A day on the farm….

What better way to spend a Saturday morning than going out to a farm and being able to pick some blueberries and cherries.  Ott Farms in Modesto is one of the best blueberry and cherry farms around the area.  I would highly recommend coming here with the kids, make a day of it and just have fun.  

One of the best parts of choosing which ones to pick is “taste testing.”  It is always recommended to taste the different varieties of  what’s out there, so you know whether you want a sweeter taste or a more tart taste. Of course, by default, by the time you are ready to leave the farm, you’ve eaten as many as you have picked….and loved every one of them.  There are rows and rows of blueberry bushes just ready to be picked for your bucket and taken home. It was a especially nice day on the day we went, so it was nice being able to just take our time and have fun while we were out there.  The bushes were loaded with blueberry clusters as well as the cherry trees.  There were at least 5 varieties of blueberries and a couple varieties of cherries as well.

You can check out my post about Baking with Blueberries as well for some more delicious blueberry recipes. 

Next, it was time to take home our stock of fresh fruit.  I had a recipe to try for blueberry muffins again…and….they came out…
A-MAZ-ING!!!

Blueberry Cream Muffins

Now for a little bit of CREATIVITIY…

I even tried out a great blueberry smoothie recipe as well, another great breakfast on the go drink.  I love smoothies on a hot day and I can’t always make it over to a smoothie place to buy one, so it’s great when I’m able to grab some fresh fruit and yogurt to make some of my own when I have a craving for a smoothie. 

Strawberry-Banana-Blueberry Smoothie

1 Banana
1/2 cup Strawberries
1/2 cup Blueberries
2 TBSP Greek Vanilla Yogurt
about 1 cup of Milk

Ice (if needed for consistency/thickness)

Grab your favorite blender and add the ingredients and mix it well until the desired thickness is achieved.
Then pour into your favorite glass and enjoy!  

I tend to vary my ingredients by what I have on hand, but this mix usually produces a really great smoothie to start off your morning with!

Blessings,

Baking with Blueberries!

So this past week we went out to a farm here in Modesto to pick our own blueberries and cherries.  We found Ott Farms -- a huge orchard full of great fresh fruit!  And, yes they are on Facebook for directions on how to get there. :-) 
But, anyway...after picking so many blueberries, I just had to try a couple of new recipes.  I found a recipe for blueberry muffins just browsing the Internet on all-recipes.com and I found a buttermilk-blueberry breakfast cake from Pinterest a while ago.  Both recipes came out amazing and are both defiantly keepers.    So I just thought I would share a little bit about these great recipes on here.

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup white sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup milk

• 1 cup fresh blueberries

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup butter, cubed

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 
  
• Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Ingredients
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons

Directions

1.. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

(I didn't have a lemon this time so I left the lemon zest out and it still came out great!)

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if done. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!!