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With blueberry season upon us, I had the urge to pick blueberries.  I decided to make the drive to the orchard worthwhile, and pick a considerable amount.  After not one, but two productive picking sessions at a local organic orchard, I had twenty five pounds of berries in my possession.  Now, what to do with all of these tiny, juicy blue orbs.  There was the obvious- freeze them for use during the months when all that’s green is covered in a blanket of white.  Many of the berries did enter the deep freeze.  But I was also determined to come up with a blueberry pie recipe that rivaled  the basic two crust blueberry pie. I was so successful, I developed two recipes!
Both pies start with a pre-baked, 9 inch pie shell. I always find that a recipe for a one crust pie is never quite enough to get it rolled out, and create a proper edge. With pie crusts, the less manipulation of the dough, the more tender the crust.  So, our  pie crust recipe is “technically” one and one half crusts.  We use oil, because it’s healthier.  You can roll out any left over dough and bake on a cookie sheet until golden brown, and then top with jelly etc.  We use organic ingredients whenever available but won’t redundantly print this in the recipes!

9 inch single pie crust
3 cups all purpose white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
7 tablespoons plus 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cold water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Drizzle the oil in while gently stirring the flour mixture with a fork. Blend until flour/oil particles are of uniform size. Drizzle the water over the top of flour/oil mixture, and gently stir in. Gather the dough into a ball, and place onto of a piece of wax paper.  I use two pieces, slightly overlapped. Place another piece of waxed paper on the top, and roll uniformly into a circle that will overlap the edges of a 9 inch pan. Alternately peel the wax paper off, replace, and flip the dough/wax paper combination. When large enough to fit the pan, and overlap the edges, peel off the wax paper, and and place the dough face down in the pie pan.  Peel the other layer of paper off. Form the edges into an attractive pattern.  Using a fork,  perforate the crust on the sides, as well as the bottom.  Line the unbaked shell with foil, parchment paper, or wax paper, and fill with pie weights or beans.  Bake for 20 mins.  Remove from the oven, and brush the entire inside of the crust with a beaten egg mixed with a bit of water. Return to oven, and bake for another ten minutes, or until golden brown.

Blueberry Custard Pie

baked single pie shell (see above instructions)

blueberry bottom layer

1/2cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups fresh blueberries

1/4 cup orange juice

custard

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 cups whole milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 egg yolks

meringue

our meringue recipe is double the “standard” recipe, because you can never have enough meringue!
6 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

dash of salt

3/4 cup sugar

Directions
In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Stir in blueberries and orange juice. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Let cool. 

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Next, for the custard, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir in milk and vanilla extract until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until gently boiling, and beginning to thicken. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolks; return all to pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Let cool.     

For the meringue, in a large bowl, beat egg whites, vanilla, salt, and cream of tarter on medium speed

until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at time, on high until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved.

Putting it all together

Pour blueberry mixture into pie shell; top with custard. Spread meringue evenly over custard filling, sealing edges to crust. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until the meringue is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for about an hour. Refrigerate for several hours before serving, and store in refrigerator.

Our next pie was based on a cream cheese pie recipe, but since we had some organic goat cheese on hand, decided to try it instead.  It worked out fabulously!  Of course, you could substitute cream cheese for the goat cheese if preferred. 

Blueberry Goat Cheese Pie

baked single pie shell (see above instructions)

goat cheese bottom layer
8 oz. goat cheese (Chevrine) softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
blueberry second layer
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
blueberry top layer
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch or tapioca powder
1/2 cup water
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Beat goat cheese, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and  the 1/2 cup sugar in small bowl just until blended.  Pour evenly into the pie shell and chill.

In a saucepan, mix the 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, water, 1 cup blueberries and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.  Heat and stir until boiling and  thick, approximately 2 minutes.  Let cool.

 

Spread the 2 1/2 cups of blueberries evenly onto the cream cheese.  Top with the cooled, cooked blueberry mixture.  Chill well before serving.

 

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a picture of this pie before we ate it all!  But, rest assured, it is worth making no matter what it looks like!!!

 It’s been just over two years since the package arrived. A box of loudly peeping, fuzzy little birds. Amazingly, this is how baby chickens are shipped, through the good old U.S. Postal System. Chicks don’t have to be fed or watered for two to three days after they are hatched.  They live off their yolk sac.  I’m always up for a bargain, so when My Pet Chicken was running a 1/2 price sale on 25 Barred Rock chicks, I couldn’t resist.  I wanted to get a heritage breed for many reasons- to continue a breed that was started in the U.S.A., and also because heritage breeds are healthier, sturdier, and tend to lay eggs longer, and live longer. So, I ordered the flock of tiny Barred Plymouth Rocks (the Barred is their coloring. There are eight different colors of Plymouth Rocks.) Since it was the middle of July, I set them up in a sectioned off part of their coop, added a heat lamp, feed, and water.  Let me tell you, though. Worry I did. Were they warm enough? Were they too warm? This would wake me at three a.m., and I’d trudge out to the coop to check on them.

All did go well, and the chicks grew quite quickly. As soon as they were big enough, they were allowed out into the great big world, completely on their own.
After starting with twenty five, I now have six. I didn’t intend to keep them all, and, when I found a buyer that I knew would provide a good home as well, I sold most of the twenty five hens. I now have six. This provides us more than enough eggs, oh, and entertainment as well!