The Healthiest Dessert I've Ever Loved

So... I lied in my last post.  It was an accident.  But I told you I've never made pie.

I also lied a few posts back when I said I was done posting about apple dishes.

I didn't intend to lie, I swear.  It was just... forgetfulness.  I found these pictures of a vegan raw gluten free apple pie I made in January, and I just had to share.  Because it was delicious - one of the most satisfying desserts I've ever eaten.  And rather easy to make.  Much easier than normal pie.

Thanks to Lydia and/or James for first making this for me, and this recipe which I modified a bit.

First, peel several apples.  This was my first time baking with apples after learning how to properly peel apples, which was helpful.

Next, get out the food processor.  Grind a handful of nuts to sprinkle on the bottom of the pan (to prevent sticking), and then grind nuts, dates or figs or some sticky fruit, and a dash of maple syrup.  I used hazelnuts and walnuts, for this one, which was delicious.

The mixture forms into a sticky mess, which is really cool to watch for some reason.

See?  Sticky mess.

This mixture alone is delicious.  Extremely sweet and very nutty.  For obvious reasons.  It will be your pie crust.

 Press this down into your pan to form a "crust".

Mini rant about Blogger: I had to try 3 times to get this photo to upload.  The in-Blogger uploading isn't working anymore, so I uploaded the above pictures to imgur and connected the link.  For whatever reason, that broke too.  So now I'm uploading to Picasa?  Grr.

Finally, slice and grate your apples in the food processor.  Once that's been done, put apples, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice, raisins and vanilla in the processor and blend until smooth.

Actually, don't do that.  I'm looking back at the recipe I used and I misread it.  Grate your apples, then insert other filling ingredients (raisins, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice, vanilla) into the mixing bowl, and mix.  That would have saved me a lot of time....

Let this mixture sit for a bit, then squeeze out extra liquid.  Put the filling in the pan, then slice the apple you didn't peel in the first place and make your pie look pretty.  Then eat!

The squeezing out the extra liquid would have been a lot easier if I hadn't blended the apples... Whoops!  It looks fine and tastes great :)




Vegan Raw Gluten Free Apple Pie

1 cup + some nuts
5 dates or figs
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
A splash of maple syrup

5 apples
1 tbs raisins (soak them in water a while first to plump them up)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla

1. Grind a handful of nuts, sprinkle on bottom of pie pan
2. Process rest of nuts, dates, salt, vanilla and maple syrup in the food processor until a sticky mess
3. Press into pie pan, refridgerate
4. Grate 4 apples, mix with raisins, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon and vanilla.  Let sit for 10 minutes.
5. Squeeze out (but save) excess liquid from apples and put in pie pan.
6. Slice remaining apple, dip each slice in liquid, and arrange slices artfully on top of pie.
7. Serve!  Or refrigerate until serving.

Still not Pad Thai

This time, I knew it wouldn't be Pad Thai, but I hoped it could be a reasonable estimation.  I found the recipe in a list of ideas for things to do with Ramen.  Ramen Pad Thai - make ramen, add some tamarind and other things, and boom! Pad Thai.

Easy as pie, right?

I mean, I haven't made pie ever, so maybe...

I decided to use a ramen I got at the Korean market, because why not?  I think this was one of my downfalls, honestly.  The ramen claims to take 4 minutes to cook but manages to be done in only 2.  So, in using ramen noodles to avoid overcooking rice noodles, I still overcooked my noodles.

Other ingredients: egg, tofu, fish sauce, bean sprouts, and tamarind.  I probably also didn't have everything I needed for the recipe, because I'm good at forgetting things.

Draining the noodles and adding tofu and bean sprouts wasn't hard.  Knowing how much of the seasoning to use when my seasoning isn't standard ramen seasoning?  That was hard.

Add egg and tamarind and... eww.

Yeah...

This one didn't turn out so good.  It was worse than the last try at Pad Thai.  So bad, in fact, that I threw it out and probably just made nachos.

Lesson learned: don't try to make Pad Thai.  It's easier just to order delivery.