Monthly Archives: November 2013

Love Feasts

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Berry Pie, Original Pies, Summer Fruit Pie

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Thanksgiving is tomorrow! (As if you didn’t know…) It’s always been my favorite holiday, and not only because it’s practically synonymous with pie. I’m going to be trying my hand at two new recipes from Ken’s book later this afternoon; Jellied Cranberry-Pecan Pie and Triple-Layer Pumpkin Chocolate Pie. I’ll be sure to post pictures soon.

Ken also just posted a recipe for Maple Pumpkin Pie on his blog, so make sure to check that out if you’re planning on making a pumpkin pie for tomorrow’s feast but haven’t yet settled on a recipe. Oh, and if you’re baking Thanksgiving pies of any sort, leave a comment and let me know what you’re making!

I wanted to share some pictures from my last “holiday weekend” back in early September. We still had lots of summer visitors over Labor Day, which was fantastic. IMG_1539

Even my dad came out for his first visit to Simi Valley! Our Labor Day weekend activities included hiking, sea kayaking, and mini golfing. The weather was beautiful and the views from the mountaintops were too.

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Dad was able to share some of his thoughts at our church service on Sunday morning, on praise, joy, and creation. Here’s a really cool picture a friend drew during his talk  which sums it all up. I am thankful to have a dad who always has uplifting thoughts to share and who is focused on things like love, beauty, and peace. In fact, the title of my blog was his idea. Snuck “peace” right in there.

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(It’s Sweeny. Not Sweeney. Just for the record.)

On Sunday evening of Labor Day Weekend, before Maggie and Sara and Mike were leaving for the airport, we ended up cooking quite a feast and it felt more like a summery Thanksgiving than anything else. We were feeling particularly thankful for all our blessings. Maggie is vegan and often uses the phrase “vegan love feast” to describe a particularly joyful, delicious meal. Our feast that night was mostly vegan…except for all the grilled chicken we made for all the non-vegans who were partaking. But it was still a love feast.

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I made a pluot-blueberry pie filling, just like I had made for Bear Lard Pie, but obviously didn’t use bear lard in the crust. That would have really killed the whole vegan thing. No butter, either.

Ruth and Bethany came over and Bethany was so helpful with her brilliant pie-stirring skills.

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I even glazed the pie with coconut almond milk, which was very vegan of me.

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While the pie baked, Obi and Bethany passed the time by striking similar poses on the couch.

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IMG_1591Black-Eyed Pea Curry, Raw Pad Thai, and Edamame Hummus. Yum!

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I could literally compile an entire photo album of pictures of dogs (mainly Obi) looking longingly at my pies.

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IMG_1610Strawberry coconut milk ice cream, anyone?

Enjoy your love feasts tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!

Better Late Than Never…

26 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Apple Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie

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I made another round of Pies-in-Jars today!

Due to certain circumstances, some of which are explained in this post (the rest can be chalked up to the fact that I take a long time to get around to doing things), I hadn’t yet been able to send my official domestic and international testers their Pies-in-Jars that I’d promised them back in April.

But thanks to my school’s week-long Thanksgiving break (for which I am truly, deeply, thankful) I was able to bake, box, and ship the belated little goodies this morning. Phew!

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(I should probably mention that we didn’t get a new dog. Rags is just visiting for the holiday week while his mom and dad celebrate their first anniversary in Cancun. The best things about Rags are how much he loves to cuddle and how much he looks like a stuffed animal. Or a mop, come to think of it.)

I used the Five-Spice Pear-Apple Pie recipe from Pie and then just divided it up into my little jars…I ended up with enough filling to make nine. I had leftover crumb topping and used just slightly less than two single pie crusts.

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Here’s what the pies looked like straight out of the oven. Super tall and bubbly! They settled down some within a minute or two of resting. I got the lids on, no problem, and tried my best to wipe the sticky off the sides.

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Oh. Oops. It’s supposed to be Pear-Apple Pie…meh.

photo-13And now, most of these jars are winging their way through the postal offices of the country/world. We await news of their arrival and sincerely hope that they have smooth landings. Stay tuned!

Bear Lard Pie

18 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by in Berry Pie, Original Pies, Summer Fruit Pie

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The story continues at the end of August. (We’re catching up, slowly, we are.) It was a Sunday. I flew back home from a trip to Pennsylvania and New Jersey and landed at about one in the afternoon, California time. I already had friends in town; they’d beat me. About an hour later, Emily and I were heading three hours into the desert to pick up Matt, Paul, and Amanda; they’d finished hiking the John Muir trail the day before. Destination: Lone Pine.

(This is Emily. We took her to the Pacific Ocean for the first time later in the week, and she was really cute about it.)

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We drove through some incredibly boring stretches where we said to ourselves why would anyone live here? And we also saw a farm proudly selling multiple kinds of jerky, stunning red rock cliffs, and a desert thunderstorm, which was eerily beautiful.

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Everyone was tired when we got home. The washing machine got to work, and in the meanwhile there was a funny period of time where everyone wore Levi’s clothes.

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Along with showers, clean clothes, and sleep, the hikers needed one more thing to complete their recovery process: food. Pie.

To go along with the wilderness theme we’ve got going on here, I had recently acquired a jar of bear lard from Northern California. I won’t get into the nitty gritty details…in fact, I don’t even know them. Just know that if someone asks you, hypothetically, if you would use bear lard in a pie crust, and you say yes, you can safely expect that the situation won’t be hypothetical for long.

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I hadn’t made lard pie pastry before, due mainly to the fact that I don’t really trust whatever kind of lard can be bought at the supermarket.

I guess that kind of mentality is exactly how I end up with products made from bears.

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Not to be gross, but the smell of the stuff when I opened the lid of the jar was a bit disconcerting. Like, yeah. It smelled strongly like an animal. Which I suppose makes sense. I made everyone else smell it, and I couldn’t get a consensus on whether or not to use based on smell alone. But, lest this bear die in vain, I decided I needed to carry on. I’m glad I did. Not only did the smell and taste disappear entirely once the pie was baked, but the crust was incredibly soft and flaky. Quite different from the results of using butter, but in a very pleasant way.

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I didn’t use a recipe for the filling in this pie; I had lots of pluots from my in-laws’ tree (along with bear, another truly Californian ingredient) and mixed them with blueberries.

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I wish my back patio could always look like this.

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Love in a Crust

07 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

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Hi friends.

November makes me happy because I’ve been overhearing a lot about giving and gratitude and looking for ways to share what we have with others. That’s really wonderful. Let’s keep it up all year long! 

I haven’t posted in a little while, as you may have noticed, but I have a better-than-average excuse. About a month ago, a friend asked me to put together a small “book” about pie in order to help raise money at a fundraiser for this amazing organization, the Christadelphian Meal-a-Day Fund of the Americas (heretofore referred to as Meal-a-Day). Meal-a-Day focuses on “doing good works in the name of Jesus” and is involved in many projects throughout the Western Hemisphere. (Click here to find out more.) In particular, this fundraiser will benefit a primary school in Haiti which is completely funded by Meal-a-Day.

Here are a few things you may not know about education in Haiti. (I didn’t.)

Only 67% of primary school age children are enrolled in a school.

Only about 53% of Haitians are literate.

90% of schools are international private schools or are run by churches. (That means only 10% are public.) Many children never have the opportunity to attend school at all. And, of course, the situation has only declined in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.

“Currently, about 200 preschool-6th grade students attend this primary school. This fundraiser will aid the school is many ways: providing salaries for teachers, feeding the students a nutritious meal each day (usually the only daily meal they regularly receive), keeping the lights on longer, and equipping the school with the supplies and resources to continue to grow as a beacon of hope in the community. The school is open to students in the community. Although not required, about 70% of the school’s students go to the church on Sunday. The school is becoming a well recognized place of spiritual refuge that educates and empowers local children, who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to get an education.”

Since I truly believe that making pie is all about sharing anyway, I came up with a little book about how to make pie-it’s got lots of tips and tricks that I’ve heard or read, pictures of some pies I’ve baked, and a completely original recipe for Caramel Apple Cider Pie. All proceeds will go towards the primary school in Haiti. If you don’t live in New Jersey or aren’t available on the 16th of November, you might not be able to attend. That’s alright (however, you’re going to miss out on some great homemade pie that I happen to know will be ending the dinner. And no, I’m not making said pies and flying them across the country. But there will be great pie, all the same.) If you are interested in making a donation to Meal-a-Day, I would be SO happy to say thank you by sending you a copy of “Love in a Crust” (that’s the working title, at least.) I’ll post more information when the book(lets? I still don’t know what to call them) are formatted and ready to go, and November 16th has come and gone. For now, if you could leave a comment letting me know you’re interested, I’ll have a better idea of how many copies to print. And I will be much obliged.

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For those of you who actually live in New Jersey, please support the “Help for Haiti Banquet” on Saturday, November 16th. The banquet will take place from 5:00pm to 7:30pm at 322 South Morris St., Randolph, NJ 07869. The evening will include dinner, musical performances, and a presentation about the wonderful progress the Christadelphian Meal-a-Day Fund has seen in the Haitian school and ecclesia over the last 3 years. All are welcome to attend. Tickets will be $10 per person. All proceeds will go to Christadelphian Meal-A-Day Fund of the Americas.