This morning is dedicated to making pies. I shopped yesterday for everything I will need for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I’ve always loved cooking and food preparation — odd, really, since food meant so little to my family of origin. I’ve always loved making bread, pies, cakes, and cookies, though I rarely make desserts anymore. Pie-baking is reserved for special events, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Every Thanksgiving, I make a LOT of pies. This year will be no exception, except that I’m going to add a couple of raw “novelty” pies to the collection.
I start at 8:30 am and by noon, I’ve got 2 pumpkin, 2 apple, and 2 pecan pies cooling on racks. Now, for the real creativity.
Chocolate Cream Pie
(an adaptation of The Raw Food Revolution Diet
Crust:
2 cups pecans
3/4 cup pitted dates
I process the dates and pecans together until a fine, moist meal is formed. Then, I pat the mixture into a pie pan, forming the crust.
Filling: Thick Chocolate Velvet — I triple the recipe for this pie
3 ripe avocados
18 Tbl raw, organic cocoa powder
3/4 C agave syrup
6 Tbl evaporated cane juice
6 Tbl water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
I place all of the ingredients in a blender (adding the liquid first) and process until smooth, adding just enough water and stopping now and then to push the ingredients down the sides of the blender, to make a very thick pudding.
I spoon the pudding mix onto the crust and place the pie in the refrigerator. Before serving, I will make whipped cream from organic cream (if you want to keep this totally raw, you need to use raw cream or to keep it vegan you need to make a whipped cream substitute).
Pumpkin Pie
(Recipe from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen
Ani says, “This is the best pumpkin pie recipe in the world.” Well, we’ll see won’t we …
The crust is made from 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, processed and used as a “flour” for the bottom of the pan. 1/4 cup was a lot of sunflower seeds, and as I put the “flour” in the pan, I question whether this step is even necessary.
Then, according to the recipe, I put 1 3/4 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and 1 cup pitted dates in the food process and process until it is a fine, moist meal. I then spoon this into the pie pan and press it into a crust. I only need about 1/2 of what was made and have to check the cookbook to see if the recipe is supposed to be for one pie or two. It says only one. I shrug, put the rest of the “crust” in a container and put it in the fridge. I can add it to something else later.
The syrup for the pie is made next, by combining another cup of pitted dates and 1 1/4 cup of water in the blender and running until smooth.
The filling is made by processing 4 cups of cubed pumpkin (I bought a small sugar pumpkin for this purpose) with a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon until pureed.
The pumpkin puree is then added to the syrup in the blender and blended until smooth. Finally, the mix is poured into a bowl, 1 Tbl of psyllium powder is mixed into it by hand, and the pumpkin mix is poured into the pie pan and put into the refrigerator.
I taste the mixture as I’m pouring it into the pan, and I have to admit that I’m not impressed. I might hold this one back. We’ll just have to see.
In the late afternoon, I pick up my oldest son and granddaughters from the Oakland airport. By the time I get back, my second oldest son and family (wife and other two grandchildren) have arrived. Long ago I decided to make this an easy evening, so we baked store-bought pizzas in the oven for dinner, and had a wonderful evening visiting and playing with the children.
Tomorrow is the “big day.” We’ll have 22 people in our tiny little house for dinner and celebration. Fortunately, the weather forecast is for sun and temperatures in the mid-60’s.
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