At Last Blueberry Pie

We went to pick blueberries at a local U-Pick operation for the third time this summer.  That doesn't sound amazing except for the fact that our first picking was at the end of June.

The owner of the operation has been doing this for 37 years and said this is the earliest they've ever been able to open.

The berries are some of the best I've ever picked.  But the weather has been hot, for the most part, since they opened.   One of my favorite things to do with the berries had to wait for a day like - today.  We are 78F (25.5C) right now and I'm so thankful.

One of the plants from today.

One of my readers asked yesterday what I do with the berries.  We eat a lot of blueberry pie.  We make other recipes, too - here's a list from two years ago with links.  Since I'm a Weight Watchers lifetime member, I can't eat too many sweets.

What follows is one of my favorite ways of eating blueberries - blueberry pie, using a slightly changed recipe provided by the U Pick farmer.  It makes the best blueberry pie I've ever had, and I have blogged about it multiple times.   I'm finally going to be able to make it today.

There seem to be a lot of similar recipes online (in fact I found a recipe identical to what the farm provided in an online church cookbook) so I feel OK in posting this farm's recipe for all to enjoy.

Crust

1 refrigerated piecrust (because I'm lazy), baked in a 9 inch glass pie pan. 

No pictures this year, because I am already late in posting.

Filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries (divide into 2 parts, 2 cups each)  Apparently you can use frozen but I haven't done it myself, so I don't know if it will work with frozen.  It might work with the berries you cook (you'll see why as you read on).

2/3 cup sugar.  This all depends on the sweetness of the berries.  I've found early berries run a little sweeter than later ones.

2 1/2 tbsp potato starch or 3 tbsp cornstarch.  My spouse, the family cook, prefers potato starch, which we buy at Passover time.

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp lime juice (because that's what we have - the original called for lemon juice)

1/4 cup cold water

1 tbsp butter

Method

Combine sugar, cornstarch or potato starch, water, salt until well blended.  Add 2 cups blueberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the blueberry mixture thickens. If you use potato starch, please keep in mind that it will thicken very quickly.  You need to pay careful attention.

Then, add the butter and lemon or lime juice.  Let cool.

When cooled, place the reserved 2 cups of blueberries into the pie crust.  Then, top with the cooked mixture. 

Then, try to resist eating the entire pie at one serving.

It's Double Plus Good.

Blueberry Picking Skies June 27 #SkywatchFriday

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day, after almost two weeks of warmer than normal (for the most part) weather, and three power failures at our house.

Our winter this year was milder than normal.  We are having various plants blooming or fruiting weeks or days ahead of schedule.  

Yesterday, we picked blueberries for the first time, and this is possibly a couple of weeks sooner than normal.  Come along with me and see some blueberry like skies.

This farm scene looks so tranquil, but it was anything but in February when an EF-1 tornado tore through this, and a neighborning farm.  It took 17 trees belonging to the U-Pick operation with it but fortunately the blueberries were affected.

I love that blue sky.

I don't miss the humidity of most of the past two weeks, either.

The blueberry bushes.

I'm happy they were able to open yesterday (and today), but they won't have more blueberries until after July 4.

I love blueberry picking season.

Joining Yogi and other sky watchers for #SkywatchFriday.

Blueberry Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

 Saying goodbye to the blueberry season here in the Southern Tier of New York.

Late blueberries cast shadows August 6.

Shadows on blueberry leaves.

Sadly, it wasn't the best year for the U Pick operation we go to.  They lost their entire early crop.  Because of a lot of hazy days (thanks in part to smoke in the air) later blueberries were delayed in ripening.

The late berries run tart (and are great for baking) but these were really tart.

But I am grateful, nevertheless, for what my spouse and I were able to pick.

Joining Magical Mystery Teacher's #ShadowshotSunday.

Still Double Plus Good Blueberries

It's blueberry picking time in the Southern Tier of New York.  We've been picking twice this year, two shorter visits because I did something to my back about 10 days ago and it's still cranky.  But despite the discomfort, I love being out in the open air.

The blueberries. 

More bushes.

The fields.

This has not been the smoothest season for the local blueberry farmers, though, because of a late frost.  The U-Pick operation we go to had planted 100 plus young plants this spring when they thought it was safe.  It wasn't.  Over half of them died.  They also lost all of their earliest berries and didn't start picking until a week after the normal start time.

We've been coming to this one operation for years now

I love having the fresh berries so much, and we can (and do) always freeze the excess for the winter.

One of my readers asked yesterday what I do with the berries.  We eat a lot of blueberry pie.  We make other recipes, too - here's a list from last year with links.  Since I'm a Weight Watchers lifetime member, I can't eat too many sweets.

What follows is one of my favorite ways of eating blueberries - blueberry pie, using a slightly changed recipe provided by the U Pick farmer.  It makes the best blueberry pie I've ever had, and I blogged about it last year.  Last year, I made some changes, so here, once again, is my Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie.

There seem to be a lot of similar recipes online (in fact I found a recipe identical to what the farm provided in an online church cookbook) so I feel OK in posting this farm's recipe for all to enjoy.

Crust

1 refrigerated piecrust (because I'm lazy), baked in a 9 inch glass pie pan. 

No pictures this year, because my spouse made the pie while I worked one day last week.

Filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries (divide into 2 parts, 2 cups each) (apparently you can use frozen but I haven't done it myself, so I don't know if it will work with frozen.  It might work with the berries you cook (you'll see why as you read on).

2/3 cup sugar.  This all depends on the sweetness of the berries.  I've found early berries run a little sweeter than later ones.

2 1/2 tbsp potato starch or 3 tbsp cornstarch.  My spouse, the family cook, prefers potato starch, which we buy at Passover time.

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp lime juice (because that's what we have - the original called for lemon juice)

1/4 cup cold water

1 tbsp butter (we used whipped butter).  

Method

Combine sugar, cornstarch or potato starch, water, salt until well blended.  Add 2 cups blueberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the blueberry mixture thickens. If you use potato starch, please keep in mind that it will thicken very quickly.  You need to pay careful attention.

Then, add the butter and lemon or lime juice.  Let cool.

When cooled, place the reserved 2 cups of blueberries into the pie crust.  Then, top with the cooked mixture. 

Then, try to resist eating the entire pie at one serving.

Double Plus Good.

Yummy Blueberry-Banana Muffins

Blueberry season is over, but I can't let go of one of my favorite fruits.

Last month I made a delicious blueberry-banana muffin, adapted from a recipe I found in a supermarket magazine to make it a little more Weight Watchers friendly.  It intrigued me because it used olive oil.

Here is the recipe I came up with:

Ingredients

2 large ripe bananas

1/2 cup maple syrup (dark, if you can find it)  note, the original recipe called for honey.  I used maple syrup as it has fewer WW points on my plan.

3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

2 large eggs, at room temperature.  I used one duck egg and one medium chicken egg, because that's what I had.

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup olive oil (I suppose you could use another light oil)

1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries (I suppose this could work with frozen, but I had fresh, which the original recipe called for.

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  I used regular muffin pans which made (for me) 14 muffins.  I sprayed the muffin pan with nonstick spray.

1.  Peel and mash bananas.

2.  In bowl, whisk together wet ingredients:  maple syrup, yogurt, vanilla, oil. Add mashed bananas, combine.  Whisk in eggs, one at a time.  This is your wet mixture.

3.  In another, larger bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.  This is your dry mixture.

4. Slowly pour wet mixture into dry mixture.  Gently fold with spatula.  Gently fold in blueberries.  You want to be gentle; you do not want to develop the gluten in the flour. Do not overmix.

5. Fill each muffin well to the top with batter.

6.  Bake at 400 degrees F for about 18 minutes (maybe a minute or two less if your oven runs a little hot) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of muffin comes out clean.  Take from oven and place on a wire rack.  After a few minutes, you can remove from pan.

7.  Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

I'm sure one of the baking bloggers can come up with some suggestions to improve.  It was a tad too moist for my taste but it was delicious.

And, for my American readers, I hope you are able to enjoy the Labor Day weekend.

The Silence of the Blueberries

Sunday was promising to be another (possible) heat record setting day where I live in the Southern Tier of New York.  We had promised ourselves that we would not pick blueberries again (and I wouldn't blog about it) as we had more than enough to freeze this year.

The blueberry harvest has been the best I can recall in my over 40 years of blueberry picking.  This bountiful year makes up for last year, which was very wet and buggy.  The promise of the quick, easy picking that the bountiful harvest has created got us out to the You Pick farm we favor one last time. It helped that, instead of opening at noon (their regular starting time on Sunday), the owners opened at 8am.

Today, instead of sharing a recipe for the blueberry muffins (a different recipe than I've used in the past) I made recently, I wanted to talk about the experience of picking blueberries.

I don't meditate, and I suspect what happens when I pick isn't meditation.  I don't know what to call it because I don't easily come up with words for the experience. 

It's all about the silence and the stillness.  Years, ago, this city-bred woman lived in rural Arkansas for four years.  Some things I have never missed, but the peace isn't one of them.

When I mean silence, I don't mean there isn't noise.  There are the bird-alarm sounds the farm plays to keep birds off the bushes.  There are calls of real birds - today, crows and grey catbirds.  There is the sound of other pickers, although today we were alone for a while. 

There's the occasional buzz of an insect. Thankfully, this year, the yellow jackets have been few.

But there is no noise that annoys me, that prohibits me from slipping into my blueberry trance.

I've done picking long enough that the actual process of choosing the ripe berries and picking them are automatic.   Quickly, I get into rhythm, looking for the blue berries with the white coating that comes off slightly waxy on my fingers.  Pluck, pick, put in bucket.

My thoughts are thousands of miles away. Peace descends.  I walk, stop, pick.  Walk some more. Pick some more.  Think some more.  The thoughts are good thoughts.  Pleasant memories only bubble to my mind's surface.  I never worry when I'm in this mode.

The breeze touches my face. It's warm, but not unpleasant. The sun doesn't beat down - yet.

I think of what my spouse and I will do with the berries.  Right now, they will just be refrigerated.

Before I know it, my spouse and I have filled all the containers we brought.  I walk back to the check out shack reluctantly, picking a last few berries along the way. I'll miss doing this. I'll miss the peace and the waxy feel of the berries on my fingers.

It will be nearly a year before I can do it again.   What will happen in those intervening months?

We've spent almost $100 this year on blueberries we picked.   They will all be used and enjoyed in the coming months.

Each time, as the snow falls and the chill winds blow, I will get a memory of summer and the silence of the blueberries.

A Farm Tale or Two

In one of my blueberry picking posts this year, I mentioned I would blog something about the owners of the U-Pick blueberry farm and what they are going through right now.

Of course, there is the heat and the drought.  Normally, the you-pick would have started at noon on Sunday (to allow the owners to attend church, I'm assuming) but today, due to the possible record heat forecast,  they opened at 9am.

We were so grateful.

The bushes were loaded but I wonder how much business the heat has caused this farm operation to lose.

They used to also come to our local farmers market, and sell (in season) blueberries, squash, and sweet corn.  But, the people who helped them pick moved to another state several years ago.

Until relatively recently, an ailing relative the woman had been caring for took up much of her time.  The family member has since passed away but there is exhaustion.  Something had to give, and it was the farmers market.

Not only that, but they never were able to put in their sweet corn at all, something that was a good seller for them.  

Farming is hard work, and this, added to what life throws at all of us, makes for a hard life.

So, as we picked and picked in the warm morning, we were so grateful. (Yes, we tell her so).

If you are fortunate enough to live where there are farmers, they all deserve our love and respect.

And, speaking of farming and love, I have to close with this emu and south Florida farmer Taylor Blake who have gone viral. 

Apparently, Emmanuel detests iPhones but loves his owner, and the feeling (about love) is mutual.  

I discovered Emmanuel Todd Lopez last Sunday on Twitter (the actual videos are posted on TikTok) and have watched the videos...well, a lot.  Taylor and Emmanuel even recently appeared on late night television (this and a couple of her other videos are here) with Jimmy Kimmel.

As Taylor said at the end of the Jimmy Kimmel clip "Choose Love".

Spiced Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie Recipe

We went blueberry picking where we live in the Southern Tier of New York for the second time on Wednesday.  The bushes are loaded more than we've ever seen in recent memory.

All that blue deliciousness.

I love a blueberry pie recipe provided by our U Pick farmer which I've also seen in various church cookbooks.  Every year we try to improve on it. This recipe makes the best blueberry pie I've ever had, and I blogged about it two years ago.  This year, spouse made some more changes, so here is my Spiced Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie.  I still made the pie; he added the spice himself.

Crust

1 refrigerated piecrust (because I'm lazy), baked in a 9 inch glass pie pan.  This year I wanted to make a low calorie graham cracker crust once again.  Why do I even try?

Filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries (divide into 2 parts, 2 cups each) (apparently you can use frozen but I haven't done it myself, so I don't know if it will work with frozen.)

3/4 cup scant cup sugar.  These berries are so sweet.

3 tbsp cornstarch. 

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp lime juice (because that's what we have - the original calls for lemon juice)

1/4 cup cold water

1 tbsp butter (we used whipped butter).  You can try to use light butter-like spread but butter is definitely better.

Spices:  (optional)

A sprinkling of cinnamon and freshly grated (if you have it) nutmeg (my spouse added doesn't measure, just does it to taste)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Bake the pie crust according to package directions.

Combine sugar, cornstarch or potato starch, water, salt until well blended.  Add 2 cups blueberries. 

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.  A couple of minutes in, add the spices and vanilla.  Then, cook until the blueberry mixture thickens.  You need to pay careful attention.

Then, add the butter and lemon or lime juice.  Let cool.

When cooled, place the reserved 2 cups of blueberries into the pie crust.  Pour the mixture over it.

Yes, it's so simple even I can make it.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Blue Saturday (With Recipes)

The blueberries are ripe, and it's time for my annual blueberry post, complete with links to some recipes.  Tomorrow, I may blog some more about the owner of the U Pick blueberry operation we've gone to for years.  The struggles of the small farmer are real, and need to be appreciated.

Here are some of my previous picking and recipe posts.

In I blue it again, I explain how to tell if your blueberries are ripe.

Here's a recipe for blueberry dump cake.

How about blueberry muffins made with cashew/almond milk?

Or blueberry clafoutis?

Don't you love these blueberry bushes?

For my next to last recipe, one I just make later today - double plus blueberry pie.  My spouse doesn't generally eat pie but he loves this.

I am including a post from a fellow blogger (haven't made this yet, but sounds good - I've made some of her other recipes) with a side order of Susan B. Anthony:  Lemon Blueberry Bars.

Finally, a chocolate candy that reads like a lot of work given how small blueberries are, but you may want to try it:  chocolate covered blueberries.

Do you have a favorite blueberry recipe to share?

Pleasing the People with Surprise Patriotic Fruit Salad

Enough times, I'm pleasantly surprised by my readers.  A post is a hit.  People love the music I like to post on Mondays, it seems.

Like yesterday's music post, which was on surfing songs of the 1960's. 

My readers enjoyed the theme so much, and I thank them for stopping by.

Sometimes, I put something out there on my blog and it just clicks.  I hope this food post will click with you, too.

A few days ago, I was shopping at a local farm store, and I found this bargain what I thought was what we Americans call a cantaloupe.  Couldn't beat the $1 price.  Cantaloupes next to it were more expensive.  This looked OK and smelled OK.  I bought it.

Except it wasn't a cantaloupe. When I opened it up, the color was all wrong for a cantaloupe/muskmelon.  Green/white flesh greeted me, not the usual orange.  But with netting on the outside, it looked like a cantaloupe.  But it was oval, come to think of it, not round. 

Hmmm.  I'm now thinking it is an Ananas melon.  It doesn't smell to me like pineapple (ananas is pineapple in French, Danish and Dutch, among other languages), but my nose isn't the best.  What I did know is that I've never had a melon like this before.

Oh, was it good.

Anyway, I ate on it for a few days and then it was time to make a fruit salad.  We had blueberries from our last picking of the season (August 5) and fresh strawberries that were just starting to freeze.  They had to be used right away.

So this is what my spouse put together. Just cut up fruit.  No orange juice (disagrees with me) or other fruit juice. No sugar.  No cream (I have never liked mixing cream with fresh fruit.)  Just a pure mix of cut up melon, cut up starting to freeze strawberries, and fresh blueberries.

With apologies to my non-United States readers, I'm calling this Patriotic Fruit Salad (that melon flesch does look more white than green.).  Three cheers for the red, whitish and blue fruit.

Three more cheers for a new food find. I wish you were here to share it with me.

I wonder, now that our local cantaloupes are in season, if I'll see this again.  

One can hope.

 

Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie

We've been blueberry picking three times this season, and are hoping for a fourth time.  This has not been the smoothest season for the local blueberry farmers, though, because of all our rain.  Last time we picked, the farmer told us about some of their difficulties, including having to close fields in the middle of the picking day.

I love having the fresh berries so much, though, and we can (and do) always freeze the excess for the winter.

What follows is one of my favorite ways of eating blueberries - blueberry pie, using a slightly changed recipe provided by the U Pick farmer.  It makes the best blueberry pie I've ever had, and I blogged about it last year.  This year, I made some changes, so here is my Better Than Last Year Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie.

There seem to be a lot of similar recipes online (in fact I found a recipe identical to what the farm provided in an online church cookbook) so I feel OK in posting this farm's recipe for all to enjoy.

Crust

1 refrigerated piecrust (because I'm lazy), baked in a 9 inch glass pie pan.  Last year I tried to make a low calorie graham cracker crust.  This year, I abandoned that thought. 

Filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries (divide into 2 parts, 2 cups each) (apparently you can use frozen but I haven't done it myself, so I don't know if it will work with frozen.)

3/4 cup sugar.  I tried 1/2 cup last year, but later berries tend to be tart.

2 1/2 tbsp potato starch or 3 tbsp cornstarch.  We had leftover potato starch in the house from a holiday earlier in the year, so used that.

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp lime juice (because that's what we have - the original called for lemon juice)

1/4 cup cold water

1 tbsp butter (we used whipped butter).  Last year I used 1 tsp light butter-like spread (because that's what I had) but I think the butter works better.

Method

Combine sugar, cornstarch or potato starch, water, salt until well blended.  Add 2 cups blueberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the blueberry mixture thickens. If you use potato starch, please keep in mind that it will thicken very quickly.  You need to pay careful attention.

Then, add the butter and lemon or lime juice.  Let cool.

When cooled, place the reserved 2 cups of blueberries into the pie crust.  

Then top with the cooked mixture.

Serve. (A little squished in this picture getting it out of the pie pan, but it tasted so good!)

I changed the name to "Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie" because it is that good.  I'm not surprised this recipe is picked up by church cookbooks.  Sometimes you find the best recipes in those collections.

If you are a pie eater, what is your favorite pie?

The 2021 Blueberry Dump Cake (With Recipe)

All year, I dream for blueberry season.  We try to go U-Pick blueberry picking at least twice a year.  

This year, we were so eager, we went twice in one week.

Despite all our rain, the blueberries are slowly ripening.  They are so big - maybe due to our above normal rainfall.

How to tell a ripe blueberry?  It's easy.  The color should be just like the above blueberries, with a whitish coating.  After you've been picking a few minutes, your hands feel a little waxy.

Every year, on my blog, I try for at least one recipe. 

Here are some of my previous blueberry posts.

Blueberry Clafoutis
This one has a recipe for blueberry muffins made with cashew almond milk.
Dump Cake made with blueberries
A slightly different dump cake made with blueberries

This year, I decided on a slightly different dump cake made with blueberries.

Many dump cake recipes (I have a cookbook full of them!) call for ingredients like butter, but, as a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, I use variations of low fat versions.

Blueberry and Lemon Dump Cake 

3 cups fresh blueberries

1 box yellow cake mix

2 packets True Lemon (we love it; it is made with real lemons - it's a dry crystal)

1 12 oz can diet cherry soda (you can also use sugared, but it will have more calories.

Method

Dump blueberries into a 9 x 13 pan.  Sprinkle the True Lemon on top of the berries.

 

Dump the yellow cake mix over the berries.

Pour the can of cherry soda over the cake mix/blueberries.

Bake at 350 degrees F for around 35-43 minutes, or until it starts to brown.

What could be easier?

This won't be to everyone's taste but if it is to your taste, enjoy!

A Final Blueberry Moment

I've never picked blueberries four times in a single year.  Until this year.

I admit it.  It was recreation.  A chance to get out of the house and be in nature.  Be outside, where (at least for now) it is safer.  I can't say "in silence" because it wasn't silent.  The murmur of pickers near me, ordinarily not an issue, signaled that maybe it was time to pull up my mask.  But only one time was it that crowded.

As someone now semi-retired, spouse and I were able to get there right when the U-Pick farm opened, which helped a lot.

So we picked early berries, late early berries, mid season berries and late berries.  The late berries, we were warned when we arrived at the check-in stand, were either sweet and soft (they would start breaking down right away) due to the heat, or in better shape but tart.

After a short discussion, we decided these would be more for baking, and we chose "sweet and soft". 

Each year, this farm hands out a blueberry recipe brochure to its customers, and I chose one of their recipes, one I haven't made for many years:  Let's call it Double Blueberry Pie. I used the farm's recipe with some small modifications, which you may or may not want to make. I saw so many similar recipes online I decided I could put this online -

1 pie crust (Mine was an experiment, and maybe I'll blog about it one day.  Let's just say I used a homemade graham cracker crust.)  This is a no bake pie, unless you bake your own crust, but it does require a little cooking.  Nice not baking on a hot day.  Our summer has been hotter than normal.

Please keep in mind I try to bake on the "light side" so you may want to go back to the original - for that reason I made some notes.

Filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries (divide into 2 parts, 2 cups each) (apparently you can use frozen but I haven't done it myself, so I don't know if it will work with frozen.)

1/2 cup sugar (original recipe calls for 3/4 cup.  I didn't think it needed that much)

3 tbsp cornstarch

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp lime juice (because that's what I had - the original called for lemon juice)

1 tsp dried lemon peel (not in original)

1/4 cup cold water

1 tsp light butter-like spread (because that's what I had.  Original calls for 1 tbsp butter).

Method

Combine sugar, cornstarch, water, salt until well blended.  Add 2 cups blueberries. Cook over medium heat until the blueberry mixture thickens. 

Then, add the spread, lime juice and lemon peel.  Let cool.

 

When cooled, place the reserved 2 cups of blueberries into the pie crust.  

Pour the thickened cooked mixture over the uncooked blueberries. Cool some more and serve at room temperature or cold.  Hopefully your pie will look better than this, which is reason #479 why I don't publish a cooking blog. (Yes, the crust was a fail, and I will blog about it one of these days.)

And if I did have a cooking blog, it would probably be titled "Because It's What I Had" or something similar, like "I Never Got the Hang of Pie Crust".

That, my dear readers, is the last you will hear from me about blueberries this year (probably).  Can you tell I love them?

We froze several bags worth for the winter, remembering how frozen fruits and veggies vanished during March, April and May.

So....are you a good pie baker?  Or not?

Blueberry Skies with One More Recipe

It's blueberry time again!  We went picking one last time (perhaps) for this year. 

The skies were blueberry blue.

The blueberries were blue, too. 

This time, the fields were a lot more crowded, despite us getting there not long after the U-Pick farm opened, so we had to wear our masks some of the time.  I quickly found out why - these were some of the best blueberries we've ever picked.

So, it's time for a recipe, quick and easy.  I've made this several times (no photos for you today).  It's adapted from a public Weight Watchers recipe.  I've seen a number of variations on the theme of this dessert online so there's little here that's a secret, and I will share with you how I make it.

My version was born from not having all the ingredients in the Weight Watchers recipe, and I like it so much that I haven't tried to make it the Weight Watchers way.

What I do is this:  I take an 8 inch square baking pan and line it with foil.  Put aside.

Make crumbs out of 6 squares graham crackers. 

Next, combine 1 cup of nonfat plain Greek yogurt, 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp lime juice, and about 1/2 tsp amount of lemon crystals (you can also use fresh lemon zest)..  Add 1 cup fresh blueberries and half of the graham cracker crumbs. Stir it all together.

Scoop into the prepared pan and level it out.  Top with remainder of graham cracker crumbs.

Freeze about an hour.  Cut into six even slices.  Serve frozen or let soften slightly.

A serving is one slice. 

Enjoy!

I've thought about some variations.  We have some Trader Joe's Key Lime cookies we might just substitute for the graham crackers next time.  Or, I could see this with Nilla Wafers, a childhood favorite of mine, instead of the crackers.

I wish you could come to my house and share....

What do you think?

Blueberry Crisp

Guess what I did Friday?  Spouse and I went blueberry picking again.

Like last week, we picked Bluecrop blueberries at our favorite U Pick location.

Blueberry skies once again, and social distancing, greeted us.  We got there just when they opened, something we can do as retired people (even though I work part time), fortunately.  Blueberry picking is very popular here, and I'm happy to say everyone around us complied. 

When we got home, we tasted them and decided they were a bit tart.  They would be great for baking.

Spouse asked me to make a Blueberry Fool, but when we realized just how caloric fools are, I did a little research for a lighter recipe.  I decided to make a Blueberry Crisp.

I've made apple/blackberry crisps, and apple/pear crisps, and once I even made an apple/blueberry crisp.  This time, after doing some research, I found a crisp that used only fresh blueberries (nothing added) and a topping similar to one I've made before.  I decided to make some tweaks (of course) - I increased the amount of fruit, and because I didn't have enough light buttery spread, I used unrefined coconut oil (a solid) for part of the required light buttery spread.

Here's the recipe:

Into an 8 inch square metal pan add 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, washed. 

Topping (mix together until well blended).

1 cup quick oats
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp light buttery spread
2 tbsp unrefined coconut oil (it was a hot day, we didn't have the air conditioning on and it was easy to manipulate) - use unrefined to get the taste of coconut.

Take the topping and spoon on top of the blueberries.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Let cool, or eat warm.

For some tastes, this may be too tart. For me, it was perfect. If it is a little too tart, don't hesitate to serve with whipped cream on top.

There was just one problem.  I am on Weight Watchers (WW), and e I have to watch the Smartpoints.  This is a lifetime process.

And as great as that crisp topping crust tastes due to the coconut oil, it has a lot of Smartpoints.  So, my portions have to be small.

Alas, I say, because I've fallen in love with that coconut oil topping.

Hopefully, you can enjoy it, coconut oil and all.

I may have one more blueberry recipe for you before the season ends.  Let me know if you are interested in the comments.

Post Quarantine Baking - Blueberry Clafoutis

As promised the other day, I'm reporting on my Blueberry Clafoutis experiment.

I am not a baker.  I was as a teen, but I abandoned scratch baking a few years ago.  When the March lockdown came, I never indulged in quarantine baking.  In fact, I lost weight.  But now, the baking urge has returned.  It's not the best thing in summer.

Since I'm on Weight Watchers (WW) and try to be good (we'll ignore the half bag of pretzel crisps I stress-inhaled the other day), I strive for low point recipes.

I saw a recipe for Cherry Clafoutis in a supermarket magazine the other day.  This is not exactly that recipe below.   I didn't have a couple of the ingredients so I took a recipe off the internet and combined the supermarket magazine recipe and that one.

Clafoutis is a French creation, a fruit tart made with a sweet batter.  And, best of all, it sounded really easy.

So, of course, I had to start playing with a recipe I hadn't ever made, but that's how I roll.  (And that's why I don't have a cooking blog.)

The recipe had cottage cheese in it.  Why, I don't know (someone who is good at baking will need to explain that) but that was perfect for what I needed to do.

I had cottage cheese (called for in the supermarket recipe) that was expired needing to be used up, and I substituted almond milk (fewer points than dairy milk) for the whole milk the supermarket recipe called for.

(I know, some of you are probably already horrified.  If you are, I suggest you quit here before I further horrify you.  I had a really nice flower post on Wednesday and you might enjoy that post instead.)

For the brave souls who remain:

I had cherries, but felt lazy (and didn't want to spend time depitting), so I used blueberries I had picked the day before.

The recipe called for eggs.  But the chicken eggs I had seemed a bit small so, for one of them, I substituted a duck egg.  I happen to love duck eggs in baking.

Finally, the recipe called for butter to grease the pie pan with, and I don't keep butter in the house.  I used cooking spray.

Anyway, you'll need a 9 inch pie glass pie pan, which I did have.  So this is sort of a combination of two recipes, and my playing around.  If you try to make it, and don't like it, please blame me.

Blueberry Clafoutis

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  If you have butter, grease the pie pan with about a teaspoon.  Otherwise, use cooking spray.

2.  Put about 1 1/2 cups of blueberries into the bottom of the greased pie pan.

3.  Whisk the following together in a bowl: 1 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour (used white whole wheat, since that's what I had), 1 tsp vanilla extract and 3 eggs.  The cottage cheese I used was 2%.  The almond milk was unsweetened plain.

4. Pour over the blueberries.

5.  Bake 40 to 45 minutes. It should be golden when removed.  It will be puffed, and will fall a little as it cools.  Some, because of this, will serve the clafoutis immediately.  I intended this for an after supper dessert, and baked it after lunch, so it sat around a bit.

It can be served warm, room temperature, or (if you wish) cold.  Refrigerate if not used up right away.

So, how did it turn out?

I loved it.  I must note I've never had clafoutis before but I am sure going to have it again.  It was nice and tender, and tasty.

I figured on my WW plan, which does not count points for eggs, if I cut into eight pieces, this was only three Smartpoints each piece.  For six pieces, four Smartpoints.

A Blueberry Day and Some Recipes

I don't often venture into the baking kitchen, and when I do, the bravest of hearts tremble, because I am not what they call an expert baker.

Today, I am going to attempt, for the first time, a clafoutis.  I first heard of them last summer, but never attempted one.  I'll blog about my experience later in the week.  Right now, onward to the picking.

Yesterday, I went blueberry picking with my spouse.

It was bright and sunny and the sky was blueberry blue (of course).  The owner greeted us - she recognized us even with our masks on.  She said the Patriot blueberry crop was excellent this year and she was right.  Some years, the Patriots don't taste as good as later berries.  These were wonderful.

I was fortunate to be out there, and it was so nice being out there (pandemic or no pandemic) in the peaceful countryside, listening to the birds and concentrating on my blueberry picking.

These are Patriot blueberries, the earliest this U-pick stand has.  By the end of next week, she may have Bluerays, a more mid-early season berry, ready.  Here, the blueberry season lasts for about a month.  Most of these berries are not ripe yet, but we found the picking, overall, easy and quick this time.

How do you know which berries to pick?

The blueberries, when ripe, are a lighter blue (darker blue isn't totally ripe), and are covered in a whitish dust called "bloom".  This helps protect the berry while on the plant, and is not at all harmful to people.  It will make your fingers feel a bit waxy after you are picking for a while, but (to me) it doesn't feel unpleasant.  Of course, you should wash the berries, but wait until you are ready to use them.

I did promise some blueberry recipes, so here you go:

Here are some of my previous blueberry posts.
This one has a recipe for blueberry muffins made with cashew almond milk.
Dump Cake made with blueberries
A slightly different dump cake made with blueberries

Since I'm writing this post while waiting for my clafoutis to finish baking, how about a little background on this dessert?

Clafoutis is a tart made of fruit, typically black cherries, baked in a sweet batter.  The variation I found in a magazine, used small curd cottage cheese and cherries.  The article also said berries could be used.  It gave me an idea - why not freshly picked blueberries?

Either it's going to be great, or it will be what I like to call a "train wreck".  I hope the former, because I will be watching my weight for the rest of my life (I've been a WW lifetime member for almost a year, now) and this should be somewhat low on points.

If you want to know how the experiment turned out, you'll have to come back in a couple of days, and I'll share the recipe with you.

Patriot Blueberries

It's blueberry time again!

Actually, it's been blueberry season since mid July here in the Southern Tier of New York State, and we have possibly another week of picking left.  We try to pick twice if not three times - the berries last for a long time and they are soooo good.

Here are some pictures to whet your appetite.

This was our first picking, of a blueberry variety called Patriot.  It's the earliest one this U Pick It farm has.

They were so good!

What I did with these is use this recipe:  Brown Sugar Blueberry Quick Bread  from a website called A Big Green House.  It uses almond milk and plain Greek Yogurt. and is fairly Weight Watchers friendly (such as baked goods can be).  I figured it came out to 48 points for the entire loaf. I highly recommend the recipe.

Here's a picture of the finished bread.

Here are some more of my posts.

A mystery "white admiral" butterfly on blueberries.
Blueberry skies
A low calorie blueberry dump cake

Alas, the season will be almost over.

The Mystery Butterfly of the Blueberries?

I hope someone can help me name this butterfly.

I found it in a blueberry bush when I was picking blueberries near Castle Creek, New York today.  He (or she) actually stood still long enough that I wondered if the butterfly was somehow stuck in the blueberry bush.  Unfortunately, I could not get the entire butterfly in the picture.

Here's another view, taken right before the mystery butterfly took off.

I'm thinking, from this web page, common buckeye but it doesn't seem to have round spots you see in the picture.

Considering how much I love flowers, I know very little about butterflies, but I'm confident one of my fine readers will give me an ID.

And the blueberries?  It's late in the season, but even with all our rain, they are still coming.  (Had to dodge some sweat bees and yellow jackets, though.)

Incidentally - I made my pictures a little larger.  If you find these hard to load on your mobile device, though, please be sure to let me know.