Blueberry Summers

Most folks know that we already have two dogs.

A Rottie mix, named Rebel.

And a Border Collie, named Casey.

We now have two puppies too.

How did this happen?

Well, on Wednesday, I came home to some unrecognized tracks in the road. Someone had driven to the gate, stopped and then turned around. This happens often enough so we didn’t think a whole lot about it. On Friday night, the dogs start barking like crazy. We go outside to see what’s going on. They had cornered one of the pups in the carport. We grab her to take her inside to get cleaned up and some food. And as we start in the house another one darted up the stairs behind us. And so, we had two little Border Collie (mix?) girls. (Just for the record, our dogs have been fixed for years. The pups cannot possibly belong to either of them.)

What we figure is that they were dumped off by some heartless human on Wednesday and were all alone in the woods for two nights and days until they made their way to our house on Friday. Sadly, this is not the first time this has ever happened. Anyway, without further ado,

Meet Bobbi, named for her bob tail.

And Sissy. (Originally she was named Little Sis as she is much smaller than Bobbi. We later shortened it to just Sissy.) Doesn’t she have the most beautiful blue eyes?

And then, there were four dogs.

As I was cooking last night I came across a recipe for Cinnamon-Sugar Chips. So I made some of them too. They were even better than the tortillas and salsa. This recipe led to the idea of using cinnamon-sugar tortillas for Apple Turnovers. Upon mention of making Apple Turnovers tonight I was informed that blueberry would be better.

The ingredients: sugar, margarine, cinnamon, flour tortillas, ice cream and blueberries. Since we grow our own blueberries fresh each year I just grabbed a bag out of the freezer.

First, as the blueberries were put up unwashed and with stems in tact I had the painstaking process of washing and filtering out stems. Ugh! Thank goodness I didn’t need a lot of blueberries.

Once washed place in a bowl top with cinnamon and sugar to taste.

Toss the berries to coat mixture evenly.

Mix cinnamon and sugar to be used to top the turnover.

Melt the margarine and brush onto both sides of the tortillas.

And since I like sugar and love cinnamon, why not add more to the inside of the turnover?

Fill the tortilla with blueberries and wrap it like a burrito.

Add more cinnamon sugar to the top… and bake until crispy.

Mmmm. Fresh from the oven.

And top with ice cream! Eat and Enjoy!

My thoughts: Although it was really good, it leaked all over the baking sheet and was difficult to eat as the tortilla didn’t cut too well with a spoon. I also think that the blueberries should have been cooked a bit prior to baking. The berries were still whole in the tortilla.

The verdict: I’ll make it again.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I decided that I wanted to make an Apple Pie. I figured since I had already done a Blueberry Pie this wouldn’t be much of a difference.

When my boyfriend mentioned that he loved Apple Pie and that his grandmother had a really good recipe I asked for a copy. It turns out he meant Apple Turnovers not Apple Pie. But I got a great Apple Pie recipe anyway. Turnovers will have to wait until another day.

I used the same crust recipe from my Blueberry Pie. I have decided that it will make a decent sugar cookie recipe with the addition of more sugar. : ) We’ll see about that one too.

Start with some Gala Apples.

Roll out the pie crust and put it in the pie dish. As you can see I managed to get only about half of it to fit perfectly in the dish. The other  half was pieced together a bit. Hey, give me a break, it’s only my third pie crust ever.

And the cinnamon, buttered up apples in the dish.

Here’s my custom lattice.

And the baked pies. No they didn’t brown. I decided I’d save the egg for deviled eggs since I wouldn’t end up using a whole one on these pies. I’m so economical with my noms

Finally, it’s ready to eat: Apple Pie A La Mode. Yum!

Overall it turned out well. I think the apples may have been a bit undercooked though.

That’s one more recipe I can mark off my Recipe To Do List.

Well, summer’s in full swing and I have yet to make a post about this blog’s namesake: the blueberry. It’s not that I haven’t been eating them, because I have and it’s not that I haven’t had the time, because I have. I’m just lazy. Sorry. I’m working on that. Anyway, here goes…

Last night I made my first ever Blueberry Pie. I took the recipe from one of the baking/cooking blogs that I follow: Annie’s Eats. She cooks yummy recipes, does excellent food photography and has a beautifully designed website.  As soon as I came across her Blueberry Pie recipe I knew I had to try it. I love anything blueberry. I used both her recipe for the pie and the one for the crust that she links to. Overall, everything worked out really well. I decided to go for a different lattice though.

I thought it turned out quite nicely. And yes, it was delicious.

That’s one more recipe I can mark off my Recipe To Do List.

One of the baking/cooking blogs that I follow has a section on her site called My 100. It is a list of 100+ recipes/foods that she would like to try. I read through the list and as a hobby baker decided to make my own. I’m not going to specify how long my list will be because I just add things to it as they come to mind and I don’t cook or bake much right now, but I’d like to.

They are in no particular order, and based on the 15ish that I have so far it looks like a lot of favorites from restaurants. Surprisingly of the 15ish, only 5 are dessert.

Anyway, here is my list.

1. Taco Salad Bowl’s – Taco Town
2. White Cheese Sauce – Azteca Mexican Restaurant (June 25, 2009)
3. Baked Macaroni and Cheese (September 2009)
4. Tortilla’s
5. Tortilla Chips (January 2010 – Needs work.)
   
6. Chocolate Glazed Donuts – Good Things Donuts
7. Funnel Cakes
8. Baked Beans
9. Fried Pickles (September 2009)
   
10. Fried Cheesesticks
11. Loaded Potato Soup – O’Charley’s
12. Japanese Fried Rice – Bamboo Sushi & Hibachi Bar
13. Panko Fried Shrimp – Bamboo Sushi & Hibachi Bar
14. Cinnamon Rolls
15. Banana Pudding
16. Blueberry Pie (July 13, 2009)
17. Bloomin’ Onion w/Horseradish sauce (Horseradish September 2009 – Needs work.) – Outback Steakhouse
18. Blueberry Muffins (June 12, 2009)
19. Apple Pie (Thanksgiving 2009)
20. Pumpkin Pie (Possibly coming Thanksgiving 2010)
21. Catfish (September 2009)
22. Mashed Potatoes (November 2009)
23. Salsa (January 2010 – Needs work.)

This is in no way a complete list so expect it to grow. And look out for posts about some of these recipe endeavors.