Creamy Blueberry Pie and No Roll Pie Crust

I feel so cut off! My laptop is being repaired, and I've been without it for about a week and a half. Who knew you could wear out the hinges? And who knew how expensive they would be to replace? Thankfully we have a friend who will do the work for us, and do a terrific job. Meanwhile, I'm living on my tablet and realizing that indeed, I cannot survive with just a tablet!

OK, I'm done whining. ;o) I know it's not Monday, but I've got a recipe for you, so I'm going to throw it out there and hope you enjoy!

I made this pie for hubby's birthday this year. The recipe that inspired this came from Penzey's Spice catalog. I've now changed it so much, it's not really their recipe any more. I've done a lot of trial and error with this recipe. We once had blueberry soup in a crust! Still tasted good, but kinda hard to serve. It was just too hit or miss, so I finally just revamped the whole thing. This version of the recipe got good reviews and my son-in-law said not to change a thing, so I'm putting it down in stone, so to speak.

Sometimes you just want a blueberry pie when blueberries aren't in season, so this recipe is specifically for frozen blueberries. 

~If you make this pie while the blueberries are still frozen, they don't get mushy, and you get almost a raw blueberry texture. Great if you like that texture, but if you don't, let them thaw first, and add all the juice into the pie.
~This uses a no-roll pie crust which really is ridiculously easy, which is why I love it. I hate making pie crust.
~If you don't have a bulk food resource for getting whole wheat pastry flour, Bob's Red Mill makes a nice one. If all else fails, you can use white flour.
~You may want to check the edges for over-browning half way through cooking time, and cover if it's getting burned.

Ingredients
4 Cups large blueberries (not those teeny tiny ones that have no flavor)
2/3 Cup raw sugar
1/2 Cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 Cup half & half

Instructions
~Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
~Pour berries into the pastry shell.
~Whisk together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt.
~Stir in the half & half, whisk until smooth.
~Pour over the berries and bake for 45 minutes.
~Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
~Top with whipped cream if you've got it!

No Roll Pie Crust - Mix everything in the pie plate!

Ingredients
1 1/2 Cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. raw sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 Cup coconut oil, melted
3 TB. milk

Instructions
~Put all ingredients into a 9 inch pie pan. 
~Mix with a fork until well blended and pat into the pan. 
~Push the pastry up the sides and form a nice edge with your thumb and finger. 
~Fill with pie filling and bake according to instructions. 

Blessings from my kitchen to yours,
Leni 

Apple-Honey Oatmeal Muffins

We interrupt the Thanksgiving onslaught to bring you this yummy treat that will keep the masses away from your holiday preparations. This is the most wonderful, healthy muffin recipe! I got the original recipe  from the Rodale Whole Foods Cookbook, page 575. Really terrific cookbook. I found it at the library, at a time when I was trying to convert a bunch of my recipes to use honey and fruit instead of cane sugar. Rodale had already done that! I borrowed the book from the library so many times that my husband finally bought me my own copy. I got the original Rodale's Basic Natural Foods Cookbook. It's the holy grail of natural cooking!

Back to the muffins...my family loves these with chocolate chips, but you could add fresh or dry fruit also. Play with the recipe. They mix up easily, bake quickly and disappear faster than you can imagine. I made two dozen last night, and this morning had to snag the dozen that were left so I could get a picture.

This recipe has passed a lot of tests. My family loves them. I took them to a church breakfast, they loved them. Most critical, I sent them to a Search and Rescue weekend for a horde of teenagers. Loved them. Thank you, Rodale!

Leni's Notes:

~I use a silicone pan, so no liners, but if you're not using silicone or liners, do grease the pan very well.

~My kids love these with cream cheese.

~Don't over bake. My new oven seems to be running a bit high on the temperature, and it made for a dry batch of muffins. They are normally very moist.

~Yes, I used my own homemade applesauce. It means nothing to the recipe, but I thought it was very homestead-ish of me, and wanted credit. 

~Rodale Cookbook is worth the price, and it doubles as a work out plan. It's HUGE.

~Unless you live alone, double the recipe. ;o)

Ingredients:

1 C whole wheat flour
1 C old fashioned oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 large egg
1 C unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C milk
1/4 C honey
2 T butter, melted
1/2 C Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

~Preheat oven to 375.

~Generously butter muffin tins. (Silicone was fine w/o greasing)

~Whisk together dry ingredients.
 ~In a small bowl, combine wet ingredients.
~Make a well in dry ingredients, pour in wet.
~Mix with a fork just til moistened.
~Stir in Chocolate Chips.
~Fill 12 muffin cups 2/3 full.

~Bake 20-25 minutes.

~Serve warm with butter or cream cheese.

Blessings from my kitchen to yours,

Leni