blueberries, and then some more

if you feel like you have read this twice, than one, thanks for following me so diligently! and two, i accidentally published this a couple days too early…sorry! carry on…

we are lucky. lucky we live so close to so much agriculture. yes, i love attempting to grow my own this year, but i also love that we are within a 30 minute drive any direction to so many family owned farms, many offering the opportunity to pick vegetables, fruits and berries yourself.

my parents came into town for us to go on a fabulous double date. a french bistro dinner downtown at little bird and seeing les miserables. it was perfect for them as they had just arrived back in the states just a few days prior from visiting a handful of places, inlcuding paris.

and let’s just pause and take a moment for les mis… anyone else out there that claims this as your favorite musical? you get chills every time the cast starts singing ‘one day more’? you cry when eponine sings in marius’ embrace, and when fantine calls valjean to death? yep, me too.

anyways, that has nothing to do with blueberries… except that we met them earlier in the day to pick some! at a buck a pound, we thought we’d pick about 20 pounds for ourselves (and about the same for my parents). make some jam, bake a couple things, and then freeze the rest. well, every time we’d try to leave a row, we just couldn’t stop! the farmer was generous and you could see him round down every bucket we placed on the scale….between the four of us after about an hour and a half, we had well over 50 pounds. whoops!

so it’s definitely blueberry season in the hansen household! we picked a couple varieties…one nice and tart, and the other so sweet it tasted like candy. i’ve given you a couple recipes that i’ve done so far, and a few links to what i have planned for the rest (that haven’t already been frozen).

blueberry mojitos

from ny magazine; as i mentioned in my camping post, my dad tends to bartend family functions, and we had his version of this, as well as a yummy raspberry tequila version.

8 blueberries
6 to 8 mint leaves
3 ounces club soda
2 ounces white rum
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1 lime wedge or splash fresh lime juice
mint sprig and additional blueberries for garnish

1. muddle the blueberries and mint with a splash of soda in a shaker until they’re crushed.

2. fill the shaker with ice, and add the rum, lime, and simple syrup. shake together, strain into a glass filled with ice, and add the soda.

3. garnish with mint and blueberries.

infused blueberry vodka

you can easily make your own flavored vodkas by placing a certain proportion of a fruit, berry or herb in some vodka, seal up, leave in the dark for a few days, and voila! just lots of experimenting and taste testing as you wait. ; )

other recipes i’m ready to try:

rosemarried’s ice cream sandwiches

a mix of wil’s school recipe & not without salt’s recipe for classic blueberry muffins

smitten kitchen’s blueberry crumb bars

honey & jam’s cobbler

can’t forget jam! i think wil’s going to make something up for this one…

and just enjoying it throughout the day….handfuls, over vanilla ice cream, with yogurt & flax seed

‘the lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.’ psalm 85:12