Pumpkin Pecan Bars

I love pumpkin desserts, especially pumpkin pie, but I have never been that excited about the pie crust. I decided to try making pumpkin bars over a crumb crust and they amazingly well. I hope you enjoy them too!

The crumb crust recipe is my own and the pumpkin filling is from a recipe I found posted on the Cooking Light website. The only modifications I made to the filling were doubling the spices.

Crust
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar packed
1 T honey
2 T soy butter or butter1 cup pecans

Pumpkin layer
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon1/2 tsp salt1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 1/4 cups vanilla soy milk
2 large eggs

Topping
Chopped pecans

Line an 8x8 glass baking dish with foil. Grease foil with butter or vegetable oil. Mix all ingredients in a food processor and process until crumbly. Press mixture into the bottom of pan. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

Prepare pie filling. As soon as crust is done baking pour in pie filling and bake for 15 min at 425. Sprinkle chopped pecans across the top and bake for 45 minutes at 350, or until set.

Allow bars to cool completely before cutting.

Rosemary, Walnut, Tofu and Carrot Stirfry

I just made this dish tonight and it was delicious. I have recently been craving rosemary and I finally remembered to buy some dried rosemary while I was out the other day. I have been cooking with it every night since I bought it and this is my favorite recipe so far. I did not put any amounts down next to the ingredients because you can use any amount you like.

Ingredients

chopped garlic

olive oil

tofu

salt

dried rosemary

carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

chopped walnuts

Slice tofu into thin slices, about 1/4" thick and 1" wide. Drain slices on paper towels. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute or until just starting to brown. Add tofu and several tablespoons of rosemary and cook until just starting to brown. Add carrots and walnuts and stir-fry a couple more minutes. Season with salt.

*This dish tastes very good over brown rice, especially if you add some rosemary, salt and olive oil to the rice as it cooks!