Thursday, July 2, 2009

Help!! In search of berry simple recipes

I got a call this week from a friend asking if I wanted her to pick us up some blueberries. Seems a local church had a farmer bringing a truckload of the tasty fruit in yesterday morning. They were selling these juicy gems by the gallon bag, at a dollar a pound no less. I said sure, we'll take a couple of bags.
I picked plenty of blueberries as a child and frequently buy those little tubs sold at the local market for about $4 a pack, but I can not say I have ever purchased - much less used 2 lbs of blue berries at a one time.
This is where my husband reminds me "You don't get out much, do you?"
After bringing home our eight dollars of berry's, it just seems wrong to freeze them all, so I suggested we pull several cookbooks from the shelf and find some more varied uses for our berries.
The first thing out of Kyra's mouth was "Pie, let's make blueberry pie".
First off folks...as a rule...I am not a pie baker. Me and crust just can't seem to get together. While I can be quite flaky at times, my crust...not so much.
There are many things I enjoy doing but pie baking is not at the top of that list....truth be told, not ON the list. I leave pure pie baking to those more gifted than I...folks like my niece Dorothy for one.
Take a look at what she can do with fresh apples!
This is from scratch y'all, nothing pre-made here.
Secondly, let me say as recently as a month ago Kyra turned her nose up at the offering of blueberry muffins and announced she that while she use to enjoy them...back when she was 5, since turning 6 her taste had changed and she really is not so fond of blueberries anymore.

So the 'let's make pie' comment surprised me, until I recalled our pie making experiences throughout the years. The child does not realize baking homemade pie usually doesn't involve pulling the crust from the freezer - thank you Madame Pillsbury and company.

It took the girl 3 years to eat all the parts of a pumpkin pie: whipped topping at 2, topping and filling at 3 and topping to crust by age 4. For my baby grand, pie is an acquired taste.

As usual, I digress.

So, after perusing cookbooks and the Internet at large we have become sufficiently inspired to create some new fresh and tasty treats, living beyond our usual smoothies and cereal topping.
Daring uh?

Georgia Jan make preserves look so simple and my grandmother would be sooo proud! That has become a possibility, we're thinking with Splenda??? Trying to keep Mr. B from going into insulin shock don't you know.

Anyway, wish us luck and if you have an berry simple recipes sugar free or not please drop us a line or send us a link, we would love to hear from you!

7 comments:

Gran Jan said...

Tammy: I sure would love a good long visit with you. I think of you and all you're going through with that grandbaby and the memories of losing your daughter. My parents are approaching the anniversary of losing their daughter too, my sister Jean - who embodies every childhood memory I own...God is faithful. We miss her every day.

Now - let me tell you, I used Paula Deen's blueberry preserves recipe - and I did it exactly as she did, minus the lemon zest and juice. I just believe you could use the Splenda and the pectin comes sugar free as well.

Here's a link:

http://recipes.pauladeen.com/index.php/recipes/view/paulas_homemade_blueberry_lemon_preserves/

Love you much,
Jan

Melinda said...

Hey darlin'!

I made Donna's "All Kinds of Berry" pie not long ago and it was FAB! It has an easy graham cracker crust, so I don't think it should be too daunting! :o) You can find it here:

http://waymorehomemaderecipes.blogspot.com/2009/06/all-kinds-berry-pie.html

Blueberries are SO GOOD right now! Would love to be cookin' in the kitchen with you!

XO Melinda

L.L. Barkat said...

Oh, those blueberries! Heaven in a bowl. :)

Kate said...

Ohhhh those berries look soooo delightful...I don't know if any would make it into a recipe.

As for crust and the whole flaky business...try using cake flour. I'm a baker...pies are my forte...and btw, that apple pie looked delicious. Oh, I forgot what I was saying.
Let's see...ok, I like to blend fruit up and use it as waffle topping (no need for sugar). Blueberry cheese coffee cake (only uses a 1/4 cup of sugar which can certainly be replaced...I too am diabetic and have found that Agave is a delightful substitution for sugar, it doesn't have that tangy or bitterness that honey has, and doesn't jack my blood sugar levels. It's also not chemically processes...it's raw and actually very delicious and contributes to your body's needs rather than starving your body (splenda not good...go natural...raw raw...oops, rah rah rather...lol)
Oh yeah, the coffee cake does involve some baking; however, the crust is not meant to look beautiful, so no worries...lol.
Also, if you have a dehydrator, I can give you one of my raw foods recipes for fruit/nut bkfst bar (the recipe won't kill the nutrients-antioxidants, vitamins, enzymes, & life giving water-in the blueberries).
That's about all I can think of right now...you know, other than muffins and yogurt and stuff. You know how to contact me if either one of those recipes appeal to you.

xoxoxoxo

Kate

Anonymous said...

We love blueberries here too!!!

You can add them to lemon pound cake and regular pound cake. We need to go pick some this week to stock up our freezer. Yum, Jill

Annie said...

Oh man, I wish I did! I've never bought enough to make anything out of. lol. I always eat them fresh by the handful. Yum!

Ann Voskamp @Holy Experience said...

Fantastic blog! Your 'flaky' comment had me laughing out loud.
Ann