Friday, June 24, 2011

Blueberry Pie with Sunbutter Streusel Topping

A few years ago I came across this recipe for a blueberry pie from Epicurious. In my mind it was perfect! The only problem with it was that it used butter and almond paste, two big no-nos in our house. With all the sweet, juicy blueberries from the farm I just had to recreate this recipe. Thankfully I was able to use Epicurious recipe as a guideline and found this recipe for the topping and substituted the butter and Sunbutter for the peanut butter.

Here is my recipe, changes marked with an *:

Filling:
4 c. fresh blueberries*
1/3 - 1/2 c. sugar, depending on how sweet the blueberries are*
2 Tbsp. cornstarch*
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest*

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium high heat. When the blueberries start releasing some of their juices, the filling will thicken. Take it off the burner and let cool.

Crust:
1/4 c. cold lard*
1/4 c. cold dairy free margarine (I used Nucoa)*
1 1/4 c. flour*
1 tsp. sugar*
1/4 tsp. salt*
3 Tbsp. ice water*

In a food processor fitted with a blade cut up the lard and margarine. Add flour, salt and sugar and pulse until pea size pieces start to form. Through the opening on the top add ice water one tablespoon at a time. When the dough comes together and pulls off the sides of the bowl it is done. Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap . Let cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. In the meantime work on the topping.

Topping:
1/4 c. dairy free margarine (Nucoa)*
1/2 c. plus 1 Tbsp. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Sunbutter*

In a food processor combine all ingredients until they start to crumble into pea size pieces. Refrigerate!

To assemble and bake:
Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out the dough in between two pieces of plastic wrap. That way it won't stick and you and turn it over, check if it's big enough and put into a 9 inch glass pie dish. Once the dough is in the pie dish pour the blueberry filling into it and top with streusel.


Bake the pie in the lower half of your oven for about 50 minutes. I like the glass dish for this because you can see if the bottom is browning nicely, too. If the top browns too much too quickly cover it loosely with aluminum foil!
Serve with your favorite ice cream or whipped topping.









Sunday, June 5, 2011

Chicken with Sunbutter Sauce

The inspiration for this recipe came from Williams-Sonoma's website. Please click here to see the original recipe.

Here is my version (changes marked with a *):
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil*
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• salt and pepper to taste

Sauce (for twice as much):
• 1/2 water
• 6 Tbsp. Sunbutter*
• 6 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 6 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce*
• sugar to taste

Garnish:
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced*
• handful of chopped cilantro

Serve over:
• cooked rice noodles, or other thin long noodles that met your dietary needs
• 1/2 bag of ready-to-eat spinach

In a frying pan with taller sides, heat the oil. Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper and brown the meat on medium high heat, until cooked all the way through, about 5-6 minutes per side.

While the chicken is cooking, put the ingredients for the sauce in a microwave bowl and heat for 1 minute. Stir to combine, it doesn't have to be exact a this time as it will "melt" together when cooked in the pan.
Take the chicken out of the pan and let rest on a cutting board. Turn heat down. Pour the sauce ingredients and stir until everything is combined and has an even consistency. Gently cook until sauce thickens, which will only take a few minutes. In the meantime thinly slice the chicken and return to the pan with the sauce. Fold the chicken into the sauce.

To serve, put the warm rice noodles in a deep dish that is big enough to hold the whole meal. Spread the spinach over the noodles. Then spoon the chicken and sauce over the spinach and sprinkle with fresh scallions and cilantro.

Enjoy!