Experimenting

My daughter brought me a gallon bag of frozen blueberries!  What should I do with so many, besides baking? I mentioned the berry supply to my yard guy and he said his teen agers all make smoothies with them. Well, that planted a seed in my head. I had no idea of what a smoothie could/should contain but I thought I would try to make one this morning without researching what they are all about. (I'm behind the times, I guess.)

The blender sits on the counter and is hardly ever used. I do remember making daiquiri style and Margarita drinks in it and chopping cabbage in the past! For cabbage I had to do separate chunks in water and then strain. It was a messy task back then, but it did the job well. I found an exact picture of this vintage 70's Hamilton Beach 7 speed blender beverage mixer on the internet.

I scooped a cup of berries into my old but very functional blender, then added a cup of applesauce and a dash of water to the container and set it off! WOW! SOOOO GOOOOOD! Going to do it again in a few days, to see if my system tells me it's OK to have this once in a while.

"Tis the Season!"

For blueberries that is! My friend the potter sent me some photos of his blueberry bush fruits and they are really beautiful this year. He also showed them in a pot that he made, and it is a combination of beauties for sure! Now I must admit that they are NOT my favorite fruit. I much prefer Loring peaches or dark cherries or apples. I do however, find the beauty of these berries - in fact all berries are beautiful, aren't they?

Of course I had to 'play' with his berry photos. The closeups of them is marvelous and I sure like magnified images of nature's beautiful creations.

All photos without additional 'add-ons' are courtesy of Al.

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B-B-B Day

Blueberry Bran Baking Day. Since I had about two cups of frozen blueberries left over in the freezer I had an impulse to use up my cereal that was getting short of shelf life. I was feeling creative and, thank goodness, the results were wonderful. (I made changes to to the original recipe!)

Hot and buttered and....WOW!

I used one cup of sour cream instead of one cup of milk.

I used almost 2 cups of All Bran Original cereal

I used Crisco for shortening

I added 1/2 tsp. lemon flavoring.

After all was well mixed, I then added the blueberries in their frozen state.

I used two different size muffin pans and lined with paper cups. 

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BRAN MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups Kellogg’s All-Bran Original cereal 

or 1 1/2 cups Kellogg’s All-Bran Buds cereal 

1 cup milk

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. In large mixing bowl, combine KELLOGG'S ALL-BRAN cereal and milk. Let stand about 2 minutes or until cereal softens. Add egg and shortening. Beat well. Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined. Portion evenly into twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin-pan cups coated with cooking spray. OR six larger muffin-pan cups. You may use paper cups and not cover with spray.

3. Bake at 400° F about 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm. 

Yield: 12 muffins/6 large muffins

Note

VARIATIONS:

Molasses: Decrease milk to 1/2 cup. Add 1/2 cup molasses to KELLOGG'S ALL-BRAN cereal with milk. Omit sugar. Follow directions above.

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Blueberry Sauce

After making the blueberry upside down lemon cake the other day, I remembered that I had a recipe for sauce. This is easy to make and perfect for topping over ice cream or cake!

Yes! Wonderful stuff! I did change it a little as I didn't have orange juice on hand. I substituted lemon juice that I had in the freezer. A couple of months ago I bought a bag of lemons and juiced them all, poured the juice (pulp and all) into several little 4 oz. jars and froze it for future use. Why? A time saver, that's why. It came in handy and the sauce came out just right.

Here is the recipe:

See? Doesn't that look good? It is! The berries stayed whole.

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Good Stuff

Of course I'm referring to food, what else? Last night I put together a casserole with leftovers, and it was very tasty; especially delicious. There are no rules in my kitchen, except "waste not, want not."  This was a combination of potatoes, sliced thinly as scalloped dishes require. Then I had cut up a slice of ham into 1/2" square cubes and added. Left over string beans, milk, butter and pepper went in next with a dusting of flour. On the top I sprinkled a few of French's crispy onion pieces and a little shredded sharp cheese. Baked at 350° for an hour, rested for ten minutes and the one dish meal was served.

This morning I baked a lemon pudding cake in a flat pan and added a couple of cups of frozen blueberries. I do hope this treat will last a few days. Whipped cream coming up!

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