Vegan Peach Pie

There is nothing I love more than some good old fashioned pie. My problem with pie at the moment is that most pies aren't vegan, and unless I make my own pie, it'susually off the menu. Today I took advantage of a peach sale at Vons. I arrived at my boyfriends house thinking, I have a pie tin, I can do this. Determination is key. I've only made pie once before so it was a vague memory. I used the following recipe.

For the Filling

5 or 6 ripe peaches washed and sliced thin-ish

1 cup of sugar

For the crust

about 1 1/2 cups of flour, give or take a pinch here and there.

about a 1/4 cup of vegan butter. give or take. You can see how your flour is holding up.

a large-ish pinch of sea salt

about 3 TBS of water

First

Take the sliced peaches, I don't used canned fruit for pie, but feel free to try if you want. Put the peaches in a bowl and add about one cup of sugar. You can add more if you so wish. Make this all your own. leave these to set in the sugar for about 45 minutes to an hour. (I went to the movies during this step. Note to the cook, don't make the dough if you plan to be gone for more than 45 minutes). When you are done putting some sugar on the peaches, start the crust

combined salt and flour

Mix in butter and stir around until it is a bit clumpy and chunky, then add water one spoonful at a time, until the dough is workable. Soon you will have a nice clump of dough which you can wrap in saran and put in the fridge for about a 1/2 hour.

After a half hour or so you can take out the dough. Take your pie plate, glass or tin whichever you have and take out a nice chunk of dough. press it on the tin making sure you leave some hanging on the edge. Take the rest and smash it with your rolling pin. Pretend it's someone you don't like...but don't beat it. roll until you have a nice roundish thing you can place on top. Rolling over some flour is recommended so it doesn't stick to the counter. This is important. Before you put in the peaches... Make some very small incisions at the bottom of the crust. Trust me! put in the peaches. and then cover it with your squished dough. crimp edges to close. Bake for about 45 minutes. Then eat and Enjoy.

I love to share my delicious pies with friends and co workers. I had no more left over after my hard day at work. PHEW!!!! I love Peach Pie :) Wish I had taken a picture. Next time...

The Green Eyed Savior

Sometime between last June and today I turned into a Green Monster. I'm not sure exactly how this movement took over my very soul. Today as I rummaged and incredible sale at a department store that's closing down I picked up a pair of Steve Madden Shoes. They were beautiful, the color, the feel, the fit, they were perfect. As I contemplated the purchase I stopped, looked at Jennifer and said, "Do you think these are Vegan?" Jennifer quickly replied, probably not, I sighed, put the shoes down, and somehow ended up buying some crocs. Last June, I would have bought those shoes and worn them as I walked out of the store not caring or realizing I was wearing a poor innocent cow. 

Rabbi Herald Kushner told a story in one of his books that hit the nail. It answered the very core of my question. How did I turn into this? I wont bother telling you the story, (code for I don't want to butcher it) but the moral stuck with me. The point of the story was to make the listener realize that one had to do good things, not because they wanted to, but because they had to. He said we do nice things because we are supposed to, we don't always do it willingly or with a smile on our face, sometimes we are forced by our religious beliefs or morals. However, conducting these acts of kindness eventually takes a toll on your heart, they begin to make you feel good, and thus over the span of your life time, you come to realize the good that your actions are causing. 

When I went Veg I did it because I realized that if I did not change my lifestyle I would probably die an obese diabetic woman with hypertension, because these things all run in my family. I still had leather shoes and bags, and I really had no intension to make it an ethical issue. As the months progressed my life style changed drastically, I began to read more books on being vegan, I explored websites and talked to other veg people. Still when people would ask me why I was Vegan I would say, health concerns. However, detaching myself from meat changed me, I began to see meat as lifeless creatures not as dinner. I still remember standing at the grocery store one day, the man in front of me was buying ribs. I took one looked at the Raw meat and almost gaged. It was flesh, that man was about to eat something that was once a happy living creature (well maybe that particular creature wasn't so happy in its lifetime). 

Over a half a year past when I started realizing the value of the animals I was no longer eating. When my friends would taunt me with meat, I would think to myself, I don't think I could ever eat another animal in my life. What right do I have to take their life or cut it short so I can have a meal. What right do I have to kill a creature and in defense say I need the nutrients, when I can get all the nutrients I need from plants, and vitamin supplements. Why does the golden rule only apply to humans. I'm applying that rule across the board because I would never want to be violently slaughtered and become a meal. 

After I became a believer in the movement to save the animals, I also began to take compassion on good ol mother earth. I bought my last role of paper towels in January. So began my obsession with napkins of the reusable variety. I bought them in varied colors, with matching napkin wrings for those special occasions. We got some delightfully colorful kitchen towels, and I even went as far as buying reusable sandwich bags at reusablebags.com. The other day I caught myself digging through my own trash can because my roommates threw away plastic bottles. I spent about 10 minutes making sure they all made it to the blue can (No worried girls, I do it at Ken's house all the time). I LOVE RECYCLING!!!!! I still buy plastic bottles every now and then, but I usually buy the kind that gives part of the proceeds to charity, then I use the bottle for a few weeks, until I lose it or it gets lost in my car.  

Ask anyone, this is a complete 180 from a year ago. My approach on life is completely different, and I still hope and pray that one day, in the distant future, when the economy isn't shit, I can open my own little place of pastries and coffee. The Kosher Vegan, bakery and coffee shop, for all your sweet tooth needs. This is the story of how I learned compassion. This is only the beginning of something beautiful, a whole hearted attempt to save the earth and all the living creatures in it. Like I said before, I will do good, and hope others will follow my lead. 

When I was a young Activist

I recall a few years back when I was in College. I as many other young college goers had the dream of saving the world. Somehow I thought that if I stood in a corner with a group of people holding up signs, others would realize the war was bad and stop it. I had faith in the human race, I honestly thought we could make the world a better place. I jumped on all the bandwagons, lets promote electric cars, solar power, and organic foods, what I found is that most people don't care. My dreams were shattered as I took a real look at our world and all the corruption in it. A small activist like me, couldn't even make a notable dent, because the big guns had the best steel in the world.

Fastforward to now, reality check. People are terrible, they're selfish, irresponsible and greedy. There is no changing them, the only thing one can do is have faith in living by example. I do good in hopes other will do good, but I'm fully aware it may never happen. I'm green because I trully want to save the world, not because it's trendy. Trust me...there was nothing I liked more than a good burger from In and Out!

Why is this a subject I'm addressing. The other day, as I was driving home a car full of teenagers, I became a part of their conversations. They had such hopes and aspirations for saving the world. They began to dream of a day when someone would invent the electric car, and all our problems would be solved...they may be to young to know this...the electric car was already invented, it roamed the streets for most of the 90's and then GM sold the company that made the electric car batteries to the oild companies, who shut it down. GM took back all the cars, which it leased...no one could actually purchase an electric car, they were destroyed, and now everyone acts like we don't have the technology to make one. I didn't really want to shatter their dreams though. Now we have the hydrogen car...which is gaining popularity, but unlike the electric car, you actually have to go to a pump and pay someone for your fuel. It's all about money.
They moved on to finding ways to end world hunger, all this as they ate their In and out burgers...I wonder if they knew that if they just stopped feeding into this mass meat eating culture, we might actually extinguish world hunger, afterall, 90% of the grain grown in the world goes to feed cattle. why cant we use it to feed those in need. They kept moving on from topic to topic, and in my head I knew exactly what was wrong, how it could be fixed, and I was hightly aware that no one would ever do it. I realized how dreary I really am. These kids had such faith and determination. I wish I could have that back. I want to have faith in the world again, but man, it's hard.