I took a break from essay writing yesterday to take advantage of well-priced blueberries at our local produce store. Mum sent me her tried-and-true blueberry pie recipe. It wasn’t as good as her pie, but that’s because mum gets to use freshly picked wild blueberries from around Revelstoke. They’re a lot tangier and tastier, though I will say that our pie worked out darn well anyhow.

Read more for the recipe…

The Morris’ Blueberry Pie

First, make the pie crust by following these instructions:

Filling ingredients:

• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup instant tapioca + 1 tbsp
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

After refrigeration, roll out dough into a 9″ pie plate. Prick with fork. Fill with blueberry mixture, roll out other half of dough and cover the pie. Be careful not to overfill the pie, as blueberries tend to bubble over and get messy. Cut into the top of the pie to make 3-4 holes for the moisture to escape. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 F, then turn down to 350 F and bake for another 30 minutes, until crust turns a golden colour. Let cool for a minimum of two hours, in order to let the tapioca set.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and a glass of milk, and enjoy!

At this moment in time, I’ve got my passport on its way for renewal, an Australian working holiday visa, one handful of things to do for school, and as of a few hours ago, an apartment waiting for us Down Under. Phew. We’ll be living in the Redfern suburb of Sydney, NSW, in a very convenient location and a lovely complex. I’m happily distracting myself by looking at design ideas on Design*Sponge Online, Ikea, and Benjamin Moore. The idea of being able to paint my own apartment is more exciting than it ought to be, in all honesty!

I took a break this afternoon from essay writing and apartment planning to have a delicious light summer dinner. I ordered a bunch of fresh beets from SPUD last week, and they came with a whole heap of fresh greens attached–almost a whole head of lettuce’s worth. While I grew up eating steamed beet greens, kale, and spinach, I’ve never been a big fan–they all taste good enough with enough butter and salt (and they are incredibly healthy for you), but it’s not the sort of dish I’d make for myself. After a bit of googling, I decided just to make a basic salad with beet greens, mixed vegetables, and a homemade creamy balsamic dressing. That with some homemade bruschetta on some cheese pizza bread was very filling and very satisfying.

I have to give a big shout-out to spud!, who made this meal possible. From the beets to the sour cream to the tomatoes and the pizza bread, they made it possible. Thanks, spud!

Read more for recipes!

Beet Greens Salad + Homemade Creamy Balsamic Dressing

Ingredients:

• fresh beet greens
• carrot, cucumber, avocado, tomato, other veggies to taste
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt (I used Balkan-style from Olympic Dairy)
• 1/4 cup sour cream (also Olympic Dairy, theirs’ is undoubtedly the best)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 clove minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Thoroughly wash beet greens; I recommend soaking them and rinsing them repeatedly to get rid of all sand/dirt. Tear it into pieces as you would lettuce, add desired veggies in quantities enough for people eating. Thoroughly mix salad dressing ingredients and drizzle over salad. Enjoy!

(Thanks to 1700 Miles of Cooking for the creamy balsamic dressing recipe!)

Homemade Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• 8 plum tomatoes or 5 large tomatoes, diced
• 1 onion, red or white, diced
• 10 black olives, sliced (or several tbsp pre-sliced)
• 3 sliced green onions, or equivalent in chives
• 3 minced cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup cottage cheese, drained slightly if possible
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and olive oil
• 1 tbsp dry basil, or 3 tbsp chopped fresh
• salt, sugar, and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients well. Slice a whole-wheat baguette into 3/4″ slices, butter both sides lightly and toast in toaster oven to desired done-ness; then spoon bruschetta mixture onto pieces of toast and bake at 350 C for about 10 minutes. Don’t forget to grate some of your favourite cheese onto the top! Alternately, bake a frozen pizza shell (I used the basil pizza shell from Pzazz Fine Foods via spud!) with some grated cheese and let partially cool; spoon uncooked bruschetta mix onto bread and enjoy!

I realized this weekend that in the last three weeks, I’ve been to three big festivals: Hats Off Day in Burnaby, Car Free Day on Main Street, and the International Dragon Boat Festival. And here I was complaining that Vancouver had no culture! Well, this summer has proven me wrong already. The rain stops here for a few weeks and Vancouverites are all over the place. I’m a bit relieved to see a bit of life in this city.

The Dragon Boat Festival was great! I was working with CBC at their promo booth (because of my good friend Sean McLaren, a fellow dialoguer). Turns out I know more about the CBC than I thought I did – or maybe just more than the average Vancouverite? Hm. We handed out lots of balloons to kids, played some knowledge-testing trivia games, and just generally tried to share lots of smiles. I enjoyed getting a chance to watch the races, too.

On Friday night, I took my time making dinner and made a Thai chicken pizza with soy chicken and cheese and a homemade peanut sauce. The soy aspect was a bit of a fluke – I ordered some soy chicken strips from SPUD in my last order, and they seemed a natural fit for the pizza. The soy mozzarella was just 1/2 as expensive as the real mozzarella, and served the exact same purpose. Mmm. The pizza had diced carrot, onion, and green onion, and I sprinkled fresh cilantro on the top. (Parsley would go well too.) The onion and carrot were both raw in the oven, and came out just a little crunchy. It kept well, too–Hilary and I had it again for dinner the next night, and I had a slice for lunch in class today too. Serve it with a little extra peanut sauce on the side, and you’re good to go!

Recipes below!

Thai Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen cooked pizza crust (I used the basil pizza shell from Pzazz Fine Foods via SPUD)
• ~3 tbsp peanut sauce (see below for homemade recipe)
• cooked chicken in bite-sized pieces (I used 1 package of soy chicken strips in this recipe, it tasted the same!)
• 1 medium carrot, cut in julienne slices
• 1/3 onion, chopped loosely
• 1 green onion, chopped loosely
• mozzarella cheese (I also used soy mozza in mine, and again, it tasted delicious!), any other desired cheeses
• fresh cilantro

Let pizza crust thaw slightly. Spread peanut sauce on crust until covered well. Sprinkle cooked chicken across crust, and distribute carrot, onion, and green onion around it trying to keep the coverage even. Sprinkle with desired amount of cheese(s) and some basil or oregano or fresh pepper. Bake in 400 F oven for 10-15 minutes, or until desired doneness. (At a lower temp for slightly longer is okay, as the carrots and onion need time to cook. Feel free to add garlic if you desire, if your sauce doesn’t already have some in it.) Remove from onion, sprinkle with fresh cilantro, and enjoy! Serve with a little extra peanut sauce on the side for dipping, if you’re a sauce afficionado like me.

Basil & Maria’s Homemade Thai Peanut Sauce

This recipe is from my friends Basil and Maria who live in Victoria, BC. We were visiting for dinner last November and they made this amazing peanut sauce for our chicken. Luke and I stole the recipe right away!

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp oil
• ¼ c sherry or white wine or water (not “Almond” sherry!)
• ¼ c soy sauce
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• ½ c peanut butter
• 3 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix thoroughly and enjoy!

(this is a photo of the leftovers–it may not look that phenomenal, but trust me, it tastes amazing!)

Moroccan Tomato Chicken Stew + Couscous

Adapted from About.com “Quick Couscous with Chicken”

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts, filetted or cut into slices
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• 2 banana peppers
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp each of cumin, allspice, and sugar
• 2 c vegetable or chicken stock
• 1/4 c white wine
• 1/2 tsp hot sauce or chili pepper flakes
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 can drained & rinsed chick peas (garbanzo beans)
• 4 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro and / or parsley (I used ~2 tsp dry, it tasted fine)
• 1 1/2 cups couscous (quick cooking)
• salt and pepper to taste, cooking oil or butter

Heat oil on medium-high eat in a Dutch Oven (a heavy stovetop pot with a lid, as I discovered) and brown chicken, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper, remove. Saute onion, carrot, garlic, zucchini, and peppers. (If you’re trying to use up other veggies, mushrooms or green beans would also go well.) Once softened, add tomato and spices. Stir in 1/2 c stock, 1/4 c wine, and hot sauce. Cover and let simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes. Taste to make sure you like the spices–if you’re feeling adventurous, try another dash of allspice and cinnamon.

While simmering, bring stock and an extra 1/2 c water to a boil; add couscous, stir, then cover and set aside for 5 minutes, fluff with fork. Rinse and drain garbanzo beans, fry seperately in non-stick skillet with salt and pepper, dash cilantro, and a tablespoon each of cooking oil and peanut butter. Fry until golden-brown, add to veggie mixture along with the can of tomato paste after 15 minutes. Add chicken and the herbs to tomatoes and chick peas, cover and let simmer for another ~20 minutes, or until chicken is tender.

Serve with a glass of your favourite white wine! Keeps well for leftovers the next day, makes 4-5 servings.