It’s Blueberry Time!
Both Sara and I LOVE picking our own blueberries each summer. We pick a bunch to eat fresh, and pick enough extra to freeze for the rest of the year! Aside from the great price, they’re super fresh, I know how they’re grown, and we have a great time picking–can’t wait till apple time in the fall! Be sure to check out our list of local pick-your-own patches, and there’s a fantastic nation-wide pick-your-own list on this site.
Here are a few of the things we did with the berries we picked:
Quick & Easy No-Cook Freezer Jam (thanks, Fabulessly Frugal!)
I loved how simple this recipe for jam was. No cooking, no heating up my kitchen, and less clean-up. It should work with any fruit–can’t wait to try it with our wild black raspberries too!
- 4 cups mashed fruit
- 1 ½ cups of sugar or Splenda (the granulated kind for baking)
- 5 Tablespoons of Ball brand Real Fruit Instant Pectin ($1/1 coupon in 6/3 SS)
Make sure you get the INSTANT kind for this recipe!
Wash and mash your fruit–about 2 lbs. makes 4 cups of fruit. If you like your jam with chunks of fruit you can do it by hand with a potato masher, but I just gave it a whirl in my blender–super easy! In a separate bowl, briskly wisk 1 ½ cups of sugar and 5 tablespoons of pectin. Add the mashed fruit to the pectin/sugar mixture and stir for 3 minutes making sure to scrape sides and bottom of bowl. I did all the whisking/mixing in my KitchenAid with the whisk attachment–again, super easy! Pour into clean containers that can freeze (glass jars or plastic freezer containers) and let it set on the counter for 30 minutes before freezing.
Makes about 4.5 cups of jam. If you want to make more or less, you can use this tool on the Ball Real Fruit Pectin website.
Fruit & Yogurt Freezer Pops
We picked up these fantastic Star Ice Pop Molds at Lehman’s in Kidron, but you can order them from Amazon too. They made this recipe super fun, and the kids absolutely loved making these treats. They’re perfect for a hot day, and are packed with nutrition.
- 1 6 oz. container of yogurt
- Fruit of your choice–just one or a mixture; we used blueberries, black raspberries, and bananas
- Juice of your choice–just enough to help it blend smoothly; we used orange
Throw everything in the blender, blend until smooth, and pour into popsicle molds. Make sure to freeze thoroughly–the stick will pull right out if it’s not frozen well enough. Enjoy some guilt-free icy treats! These would be fun to do in layers too for the 4th of July–do red strawberries, then a layer of white vanilla yogurt, then a layer of blueberries–super cute!
Easy Banana Blueberry Muffins
- 1 1/4 c. mashed ripe bananas
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 c. sugar
- 2 cups Bisquick
- 1/2-3/4 cup blueberries
Combine all ingredients in a bowl in the order listed. I used a potato masher to mash the bananas and mix in everything else, then folded in the blueberries with a spoon. Drop into 12 lined or greased muffin cups, and bake at 400° for 15 minutes.
