Doris and the Heavenly Pie

I'd like to introduce you all to a new friend of mine. Ladies and Gentlemen of the blogosphere, this is Doris.


Apparently I've had an alter ego my entire life who is just now emerging. It actually explains a lot.

I've long thought I was born in the wrong era. In my younger years I was told on more than one occasion that I was an old soul. And then there were my obsessions with trends from different periods. The fashion of the 20's and 30's, swing music, The Beatles and all things 60's. Audrey Hepburn. The list goes on. But this weekend Doris emerged.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Doris looks like a 1950's housewife. After all, lately I've been doing a lot of 1950's housewife-ish things. (Sans the cocktail and smile ready for the hubby as soon as he walks in the door. Cocktail, never - we're not the drinking kind. Smile...sometimes.)

There is the red lipstick, and flowing skirt (which you can't see in this pic). And then there are all the antique accessories I've found lately. While antiquing. Really, it's like I'm trying to transport myself back to the days of yore. Somethings wouldn't be so bad. But, personally, I like a few of the little advances made in the past 60 years. Like the Wonder Bra, and equal opportunity and stuff. But I digress...

Where was I? oh yeah...The 1950's housewifery that's been going on in my abode. So, I've been baking. A LOT. Sunday I baked an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G blueberry peach pie. However, unlike the pies of yesteryear, it was gluten AND sugar free. It really was heavenly. Madre, Sweet Cheeks and I ate 1/3 of it in a single setting.

You wanna know how I made it? You totally do. Need I even ask?

Blueberry-Peach Pie
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filling:
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
3 cups fresh or frozen peaches, diced
1/3 cup agave nectar
5 tbsp corn starch
2 tablespoons butter

Mix the fruit, agave and cornstarch in a bowl. Save the butter for later. That's it.

crust:
I use the Bette Hagman Vinegar Pastry recipe as my base. But I don't like shortening, so I use butter. And I'm too lazy to mix all the flours so I use an GF all purpose flour.

Here's my modified version(Makes enough pastry for a 2-crust 9" pie or 2 pastry shells)

2 1/4 cups GF Flour Mix
1 rounded teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 egg
3 tablespoons ice water (or as needed if too dry/wet)

Blend the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter. In a separate container mix the egg, vinegar, and water. Slowly pour the liquid into the dry and mix with a fork until it forms dough.

Divide evenly in two. Roll between two pieces of wax paper (makes for easy transfer to pie pan and gets rid of the sticky mess caused by the xantham gum).

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the first pie shell in pan and fill with the pre-mixed filling. Cut the butter in cubes and sprinkle over the fruit filling. Cover with the second crust and pinch edges to form a seal. Cut a ventilation hole in the center of the pie.

Bake at 350 for about 60 minutes.

That's my pie. It's amazing what a few ingredients an an oven will do for you. I do think it was even better because we picked the peaches 3 days earlier.

Next up...my whole grain gluten free bread that doesn't taste like cement! It's seriously a revelation.

The Spoils of Nature...

This year we became members of Great Country Farms,which means we get a share of the GFC harvest weekly from June through November. GFC is a fabulous place, and I recommend anyone living in NOVA visit. We love it.

The thing about it, though, is that we get lots of food stuff that we normally never eat. Of course that's the point of it, but it becomes tricky trying to find something to do with a hundred pounds of Swiss Chard or Kale. I got lucky with the Swiss Chard, still looking for the Kale.

Last week we got a pint of tart cherry's, but I haven't had time to do anything with them until today. Fortunately, I opened Elana's Pantry and the new recipe she just posted today was for Cherry Blueberry Crumble. YUM.

The blueberry fields were closed today, so we picked black raspberries instead. I guess this will be a Cherry Black Raspberry crumble instead.

I'm not sold on almond flour as a GF substitute, so I'll have to figure out how to do this probably with Bob's Red Mill All Purpose flour. It's not my favorite because I think the sourgum flour leaves a strong aftertaste, but it's still my go-to flour and I'm sure it will work just fine.

Here is the recipe if you don't feel like going to Elana's Pantry to get it:

Cherry Blueberry Crumble

Filling:

4 cups fres cherries, pitted

1 pint fresh blueberries (black raspberries in my case)

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (I'm sure cornstarch would work just fine)

Topping:

21/4 cups GF flour mix

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cube agave nectar

1. For filling, place cherries and blueberries in a 3 quart baking dish.

2. Sprinkle fruit with agave, lemon juice and vanilla, then toss in arrowroot (or corn starch)

3. To make the crumble, combine flour and salt in a large bowl

4. In a smaller bowl combine oil and agave.

5. Mix the wet ingredients into dry to form the topping

6. Then crumble topping over fruit mixture.

7. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until bubbling

8. Uncover and bake a few more minutes until topping is golden brown.

9. Remove from oven and serve.