Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Pie

I'm sitting here for a few minutes, printing out some recipes to take with us to the lake. The recipe for this blueberry pie was first on my list. We picked blueberries this morning at our neighbor's farm. My secret hope is that Mommy will make a blueberry pie this weekend while the whole family is at the lake. Yes—nine of us. And a big dog. In our tiny lake house with the postage stamp sized kitchen.

This recipe is simple enough to make down there, with our limited space and equipment. And it's the perfect July 4th dessert. We've used it before for our July 4th dessert, but I'm sharing this recipe again.

Whether you've picked the blueberries yourself, or picked them out at the grocery store, this pie will be a winner!

BLUEBERRY PIE

5 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 (15-oz) package refrigerated pie crusts
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon sugar

Sprinkle berries with lemon juice; set aside.
Fit half of pastry in a 9-inch pie plate according to package directions.
Combine 1 sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Add to berries. Mix well.
Pour into pastry shell and dot with butter.
Unfold remaining pastry shell on a lightly floured surface; roll gently with rolling pin to remove creases.
Place pastry over filling; seal and crimp edges.
Cut slits in top of crust to allow steam to escape.
Brush top of pastry with beaten egg and sprinkle with 1 tsp. sugar.
Bake in a 400 degrees for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.
Cover edges with foil to prevent overbrowning, if necessary.
Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired.


Our lake house also has no internet. The television gets one channel. So I'm taking a technology break and a blog break for about a week to play with the little ones and visit with family and to keep everyone fed. 

~Happy 4th of July! ~

The In Between Days

Blueberry Buckle

Our little people headed home a couple of days ago. Right now our house is quiet and the floors are toy-free. (Did I tell you about the single black Lego on our dark rug that I "found" early one morning?) In this house with no grandchildren, we can finish a cup of coffee while it's hot. We can read the newspaper and watch the morning news shows (which is all pretty depressing) and eat a meal without hopping up a dozen times. But we are missing the early morning snuggles and the bedtime stories and all the hugs in between.

I miss getting fashion advice from the two-year-old, who told me I needed higher heels when I dressed for church on Sunday. I miss hearing Little Sister telling Daddy-O, "Sometimes we make bad decisions, but people love us anyway" after he did something that she is not allowed to do. So hard not to laugh!

While this house is empty for a few days, I'm making plans for "Camp Mimi" next week. Only one little one this time. Little Sister is coming to spend a week at the farm, by herself, to enjoy activities planned just for her. I have a bit of a plan, but we will have it all figured out by the time "camp" begins. 

So in these days between visits, I'm catching up on regular things here, like laundry, cleaning, reading (something beside Berenstain Bears) and knitting. Just started a new shawl from Curious Handmade. Right now it's at the "doesn't look like much" stage. But I've seen photos of other knitters' finished shawls and they are lovely. Right now the temps are staying around 100 degrees here. No need for any kind of wrap or shawl. But cooler temperatures will come back. I'll be ready. For much of our winter, a shawl will be all the outerwear I'll need.

We are finishing up leftovers from our kid-friendly meals. Maybe the best of the leftovers is the Blueberry Buckle I baked with the very last of the blueberries we picked. This is an old recipe from an old cookbook. My mother gave me a brand new Better Homes & Gardens cookbook when I graduated from college. It is still my go-to cookbook, even though the pages are now yellowed. I have notes jotted all through the book. The penciled-in words beside the Blueberry Buckle recipe say "very good!" Indeed.

You can find the self-rising flour version of this recipe here. It's good either way you do it.

BLUEBERRY BUCKLE

1/2 cup shortening (I used half shortening/half butter this time)

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

2 cups fresh blueberries

topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly cream shortening and 3/4 cup sugar; add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together to blend. Add flour to creamed mixture, alternately with milk. Spread batter in greased 11x7x 1-/1/2 inch pan. Top with berries. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly; sprinkle over berries. Bake 45 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve warm.

School for Big Sister (10th grade) and Little Sister (5K) begins on August 4. After that, there won't be very many visits to the farm. And then I'll go back and look over this blog and remember how much grandparent fun we've had this summer.

Tastes Like Spring

This is one of my favorite desserts for spring. And it's about the easiest thing to make ever. It is fresh and light and makes a beautiful presentation. What more could you ask? It was our Easter dessert a few days ago.

"Pi Day" occurred when I was out visiting the grandchildren a few weeks ago. A local shop was selling pie slices to commemorate the day. Mommy called to asked which flavor I wanted and proceeded to rattle off a long list of wonderful pies. So hard to choose! But I decided on a Lemon-Blueberry Chess pie. And it was perfect. Everyone that day got a different flavor but I am pretty sure mine was the best. Lemon and blueberry is a winning combination. Those flavors are repeated in this easy recipe.

You can use a bought angel food cake, make one from a mix or go wild and make it from scratch. We opted for using a mix this time. And the topping is just quickly stirred together.

LEMON BLUEBERRY DESSERT

1/2 cup lemon yogurt (4 or 5 oz.)

1/2 cup Cool Whip (use the yogurt container to measure the Cool Whip)

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries

2 to 4 teaspoons powdered sugar

angel food cake

Stir together yogurt, Cool Whip and lemon peel. Spoon over angel food cake. Spoon berries over the top and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Garnish with lemon slice and fresh mint leaves.

Topping will make 4-5 servings  (It's easy enough to increase. It is just equal amounts of yogurt and Cool Whip.)

I used a lemon mousse whipped yogurt this time. It was the only lemon yogurt my store sold. It worked well. I have used a lemon Greek yogurt before but the Greek yogurt makes a stiffer topping--still delicious but I like a regular yogurt best. If you want to use fat-free or reduced fat products, those will work, too.


Reality check: I was sitting with my knitting group yesterday when a woman with her service dog came into the store where we meet. She was telling the shop owner some long tale about how the dog had helped in an emergency situation recently. The only part my ears really picked up was when she said, "I was near an elderly Sunday School class and this lady in the class—I think she was about 65—started having problems..."

All that registered were the words "elderly" and "65." The sad part was I didn't think this lady was particularly young herself.  I'll buy that 65 can be called "old" but "elderly?" Really?

Something Sweet For Spring

One reason it's fun to attend baby showers, like the one I went to last weekend, is that you get to taste all the yummy party foods. This cake was a new-to-me recipe, made by my cousin Alyce. It was near the end of the shower before I thought to snap a photo of Alyce's cake. (I haven't had time to make one for us yet.) There wasn't much left by then.

I told her I'd love to have the recipe. Then I asked her if I could share the recipe with you. I was delighted when she said yes.  I got this email soon after Saturday's party:

Here is the blueberry cake recipe.  I have cooked it in a bundt pan as well as loaf pans.  Saturday I added about 3/4 tsp. poppy seeds to the glaze, but I don't always do that.  The original recipe did not call for it.

BLUEBERRY POUND CAKE

1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen.

Have all ingredients at room temp.  Mix together all ingredients except blueberries.  Blend until smooth.  Fold in blueberries.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Or, until brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes one large sheet cake or 2 loaves.

Glaze:
Whisk 1 cup confectioners sugar with just enough lemon juice to make icing.  Pour over cake while still warm.

Blueberry cake with a hint of lemon. What a perfect dessert for a spring table. I don't think I'm waiting to have guests to make this one.

Since our first email exchange, Alyce and I have continued the cake conversation--mostly about pan sizes. She said for this party, she baked the recipe in two 8-inch loaf pans. And she said to watch it close to the end because it will be done faster than the stated time. She also told me that these are not big loaves, and that it almost looks like it's not enough batter when you divide into the two pans. But it does work.

The recipe says it make two loaves or one large sheet cake. Neither Alyce or I are sure what is meant by "large sheet cake." I would probably try this in a 9x13-inch pan. Or, maybe you really can use a sheet cake pan. Just remember as you change pan sizes, you will likely need to adjust baking times. Maybe I should bake one of all sizes and find out!

Blueberries And Backyards

Blueberry Buckle

The next best thing to having blueberries growing in your yard is having a neighbor with blueberries in his yard. Hmmm.....come to think of it, maybe that's even better than having your own. Saturday morning we took a few minutes out to go pick a couple of gallons of berries. One to give away and one to enjoy. 

We've been spending lots of time outside this summer. While the west is is in a serious heat wave, here in the South, it is a little cooler than some summers. Our backyard is such a pleasant place to be.

Our daisies have taken over the fountain in the back yard. 

Little Sister has new shoes suitable for backyard water fun.

When I have extra blueberries, I always reach for my favorite cookbook--Better Homes & Garden New Cookbook to look up this recipe. I have a much newer edition of this cookbook that starts with "Dear Friends" but I still want the recipes from this 4th printing of the book that my mother gave me when I finished college. The recipes have changed over the years. And sometimes the ingredients for the same recipe have changed. (Obviously, we all like things sweeter now.)

Here is my updated version of this blueberry coffee cake. I switched the all-purpose flour to self-rising and skipped all that sifting business. Speed was of the essence today. (Confession: I also just added all my wet & dry ingredients at once. I would not do this if I were baking a regular cake—has to do with gluten development—but it was okay here. Might still alternate if I had time.)

BLUEBERRY BUCKLE

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup milk

2 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup self-rising flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Thoroughly cream shortening and 3/4 cup sugar; add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add flour to creamed mixture, alternately with milk. Spread in greased 11x7x 1-/1/2 inch pan. Top with berries. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly; sprinkle over berries.

Bake 45 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve warm.

This passed the Daddy-O test this morning for breakfast! "Excellent!" says the master of the house.

Midway Through Mimi Camp

We are at the midway point of camp. I'm up early enough—before they wake up—to share a few things here that have kept us busy. I know if I don't post this now, I'll forget part of what we've been doing. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough planned for us to do. Now I'm worried we won't get it all done!

Sunday night they surprised me by making dinner. Daddy-O was the kitchen supervisor. They made party sandwiches, fruit kabobs and the big surprise was fancy pretzels. They dipped them into melted chocolate and white chocolate and covered the chocolate with sprinkles. Daddy-O melted the chocolates and they dipped and sprinkled. These pretzels were a major treat. We will do this again for sure.

 

Monday we had a friend come and show us how to weave a basket. She's taught many people over the years how to do this, including entire classes of third graders. (She was a third grade teacher.) I can't imagine how she does this en masse.

In the afternoon, the girls made fluffy cloud dough. This turned out to be great fun—if very messy fun. They stayed at it for over an hour. Here's the recipe for this crazy easy, inexpensive activity. Making two batches (one for each child) cost less than $5.

FLUFFY CLOUD DOUGH

2 heaping cups cornstarch

1 cup hair conditioner

Mix together in a large bowl with a spatula until you need to switch to squishing with your hands.

 And on Tuesday we finished the baskets with Mrs. Joanne's help. These are seriously gorgeous baskets!

Although we've had some rain each day, we've also had lovely cool, low humidity time for outdoor fun. We could not have ordered more perfect weather. So there has been lots of outside play.

It's been a camp tradition to open "the box" each morning at breakfast. The box contains something that will be one of our day's activities. Tuesday's box contained loopy yarn. And it was just before bedtime before we got a chance to work on this. You can google "loopy yarn" for videos that show how to do this easy finger knitting. You can find the loopy yarn at most craft/hobby stores.

Oh....and I nearly forgot! The girls made blueberry banana smoothies for their afternoon snack. They were delicious!

BLUEBERRY BANANA SMOOTHIE

3/4 cup frozen blueberries (or other berries)

1 banana, sliced in 1-inch pieces

1 cup blueberry yogurt

1 cup milk

whipped cream, optional

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. 

If you will be having your grandchildren for a day, a week or even longer, I hope this will give you a few ideas of keeping the kiddos busy. Little Sister brought one of her cookbooks. That's where we found the recipes for the chocolate covered pretzels and the berry smoothie. So many kid-friendly recipes in it. 

  

Check back here later for the second half of Mimi Camp. 

Pie And Ice Cream

Daddy (who is already in another state after a couple of nights here) asked for blueberry pie for dessert yesterday. Of all the pies we've made_peach cobbler, apple pie, chocolate chip pecan pie, peanut butter pie, etc.–he wanted one that neither Mommy or I had ever made. We didn't have a tried-and-true recipe. But it was Father's Day! How could she tell him no? So it was Google to the rescue. Mommy found a recipe with 158 reviews, most of them 5-stars. She figured it would have to be good.

And it was delicious! What we didn't think about was that when you make a blueberry pie, you don't have to peel peaches or apples. This turned out to be super easy in addition to being super delicious. This has been added to our "keeper" recipe list.

The ice cream recipe is the one that my parents used for years and years. I grew up in a family that would make ice cream at the drop of a hat. Ours was usually made with fruit of some sort, but this is the base recipe that the others come from. Again, with no fruit to peel or prepare, it's quick to stir together. It turned out to be a perfect summer dessert.

BLUEBERRY PIE

5 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 (15-oz) package refrigerated pie crusts
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon sugar

• Sprinkle berries with lemon juice; set aside.
• Fit half of pastry in a 9-inch pie plate according to package directions.
• Combine 1 sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Add to berries. Mix well.
• Pour into pastry shell and dot with butter.
• Unfold remaining pastry shell on a lightly floured surface; roll gently with rolling pin to remove creases.
• Place pastry over filling; seal and crimp edges.
• Cut slits in top of crust to allow steam to escape.
• Brush top of pastry with beaten egg and sprinkle with 1 tsp. sugar.
• Bake a 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
• Cover edges with foil to prevent overbrowning, if necessary.
• Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM (for 4 or 5 quart ice cream churn)

3 (12-oz) cans evaporated milk

2-1/2 cups sugar

Egg Beaters to equal 3 eggs 

2-1/2 tablespoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

Fresh whole milk

Mix first 4 ingredients.  Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Pour into 4 or 5-quart ice cream churn container.  Add fresh milk to the “fill” line.  Freeze according to churn directions.

You can use this vanilla recipe and one of these add-ins for other flavors.

For all of the following flavors, use 2 tablespoons vanilla instead of 2-1/2 and add the fruit to the vanilla recipe.

Strawberry, Peach, or Banana--3 to 4 cups fruit, mashed (I stir part of the sugar into the mashed berries or peaches and let it sit until the juices have released)

Peanut Butter---Substitute a 12- oz. jar of peanut butter (regular or crunchy) for fruit.  Leave out eggs.  Mix jar of peanut butter with one can of milk before adding to remaining ingredients.

Cherry---Substitute 2 jars of maraschino cherries and juice for fruit.

Years ago we made ice cream with raw eggs. There are now health concerns about that practice, so I switched to Egg Beaters, which is a pasturized egg product. If you have compromised health, use your own judgement about the Egg Beaters. You might want to look for a recipe that starts with a cooked custard or a recipe with sweetened condensed milk and no eggs. 

Mimi Camp Muffins

Sour Cream Blueberry Banana Muffins

Here is the muffin recipe that I promised. The one that Little Sister made during Mimi Camp. We chose this recipe because I had all of the ingredients here. No extra trip to the store required. And we chose it because smashing bananas is great fun when you're six!

The texture of these muffins is a little different than other muffins I've made. You can see that the tops are flat, not rounded as you might expect. But the taste? I ate three of them for breakfast two mornings in a row. (They were little, y'all. Don't judge.)

I saw the recipe on online. The pictures from the original source were thin, flat muffins, so it wasn't our mixing that made the difference. It's just how this recipe is supposed to be. Whatever the shape, we were happy with the flavor.

In the process of making these, Little Sister learned she had to wash her hands before she started and after cracking the eggs. She learned about measuring and leveling with the back of a knife. But when we got to the two bowls—one for the banana mixture and one for the flour—she exclaimed, "Oh! We're going to add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients." Pioneer Woman and Trisha Yearwood (her favorite TV cooks) should be proud.

SOUR CREAM BLUEBERRY BANANA MUFFINS

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 overripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, use a mixer on low speed to combine butter, sugar, eggs, bananas, sour cream and vanilla.
In another bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda to combine. Gradually add the flour to the banana mixture and mix until combined.
Gently fold in blueberries.
Grease muffin tins, or use paper liners. Spoon batter into cups (about 1/4 cup each) into tins.
Bake at 350 degrees for 17-22 minutes, or until golden brown.

The recipe said it made 24 muffins. We got 22 muffins.


Our batter was almost a liquid instead of a thick batter. I went back and found the online recipe post and asked the author how she measured her flour. I am in the "gently scoop into measuring cup and level." But she said she just scooped it up out of the canister. That would give you a little more flour and a thicker batter. Next time I'll do it that way. And one day I'm measuring one cup of flour both ways and will weigh each cup to see how much difference there is. Yep, I'm a kitchen nerd like that.

July Lake Life

I'm so tired today. But this is a good tired. We got home last night from a week at the lake with family. It was such a good week. You know having that many people in a small space for a week could have gone all Chevy Chase on us. (You've watched those National Lampoon movies, haven't you?) But it was all good. The weather was unbelievable. Here in the Deep South, July is typically hot and muggy. Miserably so. This week, though, was like magic, with low humidity and moderate temps. If you could order weather from Amazon, this would have been the week I would have added to my shopping cart!

Here's what our week included:

Swimming. Giant Jenga. Skiing. Boating. Cornhole. Scrabble. Kayaks. Farkle. Hammock. Porch sitting. Reading. Puzzles. Wading pool. 4th of July family dinner. Lots of cousins. Spot-It! Bedknobs & Broomsticks movie. Fishing. Coloring books. Morning coffee on the porch.

Peach Ice Cream. Barbecue. Low Country Boil. Hushpuppies. Lemon Pound Cake. Macaroni & Cheese. Quesadillas. Blueberry Pie. Peach Cobbler. Food Truck Pizza. Baked Rotini. Burgers. Blueberry Pancakes. S'mores. Bean Salad. Homemade Lemonade. Fresh Cucumbers. Shrimp Dip. Snow Cones. Boiled Peanuts.

Here. You can see for yourself. And don't miss the recipe at the very bottom!

The cooking was shared, so no one was burdened. I headed to the store on Tuesday to find something for dinner. No particular plan in mind. Which worked out well because I tried the food sample that day. And bought everything needed for the burgers they were demonstrating. Really easy to put together and totally delicious. It's the Thousand Island dressing that makes it special.

It's from Publix Simple Apron recipes. Because it calls for pre-made burger patties, precooked bacon and bought pimento cheese and Thousand Island dressing, it's very easy. It's really more assembly directions than a recipe. We will do this again for sure. Daddy-O grilled the burgers. Big Sister microwaved the bacon (according to package directions) and Jecca sliced the tomato and onion. Many hands make light work.

PIMENTO CHEESE BURGERS

4 ground beef patties, about 1-1/2 lb (we used pre-made ground chuck patties)
1/2 cup pimiento cheese, divided
8 slices precooked bacon
4 hamburger buns
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
4 lettuce leaves
8 teaspoons Thousand Island dressing, divided

Preheat grill (or grill pan). Place burgers on grill; cook 4–5 minutes on each side and until meat is 160°F. Top each burger with 2 tablespoons cheese spread during last minute of grill time, then close lid (or cover) for cheese to melt.

Microwave bacon following package instructions. Slice tomato and onion. Separate lettuce leaves.

Spread 2 teaspoons dressing over top halves of buns. Assemble each burger in this order: bottom half of bun, beef patty, bacon, tomato, lettuce, onion, and top half of bun and serve.

Makes 4