Two Dinners and a Dessert

Yesterday we ate Deconstructed Hummus Soup from Love Soup. It is a very simple soup - chickpeas and broth with garlic, parsley, and lemon juice. It is my oldest son's "favorite soup."

After dinner we had a dessert of apple blackberry pie with homemade vanilla ice cream. We finished the pie off tonight. It was delicious. I got the crust recipe from a lady at church. It was the flakiest crust I have ever made. The recipe calls for shortening but that stuff freaks me out so I just used butter. The apples were picked last fall by a friend. I peeled them, cut them into slices, and froze them. The blackberries were ones we picked and froze. Here is my pie recipe:

Apple-Blackberry Pie

For the Crust
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp sugar
1/16 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
12 Tbsp butter, cup into small pieces
1/3 cup cold water
For the Filling
2 cups blackberries
4 cups apples, peeled and sliced
¾ cups sugar
2 Tbsp flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon


1. Prepare pie crust: combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar); cut in butter until it resembles course crumbs. Add water and mix just until ball forms (do not knead or over mix). Divide dough in half and form into discs. Cover discs with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Make the filling: In a large bowl stir together the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, cinnamon). Add fruit and gently toss until coated.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F.
4. Assemble the pie: On a lightly floured surface, roll out the cold dough from center to edges into a circle 12-inches in diameter. Transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate (wrap it around the rolling pin and unroll it in the pie pan, without stretching the dough, press it into the pan). Trim the pastry even with the rim of the pie plate. Transfer filling to pastry-lined pie plate.
5. Roll remaining disc like the previous one. Lay over the top of the filled pie. Trim to ½-inch beyond the edge of the plate. Fold top pastry under bottom pastry. Crimp edge as desired. Cut slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.
6. Brush the top crust with water. Cover edges with foil to prevent over-browning. Bake in a 375°F oven for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 20 minutes more or until fruit is tender and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.


Today for dinner we had curried vegetables with brown rice and bread. My husband cooked green beans (from our garden last fall), carrots, and peas in oil and curry powder. It was light and simple.