Picking berries in Sweden

Walking on a fallen leaves always  makes me want to go into the woods and pick some berries or mushrooms. 
My ancestors, probably, were gatherers as I sometimes have this urge to gather something myself.  Occasionally, I tag alone with some friends who know what they are doing (vital skill when gathering wild berries and mushrooms).
Some years ago I spent a long weekend with my friends in Sweden. Weather was promising so we decided to hike and gather some food for our dinner table.  It was that time in the fall when all leaves have fallen to the ground and each step was accompanied by a crunch... 
Crunch-crunch... 
Crunch-crunch...
By the end of the hike we had enough mushrooms for dinner, some lingonberries and cranberries.
From mushroom we made a delicious soup. 
A ball with berries though  traveled in a fridge from one corner to another for a few days. 
One cold night we were sitting around a fireplace wishing we had some pie. 
We remembered our berries and here what we came up to:


"Picking Berries in Sweden" Pie


2 cups rolled rye flakes
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/3 cup turbinado sugar
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup Earth Balance (butter will work as well)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups  frozen blueberries
1 cup lingonberries jam (from IKEA)


Combine rye flakes, flour, salt and sugar.
In a measuring cup mix baking soda and lemon juice until foamy.

Melt Earth Balance (or butter), slowly add milk, and mixture of baking soda and lemon juice. Stir and add to the dry ingredients. Mix it well and set aside for 10-15 minutes.
At this point turn the oven and preheat it to 375 F (190 C).


When the oven is heated, press the dough in the 9 inch pie pan and bake 15 minutes until golden brown crust forms.

Mix lingonberries jam with frozen blueberries and spread it on the top of the crust.


Place back in the oven and bake for another 15-17 minutes.

Sprinkled with sunflower seeds

Pie needs to cool down for 2-3 hours (if you can wait).


We weren't patient that night and enjoyed the lingonberrie pie to the last crunch... 
Crunch-crunch...


Until next time,
Cowboy Country Vegetarian


P.S. Our pie was made from lingonberries only. I found combination of blueberries and lingonberries to be milder. Happy experimenting!