Did you know that yesterday was the Chinese Moon Festival?
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You’d think, having lived in China, I would’ve known this, but the truth is I had no idea until a friend called me up a few days ago and asked if I wanted to come over to celebrate. Celebrate? Heck, when someone says celebrate, I hear party. And I never pass up an excuse for a party (especially on a school night!). Something else I never pass up? An opportunity to share food, showing others that healthy, vegan food can taste delicious. Therefore, last night I brought the variation of Secret Raw Cheesecake mentioned in my last post, peanut butter cup pie:
Katie, Arisana doesn’t make pnb; how is this post relevant to Artisana Week?
I’ve got it covered. Literally. My pie is covered in homemade Artisana Cacao Bliss! 🙂
Pb and chocolate were meant to be together. My friends all seemed to agree, as they gobbled up the vegan pie faster than you could say “Zhongqiu” (the Chinese word for the moon festival). In retrospect, I probably should’ve made a bigger pie as opposed to a miniature version. But my friend said to bring finger food, as it was a snacky-type party, not a main-dish one. Plus, there were only six of us. So I figured everyone would be happy with a mini slice. That way, they’d save room for all the other delicacies people would bring (which turned out to be an array of non-vegan moon pies and dumplings). Boy was I ever wrong-o! “Is there any more of that peanut butter pie?” seemed to be the mantra of the night. Even the pale green hue (from the zucchini) didn’t phase them. Guess I’ll be making another peanut butter pie in the near future. That’s okay; it only takes a total of about five minutes to make. And the peanut butter variation is much cheaper than the original cashew cheesecake version (thanks to my favorite peanut butter being only $2.50 a tub).
And now I’m going to totally ruin the gorgeousness of the photo above with the abomination below:
Seriously? They wanted more of this stuff? Perhaps I should have shown the above photo first; then I could’ve had an entire pie to myself!
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Healthy “Peanut Butter Cup” Pie
- 1/2 cup (110g) peanut butter
- 1/2 cup (80g) chopped zucchini (or you might sub banana!)
- Optional: choc. chips or melted chocolate
- Other ingredients for the “Secret Veggie” Cheesecake
Make this pie the same way you’d make the veggie cheesecake, but exchange pb for the cashew butter and cut back on (or omit) the lemon juice.
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Do your friends like to eat?
Or do you have a lot of “salad only” friends on diets? I swear, I think my girl friends like to eat more than my guy friends, especially when it comes to dessert. (Beer, now that’s another story.) I’ve even had two ex-boyfriends who didn’t like chocolate! Remind me again why I dated them… oh yeah, ’cause it meant more chocolate for me!
Finally, a shout-out to Erica, who also already made this pb pie!
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My friends definitely love to eat–especially my fellow nutrition classmates! We love nothing more than to discuss food in class:)
My girl friends don’t really eat much. Most of them seem to be always on some kind of diet and talk about food much more than they actually eat it. But I think this pie will be a huge success if I offer it the boys 🙂
Thanks so much for the shoutout 🙂
I actually made a second batch last night since the first one didn’t even last two days (namely my sister and her boyfriend had much the same reaction as your friends).
Not that I mind, since I got to make a fun variation – PB&J! I subbed out some of the zucchini for a handful of grapes. Oddly enough it turned out the opposite as your pictures – really pretty after the first blending but it turned a weird pale purple after the rest of the ingredients were added. Oh well, it still tastes delicious, even if it doesn’t look it. Thanks again for the recipe!
Oh my goodness, you win the title of most creative chef ever! PB&J pie sounds like so much fun! Thanks a bunch (of grapes) for the idea; I definitely want to try it :).
Thanks Katie!
Ohhh deliciousness! That pie is going to haunt me until I make it… 🙂
My friends LOVE to eat. In fact, a lot of them (including my 2 roommates) are huge meat eaters and big time foodies. Our tastes couldn’t be farther from each other, though I consider myself a foodie too. But diversity makes the world more interesting, right?! I do have a couple friends who are very health-conscious too, and one “almost vegan” like me, so that’s a nice little camaraderie.
Peanut butter and chocolate, I love it already.
My girl friends love to eat, but none of them are veg. They sit down with a huge t-bone steak or a couple of pounds of wings when we go out. All kinds make the world go round right?
Yum…that’s definitely for those peanut butter lovers out there.
Woah! PB pie! (: I’m in heaven. I have soooo many recipes that I need to try. It’s a shame I’m stuck in a dorm room with a meal plan for dining halls that have little vegan options. It’s soooo depressing and I always come back thoroughly disappointed in the food I get, but being able to make delicious vegan food makes my day sooo much better. I skip some meals to make vegan yummies and then I share them with my fellow floor members. (: Guess what’s next on the menu? (;
I always thought you were a genius, but it’s now proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I made this (minus the chocolate topping) and it is indescribably amazing. Another delicious way to eat it – pile some onto a graham cracker (preferably chocolate!) and top with the other half. Freeze. An hour or so later, eat your “ice cream sandwich”. It made my day 🙂
PB ice cram sammies?!? Who’s the genius now??? YOU!!
I tried this for the first time yesterday, and all I can say is yummy…I am slowly cutting all meat/animal products from my diet…but having a sweet tooth and being an unabashed chocoholic desserts have been my first priority for recipe experimentation…and this one is already on my list of favorites
Aww I’m so excited you liked it!! 🙂