Blueberry Corn Salad

This month's supper club theme was "picnic."  Last year we did this theme too and got together at a local park.  We enjoyed it alot but it was fall and a bit chilly. We thought it would be nice to do the theme again while the weather was warmer.  Unfortunately, last Saturday it poured right when we were supposed to be picnicking!  Luckily we had a back-up plan and went to one of the couple's house for our dinner.  My husband made this salad.  We were late picking what we were going to make and needed to fill in the menu with sides.  He really wanted to make some kind of corn salad and I had just seen this posted the other day.  It sounded a lot better than the salad that he picked out!  I'm glad that he made it because it was light and tasty with a hint of spice.  It was easy enough to make and I can see us making this salad again for a family get-together before the summer is over.

Blueberry Corn Salad
recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:
6 ears fresh sweet corn, husked
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cucumber, sliced
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
1. In a large pot, bring water to boiling. Add corn. Cook for 5 minutes, or until tender. When cool enough to handle, cut corn from the cobs. Discard cobs.

2. In a large serving bowl, combine corn, blueberries, cucumber, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno. To make the dressing, whisk together lime juice, oil, honey, cumin, salt, and pepper. Pour dressing over salad and stir until combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  Mommy & Daddy Rating: 2 thumbs up.

Blueberry Corn Muffins

I bought some blueberries the other day at the grocery store, having this recipe that I recently saw, in mind.  My son asked, "Can we eat these this time since you cooked them last time?"  I told him that I was cooking with the blueberries again but I bought him some strawberries to eat!  Now that the kids have started camp I thought these muffins would be a tasty breakfast for them in addition to some yogurt, before they started their busy, fun-filled days.  We love corn muffins and blueberry muffins so I knew that these would be a hit! They were super easy to make and so tasty.  I nibbled on one warm right out of the oven, with a dab of butter.  Delicious!

Blueberry Corn Muffins
recipe slightly adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup coarse ground yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Fill a regular-size muffin pan with paper muffin cups or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, melted butter, vegetable oil, vanilla, and eggs until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until combined. The batter will be lumpy. Gently fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

4. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and serve.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Earlier this week I used some sour cream for the Hot Dog Goulash and wanted to use the rest up before it went to waste.  I had bought a carton of blueberries at the grocery store so I thought this cake would be perfect.....and it was!  I prefer to make breakfast baked goods since my kids love breakfast so much! When I make dessert type baked goods, I often have to freeze half of them or they end up going bad.  We just don't eat them fast enough!  So, I made this cake and it was so tasty!  It was baking while we were eating dinner.  The cinnamony aroma had us drooling with anticipation.  Eating this warm out of the oven, it was amazing!  This was one breakfast treat that was eaten all up!

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com - by d newman

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch Bundt pan.

2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in blueberries.

3.Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle half of this mixture over the batter in the pan. Spoon remaining batter over the top, and then sprinkle the remaining pecan mixture over. Use a knife or thin spatula to swirl the sugar layer into the cake.

4.Bake for 55 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the crown of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack. Invert onto a serving plate, and tap firmly to remove from the pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

I had so much fun participating in Tina @ Moms Crazy Cooking Crazy Cooking Challenge last month when we had to make a spaghetti with red sauce dish.  I couldn't wait for this month's challenge, which was to make a blueberry muffin.  The recipe must be found from another food/cooking blog. 

Now, I have to admit, my muffins did not look like the muffins that Avanika made on her blog (hers look MUCH better!).  I was ready to go find another recipe but you know what?  I tasted one and they were delicious!  If you go to Avanika's blog @ Yumsilicious Bakes  you can see that there's supposed to be a crumb topping on the muffin.  I made the topping, but I kind of knew when I was making the topping that it wasn't really "crumby" enough.  The butter/sugar/cinnamon topping sank into the muffin so it had bits of "crumb" mixed into the batter instead of on top.  She also gives the ingredients for a streusel topping, though I went with the crumb. Did I already mention though how moist and tasty they were?  None of these muffins even had a chance of being frozen for another time because we at them all!

To Die For Blueberry Muffins
From Yumsilicious Bakes

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

For the crumb topping [the one on the muffins]
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed [I used about 1/2, it wouldn't hold]
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the streusel topping I usually use, and would prefer with these:
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons rolled oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans [I usually use walnuts]
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Directions:

For the muffins:
1.Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease muffin pan or line with muffin liners.

2.In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.

3.Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.

4.Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries.

5.Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

For the crumb topping:
1.Mix together sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon.

2.Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

For the streusel topping:
1.In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, and pecans.

2.Using a fork, cut in butter until well combined and mixture begins to hold together a bit.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Blueberry-Buttermilk Scones

I honestly don't know what made me want to try making scones.  I didn't think I was a big fan.  To me the few times that I've had them I thought that they were kind of dry.  I picked up some blueberries and decided to try this recipe and boy am I glad that I did!  I now have a whole line-up of scone recipes that I want to try!  These scones were tasty and moist.  The family loved them and it was a great breakfast treat for us. 


Blueberry-Buttermilk Scones
from brown eyed baker

Makes 12 scones

Ingredients:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cake flour (not self-rising)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup (½ pint) blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg lightly beaten for egg wash
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

2. Whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers, until the mixture has the texture of coarse meal. Stir in blueberries.

3. Whisk together buttermilk, 1 egg, and the vanilla. Drizzle over flour mixture, and stir lightly with a fork until dough comes together but a small amount of flour remains in the bowl.

4. Turn out dough onto a work surface, and gently knead dough once or twice just to incorporate flour. Pat dough into a 1-inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 22 minutes. Transfer scones to wire rack to cool.

Serving & storing: The scones are best served immediately, but can be frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw, and reheat in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.

(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!