Blueberry Jell-O Salad

One of the first recipes I found for this blog was from a web site called Mom's Best Recipes. Shirley has almost 1400 recipes on her blog - from soup to nuts, as the old saying goes.

She has nicely allowed me to post one of her recipes (click on the name of her site and it will take you to all of her blueberry recipes). This reminds me of a recipe from the Church Supper Cookbook. Homey comfort food.


Blueberry Jell-O Salad (by Shirley McNevich)

1 - 6oz. box black cherry Jell-O
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 - 16oz. can Dole crushed pineapple (drained)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 - 16oz. sour cream
1 - 8oz. Philadelphia cream cheese (softened)
1 cup chopped pecans (toasted)

Prepare Jell-O according to box directions. When Jell-O is cool to the touch, refrigerate about 90 minutes or until it starts to gel. Remove from refrigerator and add blueberries and drained crushed pineapple--stir to mix. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9" glass baking dish. Refrigerate overnight. The next day use a greased cookie sheet with a lip--spread chopped pecans evenly in a single layer on the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow them to cool--set aside. After pecans are cooled use a mixer--add white sugar, cream cheese--beat. Add sour cream--beat. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the top of the cold Jell-O mixture in the baking dish. After pecans are cooled, sprinkle them over the top of the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Keep refrigerated.

Blueberry Orange Bread

There are some great blogs out there with blueberry recipes on them right now. One that I stumbled across the other day is called Welcome to Prosperine written by J.K. from Missouri. Her blog is much like our farm blog - a farm journal with snippets of every day life thrown in. She gracefully has allowed me to share her Blueberry Orange Bread recipe with you. Seeing as how I have about a gallon of fresh blueberries hanging out in the 'fridge, I think I might try out this recipe this weekend. Oh, and of course I'll take pictures.
P.S. With only two tablespoons of melted butter in it, this bread is very low fat.


Blueberry Orange Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another bowl, combine egg, orange juice, water, butter and orange peel. Add to dry ingredients just until combined. Fold in the blueberries. Pour into a greased and floured 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to a wire rack.

Wisten's Blueberry Cobbler

It was The Mossyrock Blueberry Festival this weekend. That is where my sister and brother-in-law's family has been growing blueberries since 1940. Because of this, my sister is often called on to bring a "Blueberry Dessert" for community events and has come up with this quick, easy and never-fail recipe for Blueberry Cobbler.

Wisten's Blueberry Cobbler

Oven at 375-400 degrees - use a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.

Combine:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
A "dash" of cinnamon and
a "trace" of salt

Pour over and toss with:
8-12 cups of fresh (or frozen) blueberries that have been mixed with
3 Tablespoons of lemon juice and
1/4 cup of melted butter

Pour your berry mixture into the 9 x 13 baking dish and put in the oven and bring to "bubbly" - about 20 minutes or so until the mixture is juicy and the berries have begun to burst.

Take your pan out of the oven and add the cobbler topping mix below:

For the topping mix:
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking power
2 Tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Combine with:
1/2 cup melted butter (don't have it so hot that it "cooks" the egg mixture)
1 egg beaten in 2/3 cup milk.

DON'T ADD THE LIQUID INGREDIENTS TO DRY INGREDIENTS OF THE TOPPING UNTIL RIGHT BEFORE YOU ARE READY TO PUT IT OVER THE BERRIES.

Drop in tablespoon-fulls over the berry mixture and bake another 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with ice cream.

I know they aren't blueberries - but

These beets from The Shepherd's garden are so pretty (and they were very tasty!)

Blueberry Tortilla Wraps

I found this recipe in an old magazine - I will admit I haven't tried it, but I think that it might be quite a tasty treat to take along on a picnic for dessert.

The recipe was co-sponsored by Mission 98% Fat Free Tortillas and the US Highbush Blueberry Council . I haven't poked around their website much but they seem to have some unique recipes for anything blueberry that you could want - beverages, breakfast, desserts, main dishes, salads, sauces and soups - make sure you take a look!


Creamy Minted Blueberry Tortilla Wraps (serves 8)

Combine in a small bowl and beat until well blended (set aside):

8 oz. Philadelphia brand "Light" cream cheese (the original recipe calls for "fat free", but seriously, that stuff is like rubber!) (make sure it's at room temperature)
2 Tbsp lime juice (roll your lime on the counter before you cut it and you'll get more juice from it. You might also use a little itty bit of lime zest here too)
2-3 Tbsp. chopped FRESH mint (or less to taste)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
A couple tsp. of sugar or honey or Splenda if desired

Toss together in a smaller bowl:

3 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup diced mango or pineapple, drained

Heat an ungreased skillet or griddle over medium heat. Take your tortillas (one at a time) and warm for about 10 seconds on a side - you want them pliable, not toasted .

4 Mission 98% fat free Burrito Size Flour Tortillas

Spread each tortilla with one quarter of the cheese mixture then distribute one cup of the blueberry mixture over the bottom three-quarters of the tortilla, leaving the top with the cheese only. Gently press the fruit into the cheese. Fold in both sides of the tortilla about one inch then roll up snugly toward the cheese end. To serve, slice each wrap in half on a slight diagonal cut. If you are going to pack them for a picnic, wrap each whole one in waxed paper or plastic cling wrap and cut when you get to your destination.

Ideas for additions or changes -

• Use lemon juice instead of lime juice -

• Add a tsp. of poppy seeds instead of the mint.

• Sprinkle the filling with sunflower seeds (shelled, of course!) before you wrap it.

• Use diced peaches instead of mangos

Blueberry Galette

When Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake" maybe she was really talking about Galettes. The definition of galette is from the French and designates a type of "free form" pie or tart. Sweet or savory, these rustic and easy to make "pies" leave your family or guests thinking that, like the lady who splashes flour on her face after making Rice Krispie treats, you have slaved for hours over a hot stove. In all actuality, they are "as easy as pie" only easier.

If you have a favorite pie crust recipe, make it, but you also can grab a pre-made crust - the type that comes from the refrigerator case - let it sit out for a bit so it become pliable - you don't want it to crack and let all the good juices from your fruit filling out!

Blueberry Gallette

Turn your oven on 375 degrees.

Make (or take out of the fridge) One pie crust for single crust pie. Lay it out on a large baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. If you have a pizza stone even better - but remove all the traces of pizza from it first - no one wants a piece of blueberry tart that tastes like garlic......(like the iced tea with lemon that I got at Arby's the other day - they had, apparently cut their lemon slices on their food slicer - pretty smart idea - all your slices will be uniform - but a bad idea if you have just sliced the onions and NOT cleaned the slicer first - Onion iced tea doesn't hold a candle to that with raspberry stuff...) Sorry, I digress.......

In a medium sized bowl, toss
2 1/2 - 3 cups of fresh (or frozen) blueberries
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar, depending upon how sweet your berries are
(if your berries are kind of bland you could add a little lemon zest or a tablespoon of lemon juice here)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp of cornstarch

Mound your berry mixture onto the middle of the pie crust leaving at least a 3 inch border all the way around. Carefully fold up the crust around the berries (leaving a saucer sized hole in the center - your dough will not meet in the middle.) This is why you want to make sure that your crust is at room temperature because if it is too cold, it will crack around the folds and all the juice from your tart will run out! If you want to, sprinkle a little sugar around the edges.

Bake galette at 375 degrees for 35 minutes (if you are using a refrigerated pie crust, I would suggest 350 degrees for 40 - 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and run a thin spatula under your tart and carefully transfer it to a service platter. A nice touch is to make a little powdered sugar glaze with 1/2 cup powdered sugar and about a tablespoon of water - drizzle this over the galette and serve. (you could also sift a little powdered sugar over the top - ala Emerill - you know "Bam"

Some recipes I found for galettes said this made 12 servings - egads - I was thinking 4 at the most!

You can also make this with any kind of fruit that you might have on hand - apples, blackberries, plums, apricots, peaches, singularly or a mix of two or three. Try layering them on top of some sweetened cream cheese, or go savory with an onion jam and sliced almonds or maybe sauteed spinach, mushrooms, onions and feta cheese. Now, doesn't that sound tasty? Enjoy!

Blue Blueberry Muffins

I have recently been reading Joanne Fluke's "Bakery" mystery novels. The third book in the series (there are 11 to date) is called "The Blueberry Muffin Murder" - and the murdered woman is found with one of bakery shop owner Hannah Swensen's new Blue Blueberry Muffins in her hand - a lively search for the murderer ensues - all I can tell you is that the muffin did NOT do it.

All of the books come complete with the recipes for the tasty treats that Ms. Swenson sells in her shop, The Cookie Jar. I haven't tried these out yet, but they sounded good - heavy on the butter and sugar, how could they not be?

Blue Blueberry Muffins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees - rach in middle position.

3/4 cup melted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs (whip them up with a fork)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)
1/2 cup blueberry pie filling
2 cups plus 1 Tblsp. flour (no need to sift)
1/2 cup milk

Crumb topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup softened butter (1/4 stick)
**Now here's where I would add about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon - it would really be good with this muffin)

Grease the bottom only of a 12 cup muffin pan (or line the cups with cupcake papers). Melt the butter. Mix in the sugar. then add the beaten eggs, baking powder and salt and mix thoroughly.

Put one tablespoon of the flour in a plastic bag with your cup of fresh or frozen blueberries. Shake it gently to coat the blueberries, and leave them in the bag for now.

Add half the remaining two cups of flour to your bowl and mix it in in with half the milk, then add the rest of the flour and milk and mix thoroughly.

Here comes the fun part. Add 1/2 cup blueberry pie filling to your bowl and mix it in (Your dough will turn a shade of blue, but don't let that stop you - once the muffins are baked, they'll look just fine. When your dough is thoroughly mixed, fold in the flour-coated fresh or frozen blueberries.

Fill your muffin tins three-quarters full and set them aside. If you have dough left over, grease the bottom of a small tea-bred loaf pan and fill it with your remaining dough.

For the crumb topping, Mix the sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and cut it in until it's crumbly (you can also do this in a food processor with hard butter using the steel blade)

Sprinkle the crumb topping over your muffins and bake them in a 375 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes (the tea bread should take about ten minutes longer than the muffins.

When the muffins are baked, set the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. They will come out of the pan much easier that way.

The author suggests freezing the rest of the blueberry pie filling in paper cups filled with 1/2 cups measured out in each one - Keep them in a plastic freezer bag and that way the next time you want to make some muffins just thaw out one of the pre-measured 1/2 cups for your next batch.

If you are looking for some fun summer reading, bake up a batch of these Blue Blueberry Muffins and sit down with a cup of tea and one of Ms. Fluke's delicious murder mysteries - you won't know where the day went.

Recipe copyright Joanne Fluke, 2002.