For the crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
1/4 cup water
Refrigerate the Crisco in advance if possible.
Cut the Crisco into little pieces and place it in the flour, then cut in with a pastry cutter or your hands. When the mixture is the size of frozen peas, add the water a bit at a time until the dough comes together into a nice ball. Refrigerate for half an hour or up to four days.
(This is simply my standard pie crust recipe.)
For the filling:
2 to 4 large sweet potatoes, baked in advance (use 2 for a small pie and 4 for a deep dish pie. We used 4, but I've used 2 in the past.)
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 to 1 and 1/2 cups Mott's unsweetened applesauce (we swear by Mott's as our egg-substitute) - the amount that you add should depend on the size of your potatoes and the amount of potato that you use because you want to achieve a whipped potato type of texture, so you'll need to experiment with this so you're happy with the consistency of the pie filling
3 tbsp sugar
bit of onion, chopped - more if you are a huge onion fan, less or none if you're not. If you have time, sweat it in a pan with some olive oil first, but it's fine used raw as well.
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed if possible
1/2 cup lactaid milk (or regular milk)
6 basil leaves, chopped
handful or fresh parsley, chopped
Peel off the sweet potato peels. Put the middles into a bowl. Let cool a bit more.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes until set but still moist.
Enjoy hot or cold. Buon appetito!
Fool-proof, interesting broccoli:
Take a small to medium sized pot of water. Put your steamer basket in the pot and fill with water just up until the bottom of the steamer basket. Bring to a boil on the stove.
When the water is just boiling, add the broccoli. Cook for one to three minutes depending on the amount of broccoli - check every minute for done-ness. In the mean time, grate fresh parmesan cheese off the block.
When you catch the broccoli at its optimal done-ness, probably around the two minutes mark, take it out and immediately serve to everybody, who can top it with as much or as little cheese as they want.
This is a great side to go with the sweet potato pie because the pie has very little protein, so it's a good idea to serve it with the cheese that does contain protein so that altogether you get a more balanced meal. Cheese is my favorite egg-free protein trick!