People often ask me why I make so many vegan recipes. There are actually tons of reasons, one being that I have several vegan friends, so I frequently cook for them.
But the second reason is that so many kids today have allergies to a variety of foods, many specifically to dairy and eggs. Since vegans don’t eat any animal products or foods made by animals such as honey, these dishes are good for some kids with specific allergies.
I made these pancakes for a bunch of friends who aren’t vegan and they didn’t know that they were dairy and egg free until they had cleaned their plates . Light as feathers, but with tons of depth of flavor and added texture from the spelt or buckwheat, these pancakes are a real treat. I actually served them for dessert later that night and the kids had a blast eating them with their hands and dipping them in syrup. See, pancakes really can be enjoyed morning, noon and night!

Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes (Makes 18 Pancakes)

1 Cup White Flour
1/2 Cup Buckwheat or Spelt Flour (I tested both versions and they were equally delicious)
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 1/4 Cup Rice Milk (you could also use soy or almond milk)
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup, plus extra for serving with pancakes
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil, plus extra for greasing the pan
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree, canned

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine (don’t over mix, some lumps are fine).
4. Heat a griddle or large saute pan over medium heat and lightly
grease with oil.
5. Ladle as many pancakes as possible (about 2 tbsp of batter for each one) on the griddle and cook 2 minutes or until bubbles start forming on the surface and the bottom is golden brown.
6. Flip the pancakes and cook another 2 minutes.
7. Repeat the process until you run out of batter (you can hold the finished pancakes in a 250 degree oven while you finish making the pancakes).
7. Serve with maple syrup and enjoy.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I tested this recipe out on several little ginuea pigs. I made these for a recent “kid’s dinner party” that my friends and I do every week and I can’t even tell you how hard I laughed when I pulled these sweet potatoes out of the oven and three of the kids simultaneously yelled “cupcakes”! No matter what we said they decided the orange and white “cupcakes” were a holiday treat and scarfed them down. The only “oops” moment came when one the little girls looked at me with a huge hunk of orange peel in her mouth and said, “I don’t like the wrapper”. Whoops!
These heavenly treats only take minutes to prepare, and they made quite a visual and edible impact on the kids and adults alike. I’m a big fan of cooking this dish with evaporated skim milk because it makes the potatoes really fluffy without the added fat of heavy cream. I usually don’t like to use foods that have a ton of sugar, but just a few mini marshmallows really take this recipe to the next level for kids and makes it fun for them. After all, it’s the “icing”! They’re not essential to the recipe, so you can easily leave them out.
This recipe is also a time saver when you’re cooking Thanksgiving dinner, because the orange pulp that you scoop out goes right into the weelicious cranberry sauce recipe! A green vegetable, some succulent turkey and you have a perfect meal for the entire family with a few leftovers for the next day.
*Check out the Thanksgiving article and pictures on one of my favorite websites, CafeMom:

Sweet Potatoes in Orange Cups (Serves 6 Big Kids)

2 Lbs. Sweet Potatoes (you want to use potatoes that are really orange, also known as yams)
2 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/2 Cup Evaporated Skimmed Milk (you can substitute it with regular milk)
1/2 Tsp Kosher or Sea Salt
3 Navel Oranges
Mini Marshmallows

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Poke the yams several times with a fork or knife to pierce the skin.
2. Place on foil or a sheet tray in the oven and bake for 1 hour.
3. Let yams cool for several minutes, cut in half and scoop out the fluffy insides (I love eating the high fiber skin as a snack).
4. Mash the yams with butter, maple syrup, evaporated milk and salt until creamy and fluffy.
5. Cut the oranges in half and slice a very thin disk from the bottom so they rest flat. The skins are actually going to be the “bowls”.
6. With a pairing knife cut around the inside rim of the orange removing the orange sections and pulp. Place any of the orange juice and pulp in a bowl and discard the white membranes and seeds. Save the juice and pulp for cranberry sauce recipe or just enjoy as a snack.
7. Fill each orange cup with 1/4 cup of puree and top with several mini marshmallows (you can cover and refrigerate these overnight).
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
9. Place on a sheet tray and bake for 20-25 minutes.
10. Serve.

Everyday I try to visit different message boards on the web to see what moms are talking about. Lately, I can’t get over the one common obsession that moms are asking about everywhere: How to cook a pumpkin! For a country obsessed with Halloween and pumpkins, it’s kind of ironic that we rarely cook with them, unless its using pumpkin out of a can on Thanksgiving.
Now, I admit it’s something of a mantra at weelicious that I don’t like using canned foods in general, but canned pumpkin is an exception to the rule. I once read Martha Stewart say that you shouldn’t waste your time cooking fresh pumpkin when making pumpkin desserts (because it’s very hard to get the exact flavor you want) and I believe she’s correct, but roast pumpkin on its own with a touch of cinnamon and maple syrup is heavenly.
When I was living in Australia years ago, I ate pumpkin every few days. Pumpkin is as common to cook there as sweet potatoes are in the States. The pumpkin down under was so sweet and creamy, I wanted to try and replicate the flavors that I remembered. There are several types of pumpkins this time of year at my farmer’s market, so it’s kind of hard to tell which one to buy, but I’ve found you can’t really go wrong no matter what you choose. I bought several varieties last weekend such as “autumn gold” and “sugar”, which are both high in vitamin A. The cooking time will vary a bit depending on the size of the pumpkin you buy, but whatever you get, with this recipe it will be tender and delicious.

Roast Pumpkin & Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

1 Pumpkin
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/8 Tsp Cinnamon
Vegetable Oil Spray
Sea Salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Carefully cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin using a knife, about 2 in x 2 in. Remove the “top”.
3. Using you hands or a spoon, remove the seeds and rinse with water in a colander. Remove any of the stringy pulp pieces that stick to the seeds.
4. Lay the seeds on a towel to let dry.
5. Pour the maple syrup into the pumpkin and swirl it around coating flesh.
6. Sprinkle cinnamon inside.
7. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 40 minutes.
8. Place the top on the pumpkin and continue to cook for additional 20
minutes or until tender (the cooking time will vary depending on the
size of the pumpkin. Take a fork and pierces the inside to the flesh every 10 minutes towards the end of the cooking
time to see if it’s tender). Uncover the pumpkin and cool.
9. Spray another cookie sheet with a think coating of vegetable oil and evenly place the pumpkin seeds on the sheet. Lightly sprinkle pumpkin seeds with salt.
10. Bake the seeds 20-30 minutes or until the start to turn a golden color.
11. Cool and serve.
*If you’re making baby food puree, you can leave out the maple syrup

Always trying to change things up for breakfast in our house, I went 
to the grocery to buy breakfast sausage patties. Bad idea. The sodium in 
the frozen patties I found was off the charts! Wow. But how can I deprive Kenya of breakfast sausage? Back to the test kitchen for me.
These patties take only seconds to make because you toss all the 
ingredients in the food processor, whiz them up and form them into 
mini patties. I bought organic turkey and pork at Whole Foods since their meat doesn’t contain hormones and is excellent quality. Whole Foods is also unofficially known as 
”Whole Wallet” for their high prices, but I was 
shocked that my recipe still cost A LOT less then buying FOUR boxes of frozen patties 
that would yield the same amount.
I even added apple and spices to give them a sweet note and give a 
little zip. After cooking them, just pop the ones you don’t need into 
a labeled freezer bag and toss them in the freezer so you have them on hand any time of the day — Which is a good thing because these sausages are perfect for any meal.

Wee Sausage (Make 20 Patties)

1/2 Lb. Ground Pork
1/2 Pound Ground Turkey (I used dark meat turkey because it has more iron then white meat, but you could also use white meat )
2 Tbsp Onion, chopped
1/2 Apple, peeled and cored (gala, golden delicious and fuji are good choices)
1 Clove Garlic
1 Tsp Fresh Thyme (or 1/2 Tsp Dried)
1/2 Tsp Fennel Seeds
2 Tsp Maple Syrup

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine.
2. Using your hands, form 1 tbsp of the mixture into patties.
3. After all the patties are formed, heat a large non stick pan over medium heat.
4. Cook for 3 minutes, flip the patties and cover for 2 minutes.
5. Uncover and cook an additional minute or until patties are cooked through.
6. Cool and serve.