Sweet Stuff

My youngest, Morgan, decided she wanted to make Pecan Pie Truffles from the Well's Vegetarian Thanksgiving site.  They did taste delicious, but the chocolate dipping was a little harder than she anticipated.  While our truffles did TASTE delicious, they didn't look nearly as perfect as the ones pictured on the web site.     We did omit the bourbon because I'm cheap and bourbon is expensive and we wouldn't use the rest of it anyway.  We just added a little water and vanilla extract.  They were still yummy.  

We also made the Pumpkin Molasses Cookie Dough Balls from the Peas and Thank You website.  Love Mama Pea's reci-peas!

Apple-Cranberry-Ginger Pie

I absolutely love the flavor of ginger.  I could suppose it comes from that being my name and all, but for many years I really did not like ginger in anything - didn't like gingerbread or Chinese foods with ginger.  It tasted like soap to me.  But over the years, something happened.  My taste buds changed and I decided ginger wasn't so bad after all.  And now I adore it, as does my daughter Brooke.  My Mother regularly sends care packages (since she's on the Left Coast and we are in the Deep South) and they almost always include crystallized ginger for Brooke and ginger peach tea for me.  And you can usually find fresh ginger in my fridge and even in my freezer (frozen into little ice cube sized portions of minced ginger).  So when my Mother included this pie recipe in with a care package, I knew it would be making an appearance for Thanksgiving.  It was SO good.  And so ENORMOUS!!!  And I have not one picture of it!  I'm a terrible blogger.  :::sniff:::

You can use premade crust for this pie if you wish, but a homemade crust is just so easy and tastes so much better.  Here's my recipe for a two-crust pie:

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
6 tbsp cold Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, cut into small pieces
5-7 tbsp very cold water

I cheat and make mine in a food processor with a dough blade.  So easy.

Combine flour and salt in the food process with the dough blade in place and pulse once or twice to combine  (or in a large bowl and mix well).  Cut shortening and margarine into the flour by either pulsing the food processor blade or using a pastry blender or two forks.  Add water 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing just a time or two (or mixing with a fork) after each addition until the cough is just moist enough to form a ball.

Divide the dough into two equal portions; gather into two balls and flatten each to 1/2" thickness.  Cover; refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°.  Roll out dough on a lightly floured board or pastry cloth to about a 14" circle, about 1/8" thick, and carefully transfer to your pie dish.  Flute edges.  Place a round of waxed paper over dough and weight with beans or pie weights.  Par-bake the pie crust for about 5-7 minutes.  You don't want it to brown.  Remove from oven.

Filling:

10 apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (Granny Smiths are perfect)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
3/4 cup sugar (or less if you use a sweeter apple)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Stir all the ingredients together and pour into your prepared pie crust.  Actually "pour" is not the proper word. Mound might be.  This pie will be HUGE!  It will be the biggest apple pie you have ever made!  And it will be delicious!  Anyway....Roll the remaining pie dough for your top crust.  Arrange over the mountain of apples.  Trim the edges, leaving a 1" overhang.  Flute edges.  Cut a few slits in the top crust.  Bake until crust is golden  and filling is bubbling, about 30-40 minutes.  You will definitely want to put a large cookie sheet on the rack below this because it more than likely will bubble over.  Trust me on this.

Scrapbook Night

 Tonight I had a scrapbook class and needed to make something relatively simple for dinner, but also make a snack and dessert for my scrapbook class.

Our family loves Lebanese and Greek food.  Whenever we'd go to a restaurant, even before being vegan, I'd usually order a vegetarian plate.  I always had Mujaddara on my plate because I just loved it so much.  My family...not so much.  One day, just a couple of years ago, I decided to make it myself.  It was so much better than any I had ever had at a restaurant and, to my complete surprise, my family gobbled it up!  It is easy to make; it just requires a little baby-sitting.

Mujaddara

1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp vegan margarine
1 tbsp olive oil

Melt the margarine and oil with a pinch of salt in a large skillet; when hot, add the onions.  Set heat on medium-low and stir occasionally until very soft, about 30 minutes.  Turn heat to medium high and keep cooking and stirring often until deeply browned and sweet, another 20 minutes or more.  Deglaze the pan with a splash of water.  Stir and set aside.

Lentils and Rice

3/4 cups brown or green lentils (not red or French)


1 cup long grain white rice
2 cardamom pods

Meanwhile, cook rice and lentils separately according to package directions, adding the cardamom pods to the rice and removing once the rice is cooked.

The lentils should be tender, but not mushy or soupy.  They should retain their shape.

Combine rice, lentils, half the caramelized onions, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cumin, salt and pepper to taste, and a splash of olive oil in a large pot or skillet.  Add about half a cup of water and heat everything together until fragrant, warm, and combined.

Turn into a serving dish.  Top with remaining caramelized onions.  You can also top with chopped fresh parsley and pine nuts if desired.

Rustic Apple Tart

This tasted much better than it looked.  I struggled with the pie crusts, though, and was reminded once again why I so prefer to make my own pie crusts rather than taking the easy way out and buying the frozen or refrigerated ones.  If you DO use a purchased pie crust, make sure you read the ingredients.  Some contain lard.  

2 pie crusts, one on top of the other on a large pizza stone and roll out over the edges of the pan 

6 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced - I used a combination of Winesap and Virginia Gold

2 tbsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp grated fresh ginger root

1 heaping tsp cinnamon (I used The Pampered Chef's Cinnamon Plus, which is probably like an apple pie spice with a little nutmeg, cloves, and allspice)

1/4 cup turbinado sugar (or more if your apples are tart)

Roll out dough over your pizza stone or other flat, heavy baking sheet, using a dusting of flour to keep it from sticking to the pan and the rolling pin.  You want the dough circle to be about 16-18" in diameter or so.  Please don't measure it, though.  Just guess.  I'm not that particular.  Combine apple slice and remaining ingredients.  Mound in the center of the dough and fold the edges of the dough up over the apples.  You just want it to keep in the juices.  You can brush the exposed crust with your favorite non-dairy milk and a sprinkling of sugar if you wish.  Cover the exposed apples loosely with a circle of foil that you have brushed with melted margarine or spritzed with a little nonstick spray.  This prevents your apples from drying out and getting to brown.  You can remove this for the last 15-20 minutes of baking time.  Bake at 350° for about 50-60 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.  

Please forgive my ugly crust.  Remember I said I had issues with the premade crusts.  I had a terrible time with it breaking and tearing.  I really do prefer making my own crust.  So next time I'll include my homemade pie crust recipe.  It really is easy to do.  I don't know why I thought the purchased ones would save time.  The tart may have looked pretty rough (although it is a "rustic" apple tart - rustic usually means not pretty), it tasted delicious.  Not cloyingly sweet, but the natural sweetness and the delicious flavor of the Virginia Gold apples really shined through.