Summer Lovin'

Okay, I know I just said I love strawberries (and I do) but my one true love is BLUEBERRIES! They are just the most delicious little things! I could eat them by the pounds...and I almost did last night!

Luckily there are a lot of local farms that grow these little treats! You can find them at local farmer's markets around the middle/end of June and early July. It's been so hot here this spring that they're ready a bit early. However, if you want to do a little work for your food you can find a local you-pick farm and go pick your own. I spent an hour last night picking over 8 pounds of blueberries. I was in heaven!

This is about half of what I picked!

If you get home and realize some of your berries aren't as ripe as you'd like them, you can put them in a tray and leave them out for a day. The blueberries will ripen up very nicely and taste just as sweet as the others.



I freeze the blueberries the same way I do the strawberries: clean, freeze individually on a tray, then put in a freezer bag to save for the winter. I froze 2 big bags worth last night! That should provide a lot of yummy pancakes, muffins, and treats for my cereal over the winter months.

However, I do really like to bake with them while they are fresh. My favorite recipe came from my Aunt Mary (not sure where she got it) and it's called Alabama Blueberry Bread. Enjoy!

3 Cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1-2 TB. ground CINNAMON (I usually use almost 3!)
2 Cups sugar
1 tsp. GROUND NUTMEG (optional...I don't use it)
3 eggs, well beaten
11/4 Cups canola oil
2 pints of blueberries (mash about 1 Cup of these)
2 tsp. LEMON EXTRACT
1 Cup chopped nuts, optional (I don't usually use nuts!)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 2 large (9 inch) loaf pans. Mix 1/4 cup of the sugar and half of the CINNAMON. Sprinkle pan and top of bread with this mixture (I do this now with all of my fruit bread recipes...yum!). Place flour, salt, baking soda, sugar, NUTMEG and the remaining CINNAMON in a large bowl. Make a well in center of dry ingredients. Add eggs, oil, and LEMON EXTRACT. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in blueberries and nuts. Mashing some of the blueberries gives the bread a nice blueberry color. If you use frozen blueberries, make sure they are frozen plain and not sugared. Divide batter between two loaf pans. Bake 1 hour.

To remove the loaves from their pans without losing the sugary topping, try this trick. Double a sheet of aluminum foil, cut it to half the width of the pan and place it in the greased bread pan, up and over the edges, then pour in the batter. This will give you a handy way to lift the bread right out of the pan, as in the photo below. (I usually fold the foil in half again so the bread gets as much of the sugary stuff on it as possible!)

This is better if not eaten until the next day (although I usually can't wait that long!). Keep refrigerated.

Yield: 2 loaves.
Prep. time: 10 minutes.
Baking time: 1 hour