Apple Tart

Last week when I was at Whole Foods, I glanced over to their bakery and saw so many delicious tarts. The one that caught my eye was their apple tarts, especially since we're now in apple season. All that I had to buy were a couple apples and some apricot jelly. The rest of the ingredients should be something that everyone already has in their cupboard. I recommend purchasing jelly instead of jam because you need something that does not have any seeds or chunks of fruit. If you can only find jam, then it must be heated and their sieved, to remove all the excess fruit.

Also if you don't have time to refrigerate the dough for an hour, it can be rolled out and put into the tart pan right after kneading. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate while slicing up the apples.

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Ingredients
Basic Single Pastry Crust ( From Veganomicon )

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 Tb sugar
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp baking powder
* 1/3 cup cold non-hydrogenated vegan shortening
* 1/4 cup cold water, plus 2 Tb if needed
* 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

For the Filling

* 4 granny smith apples
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 3 Tb vegan butter
* 1/2 cup apricot jelly or warmed jam, sieved to remove all fruit and seeds
* 2 Tb water


Directions
First prepare the crust
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.


2. Add the shortening by the teaspoon, but you don't need to be precise about this. You just want to add it in small chunks in three batches and then cut it into flour with each additional. Cut the shortening in until the dough in crumbly and pebbly.


3. Combine the vinegar with 1/4 cup of the water. Add the mixture to the dough in three batches, gently mixing it into the dough with a fork, until the dough holds together when pinched. If need be, add up to 2 tablespoons more water.


4. Gather the dough into a ball and knead gently a few times, just until it holds together. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour, then flatten the ball into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

5. When ready to roll out the crust, place a large piece of baking parchment on your work surface. Unwrap the dough and place it on the parchment. Sprinkle your rolling pin with flour and roll the dough into a 12 inch circle. It may slip around a bit from the parchment, but that's okay, just work steadily and gently. Your crust is now ready to use.


6. Lift the parchment and flip the crust into a pie plate. Tuck in and trim the edges. Refrigerate while you make your filling.


Preheat oven to 400 F

7. Peel the apples and cut them in half through the stem. Remove the stems and cores with a sharp knife and a melon baller.


8. Slice the apples crosswise in 1/4-inch thick slices. Then arrange the apple slices on top, in concentric circles. Sprinkle with the 1/4 cup of sugar and drop little pieces of butter over the top of the tart.


9. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the edges of the apples begin to brown. Rotate once halfway through cooking.


10. When the tart's done, heat the apricot jelly together with the water and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture.Allow to cool before serving. Can be served warm or at room temperature.



On another note, there's a pumpkin festival going on this weekend at my old university. They raise them all year long and then sell them for about $5 each in mid October. So many pumpkin..really pretty!

Vegetable Pot Pie

It's so gloomy out today and with the cold weather, more comfort food was needed. I've never eaten pot pie before but it's one of my boyfriend's favorite meals so I figured I'd give it a go and see if I liked it as well.

I love shepard pie and this reminded me a lot of that, except a fancier version because of the crust. The filling was really good but I think next time I might add a dash of cayenne and a teaspoon of sage. I was going to add cannellini beans to the filling but after making the filling I realized that it was too much already and I wasn't sure if the pie dish could hold the added beans.

I made two crusts, one for the bottom and another on top but because my dish is so deep, it was really hard to get the bottom crust out and next time I might leave that out. So unless you're using a little personal sized casserole dish or a shallow pie dish, I would leave the bottom crust out.

I've been searching for a meal to take with me to my aunt's house for Christmas and I think this one might be it. Really comforting and something that would definitely impress guests.

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Ingredients
Filling

* 1 Tb extra virgin olive oil
* 1 cup diced carrots
* 1 yellow onion, diced
* 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
* 1 russet potato, peeled and diced
* 1 cup frozen peas
* 1/3 cup all purpose flour
* 1 3/4 cups Faux Chicken Broth ( such as Better than Bouillon ) or vegetable broth
* 2/3 cup heavy soy cream or cashew cream
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, minced
* Pie Crust, bought or homemade( Recipe Below )

Crust ( Recipe from Veganomicon )
Makes 1 pie crust ( Make 2 crusts if you want a top and bottom crust )

* 2 cups all purpose flour, or 1 cup each whole wheat and all purpose
* 2 tsp sugar
* 1 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 cup cold non-hydrogenated vegan shortening
* 1/2 to 3/4 cup cold water
* 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Have a 3 quart or oval deep dish ( 9 1/2 x 11 x 2 1/2 inch minimum ) casserole ready.

Directions

Prepare the crust first
1. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.


2. Add the shortening by the tablespoon, in small chunks, and cut it into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives held together. Cut in the shortening until the mixture is crumbly.


3. Pour 3/4 cup of cold water into a small bowl and toss in a few ice cubes. Measure out 1/2 cup of ice water and stir the vinegar into it. Add the vinegared water to the dough in three batches, gently mixing it in dough with a fork, until the dough holds together when pinched. If need be, add up to 1/4 cup more water, a tablespoon at a time until all the dry ingredients are moistened and a firm dough is formed.


4. Gently press the dough into a ball. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour, then roll the dough out to a shape of the casserole dish you'll be using but roughly 2 to 3 inches larger.


5. Place baking parchment or waxed paper on a cutting board and roll the dough from the rolling pin direction onto the paper. Cover the entire thing with plastic wrap or wrap in more waxed paper, and refrigerate while making the filling.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

To Make the Filling
6. Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium heat and add olive oil. Add onion and carrot and cook stirring occasionally until onions are translucent, about 4 minutes.


7. Add potatoes and mushrooms and cook for 6 more minutes, stirring occasionally.


8. Stir flour over vegetables and stir to coat evenly. Cook one more minute.


9. Slowly add the broth and the milk and stir constantly until everything is smooth. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.


10. Turn off heat and add peas and parsley and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


11. Remove the piecrust dough from the fridge. Ladle the filling into the casserole dish.


12. Top with the crust, pressing the edges down lightly and leaving about 1 1/2 inch of dough hanging over the sides of the dish ( trim any excess dough beyond the 1 1/2 inches with kitchen scissors or a sharp knife ). Form a raised edge by turning or rolling up the dough at the edges of the casserole dish. Use a fork to crimp these edges, and poke a few holes with that fork onto the top of the crust, to allow steam to escape.


13. Place in the preheated oven; this pie tendes to bubble and gravy could spill, so it's a good idea to place a large, rimmed baking sheet on the rack beneath it. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is lightly browned and flaky. If you like, brush the top with a little soy milk once or twice during the baking, for a light sheen on the crust.

14. Allow the pie to cool at least 10 minutes before serving; the filling will be boiling hot straight out of the oven.

Blog Action Day - Water

As I posted earlier, Blog Action Day is the one day of the year, October 15th, when bloggers from all around the world post about one important topic that helps to start a global discussion and hopefully results in people taking action and making changes. This years topic is WATER. For my part, I'd like to throw many different statistics at you, so you can have a better feel at how valuable and scarce our water supply is. I'll also include changes that we can make to help reduce our water usage.

( Please click picture for a larger image if having trouble reading )






So going with that, it says that 70% of our freshwater ( which remember is only 2.5% of the world's total water ) is used on agriculture. Now I know most of you are vegan, like myself, but do you actually know how much water it takes to produce a slab of meat?

1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of beef requires 1,799 gallons ( 6810 liters ) of water


1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of chicken requires 468 gallons ( 1,773 liters ) of water


1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of goat requires 127 gallons ( 480 liters ) of water


1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of pork requires 576 gallons ( 2,182 liters ) of water


1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of sheep requires 731 gallons ( 2,769 liters ) of water


Being vegan I always knew that raising an animal took not only a lot of food but also a lot of water but I never thought about the second category that uses the most freshwater and that is industrial.


Did you know that it takes an estimated 39,090 gallons of water to make a car. It's unclear if that includes the more 2,000 gallons used to make its tires--each tire takes 518 gallons to make.


It takes around 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce just one pair of regular ol' blue jeans.


Not as bad as jeans, it still takes a whopping 400 gallons of water to grow the cotton required for an ordinary cotton shirt.


1 ton of cement requires 1,360 gallons of water.


This irony shouldn't be lost on anyone: it takes 1.85 gallons of water to manufacture the plastic for the bottle in the average commercial bottle of water!

And finally the remaining freshwater that is left is given to homes and cities. Follow this link helps you to figure out just about how much water you are using per day in your home.

I was shocked to learn that I am using about 1,000 gallons of water per day!

So why care? Did you know that about 1.8 billion people don't have access to clean water. Every year 3.6 million people die from water borne illness. It is said if we keep using water they way we are, clean water can become the scarcest resource of the 21st century. We need to make a change and make more of an effort to help reduce our water consumption.

Here are a few ideas of ways you can help cut down on your water usage at home...

1. Consider cutting a little water usage from your morning routine. Keeping a timer in your bathroom will remind you to wrap up and get out of the shower faster.


2. If a home renovation is in the cards, splurge on low-flow and water-efficient appliances they’ll save you money in the long-run. A front-loading washing machine, for example, uses 40-60% less water than top-loading machines.


3. A new toilet can save you water too, but if you can’t install a low-flow toilet, reduce the amount of water used by placing a jar or other closed container full of water into your toilet tank.


4. Install low-flow shower heads and sink spigots, which can both be purchased at your local hardware store, or contact your water utility company to find out if they distribute them for free.


5. When running the dishwasher, make sure it’s full to get the maximum use per drop. There’s no need to pre-rinse, since most of today’s models can handle any kind of grime.


6. Check for–and hastily repair– leaky pipes and faucets. The tiniest leak has far greater impact than you’d think.


7. Don’t use your sinks and drains as trash cans, and dispose of oil and other toxic materials properly. Just one gallon of oil reaching the sewer can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water.


8. Reduce water use in your own yard: Try collecting rainwater by placing containers at the end of each gutter. It’s perfect for watering your garden; water your lawn or garden in the morning or the evening when the water will evaporate less rapidly, and limit pesticide use, as they’ll eventually be carried into our freshwater supply by runoff.


9. Take the easy way out and hit the car wash. A car wash typically uses about 32 gallons of water per vehicle, but the EPA estimates that washing it yourself can use up to 500 gallons of water.


10. Take advantage of recreation opportunities on local lakes and rivers, and learn about the wildlife they support. It will help you understand what we could lose if we don’t manage our water wisely.

I got all my info from these websites :
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/embedded-water/

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-101-interactive/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/how-many-gallons-of-water.php

http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/reduce-water-money/