Tag Archives: vegan

Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

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Strawberry rhubarb in back and strawberry apple in front!

The pie filling recipe came from Post Punk Kitchen.

Ingredients

Crust:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ cup or cold vegan stick butter/margarine, cut into ¼ inch cubes
½ cup vegan shorting , cut into ¼ inch cubes
3-5 tablespoons ice cold water
3 tablespoons cold vodka

Filling:
3 cups rhubarb, sliced 1/2 inch thick
4 cups strawberries, fresh or frozen (see tips page XX), sliced 1/4 inch thick
2/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup vegan margarine, melted (or canola oil)

Alternate Topping (which I think might be better as it won’t get as soggy):
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup vegan margarine, melted

Process

Crust:
Mix dry ingredients.
Cut in butter and margarine, until the mixture is like coarse sand.
Add ½ of the liquids and toss with hands.
Add ½ of the liquids and toss with hands.
Press into bottom of bowl. Break up. Press again.
Divide in ½ with your spatula.
Wrap each half in plastic wrap as a disc.
Place in refrigerator for 1 hour to 3 days.
Lay out a large piece of parchment paper (12×12).
Place disc in center.
Cover with a second 12×12 piece of parchment.
Roll dough out from the center until it reaches the edges of the parchment.
Remove top sheet, flip dough into pie pan, remove bottom sheet, and press into pan.
Trim, tuck, and press edges as needed.

Filling:
Combine all of the filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Fill crust.

Topping:
Combine all dry ingredients for the topping.
Drizzle in the margarine and use your fingers to swish around the mixture until crumbs form.
Sprinkle over filling.

Cover pie loosely with foil. Bake at 425* for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes. Crumbs should be browning, along with edges, and pie “sauce” bubbling. Allow to cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Oh Biscuits, Vegan Biscuits!

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(I didn’t take a bite out of this biscuit… it just flaked off, but I would have!)

I love biscuits. I love them with jam and with butter and with gravy and plain and with strawberries spooned over the top. Yum. I don’t really love the work involved with yeast biscuits, and I was having trouble finding a good vegan biscuit recipe that I really loved. This is it! It came from the Minimalist Baker website, and I altered it very very little.

Ingredients
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons sea salt
8 tablespoon non-dairy, unsalted butter (I used Earth Balance)
2 cup unsweetened soy (or other non-dairy) milk + 1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions
Preheat oven to 450*

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add cold butter and use fingers or a pastry cutter to combine the two until only small pieces remain (I’ll be honest, this time, I just gently warmed the butter and mixed it into the wet ingredients instead).

Slowly add the milk mixture to a good biscuit texture. I used it all. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, dust the top with a bit of flour and then very gently turn the dough over on itself 5-6 times – hardly kneading. Flatten to about an inch in height.

Use a biscuit cutter or a similar-shape object with sharp edges (I used a Pampered Chef pocket sandwich maker) to cut biscuits. Place on your baking sheet, making sure they just touch. This part is important! Reform the dough as needed, trying not to kneed, and continue to cut. This made about 12 large biscuits.

You can brush the tops with a bit more of melted non-dairy butter, if you like. I didn’t, because I was out of the butter. Press a small divot in the center using fingers. The Minimalist Baker says this will help them rise more evenly, and who am I to argue!

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until fluffy and slightly golden brown. Eat while warm if you can!

Heels, Health, and Humanity: Finding Acceptable Vegan Shoes

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I’ve posted about this before, and I’ve certainly complained about it on Twitter fairly constantly recently, but vegan shoes are tough. Don’t get me wrong, there are a decent number of synthetic shoes out there, and a smaller, but still significant, number of shoes that are truly vegan. However, as soon as you start looking for specific types of shoes, it gets complicated.

Accidentally vegan shoes tend to be very inexpensive, and meant for occasional “fun” wear. They are trendy and funky. They tend toward either super high heels and punchy colors or canvas flats and laces (often also with punchy colors). The other frequent suspect in materials is rubber. Not very good for dressing up.

Purposefully vegan shoes are more pricey (often considerably) more pricey, and pretty limited in brands that make them. Some of the brands make only canvas or rubber shoes that can be worn in limited situations. A few (think Olsenhaus, Novacas, and Cri de Coeur) are more dressy (and pricey) but tend toward the funky and the very high heel. Many of them are UK based and not particularly easy to aquire out of Europe.

Once you take that small and very specific selection and add in specific size issues (wide feet, unusual sizes), or health/comfort issues (bunions, RA, heel spurs), you are left with almost no choices.

My rheumatologist is of the opinion that the welfare of the joints in my feet is most important. And, since I know that the prescription medications I take were tested with animals at some point, I can’t get too holier than thou about all of that.

A friend who is more eco focused than animal rights focused tells me that the manufacturing process for vegan shoes may be more problematic on the environment than leather. I can’t decide how to evaluate that fairly, given the multiple stages of leather production.

Another friend is very interested in human rights and less focused on animal rights. She believes that the most important factor is the working conditions of the individuals involved in the shoe production. The fact that most accidentally vegan shoes are made in China and there are such issues with working conditions in many factories there makes that a problem, as well.

I’m currently back on the market for some plain black pumps and I think I’ve spent hours looking online and reading reviews. Because I have feet that are wide in front and narrow in the back and arthritic, it’s a tough combination with veganism. I’ve already ordered and returned two pairs, and am guessing it will take another two or three at least before I find one that works. Oy.

What are your favorite shoe brands or places to shop?