Holiday Recipe Guide: How to Make Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is a holiday and seasonal favorite. Pumpkin is loaded with beta-carotene and vitamin A. Pumpkin has 5 grams of fiber per serving, so pumpkin pie is nutritious as well as delicious. Here is a vegan variety of pumpkin pie. Vegan foods contain not only no meat, but no eggs, milk, dairy, honey and other animal by-products. With the high levels of steroids, growth hormones and antibiotics in meat and dairy products, as well as animal fats and cholesterol, a vegan diet is very healthy.

Vegan pumpkin pie ingredients: (makes two nine inch pies)

fresh pie pumpkin, canned or frozen pumpkin; if you are using fresh pumpkin it must be taken from a pie pumpkin. Other varieties of pumpkin do not cook as well and have very little flavor. Can size is 29 ounces, or a little over 3 and one half cups.

two cartons tofu (about 12 ounces); Nasoya makes a Silken Style Creations packaged tofu. This tofu is lightly sweetened with cane juice and flavored with vanilla an sea salt. This tofu makes an excellent substitute for eggs and milk in vegan pumpkin pie.

1-2 cups Florida Crystals or Sucanat evaporated cane juice; sweeten to taste using the amount of sugar that tastes right to you. Brown sugars make the best pumpkin pies, but look for 'carbon- free' sugar.

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon cloves

shortening or oil pie crust ( do not use lard or suet in the pie crust for vegans)

Procedure:

Blend tofu in food processor of blender until smooth and creamy. Blend in pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices until smooth.

Pre-bake crust about ten minutes.

Fill crust with filling and bake until crusts are browned, about 35 minutes on 375 degrees.

Vegan pumpkin pie will not look exactly like egg and milk pumpkin pie. Vegan pumpkin pie will have a firmer more dense texture. But as far as taste goes, vegan pumpkin pie doesn't really differ too much from regular pumpkin pie. For more vegan, vegetarian, kosher and special diet recipes, visit me at www.greatfood4u.blogspot.com.