Blueberry Season!

Hello All,

The boys and I went blueberry picking at our favorite place, Blueberry Bay over in Stratham, NH.  They have chemical free berries and other items and they are all pick-your-own, my favorite things!  They also serve homemade blueberry lemonade, which is incredible.  If you've not been there, and you're local, I urge you to go.  Small farm making the most of their land, serving their community with fresh, wholesome food and such nice folks to boot.  You can even buy some blueberry bushes there to start your own little patch if you'd like.  Now that the boys are older, they are a great help in picking, and we managed to get enough for this recipe, blueberry muffins, lots eaten fresh and about 10 quart bags stuffed to the gills in the freezer.  Can't wait for those in January, a little bit of summer sunshine in the winter snows!

I was looking for a quick blueberry recipe in order to bring some goodies over to our friend's home for a swimming date and chit chat between moms.  My friend Diane and I became instant great friends and we can spend hours together talking about life, farming, animals and our kids and whatever else might come to mind.  She is like a sister to me now.  She has a son that is the same age as my oldest and all three boys are great friends.  They have such a nice time together and I love that my boys can be so silly with her son.  They are both pretty serious kids, and to see them cut lose and get a little silly with him is a treat for me.  Kids should enjoy being kids, shouldn't they?

So, in the end, I was hunting through a cookbook given to me by my mother-in-law a couple of summers ago.  She got it when she was touring the Pennsylvania Dutch country in a store run by Amish people.  I love this cookbook.  It has some really practical, down home recipes.  When I'm looking for comfort food, I head to this book. It's called " Country Lane Quilts and Family Cooking".  It also gives the history of a lot of quilt patterns to the Amish, and as I have been known to sew up a quilt or two in my day, I love the whole lot of the content in this book.

I found just the right recipe in that book (I just knew it was in there!).  So quick and easy, but fabulously delicious, it's almost too good to be true.  The 13" X 9" pan that the recipe makes did not last long here, but I did bring half of it to my friend's home.  Where it was promptly eaten up as well!  If you have a wonderful crop of blueberries bursting in your area, please do give this easy recipe a try.  It's also great for young cooks with a bit of help, it's that easy!

 

BlueBerry Bars

Bars:

3/4 c butter, softened
1 c brown sugar
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c oatmeal (not the instant kind)

Filling:
2 1/2 c blueberries
1/2 c sugar
2 Tbl cornstarch
1 c water (I know it seemed like a lot to me, too and your filling is fairly floating in it, but it worked out great, the oatmeal needs it to become soft)
1 Tbl lemon juice

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add dry ingredients and then oatmeal.  Press half of the batter into a 13" X 9" X 2" pan.  Spread the filling and the sprinkle the rest of the crumbs on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until lightly brown.  Cool.

You can also add this to the recipe as well, but I left it off and it was great without it:
Icing:
1 c powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbl milk
Combine well and drizzle over the top of the bars.

You'll have a smiling family if you end a nice summer dinner with this fine dessert!  They would also be great to take to a cookout or potluck.

Enjoy your berries of blue, ~Peacemom