The Dappled Willow

The saying usually goes, “Pumpkin spice and everything nice,” but sometimes not everything goes exactly according to the recipe or plan.  

You see, I had purchased some little pumpkins as decor for our Thanksgiving table, with no intention of cooking them up, but once Halloween had passed I didn’t want them to go to waste. I mean they’re perfectly good produce after all, right? 

As soon as the idea crossed my mind I started thinking of what pumpkin flavoured things I could make! I was so excited to get some seasonal dishes on the menu and every recipe I came across I wanted to try. 

Since we have some allergies in our household (the boys are allergic to peanuts, dairy and eggs) I decided to give some vegan recipes a go. That’s how I discovered Alison from Loving It Vegan. Her recipes are so good, super easy and simple enough even a busy mom of three can follow them. 

I mean, sort of. That’s on me though, not Alison. Her recipes are great!

First, I made pumpkin puree by roasting the hollowed pumpkin halves in the oven and using a hand blender to liquify it. I saved the guts of the pumpkins for Freddy and Henry as a sensory activity. They helped separate the seeds from the stringy pumpkin goop for roasting. 

The vegan pumpkin soup turned out okay. I didn’t spice it up as much as I would like but at least the boys were able to enjoy it. A little bit. It definitely wasn’t their favourite meal but at least they did eat it. I added hot sauce and pepper to mine and roasted pumpkin seeds to mine. 

The roasting of the seeds should have been the simplest kitchen endeavour. A quick rinse, a little olive oil and a bunch of sea salt! Easy peasy. Just pop it in the oven and don’t get distracted breastfeeding a baby. 

Unfortunately they came out nearly burnt to a crisp. Take it from me, if you can smell them then they were done 5 minutes ago. They’re still passable as a garnish on the soup but they’re not the lightly toasted salty snack I had hoped for.

That’s all I could manage on Friday but I was back at it on Saturday morning making what were supposed to be vegan pumpkin cupcakes. Yea, I say supposed to be because I was distracted by the munchkins and forgot to add the baking soda and baking powder to the mix. When the timer went off and I saw how little they had risen in the baking cups I realized what I had done.

Needless to say the first batch didn’t turn out so great. Thankfully the kids didn’t mind. It’s basically a dense, sweet, chewy pumpkin bread. I was disappointed but they weren’t complaining. It actually wasn’t bad with a little lactose-free margarine on it. 

I decided to try for redemption and made another batch, this time remembering those key ingredients. And hooray! This time they baked to perfection.

I used up the rest of the vegan orange-coloured icing from Henry’s birthday party on some of the pumpkin cupcakes. (The Chowhound recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes and Vegan Frosting are my go-to recipes for birthday treats around here.) 

The rest of the pumpkin cupcakes were left bald so they’re basically muffins. What’s the difference between a cupcake and a muffin anyway? It’s really just icing, right? 

Again I was short for time, so I had to resume my baking efforts on Monday morning. I decided to use up the rest of my pumpkin puree on the “piece de resistance”,  the vegan pumpkin pie. I switched things up and decided to go for an Oreo cookie crumb crust because I had half a box to use up and I thought it would be faster. The filling whipped together super quick in the Nutri-Bullet and baked nicely while I hung out with the little ones in the living room. 

Dan and I got to enjoy a slice once the boys were asleep and it was delicious! I’m so glad I followed my gut and tried the chocolate crust because I love how it pairs with the pumpkin pie filling. Highly recommend!

So what? I baked a bunch of stuff. But there’s are lessons here. 

I need to remember that things can either be a: 

• total fail (burnt pumpkin seeds), 
• sort of fail (first batch of pumpkin cupcakes without baking soda and baking powder), 
• neutral (pumpkin soup), 
• somewhat success (second batch of pumpkin cupcakes), 
• or a total success (pumpkin pie)   

What’s important is to try. To not get stuck. Refocus even after a distraction. Pluck away. Keep at it. Don’t fear failure. The worst that can happen probably isn’t that bad. Even a fail may be somewhat salvageable. Don’t underestimate even the simple things. Give everything your all. Sometimes the daunting most complicated things aren’t really that hard. Trust your gut. Sometimes your creative genius is right.  

Wow. Who knew cooking and baking could be so full of life lessons.

Here’s to trying new things and not fearing failure! In the kitchen and other areas of life.