Strawberry Rhubarb Birthday Pie

Happy Birthday Kara! I have always had trouble with pie crust and it is nearly impossible to find a good vegan frozen one (and who would want to anyways??). I finally found a good, easy recipe that does not require cutting margarine into ice water and then praying the heat from your hands doesn't ruin it while you're rolling it out. Something that is cool about this pie crust recipe is that you can just pour all the ingredients in the pie plate and mix them in there- no bowls to clean! I did make extra crust and roll it out for the top, but this recipe is just for the bottom crust. If you want to make extra crust for the top, just double the recipe.

Crust

• 1.5 cups all purpose four
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons soy milk (I bet almond milk would be really good!)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
   
2. Put all ingredients in pie plate
3. Mix
4. Use your fingers to push out from the center layering the crust along the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Poke holes in it with a fork (so it doesn't bubble up when you bake it)
5. Bake for 15 minutes and then use in your favorite recipe.

Filling

• 3 cups strawberries (cut into bite sized pieces)
  
• 3 cups rhubarb (also cut into bite sized pieces)
• 1/4 cup sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like your pie- Kara likes a sort of tart rhubarb pie, so I did not add a lot of sugar)
  
• 2 Tablespoons flour
  

1. If you are using fresh ingredients, just mix them together in a bowl and add to pie crust
2. If you are using frozen ingredients, add them to a saucepan and warm them up over high heat. Make sure to mix the flour in with some cold water before adding it so it doesn't clump. Stir over medium high heat until the liquid thickens up. Otherwise you end up with soggy pie. And no one wants soggy pie.

Once you have added the filling to the crust, cover with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Take the foil off and bake for another 10-15 minute until it is all bubbly.

Spinach Corn Chili Mac

What do you do with the spinach you purchased with the intention of eating more salads (and is now about to go bad in your fridge)? You wilt it and put it in chili mac!

• 2 cups elbow macaroni
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 15-ounce can tomato sauce
  
• 1 1/2 cups water
  
• 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder (more or less depending on how you like it)
  
• 1 tablespoon cumin
  
• 10 ounces frozen corn kernels
  
• 16-ounce can pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 5 cups washed and chopped spinach
  
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook the macaroni
   
2. Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until they are soft.
   
3. Wilt the spinach with the onion and garlic. Wilting greens is very easy- you just throw them in a sauté pan and stir them around until they wilt. Easy Peasy.
   
4. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir and eat!

Amount Per Serving (8 servings)

Calories 344
Calories from Fat 31
Total Fat 3.4g
Saturated Fat 0.5g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 319mg
Total Carbohydrates 63.4g
Dietary Fiber 12.2g
Sugars 5.9g
Protein 18.1g

The very best lasagna ever

I'm not going to lie- this lasagna was hard work. Luckily, my good buddy Christian helped! Both of our spouses had to work on a Saturday, so we decided they would enjoy a good home cooked meal when they got home. It was also a good excuse to get the dogs together in the backyard for a couple hours while we cooked!

• 10 tomatoes, peeled (the easiest way to peel tomatoes is to cut out the stem and put them in boiling water for 30 seconds- 1 minute. Then dunk them in ice water so you can handle them- the peel should come right off!)
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• fresh basil, thyme, and oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• mushrooms
• red pepper
• whatever veggies you want to add
• cooked lasagna noodles- enough to make 3 layers in your casserole dish. I think we used about 12
• Vegan mozzarella cheese (we used a package and a half of Daiya cheese)
  

Sauce: This was the part that took the longest. We wanted to make a sauce from scratch- and man, it was totally worth it!

1. Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil until they are soft and a little brown.
2. Add the balsamic vinegar and reduce down while you are peeling the tomatoes
3. Put the peeled tomatoes in a bowl. Use a potato masher to mash the tomatoes a little- there can still be big chunks- we're going to blend it all together in a bit
4. Add the tomatoes and fresh herbs to the saute. At this point you want to let it all reduce together for as long as you have- we let it all boil together for about 2 hours- it made the house smell AMAZING.
5. After the sauce has boiled for as long as you want it, use an immersion blender to blend everything so it's smooth- its fine if there are some chunks.
6. Add the mushrooms, peppers, and whatever veggies you want to add. Sauce is done and delicious
   

PUTTING THE LASAGNA TOGETHER

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Put one layer of sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish
3. cover this layer with noodles
4. Add another layer of sauce, followed by a layer of cheese, and then a layer of noodles.
5. Repeat. End with a layer of sauce covered in a layer of cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10 minutes more. Top with remaining fresh herbs right before serving. ENJOY!