Raw Berry Pie + Weekend Round-Up

I’ll admit I was a little skeptical of this “pie” at first. The crust is made of just dates, walnuts, cinnamon, and vanilla extract? Hmm. But, as it turns out, the stuff is delicious! It tastes clean, simple, and delightfully fresh, and I’m sure I’ll be making variations of this treat throughout the summer.

It was great to (finally!) have a whole weekend that felt like springtime, and this was a perfect way to end things on Sunday night.

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 1/2 cup pitted dates
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of sea salt
• 4 cups frozen berries (I used a mix of dark cherries, blueberries, and raspberries)
• 1 Tablespoon agave nectar

Directions

• In a food processor fitted with an S blade, combine walnuts, dates, vanilla, cinnamon, and sea salt until smooth. Press mixture into a pie crust and refrigerate for about an hour (until crust is hard).

• After the crust is set, blend the fruit and agave nectar in a food processor (again using the S blade). Press fruit mixture into the crust and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

• (Note: I think next time I might try freezing the crust to be sure it sets really well before adding the fruit. Though this pie was delicious, it didn’t slice especially well and kind of ended up looking like a cobbler more than a pie once it was served. That didn’t stop me from eating two pieces last night.) 🙂

Other notables from the weekend:

• On Saturday, we headed to Jamestown, North Carolina, to check out Furnitureland South with our friends Allen and Mary. They just bought a house and were looking for a few things for the new digs. Luckily, Allen has a relative who works at Furnitureland South, and he was able to guide us around. That place is massive, and puts all other furniture stores to shame. (Check out the sweet dresser out front!) Kevin and I saw several pieces we liked, but didn’t purchase anything this time (though we were slightly temped by a lovely piece of marine art):

• After building up an appetite with all that furniture shopping, we ventured into downtown Jamestown for lunch and were incredibly impressed with this little town. They had a couple of great restaurants, an imports-only wine and beer shop, a French press coffee shop/record store combo that features live music most nights, and one of the coolest bars we’ve ever seen (photos below). It was a mostly outdoor set-up with cozy tables, really cool decor (think old wrought iron gates and lots of beads and curtains), and a shuffleboard table. As Kevin said, it’s like one of those amazing looking establishments featured in a movie that’s supposed to be in a small town and you think, “Yeah right. There’s no way a place like that exists in that town.” And yet, in Jamestown, it does:

• It’s finally springtime in Winston-Salem! Let’s hope it sticks around…

• Before we enjoyed our pie last night, Kevin and I took advantage of our new grill and cooked up some pre-marinated Trader Joe’s bool kogi Korean beef (YUM!). While Kevin was acting as grill master, I made our new favorite side dish: haricot vertes with sliced almonds and pearl onions. We added some Caprese salad (complete with fresh basil from our garden!) and — of course — some of that to-die-for black pepper Parmesan Whole Foods bread and were pretty pleased with our dinner selection:

A successful weekend indeed!