Tag: Fresh

Baking Blues

In case anyone ever wants to know, the time I can get my cooking on and experiment is when the rest of the family is in bed asleep. The down side is that baking usually wakes my husband up and he has instant munchies. Did I mention that it doesn’t matter how much noise I make, what wakes him up is the aroma of fresh baked goods?

The funny part is that while I was editing photos (while the last batched finished baking) he comes in and asks me which one is the best one!

It’s moments like this where I color coded my muffins. Originally I did it, to make it easier to differentiate between the different blueberries. But it made it easier to give a midnight “unbiased” taste tester say which one he preferred. He chose the yellow muffins, for the record, and we’ll get to the muffins in just a moment.

Difference Between Preserved Berries

Last week I gave the run down on how the different preparations of the berries turned out in their preserved state. Above is a picture that I didn’t use last week, because I reconstituted the berries for making the muffins. From left to right, you’re looking at fresh blueberries, freeze dried, and dehydrated.

I really can’t tell you how much I’ve been enjoying the berries we picked. There is such a difference in quality of flavor. So if you haven’t picked blueberries for yourself, please do this for you. I know you will not look at store berries the same!

The freeze dried blue berries (before reconstituting) were a trip. They had a near fresh blueberry flavor and they were like a powder bomb in your mouth when you bite into them. There was a moment where I had to remind myself what it was that I just bit, because it confuses the brain when you’re not use to this texture. BUT… when you reconstitute them, let me tell you. The closest I can describe them is that they taste just like the store berries. They’re not as good as the fresh berries I picked, but that could have been because they are different breeds of blueberries. That’s enough to give a little flavor difference. I did drink the juice in the bottom of the bowl and that DID taste just like the blueberry juice that I made in this next section. That closeness alone is what makes me sold on freeze dried blueberries. (Aside from the obvious that they are shelf stable and last a lot longer than fresh berries.)

I reconstituted the dehydrated berries for the same length of time as the freeze dried. If you remember from last week, I described the dehydrated berries as having a bite to them. I’m personally not a fan of eating the dehydrated blueberries as is. BUT once they’re reconstituted, they take on a texture very similar to craisins or raisins that are on the drier side. I would definitely put those on a charcuterie board or several other snacking options. I chose not to drink this reconstitution water, as you can see it looks like colored water. I know I would have been disappointed. It might be a different story if I used hot water instead of room temp and/or I let it sit longer than the 20 minutes that I did (while making my muffin mix).

Now that you’re all caught up on the different berries, lets see all that I made with them. Except for the muffins, all these recipes were new to me over the last month. So I hope you get some inspiration also and try something new!

Blueberry Juice

I needed to make blueberry juice for the kiddo friendly blueberry cordial that I wanted to make for the boys. (They heard that I was making cordial for myself and they wanted some too. So here’s the first stop.)

I’m going to save you the time–DO NOT look up how to make this on YouTube! It’s one of those processes where they all look alike and they all do pretty much the same thing to them. And those who were difference, like one lade added milk, it was just not going to fly for making cordial.

Literally all you need is blueberries and water–that is it!

Here I used 3 cups of berries and 5 cups of water.

It was pretty standard across the board that everyone used about 1.5 cups of water per cup of berries. I could have used less water, but I was happy with the amount of liquid with my immersion blender. Everyone I saw used a stand blender. I’m an immersion blender girl and this all fit perfectly in my glass water pitcher. Clean up was just easier for me. So use whatever blending tool you have. You could even use a hand masher if you wanted to or hand squeeze the berries. The bottom line is that you can drink the pulp if you want that in your blueberry juice. Or you’ll end up straining the pulp out and squeeze everything to get all the liquid out. The water is just a medium to make the process flow.

I am going to include a clink for you here though. One lady I saw used her pressure cooker to make the juice. And then she canned her juice for future use and it’s in its simplest form to meet the need of any recipe you’re looking to use. This was just one project that I didn’t want to undertake on top of everything that I already planned to do for this post. But if you’re a canner, definitely check this video out!

NOTE: In canning groups there is a lot of heat surrounding water bath canning and acidity levels. (“Just because Grandma did it doesn’t mean that it’s safe by today’s cooking standards.”) Cooked blueberries acid levels are below the acid threshold, so it is entirely safe to can cooked blueberry juice without adding acid to the juice before water bath canning.

Blueberry Cordial

For blueberry cordial the pulp does need to be strained out. Just about everyone I’ve seen uses cheese cloth. I happen to have a muslin cloth bag that I use for straining fruits all the time, particularly when I’m making my elderberry syrup. So I opted to skip the cheese cloth and just use my muslin bag. It turns a 2-3 step straining process into just a single step.

After straining, you’re left with a clear blueberry juice.

And if you’re wondering, the juice tastes like the blueberry equivalent of the watered down apple juice I’ve given my boys. It’s not sweet. And is nothing like the fresh blueberries that I used.

But that’s okay, because the Cordial recipe I chose to use is from a British gentleman and his process starts off with reducing the blueberry juice anyway. Here’s his video here.

I followed his directions and reduced it down to half its volume. Taste wise, that watered down flavor is gone. And what remains is an acidic version of the blueberries that I picked.

Here is where I agree with him, the sweetness level of your cordial is very much dependent on your preference levels. My volume of cordial was greater than his, and even after making the proper conversions from metric to imperial I still could not add as much sugar as he did.

With my end volume around twice the amount of his, he added roughly 1 cup of sugar to his cordial. I would have been happy with 1/2 cup of sugar. It was at the level of sweetness as a soda. However, with cordial being syrupy sweet I ended up with a final measurement of 3/4 cup of sugar. And at this level that tasted to me like the really sweet cough syrup. This is definitely a treat that I will add this as a flavoring to unflavored seltzer water for the boys.

And I’m sure that my husband will add this to his seltzer water too.

I’m keeping this in my fridge to keep it preserved for a month or two. But I’m sure it will probably go quick and I’ll need to pull out my freezer berries to make some more.

Spiked Blueberry Cordial

After tasting the blueberry cordial above, I’m now wondering how this one is going to turn out. The recipe for this adult cordial I found here. But I have a few weeks of waiting before I can sample this one and see if any adjustments need to be made. (I will come back into this post and add to my assessment of this recipe once I have this one completed.)

Full disclosure, I do not own a large enough glass container to pull off this full recipe. (That and I didn’t have enough fresh berries that were thawed and ready to go.) So I cut this recipe in half. The proportions were exactly the same, so I know this is going to turn out as it should.

If you want the half batch recipe, this is what I used:

  • 4 cups blueberries
  • 28 oz vodka
  • 1/2 cup sugar

Everything else I followed the directions.

Once this process has run its course, I’ll be back to give my thoughts.

Clafoutis

This recipe, Clafoutis, came my way on Facebook from a friend who was excited to pass this one when he heard that we picked blueberries this year. This is one of his favorite breakfasts and was eager to hear how we liked it.

I admit that I modified this recipe by way of the cooking vessel I used. I opted for my Pyrex because my largest pan is actually my cast iron pan I didn’t know if this recipe was going to expand in the oven or not. So it was my faithful Pyrex with a pan to catch anything that might fall over board during the cooking process.

I’m glad to report that nothing cooked over and it stayed in my Pyrex.

The batter itself reminded me so much of making German Pancakes. (This recipe expands, so now you know why I anticipated some expansion.) In fact, it tasted a whole lot like German Pancakes. The difference, of course, is the addition of blue berries. But also the clafoutis retains more of soufflé like structure. It does puff up and deflates a little after you pull it out and cut it. But on the scale of easy to difficult, this is definitely an easy recipe to make.

It’s super easy to bake and is definitely kid approved. I only made a single batch, but I certainly have to make a double the next time I make this recipe.

I wanted to make a quick note that baking did take longer in the Pyrex and there was the issue of the center being undercooked when time expired. The top was already brown. Because I needed extra cooking time, I did have to add some foil over the top.

If you’ve ever made a quiche, then you understand the jiggle in the center means more cook time is needed. The same is true with the clafoutis. If you see some jiggle, give it more time.

Blueberry Muffins

And now to the blueberry muffins I started off this post with!

Let’s be honest. Everyone and their grandmother have a dozen blueberry muffin recipes they can pull and one or two that they swear by. This is the one that I use, and I don’t even go to my cook books to look there. The problem that I have always had is that they are either too sweet or the moment you add fresh blueberries it turns into a swampy mess. Ina Garten’s recipe I swear was made for fresh blueberries to be added into it. It’s has the perfect amount of water to sponge ratio where your hands don’t get damp and sticky eating it.

So whether you want to use the recipe I use or the one that has been in your family for 70,000 generations here is some information that you can use to improve your blueberry muffin game.

I made one batch of muffin batter. And instead of adding the blueberries into the batter, I put the batter into my silicone cups and then added the blueberries to the color coded cups so I could pull off this ultimate side by side comparison. There was absolutely no way there was any difference in the batter or the sponge. This was entirely based off the berries themselves; fresh, freeze dried, and dehydrated.

In the blue cups I added the fresh blueberries.

The yellow cups have the reconstituted freeze dried berries.

And the red cups have the reconstituted dehydrated berries.

As you can see with this first baked picture, there is an obvious hydration difference between the sponges of the muffins.

The fresh berries, blue cup, are the standard reference point for the recipe that you choose to use. In my preference, the sponge is mildly sweet and firm with enough water content to keep it from being dry.

The reconstituted freeze dried blueberries, yellow cup, added more moisture content to the sponge, but the berries taste and texture wise are the same as the fresh berries. I walked away from this muffin with slightly tacky fingers and some crumb stuck to my fingers.

The reconstituted dehydrated blueberries, red cup, made the crumb dry up a bit. Instead of that perfect balance, it had the feel of what the perfect muffin feels like in a day or two after being baked. The crumb itself is still sweet, the dehydrated berries just took some of the moisture out. That being said, the dehydrated berries were sweeter than the fresh or freeze dried. And they offered a little different texture. You know that cheap box of premade blueberry muffin mix that you can buy at the store? The berry texture is pretty much the same. The berries are bigger than that boxed mix, otherwise there’s a very close comparison there.

If you remember above, my husband said he preferred the yellow cup muffins, freeze dried. I found that all too funny because I still prefer the fresh berry or blue cup muffins. But that just goes to show you just how much it comes down to personal preference.

Decorating with Blueberry Dust

Last but certainly not least, here is the secret baking trick that I alluded to last week!!!!!

The best part about the freeze dried berries is the perfectness about how you can break them down into a decorating powder. Not only is it easy enough to make a decorating powder in seconds. It is also sweet and gives a punch of flavor like you can’t imagine until you try it.

Yes! You can use a spice grinder and turn this into a beautifully fine powder that you can add to your butter cream for a beautiful lavender color with absolutely no food coloring. It also gives an intense blueberry flavor without watering down even your stiff peak frostings or fondants.

In this instance, I just put some crushed freeze dried blueberries into a plastic bag and rolled over it with my rolling pin a few times. Literally anyone can do this!

But my absolute favorite part is just how simplistically beautiful this is. Right here is the blueberry muffin mix from above, cooked in a donut mold. Sprinkled on top is powdered sugar and stripes of the blueberry powder. And finally it’s garnished with edible lavender and whole freeze dried berries.

This is the most beautiful and perfect baked good that I’ve made since having my kids. And it reminds me of the beautiful creativity inside me. It’s not anything spectacular. Because I know there are pastry chefs out there that can make me look like a toddler in my kitchen. But this is a simple wow treat that everyone can make for themselves. And all it takes is finding the products to bring into your basic kitchen and just having some fun.

I hope you try some of these ideas in your kitchen this week!

Products Used Today: This post contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links, but at no extra cost to you.

Thrive Life Freeze Dried Blueberries

Resusable Silicone Baking Cups

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Would You Like a Cuppa?

It’s funny how beverages of choice are so regional. For example in the United States, there has historically been a continental divide between coffee drinkers and tea drinkers. Tea has been pretty regional for the East Coast and Coffee the West.

The history of this divide started around the foundation of this country. We all know about the Boston Tea Party and how they threw tea over the sides of the ships, all over a 3 cent rise in taxes. (I find this historical fact both interesting and funny in the context on how there has been upwards of 14% inflation on so many products across the grocery shelves.)

Coffee started making its footprint in the United States with the colonization (and yes, even subjugation) of the Caribbean Islands and South America. But it found its biggest consumers with the people who moved west, not just the Mid-West but also the West Coast and upwards into Alaska.

In fact, before Starbucks became established and took over every major street corner, I grew up where you could tell whether your family was West Coasters or from back East. If your family had spent a few generations on the West Coast, you had a coffee pot in your kitchen. I grew up with many people whose grandparents drank tea, but their parents, coffee. Those were my New England transplant friends. And then in High School I made friends with a transfer student, who came from Virginia. She hated coffee and only drank tea.

What is funny is what the transition from tea drinking family to coffee drinking family looks like.

A set of grandparents came up from the Texas area. One was Texan, coffee drinker, and the other was from the Deep South. The only tea that was in this grandparents’ house was sun tea. And there was only ONE way to make it–so obviously a tea drinker. Every summer there was sun tea that was made, that beautiful dark golden brew. There is really nothing like it. Mind you, this isn’t the sweet tea that you will find in the Deep South, where verbal wars can be started on the proper summer time tea. Just good strong, dark, rich sun tea.

Now my parents were both coffee drinkers. And yet almost each summer growing up, my mom would brew at least one sun tea.

This dedicated coffee drinker, I’m a very picky tea drinker and it was only this summer, when the sun finally came out that I caught myself thinking “I need to make some sun tea”. You can imagine the “What the– where did that come from?” moment I had because I don’t make sun tea. And yet this summer was it.

So that prompted me to ask on my social media for recommendations and recipes from my tea loving friends who have the tea that even a coffee lover would love. Obviously the majority of my friends and acquaintances are coffee drinkers because I only had a few responses. But the responses that I received shocked me because I never knew about these teas and they never crossed my mind.

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Mint Sun Tea

One recommendation sent to me was:

  • 1-2 Regular Tea Bags
  • 3-5 Bags of Mint Tea OR Fresh Mint Leaves

Add the above tea bags into a glass gallon jug of water (which you use to brew your sun tea). Brew for 2-3 hours, in the sun, or longer if you want your tea stronger or you’re sun is hiding behind clouds.

When finished brewing refrigerate.

This friend also said that she adds honey into the tea before refrigerating.

I was excited about this recipe because my absolute favorite tea is Stash’s Moroccan Mint Green Tea. If I’m craving tea, this is the one I hunt for because it has the world’s best flavor. I’ve tried to get into the Green Tea fad, but I find the vast majority of green tea either tastes like grass or soap. (I’ve recently learned that the majority of people who don’t like cilantro is because of it tasting like soap. There is actually a chemical compound in these green that to certain taste buds taste like soap. So this is real and there’s a reason!)

Moroccan Mint Green Tea

If you’re like me, and not a green tea person, seriously try this one. It’s not just me. I have a friend who use to be a Japanese tea distributor, says that she’s extremely picky, and assures me that this tea is one of the greatest to make a sun tea with!

This friend is currently cooked with brewing Chai with Hojicha, Green Tea with Self Healing and fresh mint from her garden.

Strawberry Tea

This one surprised me when a friend suggested this. I don’t know why I never thought of fruit sun teas. Fruit just makes sense because of summer. Strawberries are appealing because I’m growing them and I love strawberries. And the recipe passed on is super simple.

  • 6-8 Strawberry Tea Bags
  • Strawberry Puree

In your glass gallon jug of water (which you use to brew your sun tea) add the Strawberry Tea Bags. Brew for 2-3 hours, in the sun, or longer if you want your tea stronger or you’re sun is hiding behind clouds.

Once your tea is done brewing, remove your tea bags and chill your tea. If you can’t wait, pour your tea over a glass filled with ice. Mix in strawberry puree for a stronger strawberry flavor. If you like sweet tea, add sugar to your liking.

Strawberry Sensation

Sweet & Spicy

This one was recommended by two different friends, one from Tennessee and one from Texas.

Sweet & Spicy

This tea I found intriguing because the ingredient list reminds me of staple recipes from Asia. In fact, reading the ingredients made me start craving Thai!

I’ve been assured that these tea bags alone are all you need for some of the best sun tea you’ve ever had. And since I grew up on sun tea made from plain Lipton tea, I can see how this is going to be amazing!

Along this line of tea, I was also introduced to the idea of Cinnamon Tea. This blew my mind!

I’ve never heard of Cinnamon Tea before. And I learned that 2 cinnamon sticks in about 4 cups of boiling water will give you a nice tea.

This is definitely on my list to make once fall comes. I love cinnamon, but I’m on a kick with my mint right now. However, my Chocolate Mint might need the cinnamon to bring it to the next level. It’s still missing something for me, and this might be it!

Natural Sweetener Alternatives

There are various reasons why people choose an alternate to sugar for sweetening foods and beverages. I’m personally leery about many sweeteners because the last thing I want to do is add more chemicals into my diet. So when it was brought to my attention that Stevia is a plant based sweetener, this product had my attention.

I’m hooked on the idea now that I have located stevia plants to add to my garden. So I will soon be growing this and learning how to make sweetener.

My mom has cooked with stevia and says it does well with baking. She also used it with alternate flour sources.

I’ve used the packets of stevia and sprinkled in my large water cup and 4 leaves of mint. So with nothing to hide, I was able to taste the stevia. I didn’t notice any off flavors that I’ve noticed with other sugar alternatives. The flavor is slightly different than sugar, but not enough of a difference for me to say it’s “different”. The huge bonus I can say about it is that I like how stevia melts into the water. If you’ve added sugar in cold water you know how much of a gritty feeling there is until the sugar has been well stirred and sat for a while. That’s not the same experience I had with stevia. I only had to give a good stir and I was good to go. No textural difference.

When my mom gifted me stevia, I seriously wondered what I was going to do with it. Other than just keep it in my cupboard for when my mom visits. Now I know what I’m going to do with this natural sugar.

I recommend giving this sugar alternate a chance.

Here is the packets:

Stevia packets

And the bag:

stevia bag

Looking for an alternative to tea?

I know that there are still some people who just do not lean towards tea drinking at all. Or maybe you’re looking for a tea that is kid friendly. There is one more option I have for you.

Infused Water

While waiting for some good leads for sun tea, I instantly ran across a post from on of my favorite bloggers. She just got me hooked on putting fresh mint leaves in my chilled water!

I have a 36 oz. water “cup” that I use to make sure I get my daily water in. The only thing I add to my water is 4-6 leaves from my mint plant of choice. Before you put the leaves in your cup, stack and roll them up, crush the leaves in your fingers, and then add them to your water. By crushing the leaves, you break open the cell walls of the leaves and release the oils within.

The best part about using fresh leaves from your garden (or produce stand if you haven’t yet planted fresh herbs at your home) is that you are not only drinking something tasty, you’re giving natural medicine that give your body the building blocks to bring you back into or keep you in health.

What I recently learned is that by putting mint leaves in your water, it can help combat ailments such as GERD (Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease). I personally am not afflicted with GERD, but summer heat does a number on my body. Not only is my appetite affected, but I’m more prone to upset stomach. In fact, my stomach was upset when I first put mint in my water cup. By the time I finished drinking that cup, my stomach was back to normal. And since I’ve been using the mint daily, it hasn’t returned.

Anyone who works with herbs will tell you that the mint family does have properties that benefit your gastrointestinal system. I love learning about these things, because I try to keep off of as much over other the counter or prescribed medication as I can.

Here are some ideas of what mints you can use:

  • Mint
  • Chocolate Mint
  • Pineapple Mint
  • Orange Mint
  • Lemon Balm
  • Spearmint
  • Peppermint

And there are other types of mint that you can find at your local nursery for produce stand that sells starts. Better yet, maybe your neighbor has a mint they are growing. For example, I have Chocolate Mint and Spearmint. I had Orange Mint, but this crazy spring may have killed it. (I thought it died on me, but I recently saw a new sprig come up from the soil. I’m waiting for it to grow a bit bigger before seeing if it’s Orange or Chocolate.) One neighbor has Lemon Balm. Another neighbor has Pineapple Mint. And I only found out what my neighbors were growing by telling them about what I’m growing and what new projects I’m working on with my herbs.

Here are the flavors of the mints that I’ve tasted.

Chocolate mint just tastes like mint to me. The reason why it got its name is because when you crush the leaves, it stains your fingers brown like milk chocolate. I mentioned before that I’m very particular about my tea. I found my pickiness kicking in on putting this mint in my water. A tiny sprinkling of Stevia was just enough to pull this infused water around to allow me to drink this. Even though I found I could drink this, none of my kiddos liked this flavor. Instead, two of my boys leave my water alone if it has mint, because of this one. So mamas, if you want your water left alone, this one may do it for you!

Pineapple mint really does smell like pineapple. I can’t wait to get this in my water, because it smells like a Piña Colada. My neighbor just gave me a few sprigs this evening so I’m excited to try them tomorrow!

Lemon Balm, I swear it tastes like lemon! I usually don’t keep lemons in my house because they turn on me before I use them. However, I’ve used lemon balm in my chicken broth and it tastes just like I squeezed in some fresh lemon. You better believe that I have a new friend in my kitchen. I’m so using this herb instead of lemon or lemon zest.

Spearmint brings back so many fond childhood memories of incessantly chewing Wrigley’s spearmint gum. And yes, I’ve almost picked my spearmint plant bald for my water. And this is the infused water that my youngest will still steal my water. So this mint gets my recommendation if you’re looking for an herb infused water that is kid friendly.

I so hope you’ll join me in dressing up your water this summer!

What’s your favorite water infusion or Sun Tea?

I’m still looking for new ideas on sun teas in particular. But I want to hear what everyone is drinking right now to stay hydrated. Please comment below!

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