Oh, the Blueberries.........

 

It took us a long time to find a house big enough for our tribe, out in the country, and on our budget.  It took a couple of years of searching to find our current home. 

I dreamed of a pretty white farmhouse. 

Instead we found this brown 1969 house. 

I actually cried a little, thinking, "Is this the best we can do?" 

Then, I saw the blueberry bushes. 

Then, I looked inside, and around, and fell in love with the lot, the country, the creek, everything. Even the brown house.   

But it all started with the blueberries.  It was late August then, and there were only a few tiny ones left clinging to a bush.  This July we found our buckets overflowing!  It became a frenzy of blueberry everything:  blueberry pie, blueberry scones, blueberry sauce with cheesecake, blueberry pancakes, and our favorite, a Blueberry Dutch baby.

 

Though one of my kids has of course, (there is always one) decided he does not like them, the rest of us have been in heaven. 

Not all the cooking was great.  My blueberry pie was more like blueberry soup.  But there were a few winners.  Ina Garten's blueberry sauce was divine.  It went over cheesecake and made it scrumptious!  The recipe for blueberry scones from the America's Test Kitchen is pure perfection.  Better yet, they freeze ahead so that you can bake them up anytime!

But our favorite came from Mommycoddle's blog.  The Oven-Puffed Blueberry Pancake.  When it comes to breakfast, I tend to favor things that are ready for all of us to eat at once.  I'm hungry in the morning, and I tend to not like slaving over individual orders of anything:  pancakes, eggs, etc.  When I can pull something out of the oven and feed everyone at once, myself included, I am a happy person.  This recipe is the easiest breakfast in the world. 
  

 

 

 

 

The blueberry season here is definitely at it's end. It's been a busy summer of day camps and scout camps and girls camp and running around. I had a long list of house projects that never began. 

 

I will look forward to blueberry season every summer, but I will always remember this first season of gorgeous blueberries and the magic of it all.