part of the charm of the traditional green bean casserole is that it's made out of only three ingredients! I kept with that tradition in my vegan version of this holiday classic. If you feel the need to make vegan cream of mushroom soup from scratch, be my guest! But I'll be too busy making pies, corn bread dressing, candied yams and mashed potatoes...

Ingredients:

16 ounces frozen green beans or fresh equivalent (or two 16 ounce cans, I won't judge you!)

One 13 oz box of Pacific brand vegan mushroom gravy (Can be found at Whole Foods and sometimes Ralph's)

One half of a standard 6 ounce can of french fried onions (every brand I've seen is vegan, although I cannot claim to have seen a single organic french fried onion) OR use 1 package of Just Pure Foods Crispy Onion Rings to make your casserole gluten-free (available at Whole Foods).

Thaw your green beans in the refrigerator overnight or gently heat them up in a skillet on low heat until all of the ice has melted. Do not put frozen green beans in your casserole. The results will make you sad!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and chop all of your green beans into somewhat bite size pieces if they are not already chopped.

Mix chopped green beans with the Mushroom Gravy (use the entire box of gravy) in your baking dish. Add 3/4 of your crispy onions to the dish and mix them in thoroughly. Sprinkle the last 1/4 of the onions on top. If you are using gluten-free onion strips, give them a

gentle pat to make sure they get a little gravy on them so they don't get too hard.

Cover your dish with foil and pop it in the oven for 35 minutes. That's it! Enjoy!

**This dish doubles very easily if you need two times the amount of green bean casserole.**