Blackberry Pie

If you are either from here in Oregon or know anyone that is you probably know we have had a very hot and humid summer. Us native Oregonians just aren't cut out for this weather so we have been whining a lot about it. On the other hand the local blackberries are enjoying and thriving because of it. They seem to love this hot humid sticky weather and are rewarding those of us that take the time to pick them with some of the best berries I have seen in a few years. And lots of them too.

This last week or so I have spent a bit of time out picking berries. I really haven't had to work all that hard at it and was able to come away with around 8 cups of berries each time. Mind you I am not the best berry picker either, that title would have to go to my daughter she and my mom used to both spend hours every summer out picking berries. Both of them were much faster at the picking and ended up picking way more than I ever did. This year however if I want berries to use here in my kitchen I am on my own to do the picking so I get what I can and there are plenty to get.

If you happen to have some berries on your property be sure to go out and pick at least some of them it will be well worth it. If you don't ask around and find someone that will let you come and pick some.

However a couple of things you should never do. Don't go onto someone's property without permission and pick berries. Even if the berries are right next to the road. First off they are not yours and secondly you have no way of knowing if they have been sprayed. Every year I see people pulled over to the side of the roads out here picking berries that they see growing there. Many of these areas have been sprayed for both weeds and bugs and they are risking their health by eating them without knowing.

Next thing to remember is if someone lets you pick berries on their property and you have to go through gates be extra careful to make sure any gates that were closed when you got there remain so and any that were open also remain so. They are there for a reason.

A few things to keep in mind when picking berries. Dress appropriately this is not the time for shorts and a cute sleeveless top or for those cute little sandals you got on sale. You need to wear long pants, long sleeves and real shoes. Okay I admit I break the long sleeve rule most of the time. Remember those berry plants are going to fight back and they have thorns to do that with.

So now you have gone out and picked berries now what do you do with them?? There are so many things that come to mind but today I am going to tell you all about my favorite Blackberry Pie. That's right I said pie!!!

Remember I said I got about 8 cups of berries each time I picked? Well that amount is perfect for 2 pies. What I like to do is make one pie to eat right away and freeze a batch of berry pie filling for another one next winter. It is super easy to do and you will be so happy when you have that pie filling next winter.

Here is my favorite blackberry pie recipe complete with some pictures to help you along the way. After the recipe I'll tell how I go about freezing more pie filling to use later.

Blackberry Pie

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit

Sort and rinse 4 cups of fresh blackberries and set aside to drain.

Meanwhile:

Line pie pan with bottom crust

and

In a large bowl combine:

¾ cup plus 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar

1/3 cup flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

stir well then add the berries.

Gently combine until the berries are coated with the sugar mixture. They usually start to release some berry juices during this process.

Dump the berry/ sugar mixture into the pastry lined pie pan.

Cut about 2 Tablespoons of butter into small chunks and add to the top of the filling

Dip your finger into cool water and run it around the edge of the pastry in the pie pan. (this is your glue to hold the top crust to the bottom crust)

Carefully top with the second rolled out crust. Use a fork to press the edges together.

Cut the edge of the crust off even with the outside edge of the pie pan.

Cut some slits in the top crust (these allow the juices to bubble up and the air to escape during baking)

Sprinkle top of crust with a pinch of sugar- optional

Set pie pan on a foil lined baking sheet and place in pre-heated oven.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The pie is done when the crust is nicely browned and there are berry juices bubbling through the slits in the crust.

Cool on a wire rack

Berry pie filling for later.

Measure out 8 cups of berries and rinse them off just like when you made the pie.

Now combine you dry ingredients in a gallon size freezer bag. Add the drained, rinsed berries. Label the bag and seal it (making sure you have gotten as much air out as possible without crushing your berries. Now freeze this bag of berry pie filling. When you are ready to use it simply thaw it out (be sure to place the bag in a container just in case some of the juices decide to escape) 

 

You can do many things with this bag of filling once it is thawed out. You can of course make a pie following the directions for baking that we used today for our pie. Or you could put it into a casserole dish and cover it with a “crisp topping” (butter, flour and oatmeal) and bake that, you could heat it up and put it into a casserole with some biscuits on top and bake it into a cobbler, or just bring it to a boil (to cook the flour and thicken it a bit) and then cool and put over ice cream.

Reuben Sandwich Squares

This is another of my favorite make-ahead packable lunches. If you like a Reuben sandwich this is really worth making up. You bake off the sandwiches, cut into serving size portions, cool, wrap and freeze. Then in the morning you pull the frozen sandwich out of the freezer and pack in your lunch bag. It should thaw out in about 4 to 6 hours at typical room temperature and it will have the bonus of keeping the rest of your lunch cold too. If you use an insulated bag you might want to thaw it overnight before packing it to ensure it is thawed by lunch time.

These are great cold or at room temperature or if you have a microwave or toaster over available at lunch time go ahead and warm it up.

By starting with a box of hot roll mix most of the work of bread making is done for you. You don't even have to knead the bread to get the fabulous home-made bread experience.

Every time I make this I think I need to make some other versions of the sandwich squares. Almost any meat cheese combo you love in a sandwich would work wonderfully in here. How about swapping the corned beef with ham and the sauerkraut- thousand island dressing mixture for some honey mustard, keep the Swiss cheese and you would have a killer ham and Swiss to take with you. Or maybe turkey and provolone with some cranberry sauce. The possibilities are endless, just use you imagination.

Let me know if you try your own combinations and tell me your favorites so I can try them too.

Reuben Sandwich Squares

1 package hot roll mix (about 13.5 oz)

ingredients called for on box of mix

1 cup sauerkraut, rinsed and drained well

½ cup thousand island salad dressing

¼ cup tomato sauce

12 oz Swiss cheese, shredded and divided

8 oz deli style corned beef (or pastrami)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

caraway seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Grease a 13”x9” baking pan

Prepare the hot roll mix as directed on package through the mixing step. Divide the dough into 2 equal balls and let rest, covered for 10 minutes.

Set one of the balls of dough to the side for later (that will be the top layer of your sandwich.

Roll the other ball of dough into a rectangle that is approximately 13”x9” and place in your prepared pan. Stretch to fit bottom of pan. Set in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes then bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.

Meanwhile combine the drained sauerkraut, thousand island dressing and ketchup in a small bowl and set aside.

When bottom crust is baked remove from oven top with half the Swiss cheese, all the corned beef, the sauerkraut mixture and finally the remaining cheese. Don't go all the way to the edge of the crust, leave a border of bread so your top crust has something to grab onto.

Roll the 2^nd ball of dough out to 13”x9” and place over top of cheese layer. Press the top crust to the bottom crust.

Let rise 10 minutes

Brush top of crust with olive oil and sprinkle with caraway seeds.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until dark golden brown and cooked through.

Remove from pan and cool on wire rack 1 hour. Cut into 6 equal squares, wrap, label and freeze to enjoy in future lunches.

Will keep in freezer up to 1 month.

Mediterranean Bagel Sandwiches

These sandwiches were a real favorite of my daughter when she was growing up. She is a real lover of humus and pita bread and these sandwiches have a very similar flavor but in a sandwich form. I loved them because I could make them all at one time and then freeze them for when she needed to pack them in her lunch. They keep very well in the freezer, properly wrapped for about a month.

One wonderful thing about these is that you can pull the frozen sandwich out of the freezer in the morning and put in your lunch bag and it should be thawed by lunch and it will keep the rest of your lunch cold at the same time. We did find that with an insulated lunch bag we needed to give the sandwiches a head start of thawing in the fridge overnight or they were still frozen at lunch time.

You will need either a blender or better yet a food processor to make these. 

 

Mediterranean Bagel Sandwiches

1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans

¼ cup tahini paste (sesame seed paste look in the “healthy food” area of your grocery store)

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced or chopped

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon paprika

½ cup fresh parsley

1 (2 oz) jar pimentos

5 split bagels

Put all the ingredients (except the bagels) into the container of your blender or food processor and process until smooth

Divide the filling between the 5 bagels and spread evenly. Wrap each bagel separately and place them all together in a gallon size freezer bag. Label with the contents and date and freeze.

To serve simply pack a frozen sandwich in your lunch bag. They should thaw in about 4 to 6 hours at room temperature. Can be frozen for up to a month.

Lemon Chicken

Things have been pretty rough around my house for the last few months due to a family member being very ill. Thankfully I tend to keep my freezer fully stocked with meals that are easy to fix so we had easy to prepare meals even when I really didn't feel like cooking. Now I do need to restock however. So with an eye toward that I am going through my freezer recipes and I found my recipe for Lemon Chicken which happens to be one of my all time favorite chicken recipes. I was lucky to find an excellent price on chicken parts the other day so I made and froze several bags of this as well as served it to my son for dinner that same day.

The coolest thing about this recipe (other than the the fantastic flavor) is that it is even better after it has frozen and thawed again. The flavor of the lemon gets carried all the way through the meat by the action of freezing and thawing and it is incredible.

This recipe is really easy to scale to the number of servings you need simply by the number of pieces of chicken you put in each bag. I will explain the amounts as we go. The following amounts are what you will need per bag for about 2 to 3 servings. If you want to make bags with more servings (4-6) double the amounts, if you are bagging up single servings use half the given amount per bag.

Lemon Chicken

Chicken parts of your choice (to serve 2 -3 people)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Grated or crushed garlic about a large clove (to taste)

1/3 cup lemon juice

Figure out how many bags of chicken you will be making and line the freezer bags up on the counter. Add the chicken parts to the individual bags. Now add the rest of the ingredients given to each bag. I work mine like an assembly line, adding the chicken to all the bags then the thyme goes in all the bags, then the salt on down the list.

When all the ingredients are added seal each bag getting out as much of the air as you possibly can. Then kind of massage the bags to thoroughly mix the ingredients and make sure the chicken is coated well. Label and freeze the bags.

When you want to serve the chicken thaw in the fridge overnight. Place the contents of the bag into a glass baking dish (2-3 serving fit nicely in an 8x8) arranging the chicken pieces skin side down. Bake at 450 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes, turn chicken over and cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes until done.

This goes really well with a nice serving of brown rice (which will cook in your rice cooker in just about the same amount of time as the chicken cooks)

Hamburger and Pasta Skillet

I know I sound like a broken record talking about having foods in the freezer ready to make meals with but I am firm believer in doing this so I am going to talk about it. Today I am sharing a recipe for both a Hamburger and pasta dish that is really so much better than the ones you get in the box (you know what I’m talking about) and really just a quick to get on the table. This recipe relies on a base mix that I try to keep in the freezer all the time. I make this base up every few months in large batches and freeze it to make lots of different types of dishes. This process can be called “freezer cooking”  or “investment cooking” or any of several other terms. They all mean basically the same thing, you cook and freeze to use later. I have been doing this off and on for probably 20 or more years and I have notebooks (literally) filled with my favorite recipes. Today’s “Basic Meat Combo” is really versatile and I will share more recipes to use it in in the near future. It will keep in the freezer for about 3 months and will make 5 dinners each serving at least 4 people.

If you have your pasta and veggies already pre-cooked and in the fridge ready to go you can actually have the Hamburger and Pasta Skillet on the table in about 20 minutes (I timed it while I cooked this time)

Basic Meat Combo

¼ cup vegetable oil or shortening

4 sliced onions

4 garlic cloves, minced (or grated)

2 cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrot

5 pound lean ground beef

5 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon ground pepper

3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

4 cups ketchup

Hot sauce to taste

In a large skillet over medium heat cook the onions, garlic, celery and carrots until tender. Add the ground beef; stir and cook breaking the meat up until the meat is cooked through. Drain off most of the excess fat, Add the remaining ingredients and combine thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasonings. Cover and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.

Cool and evenly divide between 5 pint size containers (pint= 2 cups) use a spoon to stir the mixture in the containers a bit to get rid of any air pockets. Label and freeze for up 3 months.

Hamburger and Pasta Skillet

1 pint container of Basic Meat Combo (recipe above) thawed

3 cups of cooked pasta (any pasta will do, I used whole wheat today)

2 cups cooked vegetables (leftover or frozen ones you have thawed)

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon Italian herb seasoning

½ cup shredded cheese (your favorite)

In a large skillet  over medium heat combine all ingredients except the cheese, cover and cook  until heated through about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Be sure to taste and adjust the seasoning at this point. Sprinkle cheese over top (don’t stir in) cover and allow cheese to melt.

Serves 4 or 5

Lemon Chicken for now and later

One of the things I try to be consistent about is stocking my freezer. I have a huge collection of recipes that are designed for just that purpose. I do this for many reasons, one being it really isn’t convenient for us to go into the grocery store so having things on hand is a necessity and also I like to have healthy meals that are quick and easy to make. By doing part of the work before putting these dishes in the freezer it save me time. Also because I can take advantage of the lower prices offered for larger packages of meat and other items it saves me money. For instance, this morning at my grocery store they had what they were referring to as “grill packs” of chicken on a good price. These were large tray packages of chicken drumsticks and thighs. The package I purchased weighed about 4 ½ pounds and had 8 legs and 6 thighs in it. These were much cheaper per pound than the smaller packages of chicken and in fact I didn’t pay much more for this large package than I would have for a small package that would have been just enough for tonight’s dinner. There are 3 of us here most nights and tonight is no exception to that number. This package of chicken will provide 2 meals for my family one tonight and one at a later date.

This Lemon Chicken recipe is on of my favorites and as much as we love it the first night the package that goes in the freezer is even better. Something happens when the chicken freezes and then thaws in the marinade that draws the marinade deeper into the chicken so it is flavored all the way through.  Simply put all the ingredients into a ziplock freezer bag, let the one for tonight sit in the fridge for a few hours and put the rest in the freezer for other meals.

Lemon Chicken

(amounts are given on a per basis simply make as many bags as you need)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Juice of 1 lemon

About 2 pounds of chicken parts

Combine the seasonings and lemon juice in gallon size ziplock freezer bags using the above amounts of ingredients per bag. Add the chicken and seal bags being sure to get out as much air as possible. Massage the marinade around the chicken so coat. For the bag you are cooking tonight place the bag in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Label remaining bags and place in freezer.

To serve: Thaw if frozen

Heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Arrange chicken skin side down in a baking dish that has been coated with no-stick spray. Pour any liquid in bag over chicken and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Turn chicken over and baste with juices in pan. Return to oven and bake another 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked completely through.

dinner's in the freezer- Meatball Subs

Dinner can be as close as your freezer. Since I live out of town a ways (closest grocery store is about 12 miles away) I try to have some things on hand to make meals from. One of my favorite methods is to make items in large quantities and freeze them in meal size portions. Today’s dinner is the merging of 2 of my favorite freezer items: meatballs and spaghetti sauce. Both of these I made up a month or so ago and froze to for future use. They can be used individually in many dishes or combined like today. They are of course good over pasta but today we were in the mood for nice gooey meatball subs. So I grabbed the meatballs, sauce and some sub-rolls out of the freezer to thaw and with the addition of some grated mozzarella cheese we had a quick dinner. All I needed to add was a salad to complete it. (Sorry for the picture, that is part of this I am having the most trouble with, I can come up with great recipes, taking really good pictures is a lot harder)

Meatball Subs
1 container freezer meatballs, thawed
1 container freezer spaghetti sauce, thawed
4 hoagie buns, heated
Shredded mozzarella cheese to taste
Heat the meatballs and sauce together in a small saucepan until heated through. Spoon onto the heated buns, top with cheese and put under the broiler to melt the cheese.

4 sandwiches




Meatballs for the Freezer

4 pounds ground beef
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combing all the ingredients in a very large bowl being sure to mix very well. Form the meat mixture into balls about 1" balls. Place the meatballs on rimmed baking sheets and bake 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through. Be sure to not over crowd the baking sheet with the meat balls. Immediately remove the meatballs to a paper towel lined surface to cool. When they are cool enough to handle put about 30 meatballs (divide them evenly) in each of 5 quart size freezer bags. Label and freeze.
Use within 3 months.
Makes 5 containers of meatballs.
 
Spaghetti Sauce for the Freezer
 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes
32 ounces tomato sauce
2 cups water
12 ounces tomato paste
2 Tablespoons dry minced onion
2 Tablespoons dry parsley flakes
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 Tablespoon Italian seasoning

Combine all of the ingredients in a large soup kettle or dutch oven, over medium heat bring to a simmer lower heat to medium low and simmer 20 minutes. Cool and divide between 6   pint (2 cup) containers, label and freeze.
Use within 6 months
makes about 6 pints


On the spaghetti sauce I gave the amounts of the canned goods in ounces because I always check to see what size can is the most cost effective. Be sure to do this each time sometimes it is cheaper to buy multiple small cans sometimes the larger cans are more cost effective. Learn to think in the total number of ounces you need not the individual can size.