We watched a documentary about living minimally over the weekend on Netflix from a couple of guys we follow: The Minimalists. If you haven't yet checked out their doc, I highly recommend it. It's called Minimalism, and highlights people who have been dedicated to rejecting the "American Dream" and the ideal that we all feel we're supposed to achieve, in order to find personal fulfillment with less. The entire film is just over an hour, and is a great way to spend an evening, especially if you're like us and extensively talk about and analyze films afterwards.

This film resonated with us for a few reasons. First, it seems that everyone who pursues minimal living, or who gave up conventional living like us, started the same way. There was this quiet discontent with this ideal we were all supposed to be chasing, or this version of what success was supposed to look like. For some of us, it's a little nagging feeling that just grows until you really can't ignore it any longer. For others, it's suppressed, only making itself known during periods of unhappiness and struggle. I know that for me, everything came to a head when I was spending 10+ hours in traffic every week losing my damn mind, just to sit at a desk for 40+ hours a week, with little-to-no-time for myself, paying for things that I thought I needed. I just assumed that that was what I was "supposed" to do. A career in Miami, working in my chosen field, an apartment by the beach—it was the dream, right?

Well, there was no longer any happiness in what I was doing. I had achieved what I thought was success so...why was I so unfulfilled? It still baffles me to this day when I think about the time I wasted doing things that didn't bring me joy—those nights I couldn't stay up late reading the book I couldn't put down because I had to get enough hours of sleep to not be immobile at work the next day, or just sleeping my life away on weekends because I was so exhausted and knew those were my ONLY days to sleep in and it felt like I was wasting time.

Side Note: One of the things I aimed to achieve by living minmally was never having to wake up to an alarm clock again (unless I personally set it) and it has been one of the greatest joys in this past year and a half. The freedom I feel is incomparable. My body has an internal alarm clock that I never knew existed, and guess what? I'm actually more of a morning person than I ever realized. HOW COOL.
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By living minimally, I've achieved a certain sense of freedom that I didn't know was possible. And it seems to be the case for those interviewed in Minimalism.​ The less stuff you have, the less tied to things you are. It's a very simple equation, right?
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So then why do we have such a tough time disconnecting from inanimate objects? For starters, we live in a junk culture. We don't know how to live minimally—the media and big business don't want us to. We buy things that we don't really need because we are told it will make us happy or fulfilled, or because it will make life easier. Businesses are tailoring their products and pushing them on us with the false-promise of an easier way of living. And we believe it! But think about it really...look around your house or your apartment...look inside your car or your purse...are those things really bringing you happiness? Do they serve a purpose? 
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Or is it that we're placing our happiness and our fulfillment onto these inanimate objects? Have you ever lined up for hours waiting for the new iPhone? Have you ever fought with someone on Black Friday in the middle of a crowded store? How much money have you spent on the latest gadgets or cars or clothes in order to appear a certain way to other people, just to be out-of-the-loop again in a few months?

Over the past few decades, our culture has stopped placing emphasis on community and personal well-being, and placed our happiness on stuff. Because that's all it is at the end of the day, stuff that ends up in landfills. I was guilty of it myself, even renting a storage unit at one point to house all of the extra stuff my sister and I held onto. Did you know that storage facilities have become a BILLION dollar business?! 

Minimal living means less stuff, less attachments to junk, and more time for ourselves and for our happiness. 

Here is a quick list of things I've achieved in this past year of living minimally:

Now, many people think minimal living is a fad or a passing idea, but the truth is, I didn't even realize that living minimally was what I was doing until I read a few books and saw a few documentaries and knew what the heck it was. I just felt that living with intention and purpose—living to my own personal narrative—was as close to pure happiness and fulfillment I can get. So call me a minimalist, call me a realist, call me whatever you want. All I know is that since I pared down and started living for myself, I have never felt more free.

Sometimes, eating vegan is hard. Especially on occasions like say, family holidays, where you already have dairy-filled recipes that have been made year-after-year. It was hard enough having to sub out the fam-favorite beef fondue years back after three vegetarians sat at the table. But this year during Thankgiving, we were a wee bit stumped with certain dishes. Pie, for example, was a big one. We are huge pumpkin pie fans in our family and didn't want just any ol' vegan substitute. We searched high and low for recipes that would be comparable, until we finally landed on one. This vegan pumpkin pie recipe is so good, we just have to share it. 

I think what also made this pie so phenomenal was the fact that we used fresh pumpkin from our retired Halloween decoration. When Vanessa and I were in Indianapolis visiting friends, we bought a $3 Cow pumpkin from a local farm. Cow pumpkins are BEAUTIFUL as decorative pumpkins. But when we were shopping, we also didn't want something that would just end up rotting away in the garbage afterwards. So the cow pumpkin, we knew, would eventually be the perfect baking pumpkin.

Note: cow pumpkins are one of the creamiest, most flavorful pumpkins around. Plus they look damn cool.
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I'm going to be honest with you (not that I'm a pumpkin connoisseur or anything), but you can't really use any old regular pumpkin when you bake. Decorative pumpkins that you find in stores can be reeeeally watery when you puree them. So it's important to know what your pumpkin is, and what it can do when you transform it into deliciousness.

Truthfully, we were shocked at how beautiful the inside of our pumpkin was. It was this beautiful, rich, vibrant orange flesh, and it evoked this wonderfully sweet pumpkiny smell. We just knew it was going to be a killer pie just because of the pumpkin alone.

So we scooped out all the pumpkin guts and cut our pumpkin up. It went into the oven at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. Make sure if you are roasting on a baking sheet that there are sides to the sheet. Because we didn't, our baking sheet was flat, aaaaaand my mom's oven is a MESS. Pumpkin juice everywhere. Sorry, mom.

After roasting this puppy, we hit puree on the processor and voila, fresh pumpkin puree.

We made the crust from scratch.

We made the filling from scratch.

The pie itself was hands down the best I've ever eaten. So creamy, so rich, so flavorful—and zero dairy products. I didn't feel heavy afterwards, I wasn't stuffed and unable to move. It was perfect. Here are the recipes as created by B. Britnell.

Coconut Vegan Pie Crust

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, cool enough to be solid
• 6-8 tablespoons of ice water

Instructions

1. If you're planning to bake it right away, pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a food processor (or a large bowl), add in the flour, salt, and sugar. Processor for a few seconds to combine.
3. Add in the coconut oil and process for about 30 seconds or until it is well combined and no visible chunks are left. This can also be done by hand, it just takes a bit longer.
4. Starting with 4 tablespoons, add in the ice water and process to combine. Add in 1-2 more tablespoons at a time until the dough gently sticks together when bunched up in your hand. See video above for specifics. At no point should the dough be sticky!
5. Separate the dough into 2 balls.
6. On a well floured surface with floured hands and a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a disk large enough to fit your pie pan.
7. If not ready to bake immediately*, put the dough in the fridge for up to an hour. When ready, fill your crust and bake for 5 minutes with tin foil around the edges of the crust. Take the tin foil off and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.

​Now, just to add on this, we did have some issue. First, our crust was not so easy to manipulate. Probably rolling in between parchment paper or something like that would have helped. Also, we didn't get two balls, we only got one. But it was DAMN DELICIOUS regardless.

Next up, the super simple filling, again by B. Britnell. 

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of pumpkin
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup or agave
• 3/4 cup of full fat coconut milk from the can, shake the can well before opening it!
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 1 vegan pie crust

Instructions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a high speed blender or food processor, combine all of the pie ingredients (minus the crust of course :)) and blend until creamy and smooth. Should only take a minute.
3. Pour the pie filling into your crust and spread out until it's smooth.
4. Bake in the oven for 55-65 minutes. The top should be firm and the crust should be lightly browned around the edges.
5. Once done, take out of the oven and let cool on the counter. Put in the fridge and let cool completely. The cooling process really firms up the pie so although you'll want to eat it right away, try and refrain.

It was my first time making a homemade vegan pumpkin pie so go easy on me. But! We topped this dariy-free bad boy with some So Delicious Coconut Whip and everything tasted like magic. I highly recommend this recipe for any vegan looking to sweeten up their holiday.