Blueberry Crisp

Here is a very easy recipe for a great dessert...easier and healthier than a pie:

Blueberry Crisp

4 cups blueberries

2 T. lemon or orange juice

2 T. sugar

1/2 t. dried thyme, preferably orange thyme

water or juice to cover bottom of dish

Topping:

 1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup toasted wheat germ

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

 1/2 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

1/3 c. maple syrup

1/2 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 375'

Mix berries, lemon juice, sugar and thyme in a one and a half quart baking dish.

Mix topping in a bowl and press on top of berries.

Bake 35 - 40"

Enjoy!



Drying Herbs

Since both oregano (above left) and thyme (above right) are perennial herbs, it makes sense to grow them among the perennial flowers.  For peak potency, culinary herbs should be harvested when the flowers are just budded up, but not yet open.  Cut your herbs on a sunny day, after all traces of dew have dried.  

Spread the herbs on cookie sheets and dry away from direct sunlight at about 90 degrees.  An oven with a pilot light is the perfect temperature.  Attic space may also be ideal, but be sure to check the herbs daily.  The texture, thickness, and density of the leaves determines how long they will take to dry. You will probably want to invest in an electric food dehydrator at some point.

After being in the oven for four days, the thyme (upper part of left cookie sheet) is completely dry...

...so I pack it into a clean jar and label it. The oregano is not yet dry enough to pack away: it still has a rubbery texture. But it has shrunk considerably in size, so I consolidate the oregano all on one cookie sheet, and spread some freshly picked basil on the other one and return them to the oven.  (Green basil turns black when dried and is not too appealing, so I like to dry the purple basil and preserve the green basil by making it into pesto.)

Notice the bright green color of the freshly dried herbs.  (When shopping for herbs you can tell how fresh they are by their color.)  Notice also that I don't crumble the leaves into little bits at this point. The goal when packing herbs is to preserve the volatile oils that give them their characteristic flavors.  These oils are released when the leaf is broken, so it is best to crumble the herbs just before adding them to your food.

Two days later the basil is dry and crispy.
Notice how much it has shrunk in size.

Now it's time to break the basil leaves off of the stems and pack them into jars.  Screw the jar lid on tightly and store away from heat and light.  I like to collect recycled jars of different sizes and shapes from the recycle shelves at the local food co-op for storing my home grown herbs.

Freezing Pesto

 Here's my basic set-up for freezing pesto.  Fresh basil leaves, picked off of the stems, extra-virgin olive oil, half-pint freezer boxes, and a food processor.

 I don't prepare the full recipe for pesto at this time.  I just puree the basil in olive oil and freeze.  At serving time, I heat one or two cubes of frozen basil in a double boiler, and add chopped garlic, dried tomatoes, salt and pepper.  I serve Parmesan cheese and walnut pieces at the table to accommodate individual food preferences.  Walnuts make an economical substitute for pine nuts.

 Here's an easy way to save some space in your freezer.  Fill your freezer box just under half way to the fill line. 

...then, rather than capping each box, stack all of the boxes together, so that the bottom of one box becomes the cover for the box below it. To be sure your box fulls don't stick together, better to fill about 1/4 inch deep so no pesto touches the box above it.
Here I've filled the boxes too full and they ended up stuck together when I went to thaw them out.


Fit a cover snugly on the last box of pesto, and label and date it with a sharpie.

Now bag the entire stack in a plastic bag to ensure adequate protection, and freeze right away.