Mixed Berry Crumble Pie

Last week, Sam and I made a mixed berry crumble pie that I talked about in my other blog. I said, "I really have to write this recipe down" and that was when Steve suggested this blog. So now, I really have to write this recipe down. It was a hybrid and adaptation of several recipes, and I'll never remember it on my own.

Mixed Berry Crumble Pie

1 stick butter
1 cup oats
2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
Several Tbsp. sugar (for topping)

4 cups fresh blueberries, marionberries, or whatever you have on hand (washed and drained)
1/4 cup Minute Tapioca
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Mix berries, tapioca, sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes while you make the crust.

In a medium sized pot, melt butter - add brown sugar and stir. Add oats - mix. Add flour and mix gently until crumbly. Put half of crumbs in bottom of a 9 x 9 baking dish, flattening to form a crust. (note, this makes a thick crust. If you have more berries you could make it in a 9 x 13 pan with the same amount of crust)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour berry mixture onto crust. Sprinkle remaining crumbles on top of berries, sprinkle with sugar and bake pie for about 40 minutes, or until crumbles are browned and berries form bubbles that burst slowly.

Enjoy warm with ice cream. Keeps well for a few days (if you have any left).

Meatloaf boats

And this one, from my Mother in Law, Maribeth:

Beth,
Love your (Steve's) new blog idea!
I don't know if you're soliciting recipes, etc., from others but I just heard about a new use for zucchini from a friend who grows it & has an overflowing abundance of it this time each year. I haven't tried it yet, but plan to do so as soon as I can convince Jim that it really isn't going to kill him to eat some zucchini!!

Meatloaf Boats

You just make your usual meatloaf mix & stuff it into halved raw zucchini that has been cored & bake at 350 for however long it takes the meatloaf to be cooked (this will depend on the size of the meatloaf and the zucchini). You can do several small zucchinis or one large one depending on what you have available. It's really a simple one-dish meal & easy to clean up after. I'd probably serve a small fruit or veggie salad or a simple pasta dish with it.

I really enjoy the idea of your blog & also your honesty in posting a recipe that didn't work out. Believe me, we've all been there!

Dill as a vegetable

I picked up my Farm Share on Saturday, and found with it a recipe titled, "Introducing Dill as a Vegetable." Perfect -- I have been wondering what to do with all that dill they have been giving me. The recipe was for a squash "curry" with two bunches of dill. I decided to add some fresh carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli along with the zucchini squash.

The recipe says to "serve with yogurt" but I know from other recipes that a curry often has the yogurt *in* it rather than *on* it. So Imixed in some yogurt near the end. Mistake. The lemon juice in the curry curdled the yogurt and made it completely disappear.

Steve was very sweet and said, "Yeah, it would need to be improved a bit to make it into the regular rotation." I thought it was awful. But mostly it was too much dill for me. So... dill as a vegetable? I think not.