Sour Cream Blueberry Pie and Northern California

Just back from a great family trip to Northern California.  My husband was born and raised there and four of our five children were born there.  I lived there for 13 years.  Welcome to Northern California Week at Red Couch Recipes!  I will be showing you the highlights of our Northern California trip and providing recipes inspired by the sights and tastes of Northern California.  Also welcome to Blue Week at Jenny Matlock's Rainbow Summer School.  You can't get much bluer than blueberries!

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

Our first stop on our trip was to swim in Lake Tahoe.  Lake Tahoe is a great place to spend a day.  When we lived in California, Lake Tahoe was a favorite!  The water is clean and clear!  It is the second deepest lake in the United States. Come early because parking gets filled up quickly!  The water is a bit chilly, but not too chilly for me!

Talley, Our Youngest, Enjoying Lake Tahoe

Apple Hill...Apples, Berries and a Whole Lot of Fun!
Leaving Tahoe and coming down Highway 50 we drove around the windy roads of  Apple Hill.  Apple Hill is a collective of 50 different farms that sell apples, of course, and blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries; some of the farms offer U-pick.  We used to live about 20 minutes away from Apple Hill and went there often.  Although some of the farms are open all summer, Apple Hill really gets kicking in the fall with pumpkins, cider donuts, unpasteurized apple cider (yummy), and pies.  On the weekends, there are arts and crafts for sale.  We almost didn't stop to pick any fruit until my youngest said that it "would wreck the trip, " if we didn't.  She was right....we loved picking and eating these berries fresh off the bushes!

Raspberry Bushes at Apple Hill

Freshly picked Apple Hill Blueberries!

Years ago I acquired this recipe for Sour Cream Blueberry Pie from one of the farms at Apple Hill, Bolster's Hilltop Ranch.  They hold a blueberry festival at Bolster's  each year in June.  It is a delicious pie recipe.  Inspired by the mini pies in Mason jars made by Yvonne at Stone Gable, I made the pies mini-sized.  I used my 6-ounce ramekins and the recipe made 8 lovely little pies.  This pie tastes best if stored in the fridge overnight; the flavors meld together and it is wonderful!  It is a scrumptious creamy version of blueberry pie.  If you don't have blueberries, you can use another fruit.

Recipe for Sour Cream Blueberry Pie

Pie Crust Recipe for 9 or 10-inch pie

Pie Crust Filling

2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups blueberries

1 cup whipping cream, not whipped

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Crumb Crust

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions for Pie Filling:  Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl mix the egg, whipping cream, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla together.  Slowly combine the sugar mixture with the whipping cream mixture.  Mix until smooth and then add the blueberries.   Make the pie crust and roll out flat.  Cut out pie rounds that are bigger in size , by at least 1/2-inch, than your ramekins (I used my 10 ounce Pyrex bowls).  

 Place crust in bottom of ramekin, pricking bottom with a fork. 

 Add around 5 tablespoons blueberry pie mixture to each ramekin.   Instructions for Crumb Crust:  Mix the butter, flour, and sugar until it is mixed well and resembles large cracker crumbs.  Top the ramekins with crumbs. 

 Baking Instructions:  Bake for about 8 minutes in a 425 degree oven, then reduce heat to 350 and then bake for about 20 minutes more.  Cool.  You can invert these and serve without the ramekin or serve in the ramekin.  You can also make this pie in a 9-inch pie pan,, but I just love the minis!

Now let's cut into the pie and take a little wedge!

Thank you for dropping by and joining me on my Red Couch for Northern California Week!  Hope you like the pie....it is a winner in my family! Oops, I spilled a little blueberry pie on the couch....and you KNOW how blueberries stain so I better say good by until tomorrow where we will continue our trip in Northern California to the city where we DID leave our heart! 

Posted belatedly with the following'

Skip to My Lou's Made By You Monday

The Girl Creative's Just Something I Whipped Up Monday

Fudge Ripple's Tuesday Night Supper Club

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday

Jenny Matlock's Rainbow Summer School

Blueberry Tablescape/Blueberry Lemonade Slushie

Welcome to Day Three of Blueberry Week at Red Couch Recipes!  I am so happy that you decided to join me for Tablescape Thursday!  Today I have set my table around a blueberry theme.  We are loving blueberries right now!  My kids eat them by handfuls!  They taste so good and are so good for you!

Before we get started, please don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY for Girard Dressing.  Five lucky people will each win four bottles of this premium dressing.  Please click HERE or on the top button on the left-hand side of my sidebar.

If there is one "foodie" thing that defines our family it would be the making of and eating "slushies."  The Red Couch Family LOVES their "slushies."  A slushie to us is just a can of frozen juice (usually 100 percent juice), water (about 2-1/2 cups), and ice enough to fill the blender leaving about 1-2 inches room at the top of the blender container.  Then grind in the blender until smooth.  Today I also threw in a few handfuls of fresh blueberries.  Please grab a glass and ENJOY!

The bowls are Pfaltzgraff, the salad plates are from Wal-Mart this year, the white plates are Gibson.

The centerpiece features blueberries in my apothecary jar.  The unbrella in the table makes it difficult to do a centerpiece.  The metal pitcher is from Wal-Mart from years ago.  We always use it when we have slushies.  It reminds me of the metal glasses I used to drink out of when I was a child.

  Here's full view of the table.

Here's a sideview of the table.  We are dining on the patio today.  The rain is coming in, hurry let's eat!

The napkins are from Wal-Mart this year.  The stylish and very versatile napkin ring holders are from the Style Sisters.  I use them frequently!

Thank you for coming and sitting on my Red Couch for a Spell!  Tomorrow we are having a Literary Feast at Red Couch Recipes.  If you have young children or grandchildren, check back and find a fun "Book and Cook" post...of course, it will have something to do with blueberries.

I am posting this with Susan at Between Naps at the Porch's Tablescape Thursday.

Blueberry Sorbet

Welcome Everyone to Red Couch Recipes for Day Two of Blueberry Week! We have been feasting on blueberries this week.  They are so sweet and good and inexpensive right now!   I just love the rich color of blueberries! Blueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity of any fruit. Click HERE for nine other health benefits of blueberries from Women Health.Net.



How to beat the heat?  Make some sorbet!  We had this delicious sorbet tonight. The "Food Critics," my family, really liked this sorbet!  My 16 year old son was out riding a dirtbike when we ate the sorbet, but it won't last when he comes home!   I just love the rich color the blueberries provide the sorbet!  Blueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity of any fruit.  Click HERE for nine other health benefits of blueberries from Women Health.Net. 

Don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY for 4 bottles of Girard Dressing;  There will be FIVE winners!  Click HERE for the GIVEAWAY.

Recipe for Blueberry Sorbet

This recipe is made for a 2 quart ice cream maker; adjust accordingly

1-1/4  cups sugar -- Depending upon sweetness of blueberries.
1-1/2 cups water
7-8 tablespoons fresh lemon juice -- depending on how tart you want your sorbet to be.
Grated peel from one lemon
7-1/2 cups fresh blueberries  -- This is almost 2 pounds of blueberries.
1 to 1-1/2  teaspoons ground ginger (optional)

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and water, bring to a boil while stirring, and cook until the syrup is clear. Take off heat and stir in the lemon juice and lemon peel. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours, or until thoroughly chilled. In a blender or food processor, puree the blueberries, then strain the skins.  Add ground ginger to the blueberry puree; stir puree into the chilled syrup.  Make sorbet according to the instructions of your ice cream maker. 

Notes:  If you like, you can make this sorbet without straining the skins of the blueberries; if you do this you will need to adjust the amount of lemon juice.  After making the sorbet, if it is too soft, put sorbet in a covered freezer container and freeze for an hour or two more.  I am a huge fan of ginger, if you are not do not add, or add less!

I hope you have enjoyed your visit at my Red Couch!  Come back to sit a spell again soon!

I have posted this recipe with the following:

Blueberry Week -- Red, White, and Blue Salad/Girard's Dressing Giveaway!

Don't miss the Girard Dressing Giveaway in this post!  A food giveaway on a food blog; it doesn't get much better than that! 

Hope the heat, or the rain in our case, hasn't been getting you down!  Today we had some wonderful thunder showers.  It's Monsoon Season in Utah!  It is not unusual for us to have very warm mornings and stormy afternoons.  Here at Red Couch Recipes we are enjoying a glut of blueberries.  My children eat them by the handfuls!  So what's a girl to do when she has a glut of blueberries, why BLUEBERRY WEEK of course!

I was contacted by the people at Marzetti's to do a product review of Girard premium dressings.  Marzetti is the parent company of Girard's.  They sent me three bottles of  their new dressings, Apple Poppyseed, Creamy Balsamic, and Peach Mimosa. and a fourth bottle of their signature Champagne dressing.  The dressings I will review are Apple Poppyseed and Creamy Balsamic.  I am reviewing Apple Poppyseed today and Creamy Balsamic next week. 

You have probably seen Girard dressings in the supermarkets; they have a distinctive triangular bottle shape.  Chef Girard created his first salad dressings in 1939 in San Francisco.  Girard's dressings come in 18 different varieties!  The Marzetti company, have graciously offered me FIVE (four bottle) sets of their dressing for a giveaway to FIVE lucky followers of Red Couch Recipes!  There are three chances to win.

 Rules for the Giveaway are as follows:

1.  You must be a a follower or become a follower of Red Couch Recipes and tell me, in a separate comment, that you are a follower for a First  Chance.

2.  In a separate comment, please visit the site Everyday Elegance , created by Epicurious.com and Girard's to feature wonderful recipes using Girard's Dressings and entertaining tips for a Second Chance.

3.  In a separate comment, tell me that you blogged about this giveaway on your blog OR left a tweet and provide the direct link to your tweet on your comments for a Third Chance.

4.  This contest is open to only those residing in the United States.

 5.  Your e-mail must be visible on your blog or in your comments to qualify for the giveaway.

6.  One Salad Dressing Set Per Follower which consists of 12 fluid ounces of the following varieties:  Apple Poppyseed, Creamy Balsamic, Peach Mimosa, and Champagne.  This giveaway is being sponsored by the Marzetti Company.

7.  The Giveaway will close at 11:00 pm (Mountain Time) on August 4, 2010.

8.  Winners will be randomly drawn using Random.Org.

The Marzetti Company has also provided a link where you can print off  a $2.00 coupon towards the purchase of one Girard's Dressing.  Click HERE for the coupon.  Please be aware that there are a limited amount of coupons and that they are on a "first come-first serve basis. 

Today I made a salad to highlight the great flavor of the Apple Poppyseed Dressing.  The Apple Poppyseed Dressing is sweet, but not cloyingly so; it is tangy, but not too bitey.  It enhances the flavors of the salad, but does not overpower them.  I have made similar dressings like the Apple Poppyseed Dressing, but mine have always come out too thin; this dressing is the perfect thickness.  It enhances the flavors in the Red, White and Blue salad I have put together.

Recipe for Red, White and Blue Salad with Girard's Apple Poppyseed Dressing:

Romain Lettuce, torn in small pieces

Red Onions, thinly sliced.  I use a mandolin -- "THE RED"

Swiss Cheese, cut in small cubes -- THE WHITE

Blueberries -- You could use dried blueberries in the fall --THE BLUE

Sugared cashews -- Just throw some cashews in a small saute pan along with some sugar at a medium high heat for a few minutes.  Watch carefully!  When the sugar begins to melt, take off heat and stir to separate the cashews from each other.  Cool before using. 

Toss all ingredients together and then serve with Girards Apple Poppyseed Dressing.

Girard's Apple Poppyseed Dressing

The Red, White, and Blue Salad is ready to eat!  Come take a bite!

Thank you for dropping by Red Couch Recipes, where you are always welcome to take a seat on my couch and relax a bit!

I am posting this with the following:

What's for Dinner Mom Meatless Monday.

 Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday.

Blessed With Grace's Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

All the Small Stuff's Tuesdays at the Table.

Strawberry Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

Welcome to Alfabe-Thursday at Jenny Matlock's where this week's letter of the week is "Y" for frozen yogurt!






Happy 4th of July everyone!  Let's hear it for the Red, White, and Blue!  I whipped up this frozen yogurt tonight for my husband's birthday!  Happy Birthday honey!  What do the colors of red (strawberries), white (yogurt), and blue (blueberries)  make when mixed --- this lovely colored yogurt!  Surprise your family and make some for the 4th of July!  This recipe has been adapted from a recipe in the book Sorbets and Ice Creams by Lou Seibert Pappas.



Recipe and Instructions for Blueberry Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
1-1/4 cups strawberries, hulled
1-1/4 cups blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1-1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups plain non-fat yogurt

In a belender or food processor, puree the strawberries, blueberries, sugar, corn syrup and lemon juice.  Put mixture into a large bowl and let stand for 20 minutes for the sugar to dissolve.  Blend in the yogurt and place in ice cream freezer.  Follow manufacturer's instructions for making ice cream.  If you like, when ice cream is done, you can put the ice cream into a pyrex dish and place in freezer to make it harder.  Freeze for about 2-3 hours depending upon temperature of freezer.

I am posting this at Foodie Friday at Design's By Gollum.

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I am also posting this with Tasty Tuesday.

I am posting this with Kitchen Bouquet's Ice Cream Social.