Category Archives: Pie

A Long Overdue Strawberry-Kiwi Pie.

Posted in Hawaiian Treats, Pie, Recipe, Strawberries by

Where do I begin? I did not intend an almost month long hiatus. I returned from Maui, got my bearings and then boom, my computer broke. There’s a first time for everything I guess. I have always had good luck when it comes to electronics and I’m happy to report I’m really not used to having to have things fixed. Like sent away and fixed. My computer is back in my life, for now it seems. So here I am with a new post and recipe for you.

I was excited to be visiting Maui in (almost) Spring time as I knew Kula Country Farms would be open for strawberry picking. I raced over there one day before they closed to grab some berries. It was raining, which I don’t mind, but no berry picking pictures because of the wetness.

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Texas Strawberry-Habanero Pie.

Posted in Dessert, Pie, Recipe, Strawberries by

Strawberry season is almost upon us kids. Temecula Valley Strawberry Farm will be opening on March 1st and my Chandler strawberry plant (who is aptly named Chandler) is already blowing up with berries. Chandler has been with me for many moons now and he makes strawberries almost all year long with only a few dormant months in between exploding with berries. He’s a weird one, but I love him and the fruity delights he provides me with. Since he’s only one plant, I always eat the berries as snacks. There are never enough at one time to make any kind of recipe, but one day I hope to have enough space so Chandler can have some friends. Until then, it’s all about farm trips and the far mar for me.

I have seen various concoctions for strawberry preserves/spreads paired with hot peppers. I actually sampled a pencil-eraser sized dollop of strawberry-ghost pepper jam that had my mouth pretty steamy for a while. Probably not my first choice for toast, but pretty good all the same. That gave me the idea to bake a Texas Strawberry-Habanero Pie. Strawberries generally don’t make the best pies all on their own because they are so juicy, but I figured I’d give it go and see if I could make the pie work. I’m happy to report that while it was ever so juicy, it was not a soggy mess. Joy. Pie joy.

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Yingst Ranch + Pear, Quince & Wild Blueberry Pie.

Posted in Dessert, Food, Misadventures, Pear, Pie by

Back before I went to Hawaii I made one last farm trip. I wasn’t sure if we’d find the super secret persimmon farm (future post) I had heard about upon my return. So, what I’m saying is this could have my last CA farm trip of the year. I had been wanting to pick some pears, but unfortunately all of the farms I knew of that offered u-pick pears had lost most of their pears to frost. The leftover pears were snatched up right away. I thought I was out of luck when I called Yingst Ranch and they happily reported they had pears.

Awesome.

A couple of friends and I made the pilgrimage out to Yingst and delighted in pear picking. We also picked a few random apples and plums we found hanging around.

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Before running off to Maui, I decided on a vegan version of this pie from my favorite place, Eat the Love.

I love that quince turns pink when you cook it. I also thought the blueberries added a nice touch. DSC_1806

 

This was a really lovely day. We went thrifting near the farm and each of us found some rad treasure. But, this post is like this day and pie; quick. I’ll be back to tell the story of that secret persimmon farm real soon.

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CJ’s Pumpkin Ranch & Pumpkin Pie.

Posted in Pie, Pumpkin, Vegan MoFo by

 

I’m breaking all kinds of MoFo promises! I didn’t get a chance to post over the weekend because I’ve been too busy pickin’ pears and celebrating birthdays and getting ready to go to Maui this week! Yes. Maui and I are getting together on Friday and hopefully having a nice, slow love affair together with lots of yummy tropical food, beer, beach, surfing, spa day, farm visits and more. I’m SO EXCITED. This is the first vacation I’ve taken in the past 100 years and it could not come soon enough. This entire year has been difficult and stressful in a rainbow of different fashions (thanks for mixing it up, universe) and I just want to turn it around before the end.

Thank goodness for farm trips because they have been helping me keep my sanity this year. I feel so at peace when out on a farm, surrounded by dirt, fruits, veggies, flowers and beauty in general. I could just stay there all day transfixed in admiration, awe and respect. I went pear pickin’ this past weekend, but before that, I went pumpkin pickin’. I found a sweet little farm in Corona that grows all kinds of amazing varieties of heirloom pumpkins for eating and carving. There was a variety that they told me was great for making pies called “Yellow of Paris”. I knew that was one of the pumpkins I needed to have and I spent the better part of our time there searching for the perfect “Yellow of Paris”.

Farm Buddies.

My favorite activity. Photo by Danielle of Look Pretty blog.

I wanted every pumpkin I laid eyes on, but I settled on these:

My Yellow of Paris. :)

Mammoth Gold.

The farm had also grown strawberry poppin’ corn, so of course I took home a bunch of that as well. It’s so cool–you can place the whole cob in a brown paper bag and pop in in the microwave or remove the kernels and make it on the stovetop or in a popcorn maker. Love.

 

One of the first things I did when I got home (after making Oktoberfest) was to bust open my “Yellow of Paris” and roast it in the oven. I scooped out the innards and blended it up. It was a bit watery so I had to drain it in a colander for a while. I then proceeded to enjoy the finest pumpkin smoothies. I saved just enough puree to make a pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin is the best!

Riding in Cars with Pie. I brought my pie to share with a friend in Orange County.

 

 

This MoFo = crazy. I will hopefully find time today to write a couple of more posts and to catch up on some of my favorite blogs!

 

Apple Sour Cream Pie.

Posted in Apple, Dessert, Pie, Recipe, Vegan MoFo by

 

This MoFo has started to get the best of me. I am le tired! But so many posts left to do. What really helps me is writing my posts in advance and then just pasting them here when I’m ready. I never think recipe writing is lengthy until I actually sit down to do it. Enough of that. I took the last of my apples from apple picking and made them into pie and German apple cake. You’ve seen the apple cake, but now for the pie. I saw a sour cream pie over on Eat the Love that I really wanted to make, but haven’t gotten around to it. It’s blueberry-rhubarb which sounds incredible, but blueberries are over and I didn’t freeze any. I may still use frozen….those frozen organic wild blueberries a Whole Foods are actually quite delicious. Okay, apples, I’m talking apples. Apples and vegan sour cream. A relatively gross sounding combination which turns out to be crazy delicious all in your face.

Apple Sour Cream Pie

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

1 recipe double pie crust–use your fave

Topping:

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c unbleached cane sugar

1/2 c unbleached ap flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 c walnuts, chopped

1 stick Earth Balance or 1/2 c

Filling:

1 c unbleached cane sugar

1/2 c ap flour

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch sea salt

one container vegan sour cream (My fav is Follow Your Heart brand)

2 flax eggs ( 2 tbsp ground flax, mixed w/ 6 tbsp water)

2 tsp vanilla

6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used a mix of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious)

Method:

Preheat oven to 450°F.

For the topping, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in the Earthy B with a pastry cutter. Add the walnuts. Refrigerate until ready to use. If your topping is super dry, add a little more Earth Balance.

For the filling, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the sour cream, flax eggs and vanilla. Your mixture is going to be pretty thick and sticky, but it’s all good. Add the apples and really mix them around in there and coat them as best as possible. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake about 10 min. Reduce oven to 350°F and bake about 45 min. Remove the topping from the fridge and sprinkle over the hot filling. Bake until the topping is browned and set, about 40-50 min. Let pie cool for a few hours before slicing.

* I had too much Earth Balance in my topping when I made this. I also took my photos the next day, so my crumb topping doesn’t look at all like crumbs. Either way it’s delicious, but the above steps/instructions were edited so that anyone wanting to bake this pie with get a crispy more crumbly topping than I did. :)

 

Shoo-Fly Pie.

Posted in Pie, Vegan MoFo by

That was a nice weekend off. I think MoFoing will continue to be a weekdays only type of thing for me. But it’s Monday again so on to delicious things!

I’m told that shoo fly pie is traditional among southerners and the Pennsylvania Dutch. Quick side note, Pennsylvania Dutch is not synonymous with Amish. From what I understand Pennsylvania Dutch refers mostly to a dialect that people speak; a form of German. The Dutch part of Pennsylvania Dutch relates to the word deutsch and like many things, has changed over time. If you read further into it, you can learn all about how Germans got to be called Germans and so on and so forth and how all of this relates to Amish people. Geography mostly.

Enough history and such, on to pie. I don’t remember where I had heard of this pie. I certainly have never seen one on a menu in a restaurant or eaten one. I’ve never even heard people talk about it….with one exception….I did meet a guy from Ohio who knew and loved shoo fly pie. Figures he knew what it was being so close to those Pennsylvania Dutch and all. ;) Shoo fly pie is made primarily of molasses so I figured it would be easy to veganize.

I used Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Molasses for this pie :) Not only is it organic, but fair trade as well. Awesome product.

I decided to do a take on this recipe by Alton Brown. I love Alton and I’m sure he would not approve of making his pie vegan (OMG there’s tofu in it) but all the same, the pie was made and it was a success.

I really didn’t have to make too many changes to the original recipe, so rather than post it for you, I’m going to give you the edits. First off, I did not use Alton’s pie crust recipe, although I’m sure it’s great. I have already come to love the single (and loving it!) pastry crust recipe from Vegan Pie in the Sky. If you don’t have that book, well, how dare you. Seriously though, even if you’re already a pie master (looks at self) this book is still wonderful and you should get it. Lots of good bits of info and the recipes are good too.

Okay, on the real edits:

1. Get yourself and single vegan pie crust or veganize Alton’s. To do that, just sub out the butter for equal part Earth Balance, sub out the lard (gross Alton!) for high quality vegetable shortening and omit the salt completely or just add a small pinch. Again, I used Isa’s crust, which was a great choice. It does have sugar in it though, so if you’re looking to not add sugar to this pie, make Alton’s or one of your other favorites.

2. For the crumbs, omit the salt and add an additional tbsp of Earth Balance for 3 total tbsp.

3. For the filling, replace the egg with ¼ c pureed silken tofu. I used extra firm—remember the key word here is silken. Use the aseptic Mori-Nu box stuff as the stuff packed in water will probably not work here.

4. Make sure you weigh the molasses. I know it says 8 oz, so you’re tempted and you just want to pour a bunch of molasses into a 1-cup measure. If you don’t have a scale, I would suggest using ¾ c molasses and seeing what happens. After reading some of the comments though, I felt like I needed to be really precise with this pie and so I weighed everything and followed instructions exactly.

That’s about it. Just follow the instructions given and you will have delicious shoo fly pie in no time. Keep an eye on your pie toward the end. Alton describes how it will start to look dry and crack just a bit and that’s how you know it’s done. When my pie had that look, I took it out and I think it ended up perfect. The texture was soft, a little bit velvety and ever so slightly chewy. It holds up well the next day too.

My pie didn’t taste burnt or like licorice or any of the weird things that some of the comments mentioned. What it did taste like though, is molasses, so if you’re not a fan of that flavor, this pie is not at all for you. The only issue I had was that some of my crumbs absorbed into the top of my pie and some of the drier parts did not absorb, so I wasn’t super thrilled with the look of the finished product, but it did not affect the taste or texture at all, so I guess I can’t be too upset. J

Nectarine Elderflower Pie w/ a Hint of White Pepper.

Posted in Dessert, Pie, Recipe by

Summer is now technically over. It still feels a lot like summer weather wise, so we still have a good deal of stone fruit hanging around at the farmer’s market. I hadn’t really picked up any nectarines this year, so I gathered a bag of white and yellow mixed together. They were super beautiful and fragrant and I wanted to make them into something.

I have been making a lot of my own liqueurs lately–nocino, limoncello, vanilla extract (that’s not really a liqueur, but it’s still boozy so it counts). I was thinking that next spring I’d like to try my hand at making my own elderflower liqueur like St. Germain. I know a few spots around LA where there are some great elderflower trees that generally produce a ton of flowers. I harvested some a few years ago and made elderflower syrup from them which I ended using mostly to make spritzers….yeah I said it.

Anyhow, where I’m going with this whole elderflower business is that I ended up having a Waitress moment and knew that elderflower and nectarine had to come together to make a pie. I went out and bought a tiny bottle of St. Germain since I won’t be able to make my own until next year. I also acquired some organic dried elderflowers and a pie was born.

Nectarine Elderflower Pie w/ a Hint of White Pepper

Ingredients:

1 heaping tbsp dried elderflowers

2 pie crusts, use your favorite recipe–while adding the dry ingredients, add the dried elderflowers. Continue to make your crusts using your usual methods or method called for in the recipe you’re using. I like Martha Stwewart’s Pate Brisee, or the buttery double crust recipe from Vegan Pie in the Sky.

Filling:

5 c mixed nectarines, pitted and sliced

1/2 c unbleached cane sugar

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 vanilla bean, scraped

1 tbsp St. Germain elderflower liqueur

1 1/2 tbsp arrowroot powder

1/4 tsp freshly ground white pepper

Method: Preheat oven to 425°F. Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl and give it a mix. Roll out your bottom crust and line your pie plate. Pour the filling into the plate. Roll out your top crust and make lattice shapes, or just cover you pie (remember a pie bird or to cut vents for steam). Bake for 15 min at 425°F. Lower oven temp to 350°F and bake for about 45 minutes. Let pie cool completely if you want it to hold a slice. If you don’t care, just let it cool enough not to burn yourself and go for it!

Apple Pickin’ + Apple-Cherry Pie w/ Cardamon & Black Pepper.

Posted in Apple, Cherries, Dessert, Pie, Recipe by

I had another glorious day on a farm last weekend. Just….glorious. A few friends and I headed to the Oak Glen area of Yucaipa to get our apple pick on. My favorite farm in the area is Riley’s at Los Rios Rancho, so that’s where we went. I’ve been to other farms out there and again, this one has been my running favorite for the past few years. Not only are they super helpful and friendly, but they have the best fruit. They offer u-pick raspberries, strawberries and several varieties of apples. While Riley’s is not a certified organic farm, all of the fruit is chemical free. I went a few years ago and got the best Gravenstein apples I’ve ever had, but they are no longer available for u-pick. The farm did have Granny Smith, Spartan, Red & Golden Delicious for u-pick when we visited though. Score. Super sweet 4 variety of u-pick apple score. 

We arrived at the tail end of raspberry season, so pickings were a little slim. Danielle and Brian combed the through the raspberry bushes and were able to get a pretty decent yield. The photos above are from a few years ago when I hit up the farm at the very beginning of apple season and the berries were out of control amazing. My friends and I left with a ton of them and I had to end up freezing a bunch because I went overboard.

Gravensteins from days of yore

On our recent visit, we were blessed with a beautiful, slightly overcast but cool day. It was the perfect backdrop for the day.

First up we headed to the Red & Golden Delicious part of the orchard.

Red Delicious Perfection. Photo by Danielle of Look Pretty.

Golden Delicious

The gangs all here picking Granny Smiths: Danielle, Brian, Michelle

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I’m always happy at a farm. :)

The yield: The two little ones in the bottom left corner are the only Spartans I was able to get. I took home a ton of Granny Smith & Red Delicious, as they were the most ripe.

And you know I wouldn’t go apple picking without making a pie when I got home! ;) This is the third Apple-Cherry pie combo, I’ve attempted. While the others weren’t awful, I think this one def hits the spot!

Apple-Cherry Pie w/ Cardamon & Black Pepper

Ingredients:

2 pie crusts (use your favorite recipe)

3 c Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced

2 c tart cherries

1/2 c plus 2 tbsp unbleached cane sugar

1 1/2 tbsp unbleached all purpose flour

1 tbsp cherry brandy

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cardamon

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

pinch salt

a few shakes of freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Combine all the filling ingredients in a medium or large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Roll out your crust and lay it into your pie plate of choice. If you’re feeling fancy, roll a little bit of black pepper into your crust. In retrospect, I should have done that and probably will next time. :) Once you’ve got your bottom crust in your pie plate. Go ahead and add the filling. If a lot of juice has accumulated in your mixing bowl, add 3/4 of it and discard the rest. Now, you can do any type of top you like. I did lattice and cut out some little leaf shapes with the scraps. Feel free to just cover up the whole pie though if you don’t feel like lattice or shapes, but remember to cut some vents for steam.

 

 

Peche.

Posted in Apple, Dessert, Peaches, Pie, Recipe by

Peche! My favorite non-english word for peach. Thanks France!

Recently I had the pleasure of returning to M&M Peach Ranch where some friends and I picked Bing cherries earlier this summer. Their Ryan Sun peaches ripened up at the end of August so a visit was in order. We took the longish drive out to Lake Hughes and delighted in picking the most delicious organic peaches. It was an absolutely lovely day, with lovely friends.

Mich!

Phil!

Before going home, we pulled over to frolic in this beautiful field of flowers. It was pure joy. :)

Photo by Phil Warren.

Me and my friend Mike. Photo by Phil Warren.

I went home and decided that my peaches ought to end up in a peach and blueberry buckle infused with tempeh bacon (inspired by Eat the Love of course!). They also ended up in a delicious Apple-Peach Pie w/ Bourbon and Rosemary Crust (recipe below). The remaining peaches that were not eaten were blanched, peeled and frozen. I think this new ice cream recipe from my favorite non-vegan baker extraordinaire may be order—veganized of course! ;)

The buckle is easy. Just roast your peaches with tempeh bacon and a drop or two of liquid smoke per Irvin’s instructions found here on his original post. Make the topping listed on Irvin’s site, subbing out the butter for Earth Balance and omitting the salt. For the cake, I just used the buckle recipe from Vegan Pie in the Sky, which is great. Don’t bake according to those instructions though, as they are a little different. You won’t be inverting this buckle as that book instructs you to do. Just use the batter in place of the non-vegan version and voila, BUCKLE in your mouth.

Apple-Peach Pie w/ Bourbon and Rosemary Crust

It’s hard to see the peaches in there with the apples, but I promise they are there in all of their juicy splendor!

Ingredients:

1 recipe of your favorite pie crust with one tbsp chopped fresh rosemary incorporated into the dough—I like the one from Vegan Pie in the Sky and Martha Stewart’s made vegan. Martha’s is the first crust I’ve ever made in a food processor. Kind of easy! I still like making it by hand though ;)

2 ½ c apples, peeled, cored and sliced

2 ½ c peaches, blanched, peeled and sliced

1 tbsp bourbon

1 ½ tbsp unbleached all purpose flour

½ tsp cinnamon

½ c unbleached cane sugar

1 tbsp brown sugar

splash of fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425°F. Bake for about 10-12 min. Lower heat to 350°F and continue to bake pie for about 30-40 min.

More Pie, The Best Salad Ever & My 1st Vegan Food Swap.

Posted in Food, Pie by

First, pie.

I made this Sweet Green Heirloom Tomato Pie that was really delicious. I’m pretty sure anyone can recreate this by subbing unripe heirloom tomatoes in your favorite apple pie recipe.

Next up I found an excuse to use my black and golden raspberries along with some green rhubarb I got at the Santa Monica’s Farmer’s Market. I saw the green rhubarb at the market–I was told it was a bit more spicy than red or red/green rhubarb, but I couldn’t tell the difference after it was made into pie. I found the basic recipe for this pie in a Martha Stewart book. It’s basically about 5 cups of fruit with some sugar and starch. No fancy add-ins. Maybe a lil lemon juice. Anyhow, this was my first time eating a raspberry pie and I am happy to report it was tart yet delicious. Martha nailed that balance between sweet and tart for sure. I also enjoyed the textural component added by the seeds of the raspberries.

I let my crust get too soft, so excuse the sloppy lattice.

Next up, the September issue of Vegetarian Times had this really appealing sounding salad; Fennel and Romaine Salad with Cracked Pepper Vinaigrette. All of those flavors together sounded amazing to me. So, I whipped up this salad using shaved slices of Dr. Cow Cashew & Brazil Nut Cheese in place of the parmesan. It’s on page 46. You should probably make it right now.

Lastly, I just wanted to share that I participated in this amazing vegan food swap! The concept is really cool–you sign up and then get emailed a partner and you become someone else’s partner. Everyone goes out and buys or makes a bunch of treats for one another and then we mail it along. You get to make new friends and try new treats, it’s the best! This month, my buddy was Shelby from over at Everyday Vegan Girl. Shelby’s blog is full of yummy sounding healthy recipes and treats, def check it out. :) She sent me a bunch of delicious things:

Individual nut butters from Artisana and Barney Butter

Panda All Natural Licorice

Kaia Foods Sprouted Sunflower Seeds

Homemade Granola

Coconut Sugar

Raw Revolution Bar, Crispy Rice Bar & Sesame Crunch

Ginger Chews

Wheatgrass Drink Mix

Alter-Eco Chocolate Bar (I LOVE Alter-Eco!)

And, a very lovely card.

Thanks Shelby!