Spiced Apple Blueberry Pie

         My moms all time favorite store bought desert is this mixed berry tart that she will finish in less than 24 hours.  Naturally, the next time I was making a pie, I tried to recreate it.  Instead of a traditional thick crust like in a tart, I made a pie crust, but substituted half of the flour for ground almonds.  I also added all spice and cinnamon to the blueberry filling as well as some lemon juice to balance out the sweetness (these ideas found at: www.simplyrecipes.com). I was trying to figure out how to make fruit pies less runny, when I thought about apples.  Because of the pectin in apples, I figured it should help to thicken the syrup from the blueberries.  Sure enough, it not only thickened the filling, but added a thin, soft layer at the bottom that absorbed blueberry flavor, mostly adding texture:

Spiced Blueberry Apple Pie:

  Ingredients:

    Crust:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup very cold butter
• 4-5 tablespoons ice water

    Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (defrosted and juice mostly poured off)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon all spice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 apples

  Instructions:

1. In a food processor, combine flour, almonds, sugar, and salt 
2. Slowly pulse in the cold butter until pea sized lumps form, then add water slowly until dough becomes cornmeal textured, then add one more tablespoon:
   
3. Remove dough and divide into two pieces, kneading each one minimally only until it sticks together:
   
4. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and place in fridge wile preparing filling: 
   
5. For filling, mix blueberries with sugar, flour, cinnamon, all spice, and lemon juice:
   
6. Peel and slice apples and set aside
7. Remove crust and roll it our on a lightly floured surface, then place in a lightly greased pie pan
8. Line bottom with overlapping apple slices:
   
9. Pour blueberry filling over apples and put small pieces of the 2 tablespoons of butter over the filling:
   
10. Roll out the other piece of pie dough and lay the dough on top, then roll edges under
11. Cut four slits in the center and place in fridge while oven preheats to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
12. Bake for 20 minutes, then bring temperature down to 350, for another 30-35 minutes, until crust is golden brown:
    
13. Remove and let cool completely before slicing and enjoying

       

         

Nutella Mocha Iced Coffee

       My mom recently got a NutriBullet blender and is now obsessed with green or, realistically, brown "super" food smoothies.  I must say, I am impressed with how it blends, but I decided to use it to my advantage by using things like coffee and all natural organic "almond cocoa spread" (nutella) in it.  I adapted a nutella iced coffee recipe off of pinterest, and came up with:

Nutella Mocha Iced Coffee:
  Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 2 tablespoons nutella (or almond cocoa spread)
• 2 tablespoons hazelnut flavored syrup
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee
• 1 table spoon sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
• 6-8 ice cubes

  Instructions: 

1. Place all ingredients (including ice) in the blender, or in our case, the NutriBullet cup:
   
2. Blend for 45 second to a minute until smooth and frothy:
   
3. Pour over ice:
   
4. Enjoy!