May 29th

Tonight is my final family dinner for this incredible month of veganism (don’t worry, it won’t be my last!) and to celebrate I made a rustic triple berry pie. Maybe I should tell you about dinner first, but who doesn’t want to start with dessert? I adapted a recipe from a Rachael Ray magazine and turned it vegan and delicious. The pie was such a huge hit – the entire thing went, which never happens with pies at my grandma’s on Sunday dinners. I guess there’s just something magical about home-cooked berry pies, with that sweet scent wafting out through the open windows on the breeze, welcoming everyone in to dinner...Or we were all hungry. One or the other.

Triple Berry Pie
3 containers blackberries (about 3 ½ cups)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup quick-cooking tapioca
The juice of 1 lemon
2 cups quartered strawberries
1 container blueberries (about 1 ¼ cups)
1 ½ cups flour
¼ tsp salt
8 tbsp vegan shortening, plus 2 tbsp cut into small cubes
¼ cup ice water (more as needed)

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup blackberries, ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup tapioca, and lemon juice. Mash using a pastry cutter. Stir in remaining blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and ¾ cup sugar. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl whisk together flour and salt. Add 8 tbsp vegan shortening and cut in with a pastry cutter till crumbly. Drizzle ice water over flour mixture and stir until dough stays together but isn’t wet. Add more water if needed, a teaspoon at a time, until you reach desired consistency.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 13 inches round. Place the dough over the pie plate and press dough gently into dish edge to eliminate air pockets.

Pour berry mixture and juices into the pie shell. Dot the top with remaining 2 tbsp vegan shortening. Gently fold and pleat the overhanging dough over the berries – no fancy fluting here. Sprinkle the dough with a little bit of sugar if you like. Place the pie plate over a baking sheet (to catch any bubbling juices) and place in the over. Bake for about an hour (I found 52 minutes was perfect) and let cool. Serve with soy ice cream!

Now that you know what we had for dinner, maybe you’re thinking, well, why do I even want to know what she ate for dinner? What could possibly compare? Well, the answer is: my mom’s delicious Mediterranean-inspired salads and roasted potatoes. Her dinner was incredible – and I’m so thankful she made a vegan version of her chicken couscous salad for me. Thank you Mom! She made me the couscous salad with veggie broth and used agave syrup instead of honey in the carrot-coriander slaw – she even used agave in the non-vegan dish! And her roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes were without a doubt the most delicious potatoes I’ve ever eaten. She’s becoming quite the vegan chef! Tonight’s dinner was so good. I think as we get more and more comfortable cooking like this, our dinners just get better and better.