August Blackberry Pie: following the trail of berries in the Pacific Northwest (wheat and gluten free recipe)

August, and even September, are abundant with blackberries here on Whidbey Island. This year I decided to pick lots of berries and freeze them, and try my hand at my very own blackberry pie recipe. This one was amazing! And as I write my inspiration is right here next to me being devoured :-). It is well worth buying frozen blackberries even if you don't have any fresh. These berries make one of the best pies EVER! That said, here is the recipe I came up with:
This recipe makes 2 pies so you can share one with friends or family (who doesn't want their very own pie?)

You will need:

Crust Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa flakes (it's like a quick cereal, not flour, although that might work too . . .)
2 cups quick oats
1 TBS coconut flour
6 TBS brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (or 3/4 cup)

Pie Filling Ingredients
8 cups of blackberries
2 cups sugar (cane/white)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup corn starch
1/3 cup coconut flour

(Above) Pie Filling, the blackberries, corn starch, coconut flour, cinnamon, and sugar.

(Above) Pie filling thoroughly mixed.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Begin by mixing all crust ingredients in a food processor/blender. Flour and butter should become dough texture. Grease up your pie dishes with butter and sprinkle flour around to prevent pie sticking to dish. Now press the dough into pie dishes, dividing it equally between the two pies. Above: greased and floured pie dishes

Now measure out the sugar, cinnamon, corn starch, coconut flour in a bowl. Mix well together. Add 8 cups of blackberries and mix thoroughly. Let mixture sit for 5 minutes then pour into pie dishes with crusts. Place in preheated oven (425F).

Cook for about 30-35 minutes (or until you can smell the crust, if earlier). Lower temp to 325F for another 5-10 minutes, watching that pie crust doesn't burn. Turn off oven and let pies sit for 10 more minutes in the oven. Take out and place on a cooling rack until cooled. Refrigerate & enjoy!

Above: Quinoa flakes, the same as I used for the pie crust.

Clean Out the Kitchen Soup: Garbanzo Bean & Chicken Soup with Vegetables

If you are like me you like to have your fridge stocked with vegetables: carrots, potatoes, celery, and anything in-season. As I realized that I was not able to force much more into the fridge, I realized that this was an excellent opportunity to make a unique soup, or clean the fridge, the latter of which I will do some other time :) . Marina has taken a liking to garbanzo beans and we just happen to have a jar full that I have not used in who-knows-how-long, so I decided that we would center the soup around the beans and a rich chicken stock. I always have a couple of chicken bones in the freezer for such occasions. Stella (7 months old, still no teeth) is beginning to enjoy and eat solid/pureed foods, therefore soup is really the perfect dinner for everyone. For this soup you can really use any ingredients that you have in the fridge that are vegetables; use your own discretion. The essentials are:
-a good soup stock
-protein, as in beans & chicken stock as used here
-lengthy cooking time to infuse the ingredients with eachother

So, now that you have your basics, here's the

GARBANZO BEAN & CHICKEN RECIPE:

You will need:
1-2 chicken bones, cooked in the 4 quarts of water for 2 hours
4 quarts water
herbs for chicken stock: sprig of rosemary & thyme, 2 bay leaves
2 1/2 cups garbanzo beans, soaked 1-4 hours
4 medium carrots, sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 onion, diced
1 cup green beans
1 cup purple beans (like green beans, only purple, you can get them at the farmer's market this time of year)
2 cups sliced and quartered russet potatoes, about 2-3 big potatoes or more if they are small
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
soy sauce or tamari to taste

To make the CHICKEN STOCK boil the bones and Garbanzo beans in 4 quarts water for minimum 2 hours with above mentioned herbs and salt, take out bones and chicken fat but retain any meat & beans. (My dogs love the chicken fat and gristle from this recipe) Check the beans to see that they are soft. If so, add all the vegetables: potatoes, carrots, celery, green & purple beans, onion, garlic. Cook until vegetables are soft to your taste, about 30 mins +/-.

This soup serves A LOT or makes great leftovers. You can also freeze it and use it later.

ENJOY! And may you have love, laughter, and joy!

Edamame Green Salad with Lime Dressing

Edamame Green Salad with edible Nasturtiums (above, Version 1 with lots of beans)

Edamame Green Salad, Version 2 with lots of carrots (pictured above)

Lime and Olive Oil dressing, pictured above

I just love edamame beans. I buy them in the frozen section of the grocery store and heat them in a pan with butter and salt. They are actually delicious just like that! They also add some ummph to a salad. In this recipe you can use any good produce that is in-season at your farmer's market or in your own garden, the latter of which I did. Here's how I did it:

Edamame Green Salad
1 cup fried edamame beans (green soy beans), salted
5 cups of fresh lettuce, try mixing different types and colors
2 carrots, grated
5 +/- yellow cherry tomatoes, whole & halved

Place washed and spinned lettuce in a nice earthy-looking bowl (for presentation). Place the beans, carrots, and tomatoes on top.

Lime & Olive Oil Dressing:
1/2 lime, squeeze out juice
1/4 cup olive oil
5 TBS soy sauce or tamari
3 TBS honey
salt & pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients vigorously with a fork in a shallow dish. Toss with salad. You will have dressing left over unless you use more lettuce.

Serves 4, as a dinner side dish

Shrimp & Cilantro Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are a fun way to incorporate fresh raw vegetables into a meal. For these rolls you will need:

1 package of spring roll wraps (made of tapioca flour)
1 cup mung bean sprouts
2 cups small shrimp, cooked on stovetop with butter and cooled
sprigs of cilantro
2 TBS diced mint
1/2 medium sized cucumber, skinned and thinly sliced
1 cup shaved carrot
1 package very thin rice noodles, cooked and cooled
6 lettuce leaves, wetted to cover rolls and keep them moist until you eat them
2 lettuce leaves sliced thin, veins removed

You will also need a big bowl of warm water and a plate to roll the rolls on. Dip the first wrap into the warm after turning it so that it in wet on all sides. Place it on plate.
You may then place as much of each ingredient as you like in the middle of the wrap, I began with noodles then shrimp, cuke, carrot, lettuce, cilantro, and mint. Use small amounts of each ingredient so you will have enough space left to wrap the roll. It may take a few tries to get it right. Cover rolls with moist lettuce leaves to keep them soft until served.

How to roll: First place all ingredients on wrap, then fold right and left sides in 1/4 of the way, or so. Next wrap the end that is nearest to your tummy and pull it up and over the ingredients, holding the ingredients so that it makes a nice round shape. Then roll away from your body, making sure the right and left folds stay in place. All done! It is quite easy and there are several ways to fold. Use the one that works best for you.

Dipping Sauce:

2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon rice vinegar
6 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice cooking wine)
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger root
1 crushed garlic clove

Mix all ingredients together and serve in a small dipping bowl.

First Swing, Weeeee!

Stella loves swinging. Above pictured at Forest Park, Everett, WA. And a cute sleeping picture. When Marina (3yrs) sees Stella nursing in our house and almost sleeping, all cuddly she comes over quietly and says, "Ohh, a little baby angel." The first time she said it, I had to say "What?" As I have never heard her say that before and I cannot recall ever saying anything like that either! It was pretty sweet though =D

Backpacking at Baker and other Mountainous Things

This weekend we stayed at a cabin at the foot of Mt. Baker. This has been a summer family tradition since my parents sold their boat and began vacationing more inland. It was either mountains or ocean, but always some adventure that brought us closer to nature and our own bodies. Like hiking 10 miles up and down hills. As a child this is very memorable. It is an excellent way to begin to feel almost every muscle in your body, at least by the day after the hike. This is what we deemed summer fun, and I still feel this way! Hiking is a whole new adventure with young children in tow. Heavier for one. More coffee for me too! Also each little and big miracle of nature becomes magnified in its intensity through the eyes of a child. In my case, through Marina's eyes. Being 3 years old, she is exploring everything verbally and physically. She enjoyed asking "Why?" to just about every possible thing. All the way up the mountain. Doesn't this kid nap anymore? I have noticed that it is her way of learning more vocabulary and how to engage in a conversation, so sometimes the whys are asked in such a way that to an adult it just doesn't make sense.

At the top of Skyline Divide (3 miles up, 2000 feet elevation gain) Marina experienced an alpine wild flower field full of smells, fresh cold breezes, and a clear view of snow-capped Baker and many other peaks. She happily walked though the meadow while we all ate our food picking flowers and making mini sized bouquets that met their final resting place all the way back to our cabin on the door step with some sand collected from a hike the day before. It was a delicate matter deciding to let her enjoy the flowers in her own way while cringing at the idea of people picking flowers in such a pristine place. All of a sudden Marina's flower trespassing seemed mild as I saw a whole family tread through the meadow with big adult footprints. Marina's fairy-sized feet paled in comparison! And I had one happy excited fairy fluttering around our picnic barely stopping to eat some food before we headed back down the trail.