Raw Apple Pie!!

Happy July 3rd everybody!!!



OF COURSE I HAD TO PUT MICKEY AND MINNIE IN HERE SOMEWHERE!!

I am outside with my husband and his parents, enjoying a fire...



and reading Fitnessista's blog (HEHE!).



In celebration of this wonderful holiday weekend, I decided to make something as American as it comes... with a twist. Ani Phyo's RAW APPLE PIE. You can watch her make it on youtube: This is the best pie I've ever made!!! YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS, PEOPLE!!!

The ingredient list is simple (taken from Ani's book, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen):

Crust:
1/4 cup almonds (MY ADDITION TO THE RECIPE LIST)
2 cups almonds (yes, you need 2 different measurements of almonds)
1 t salt (I used sea salt)
2 cups pitted dates

Syrup:
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 orange, peeled and seeded
Splash of water, as needed (I used 1/4 cup)

Filling:
5 cups apples, peeled, seeded, thinly sliced, about 5 or 6 apples (I used 5)
1 cup raisins
2 T ground cinnamon

Directions (these are MY directions, paraphrased from Ani's book):
Finely chop 1/4 c almonds in a food processor, until powdery. Sprinkle in the bottom of a pie pan to coat (this keeps the crust from sticking)
Process the rest of the 'crust' ingredients to form a dough. Press the dough into pie pan, on top of almond powder.
Mix together 'syrup' ingredients in the food processor, and set aside. This should be a thick gel.
Mix the syrup with the 'filling' ingredients in a big bowl, until the apples are fully coated.
Pour this mixture into the pie crust, about 3/4 of the way up. You do have the option to fill the whole pie up just like that, but if you want a nice presentation, arrange the apple slices on the top of the pie in a fan shape.
Refrigerate overnight. Then... eat it. YUM! Here's my process, in pictures:



Here's my crust. See how I pinched the edges? Pretty!!! The almond powder spread around when I was pressing the crust into the pan.



Next, my filling. I poured this into a big mixing bowl, and mixed the apples and whatnot all together.



YUM. Then I poured all of that yummyness into the crust, and arranged the apples on the top.



Here's the finished product! I ate some of the leftover filling... and BOY O BOY IT'S YUMMY! This is going to be my staple dessert for 4th of July... Thanksgiving... Christmas... Yay raw foods!!!

Have a happy 3rd of July!! We'll be watching Red White and Boom soon on the TV! OH I forgot to tell you- we're running a 5K tomorrow... EARLY! We have to be about 40 min from home by 7:40am... ugh!!! Race starts at 8am. I'm going to TRY TO RUN THE WHOLE THING. Now when I say run, I mean jog... slowly. I want to be consistent and try to get my time down to 37 min. Last season my best time was 39 min... so trying to shave off 2 min. might be hard, but I'll be listening to my Disney World rides on my ipod, so it might keep me going! I'll let you know!!

Have a wonderful evening!! Enjoy the fireworks! Namaste.