Blueberry Apple Phyllo Pie

Two for Tuesdays Day!!

The T4T event is a weekly submission of Real Food creations. My first step is always to Girli Chef's BLOG to see all the submissions and then start hopping to all the others.



Today we're featuring another recipe from Norene Gilletz Rosh Hashana is just around the corner and this one will be on my dessert list. It's really quick, really easy and really really tasty. Nobody will ever know it took almost no time at all to put it together.

2 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen thawed & drained)
3 large baking apples, peeled, cored & sliced
3 Tbsp whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown or granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 egg whites *
1/2 egg yolk *
5 sheets phyllo dough
1/4 cup graham crackers or bread crumbs
1 tsp sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. In a bowl, combine berries, apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. In another bowl, blend egg whites with yolk. Spray a 10" inch quiche dish (I used a springform) with non stick spray. Place a sheet of phyllo dough in dish, letting ends of dough hang over sides. Brush with egg; sprinkle with crumbs. Repeat until you have 4 layers of dough. Overlap each one slightly like the petals of a flower. Ends of pastry will hang over sides of pan. Reserve the last sheet of dough.

2. Spoon filling into pastry. Fold edges of pastry inwards to cover filling completely. Top with last sheet of phyllo dough, tucking ends of dough between dish and ege of pie. Brush top of pie with egg; sprinkle with sugar. Cut several slits in top of pie so steam can escape. Bake at 375 F about 45 minutes, until golden. Fruit should be tender when pie is pierced with a sharp knife. Serve warm. If desired, sprinkle with a light dusting of icing sugar.



** You can substitute melted butter for the egg whites and 1/2 yolk to give it a richer flavour.

Note: It really doesn't matter how you fold in the phyllo dough after the filling is in - it all comes out just fine.

The lower fat version is only 156 calories per serving.

The 7 things I loved about the Maritimes

Thank you to Marysol of She Eats Bears for giving us a the Versatile Blogger Award. Marysol is a fellow Ottawan who has an amazing foodblog, that features homegrown/homemade dishes and beautiful photography. One of those blogs that gives me inspiration to grow a better garden, cook more and take better pictures.

We're supposed to say 7 things about ourselves and then nominate blogs that you have recently discovered and love.

Since we just got back from the Maritimes (more posts about the trip to come)...let me list the top 7 best things about our vacation (in no particular order):

1. Deep sea fishing in PEI

2. Whale watching on the Cabot Trail


3. The amazing views on the Cabot Trail

4. Watching sailboat races in Chester, NS
5. Swimming in a waterfall in Fundy National Park


6. Attending Cheticamp's 225 anniversary performance (love Le Vent du Nord)
7. Visiting Hopewell Rocks and seeing the largest tides in the world in the Bay of Fundy.

It's such a cool location, they're even in the running for becoming one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. Go check out the international competition!

A close 8th place is: Driving 5100 kms (about 3150 miles) with R without fighting (outside of the Montreal area).


Knitting always makes for a great distraction for the nervous passenger.


Here are some blogs that I've discovered more recently and am really enjoying:

1. Grow Chew -- a great source for gardening and life in Ottawa.
2. Simply Fresh -- another great local blogger who shows how accessible good cooking can be.
3. City Home Country Home -- just found Bonnie's blog -- can't resist a blogger whose bio says: "With one foot in the city and one in the country, I quilt, sew, bake, cook, garden, and knit". Plus, her photography is great.
4. Twist Collective Blog -- I've been getting into more knitting blogs lately and this is a great collective knitting blog, with a tonne of great knitted designs

5. Last, but not least Girl about O-Town -- whom I haven't spoken to lately, but still follow while we're both on "summer hours". A local blogger, whose blog posts are always interesting. I'm long overdue on acknowledging an award she passed along to us (thanks for this!)

Canning Fail

I decided to console myself over the overgrowth of my cucumbers by making pickles for the first time.


That's how all of this canning disaster started. I may be getting exposed to botulism as you read this.

I used my Baba's dill pickle recipe. Here are the instructions Giz sent me (relayed from her conversation with Baba):

Baba's Dill Pickles

Here's the recipe AS BABA GAVE IT - you'll need to figure out for yourself if you did it right.

For a 1 L jar

1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
Boiling water
2 Bay Leaves
2-3 whole cloves
2-3 cloves of garlic (for bottom of the jar and the same for the top) If the cloves are large use only 2 each
Dill (to form a layer on the bottom and on the top

Boil water - add salt to the boiled water (taste to make sure the water is salty enough - good luck figuring out what that means)
take skins off the garlic
layer dill (I would guess 1 - 2 on the bottom and same on the top or one stem head on bottom and one on top)
Add garlic, bay leaves and cloves
fit cukes into the jar so they're tight but a good fit
top with remaining garlic and dill
pour boiled salted water over the top and make sure the seal on the jar is good.

It takes about two weeks for them to sour properly but turn the jar over to make sure you don't have air leaks in the jar. When you turn it over it's just to check for air - then keep it bottom down.

Fast forward two weeks, I came home from vacation to see this:


My pickles did a disappearing act! The dented caps may be a hint as to their whereabouts..


I think one jar may have survived:


Then...the heavens parted and I got an e-mail from Loblaws, asking me if I would like to take part in their Grown Close to Home campaign.


Ummm...let me think about that for a second....YES!!! A few days later, this arrived:


From August to September, Loblaw banner stores will feature freshly harvested Canadian produce items displayed in special bins at the front of the stores. And, select Loblaw banner stores across the country will feature John Deere tractors to highlight the produce section. Approximately 40% of the produce found in Loblaws stores during this time are sources from Canadian growers. Definitely a step in the right direction, Loblaws!





The basket also included a DVD that demonstrates how to many strawberry jam, measuring cups, vinegar, pectin...and the list goes on. Thanks Loblaws -- I will definitely be giving the canning process another try.