Tag-Archive for ◊ blueberry ◊

22 Jul 2010 Fresh Blueberry White Chocolate Pie
Author:  |  Category: Fruits, Pies & Tarts, Seasonal, Sweets  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | One Comment

I make two no-bake pies in the summer, a Fresh Strawberry Chocolate Pie and this Fresh Blueberry White Chocolate Pie. Fresh pies are quick to pull together, don’t heat up the kitchen, and are real crowd pleasers. Just remember to start early in the day to allow a few hours for the filing to set before serving. This pie usually doesn’t keep well, but maybe I say that because I never have any left over! And my daughter Abby made this pie 3 days ago, which still looks good enough to eat tonight.

The white chocolate graham cracker crust aspect is my own idea (got it from my Strawberry Chocolate Pie) but the blueberry filling part came from Epicurious a few years ago. I haven’t mastered crumb crusts yet (mine are always too hard) so while I am still working on getting the right recipe and the right technique, I use a pre-made crust.

Fresh Blueberry White Chocolate Pie

4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup water plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest, to taste (one lemon, or half of a lemon)
pinch of salt
1 or 2 tablespoons butter

1 graham cracker or shortbread crust (I prefer shortbread)
Approx. 1/2 bag white chocolate chips (Ghiradelli or Guittard–don’t use Nestle or a store brand they don’t taste right)
1 – 2 teaspoons Crisco (optional, just helps with melting and spreading-sometimes I use, sometimes I don’t)

whipped cream (make fresh if at all possible)

Prepare the crust first. Melt the white chocolate with the optional shortening in the MW on 50% power for about 2 minutes. Stir well after every 30 seconds. Do not overhead. Carefully spread a THIN layer of white chocolate onto the sides and bottom of the pie crust. You need to cover all the crust, so the filing can’t seep through and make the crust soggy, but you need to keep the chocolate covering thin enough to not make the pie too sweet! So…, as THIN as you possibly can while covering the crumbs completely! Put prepared crust in refrigerator to set (pssst…, if you have any melted white chocolate left, drizzle it on some pretzels and then put them into refridgerator to harden… Yummeeeeee.  White chocolate covered pretzels will keep, covered, in the fridge for, well, probably longer than they will last!).

Measure out 1 cup of the blueberries, choose the softest most imperfect ones. Put these berries in a medium saucepan with 1/2 cup water. Cover the pan and bring mixture to a boil. After the mixture comes to a boil, remove the lid, lower the heat, and simmer, stirring constantly, for 3 – 4 minutes.

In a small bowl mix the additional 2 tablespoons water with 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Add this cornstarch mixture plus the sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and salt. Simmer mixture for a minute, or until the blueberry mixture becomes translucent. When the mixture becomes translucent immediately remove from heat and stir in remaining 3 cups fresh blueberries, lemon zest and 1 – 2 tablespoons butter.

Spoon blueberry mixture into white chocolate covered crumb crust and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours before serving. When set, the blueberries will remain very juicy, but will not flow out of crust.

Just before serving pipe or spread whipped cream around the sides of the pie, leaving the center unadorned and brilliantly glistening.

According to the original recipe, the pie can be kept at room temperature (minus the whipped cream) for two days. (I keep mine in the RF though)

10 Jul 2010 Amazing Overnight Waffles and Fresh Blueberry Sauce
Author:  |  Category: Breakfast & Brunch, Fruits  | Tags: , , , , ,  | 2 Comments

What a way to kick off your July 4th holiday…, homemade waffles with fresh blueberry syrup and a bit of whipped cream. You’llbe singing…”Ohhhhhh, say can you seeeeeee by the dawn’s early light… What so prOUdly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleeeeaming…” all day long! The waffles are delicious; the first bite has a wonderfully light crispness to it. You’ll want to keep taking bite after bite, believe me. The waffle batter is mixed the night before, covered and set out on the counter to ferment a bit. In the morning an egg and melted butter are stirred into the batter while the waffle iron preheats. The blueberry sauce can be made in advance, but it only takes 15 minutes so it can be made while the coffee brews. It’s going to be a GREAT day… “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air…”

Don’t wait for next July 4th to make these though.  I make these for overnight guests.  This, and a latte, and they are in heaven, and I am not exhausted by 9 AM.

I don’t have one of those fancy-schmancy waffle irons.  Both of mine cost less than $20 each.  They work GREAT, especially with this recipe.  Look for a sale, buy one or two inexpensive waffle irons while you wait for Santa Claus, Prince Charming, or Mom to get you one of those expensive ones. (I’ve been waiting 20+ years….)
This recipe is from the book I started out cooking my way through…, “The 150 Best American Recipes“. The recipe was in the right book!

Amazing Overnight Waffles

2 cups flour
1 T. sugar
1 tsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 T. butter, melted

Combine flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk in milk. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter overnight. (If the overnight temp in room is above 70 degrees, refrigerate batter). The next morning, beat egg and melted butter into batter. Preheat waffle iron. Spray waffle iron with Pam. Pour 2/3 cup batter into standard waffle iron or 1 1/3 cup batter into Belgian waffle iron. Cook waffle for 2-3 minutes (or until crisp and brown). Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree oven. (Place cooked waffles directly on oven racks, do not stack, and waffles should remain warm and crisp).

Two notes… mix the waffle batter in a big bowl before covering to rest overnight. Once I made the batter in a 5 cup bowl… Not a good idea. When I got up the next morning there was batter on the counter and on the floor. There must have been quite a waffle batter party in the kitchen while I slept…

After stirring in the melted butter and beaten egg, let the batter sit for a bit. Because of some late risers in my house, I have discovered that batter that sits an hour or two, has a really GOOD crispy crust.

Makes 4 big waffles.

Fresh Blueberry Sauce

1 lb. Fresh Blueberries
1/2 cup apple juice (can substitute water in a pinch)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice.

Bring blueberries, apple juice and sugar to a boil over medium heat. Simmer for 15 minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and then stir into bubbling blueberry mixture, keep mixture at a boil, add in lemon juice. Continue to boil the mixture until sauce is thickened, no more than 1 or 2 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve. Can be made up to two days ahead. Leftovers can be frozen for future use.

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!

13 Jun 2010 Fresh Blueberry Lemonade
Author:  |  Category: Drinks, Fruits  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | One Comment

Thought I might like this…and I was right! Loved it. The blueberry taste is not pronounced, but the color they give to the drink is fantastic. Bbbb…b…bbut…the lemonade is pinkish RED, not blue! Surprise! Our delightful 4 year old guest, who was dressed as a doggie AND a superhero (yes, at the same time!) drank 10 cups of this (at least), and she called it Pink Lemonade.  I was going to follow her lead, but that would be even MORE confusing…so Blueberry Lemonade it remains!

I found this concoction to be more refreshing than straight up lemonade. It’s not as harsh, not as much acidity, I think. Yep, this recipe is a winner, a keeper. Be sure to make a batch for the July 4th picnic. Make several batches as once, in “concentrate” form, so you can serve it up when it is most needed and wanted without any fuss or bother.

This recipe was pulled together from two sources. My original long-relied upon lemonade recipe from “Too Busy to Cook” (a cookbook from the 80’s or 90’s) and a recipe from Family Fun Magazine attributed to Anne Coleman.

Fresh Blueberry Lemonade

1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 1/3 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest of two lemons
1 sliced lemon
extra handful of blueberries (for garnish, if desired)
Additional water, about 6 cups.

Combine blueberries, sugar and water and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until blueberries soften and release their color, about 5 minutes. Strain liquid and discard solids. Let cool. Stir in lemon juice,lemon zest, and sliced lemon along with enough water to have liquids measure 2 quarts. Flavor from lemons develops over time. Let mixture sit for a few hours or overnight. Serve over ice with a slice of lemon and a float of 5 or 6 blueberries.

Make your own Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate!

Make the sugar-blueberry-water syrup. Strain. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Freeze. When needed just add 1 sliced lemon and enough water to made 2 quarts of drink, stir briskly to dissolve the concentrate. YUM. How impressive would that be to pull out on a Tuesday night?!

Thanks for visiting!

03 Jun 2010 Polly’s 3-2-1 Smoothies
Author:  |  Category: Breakfast & Brunch, Drinks, Fruits, Seasonal  | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

I’m pretty sure I was one of the first people ever to taste a smoothie. There was a smoothie man on campus at San Diego State University in 1976. He had a blender, fresh pineapple, fresh bananas, and a bunch of fruit juices. Every smoothie consisted of a large slice of fresh pineapple, half a banana, ice, and juice. The juice determined the flavor of the smoothie. They smelled divine, tasted divine and the memories lasted…

I’ve been making smoothies at home for a long, long time. Probably since 1977. I have spent 33 years perfecting this recipe…, it’s GREAT, better than the smoothie man’s, and it’s simple. Even I have this one memorized: 3 cups of frozen fruit, 2 cups of juice, and 1 cup of yogurt with an optional squirt of honey or spoonful of jam. (I use honey or jam only if the yogurt is plain and the fruit tart–usually the sweetening is not needed.) The recipe makes 4 cups of smoothie goodness. Enough for a 2, 3, or 4 people for breakfast. Just making one for yourself? Get out the blender (you don’t even have to measure)… Pour in one to one-and-a-half cups of frozen fruit, 3/4 to 1 cup of juice, and a small container of yogurt. Whirl on high for about a minute. Done. What a way to start a summer day!!!

I like using the frozen fruit because then there’s no need to use ice–which dilutes the intensity and the goodness of the smoothie. Now don’t be using packaged frozen fruit this time of year. I know you want to buy all those fresh berries from the market. Go ahead! Freeze the leftovers. When the strawberries get a bit past their prime…, rinse, pull the stem off, freeze. Same with peaches nectarines, apricots, plums, and bananas. No need to peel them. Just wash, slice, and bag. Leftover fresh pineapple? mango? Slice, freeze, and bag along with some blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. (OK…,it’s best to ‘open freeze’ the fruit first. Place the sliced fruit on a tray, freeze as is, then remove to a Ziploc bag. If you freeze wet fruit it tends to freeze into a solid ball. Starting out the morning with a cleaver and a ball of frozen fruit can be frustrating…). By the end of the summer you will have a wide variety of frozen fresh fruit for your smoothies and think how great you’ll feel having had a few healthy servings of fruit each day for breakfast.

I made our first smoothies of the season yesterday. Frozen strawberries (all the frozen fruit we had, usually I have more of a variety), orange-mango juice, plain yogurt, and a squirt of honey.One for me, one for my nineteen year old son and his friend, and one for my eighteen month old grandson. My son, texting away, drank a third of his and said, “Can you make more of these?” I said, “Sure. Are you that hungry”. He said, “Yeah, I’ll have another one…, but my friends are driving by and they want to stop by and have one. I told them how good they were.”!

Tonight for dinner my grandson and I had smoothies made out of frozen strawberries and raspberries, orange juice, and blueberry yogurt. Delicious (even though the picture is one of the worst pictures I’ve ever posted). My son’s favorite is frozen peaches, peach yogurt, and any kind of juice. I like to jazz his up with some frozen raspberries or raspberry yogurt. My daughter likes a citrus smoothie–frozen pineapple, sometimes with some mango and banana, lemon or plain yogurt and grapefruit juice, orange juice, or lemonade. I like frozen raspberries and blueberries, plain or berry yogurt, and any kind of juice…, but orange-passion fruit is to die for…

Let me know your favorite flavor combination! Enjoy!

Polly’s 3-2-1 Smoothies

3 cups of frozen fruit
2 cups of fruit juice (start with orange…then experiment)
1 cup of yogurt (any kind)
optional squirt of honey or spoonful of jam

Put frozen fruit in blender. Cover with juice. Add in yogurt. Blend until thick and frosty. Add in a squirt of honey or jam, if desired. Whirl again to blend. Makes four cups of smoothie goodness. Pour into 2, 3, or 4 glasses. Add a straw…, and maybe a squirt of whipped cream. Serve. YUM!

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