Pie is what I'm made of

So, I live in Central New Jersey. Fall is now in full swing and the leaves are beginning to turn pretty colors on the trees and I was starting to work boots into my shoe rotation, a little plaid time, eating some pumpkin... you know, Fall Stuff. That's why I was so pissed when we got two or three inches of wet heavy snow yesterday. It just rode into town and rode out just like it came in, knocked over some trees, got everyone's feet wet, pissed everyone off like a new permanent substitute lunch lady who lays down the law her first day by sending some poor kid to the principal's office for stealing a few tots off his neighbor's tray. What a way to begin you're long-awaited and hard-earned weekend. Despite the treacherous conditions, one must go to great lengths for great pie, and for me, great pie begins in Princeton, were all the good stores are. I take my rickety old honda for its first seasonal spin in the snow, and break her in right during this pie journey. By the time I return home, my town is completely snow covered and everyone is thoroughly pissed that their Halloween plans are going to be tainted by the slush and sleet. But what's there to be done? Pie. I dust off my rolling pin, only to redust it with flour, and begin a hard day's work.

So as you all know by now, I have a new pie book to dig into and am ever so excited to make 10 of each recipe. I whip up a quick lunch and go to town. I select first an apple pie, since it's classic, and I have 25 apples in my fridge to use up, and a speedy new apple peeler I adore. But I opted for the Olive Oil Crust instead of a buttery crust, because I've never made one before, and because I was out of Earth Balance. Resourcefulness at its best!

Did I mention cheesecake is my favorite thing ever? Or that I'm vegan? Oh.. but you read my last post, and know all about how I can make vegan cheescakes now, right? In any case, the news never really gets old, so rejoice now, for the first time or twenty-first. I know I would. This baby is a banana-kahlua chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust. Thanks, Newman's Own! for the variety of vegan cookies that I now have in my pantry awaiting their ultimate purpose, becoming cheesecake crusts.

Banoffee Pie! When I went to London there was such a huge varitey of banoffee flavored things! It's a simple combo of banana and toffee (and you know I'm a fan of both of these) that is often served in pudding or trifle form. After making the toffee, I wasn't exactly in the mood to make vegan cool whip from scratch. I needed banoffee pie now! Luckily I had some soyatoo I could whip up and spread on. Semi-homemade style.

Hmm... which pie to slice first? Since we decided to hoof it to a halloween party despite the slush, I decided I'd better not come without pie if I had three sitting in my apartment. So I figured the apple pie would be universally well-received, and I was right! It was almost gone by the time we left.
Apple pie is so awesome...
I made a green-bean casserole for dinner. I figured we deserved it because winter was cheating and inconveniencing us early, so we deserved a wintery, comforting, bad-for-you casserole. And we had just that. It's gotta be beans and greens for a week after a diet-breaking day like yesterday, but it was totally worth it.