National Blueberry Month

One of the great things about homeschooling is the ability to celebrate any holiday we want to. This month, that included National Blueberry Month and this year (2015), it’s a little extra special! This July is the kick-off for a year long celebration honoring 100 years since the first crop of blueberries were sold commercially. How cool is that?! Or maybe I’ve just become one if “those” moms. Whatever. My kids found it exciting and that is what matters!

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As with almost anything, our first stop was the book section where we found two super cute stories revolving around blueberries. The first, Blueberries for Sal, took us on an adventure with one little cub whose mother wants them to eat enough blueberries for hibernation and also Sal, whose mother is trying to store enough blueberries for winter. The second, Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed, teaches about how one kind act can create a rippling affect touching the hearts and lives of so many beyond the one good deed. I am so in love with this story, as are the girls, and I am certain it will be a regular around this household for awhile. There was a third in the roundup called Blueberry Girl which isn’t really about blueberries yet captured my heart for other reasons. The story is a really sweet prayer for as little girls grow up. I worked it in because of the title and the meaning behind it.

The next step in our blueberry fun? Well, picking blueberries of course! This nearly killed me. It took almost 4 weeks of effort to finally make it to the farm and we didn’t get there until the day was already heating up so we were HOT. We still managed to have a blast for the hour or so that we were there. If you’re ever near Edom, TX, especially during National Blueberry Month, then I highly recommend stopping in at Blueberry Hills Farm! There is no charge for going in, you are allowed to pick from anywhere in their fields, and you can’t beat the price: just 99 cents a pound! A lot of people were walking around with gorging bags that only cost $3-6. We got an easy 4.5 cups for less than $1.50! Pair that with a homemade jar of apple butter and our total for the day was still under $9.  Our blueberry muffins turned out absolutely amazing. We used this recipe from Little Sweet Baker and I couldn’t have been happier with the results. We rarely have all-purpose flour on hand so I used self rising but it didn’t seem to affect them much. We also exchanged 1/2c of blueberries for 1/2 of chocolate chips. Chocolate chip blueberry are my favorite! I am including the recipe below but please, check out their website. They have some great recipes over there!

Ingredients

• 2 & ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk (any kind, whole or buttermilk is best)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 & ½ cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

For the streusel topping

• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp unsalted butter, melted
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425F and spray or line a 12 cup muffin baking pan. Prepare the streusel topping by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter with the sugar, add the eggs, mix, then add the milk and vanilla, mix again.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently combine using a rubber spatula until moistened. Fold in the blueberries until just incorporated.
5. Divide the batter into the 12 muffin cups, top with streusel and bake for 5 minutes at 425F, then keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the heat to 375F and bake for another 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Notes:

Muffins are best enjoyed the day of, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. *Recipe by Little Sweet Baker*

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