A girl friend called me up one day and said: "hey wanna go blueberries picking?" oh, what a novel idea for a city girl, going to the country is a once in while treat.
The season is upon for picking blueberries, so here we go.
Social Circle, Ga. where the heck is that...
An hour east of Atlanta, these one lane winding country roads and you came upon some rolling hills of lush green pastures where cows and horses roamed and grazed; for a while there I thought I was in the state of Kentucky, the country air, the serenity and then I asked: where's the nearest Whole Food? what do people do here? the two city girls giggled, I said: people must have big freezers and big screen TVs here in every house!
An hour east of Atlanta, these one lane winding country roads and you came upon some rolling hills of lush green pastures where cows and horses roamed and grazed; for a while there I thought I was in the state of Kentucky, the country air, the serenity and then I asked: where's the nearest Whole Food? what do people do here? the two city girls giggled, I said: people must have big freezers and big screen TVs here in every house!
We continued on and finally came to this unassuming hand made sign: Hard Labor Farm - Blueberries picking here!
It was a perfectly over cast day, there were 20 rows of thick verdant blueberry bushes soldierly like lined up next to one and other, stuck to the ground were poles identifying their breeds on each row.
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| Which one do you think I picked the most! |
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| A variety of blue berries bushes |
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (about 1 1lb)
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3/4 cup to 1 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet your blueberries are, and how sweet you want the result to be)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups full fat plain yogurt (full fat yogurt is preferred, if you use low-fat or non-fat yogurt, substitute 1/4 cup of it with heavy whipping cream)
- 1/2 cup whole milk
Method
1 Place the blueberries, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat, stirring, until all of the sugar has dissolved. While the mixture is heating, use a potato masher to mash up the blueberries. When all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.If you want a smooth result, you can process the cooled mixture in a food processor, or skip, in which case you'll have pieces of blueberries which can add flavorful texture to the frozen yogurt.
2 Stir in the yogurt and milk until completely incorporated. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours (or overnight) until completely cold.
3 Process the blueberry yogurt mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions (usually about 25 minutes). Serve immediately (it will be soft) or let it firm up a bit by freezing it for several hours.
Make about 1 quart.
Oh, lastly - sparks your senses tonight, serve this Blueberry Waldorf salad;
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| Blueberry Waldorf Salad |
Blueberry Waldorf Salad
Yields 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed, divided
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large Granny Smith apple
4 cups (about 4 ounces) baby spinach
2 stalks celery, cut into 1 1/2-inch matchsticks
1/3 cup pecan halves, toasted
Directions:
In a blender container, combine half the blueberries, the oil, marmalade, lemon juice, mustard and salt;
blend until a smooth, thick dressing forms.
Core and slice the apple.
Arrange spinach, apple slices, celery and pecans on cold salad plates; top with remaining blueberries if
using fresh.
Blend dressing again until smooth and drizzle each serving with dressing. If using frozen berries, fold
into dressing and spoon over salads.
A city girl's blueberry picking, culinary success story concluded.
City girl signing off for now... tata.
Enid Yip
