Pie and Sauce

THE PIE

For the crust:

You really need a food processor. I do mine in the Vita Mix, but it doesn't appreciate it.

in the evening soak 2c of raw almonds in plenty of fresh water. In the morning, drain them and get rid of any skins that are easily removed. Process them with about 6 dates, pinches of cinnamon and nutmeg and a spoonful of vanilla. It should be moist and crumbly. Mix in by hand, 1/2c of almond meal and press it into a pie plate. These nut-based crusts are very rich and heavy so press it in as absolutely thinly as possible.

For the filling:

In a sauce pan cook up 2 bags of frozen raspberries. You may need to add a tiny bit of water. When they are nice and hot I add 4T of Dr. Bernard Jensen's gelatin. I add this anytime to anything I can. Put it all in the blender and puree.

We sliced up about 2lbs of little apples, just removing the core and stem, but not peeling them. Slice them thinly so that they will cook more easily. Fill up your pie crust with them. Pour the raspberry/gelatin puree over the apples.

Bake for 45min at 325. You might need to cover it with foil at the end so that you don't burn the top, but the apples get nice and soft.

This pie brought up some interesting thoughts for me. The apples we used weren't very sweet and hence the pie wasn't very sweet. After the first couple bites I found myself thinking, "I should've added a little raw honey or maple syrup". Then I realized how crazy it is that my taste buds no longer find apples and raspberries sweet enough! I also observed that the pie actually felt like a positive component of the meal instead of this detrimental ending that I would need to prevent myself from having more of 2 hours later. My suggestion is that if eating Paleo is new to you and your family and you are trying to get comfortable with it and feel happy about it, check the sweetness of your apples. If they are a little bit tart you might add some honey to the raspberry puree.

The pie was also good with coconut milk poured over it!

Sauce:

I used the other bag of apples we had to make a sauce. These apples were pretty ugly, wrinkled and lumpy. No way I was getting my kids to eat them as is. I have made gallons of apple sauce the proper way in my day using an ancient food mill and then canning it. Too busy now, so all I did was take out the core and stem and throw them in a big pot. I added a bag of frozen strawberries and some cinnamon. I also had to add a little water because the apples were pretty dry. I cooked everything until the apples were pretty soft and then poured the whole thing into the blender, added my 4T of gelatin, and blended it up. It was pretty and pink and I sprinkled on some dried coconut and some chopped macadamia nuts. Good warm or cold.