Blueberries!
I love, love, love blueberries. If I had to pick a favorite food, they would be one of the top contenders. Which just made it all the more disappointing that last year when I went picking, the blueberries were small, sour and hard to pick. This year I decided that I just had to go home to pick with mom. I really believe that I grew up in the heart of blueberry country. They are still the biggest, juiciest blueberries I have ever seen. And they are so easy to pick!
This year I went picking with mom and my mother-in-law PLS (a.k.a the Ps, since they share the same first name . . . isn't that crazy!?) on what appeared to be a rainy and unfortunate day. However, by the time we got to the farm, it was not raining! Apparently they were just on the other side of the rain line! The sun even came out a little bit, and it was hot. I was glad for the mostly overcast day.
The mountain which usually overlooks the fields was hidden in the clouds. But it was still a beautiful view.
We actually started with raspberries. Mmmm, raspberries. Fresh raspberries are the best. Seriously. So good. Well, other than blueberries.
We pretty quickly filled 4 pints between the three of us.
Then on to blueberries! The picking wasn't as good as I have sometimes seen, but that simply means there weren't whole bunches of blueberries that just fell into your hand as you picked. Sometimes it really is that easy.
Needless to say, I picked a lot of blueberries. I think it was somewhere around 5 pounds. And in a household where I am the only one who eats them, that's a lot of blueberries.
I pulled out the bowl, and NES said, "woah, that's a lot of blueberries" as if I could not eat them all. That is false. I am pretty sure that I could have finished them way before they went bad without a problem. I told you, I love blueberries.
However, this was not necessary, as I cut the total down to a "reasonable amount" according to NES by freezing about 2 quarts for the winter. I eat blueberries in my yogurt at least 3 days a week for lunch on average, so I need a lot to last me till next year!
I also made some blueberry sauce! I had dinner with CJC and AB last night, and was inspired by CJC's fruit salsa and pita chips last time to make a healthy dessert! Well, relatively healthy. Much healthier than cake. Just as an example. By the way, NES and I are still eating the cake . . . slowly but surely.
I decided to make some blueberry sauce to use up some of my newly obtained blueberries. And get some Ben and Jerry's Liz Lemon fro yo to go with it. I had just tried the fro yo a couple weeks ago, and it was really tasty. I'm not usually a fruity ice cream person, but this one was good. Really good.
And I thought it'd be perfect with some homemade blueberry sauce.
It was really simple, and made a ton. Oops. I guess I know what I'm having with my yogurt for the next couple weeks. And because it was originally intended as a pancake sauce, it's not overly sweet and sugary. I like it. And I fully intend to make the pancakes that go with it in short order!
Meanwhile, I also had some chai concentrate steeping on the stove for CJC. But that's another story for another day.
It's been yet another busy week, and I'm so glad it's Friday. Phew. Otherwise, I'd probably be telling you about CJC's chai tonight instead of the blueberries from . . . well, Tuesday. Oh well. Three more weeks till my exams. It's at the same time terrifying and exciting. But mostly terrifying.
However, to celebrate the weekend, and the impending summer festival which is in its preparation stages all around us, NES and I went to a Greek food festival down the street tonight! NES got his favorite: a gyro! I am less of a fan of Greek food in general. I eat neither lamb meat nor ground meat. There goes at least 75% of the menu. But I did get a tasty, tasty chicken kabob. It reminded me a lot of the chicken gyros I have made. Does it make me weird that I was actually excited that my food tasted so much like the festival food? We also tried some sort of creme custard filled philo dough. It was fun for a quiet Friday night. And it really felt like a summer night. I feel like I haven't had too many of those. Or it's been too hot to enjoy them!
And no, I am not watching Despicable Me for the third time this week. I'm watching Wall-E instead.
Blueberry Sauce
from Rachel Cooks
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. cornstarch
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble. Allow it to cook for a few minutes more (I waited until most of the blueberries seemed to have popped) and remove from heat.
Allow to cool partially before serving.
The mountain which usually overlooks the fields was hidden in the clouds. But it was still a beautiful view.
We actually started with raspberries. Mmmm, raspberries. Fresh raspberries are the best. Seriously. So good. Well, other than blueberries.
We pretty quickly filled 4 pints between the three of us.
Then on to blueberries! The picking wasn't as good as I have sometimes seen, but that simply means there weren't whole bunches of blueberries that just fell into your hand as you picked. Sometimes it really is that easy.
Needless to say, I picked a lot of blueberries. I think it was somewhere around 5 pounds. And in a household where I am the only one who eats them, that's a lot of blueberries.
I pulled out the bowl, and NES said, "woah, that's a lot of blueberries" as if I could not eat them all. That is false. I am pretty sure that I could have finished them way before they went bad without a problem. I told you, I love blueberries.
However, this was not necessary, as I cut the total down to a "reasonable amount" according to NES by freezing about 2 quarts for the winter. I eat blueberries in my yogurt at least 3 days a week for lunch on average, so I need a lot to last me till next year!
I also made some blueberry sauce! I had dinner with CJC and AB last night, and was inspired by CJC's fruit salsa and pita chips last time to make a healthy dessert! Well, relatively healthy. Much healthier than cake. Just as an example. By the way, NES and I are still eating the cake . . . slowly but surely.
I decided to make some blueberry sauce to use up some of my newly obtained blueberries. And get some Ben and Jerry's Liz Lemon fro yo to go with it. I had just tried the fro yo a couple weeks ago, and it was really tasty. I'm not usually a fruity ice cream person, but this one was good. Really good.
It was really simple, and made a ton. Oops. I guess I know what I'm having with my yogurt for the next couple weeks. And because it was originally intended as a pancake sauce, it's not overly sweet and sugary. I like it. And I fully intend to make the pancakes that go with it in short order!
Meanwhile, I also had some chai concentrate steeping on the stove for CJC. But that's another story for another day.
It's been yet another busy week, and I'm so glad it's Friday. Phew. Otherwise, I'd probably be telling you about CJC's chai tonight instead of the blueberries from . . . well, Tuesday. Oh well. Three more weeks till my exams. It's at the same time terrifying and exciting. But mostly terrifying.
However, to celebrate the weekend, and the impending summer festival which is in its preparation stages all around us, NES and I went to a Greek food festival down the street tonight! NES got his favorite: a gyro! I am less of a fan of Greek food in general. I eat neither lamb meat nor ground meat. There goes at least 75% of the menu. But I did get a tasty, tasty chicken kabob. It reminded me a lot of the chicken gyros I have made. Does it make me weird that I was actually excited that my food tasted so much like the festival food? We also tried some sort of creme custard filled philo dough. It was fun for a quiet Friday night. And it really felt like a summer night. I feel like I haven't had too many of those. Or it's been too hot to enjoy them!
And no, I am not watching Despicable Me for the third time this week. I'm watching Wall-E instead.
Blueberry Sauce
from Rachel Cooks
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. cornstarch
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble. Allow it to cook for a few minutes more (I waited until most of the blueberries seemed to have popped) and remove from heat.
Allow to cool partially before serving.
Comments
Post a Comment