Tables and Chairs

Last night, in a fit of despondency, I dragged Lady to Ikea. Actually, only I was despondent. She was just hungry.

The end result was a veritable cornucopia of new furnitures. Lady got herself some much needed bookshelves and a cabinet that hangs on the wall (for books and curios). I came away with a table for my sewing things (so I can stop sewing on the kitchen table), an iron (so I can stop ironing on the coffee table), and some boxes for my notions (so I can stop leaving pinking shears on the couch and seam rippers on the floor). Pictures:










In addition, this is the pie I made last week for Marie's birthday:




Chocolate Pomegranate with fresh berries. It's (mostly) Vegan (except for 3 tablespoons of milk in the crust, which can be subbed out with soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, or whatever your favorite milk substitute happens to be).

The recipe is one of my staples, as it is infinitely variable based on what kind of chocolate flavor combinations you like. You could have chocolate-amaretto, chocolate orange (garnished with mandarin orange slices, perhaps), mocha (with vanilla ice cream on top), chocolate-cinnamon. It looks and slices like a French Silk pie, but is in fact about 100 times more chocolately and not at all creamy or heavy (it has no cream in it, so the richness is all from the chocolate, not from eggs or milk, like in a silk pie).

Recipe as follows:

Crust:

2 cups flour
2/3 cups oil (vegetable, sunflower, etc. I wouldn't use olive oil, peanut oil, or anything that has a strong flavor of it's own, unless you wanted that flavor to carry through)
3 tblspns milk or milk substitute
pinch salt
--mix the oil and milk in one dish and the flour and salt in a big bowl. Add the oilymilk to the saltyflour and mix with hands until it forms a ball. It should be the texture of wet clay. Roll between two sheets of wax paper (srsly. do not skip this step or you will be spatulaing this crust off your counter tops with a spatula in chunks), invert onto pie plate and trim. Bake completely. Set aside to cool.

Filling:

1 pkg silken tofu
2 bars unsweetened baking chocolate (I like the ghirdelli 100% cacoa bars. Generally speaking, the better the chocolate, the better this pie will be. This is a decadent pie--buy good chocolate!)
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tblspns (or more, or less, to taste) confectioner's sugar
flavoring (in this case, one and a half bottles of Pom pomegranate juice--the ones that come in the little squatty bottles--cooked over the stove until reduced to a syrup)

In a food processor or blender, process tofu until completely smooth. Melt chocolate over burner in a pot or in the microwave (if it starts to look dry, add some butter, margarine, or other oil). Combine with tofu in processor. Add vanilla extract, then other flavoring (in this case, pom syrup) and continue to process. Add confectioner's sugar one tblspn at a time, tasting after each spoonful. If it isn't sweet enough, add more, if it starts to get too sweet, stop adding.

The vanilla I find keeps the chocolate tasting smooth. You can use granulated sugar too, but I like the confectioner's because it has some cornstarch in it, which helps the pie set. If the concoction looks too watery, you can add a teaspoon or two of cornstarch to help it set even further.

Pour into prepared pie shell and smooth top. Garnish with fruit, or whatever is handy and looks/tastes nice. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.