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April 25, 2010

Dairy Free - Lemon, Pinneapple, and Mango Creme Pie

I have been thinking about lemon meringue pie, I used to love it. It is one of my favorite flavors. I had planned on making one yesterday and started looking for alternatives for a healthier version. Lemon Meringue Pie really is just sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice. The Meringue is egg whites and sugar. I really don't want to eat egg whites or that much sugar. Even one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks I have asked for 1½ cups of sugar for the filling and 1/2 cup + 1 tsp cornstarch. I need to change that and get the same or similar flavors. I used a little honey and agave, but then there is the volume to make up so I added more fruit. Before you know it, I had a tropical fruit pie. This is also a raw food, there wasn't any cooking except to dissolve the agar powder.



Crust

I made the crust with 1½ cups raw almonds soaked for an hour or more and 6 medjool dates and about a tablespoon of agave. Blend almonds, dates, and agave together in food processor until there is a mold-able texture. Sprinkle coconut shreds or flakes on the bottom of a pie plate and mold into a crust in the pie pan.

Filling

1 cup raw cashews soaked for an hour or more
3/4 cup coconut milk, more or less depending on texture
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice and zest from two lemons
A small pineapple chopped, chop about 1 cup into bite size and set aside
2 mangos, 1 for the blender, 1 diced into bite size pieces and set aside with pineapple
2 TB Local Honey, or to taste
1 TB Agar powder dissolved in 1 cup boiling water, cooled slightly

Put all the ingredients above in the blender except the chunks of pineapple and mango and the dissolved Agar powder. Puree until smooth and then add to chunks of fruit in large bowl, stir in dissolved Agar. Pour into pie crust. The pie filling will set in a very short time in the refrigerator.

Tofu Whipped Topping
"The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook," page 101

1 cup soft tofu
1/4 cup oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 TB honey, preferably local
1 TB lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla  (I used fresh vanilla bean, scrape insides)
dash of salt

Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping sides of blender. Whip a little just before serving if needed.

This pie is very similar to our daily smoothie, blended fruit. The addition of the raw cashews and almonds add fiber and protein. This is a meal, not just dessert. We had it for breakfast this morning.

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