Blueberry Pomegranate Tea Blend

Even though I'm from the South, I hate tea.  Everyone I know thinks I'm crazy and I just haven't found the right one so they try to make me taste this kind or that kind...I just don't like tea.  I know it can have ridiculous health benefits, though so just like my resolution to eat more vegetables, I resolved awhile back to find a way to be able to drink tea. 
I've already talked about my love for blueberries and it just so happens that they're about as good as fruit gets as far as healthy benefits.  Minute Maid has a great blueberry pomegranate juice blend that I discovered a couple years ago.  Like any juice, even 100% juice, it's full of sugar so I diluted it with a little water at first, then thought maybe I should sneak in some tea.  This is what I came up with.

6 c boiling water
6 teabags- blueberry, raspberry, pomegranate, mixed berry, or any combination thereof (I used half blueberry and half raspberry)
24 oz blueberry pomegranate juice

I use a large measuring cup to microwave the water for a couple minutes.  I just throw the tea bags into the pitcher I'm going to use and pour the water over the top.

Let it steep for about 30 min.

Add the juice and refrigerate.

This is my favorite post-workout drink.  It's sort of like my Bluetini but without the gin.  It's refreshing and healthy without all the sugar of straight-up juice.  You could even throw a few frozen blueberries in there instead of ice.  I used to use more juice in the mixture but I've slowly been raising the tea-to-juice ratio.  Pretty soon, I might be able to just drink the tea but for right now, why mess up a good thing?

Peach Blueberry Cobbler

I'm so sad that my precious blueberries are pretty much out of season.  I will now post my last fresh blueberry recipe from this season in their honor.  Sorry it wasn't sooner.  Josh took his laptop from me because his work laptop crapped out and I've been too lazy to transfer all my food pics to our desktop.  He's also been working more and since I despise cooking for one, I haven't been trying many new recipes.  That, and the fact that it still hurts to eat solid food really deters me from making fun new food.  

This one is from a blogger called Smitten Kitchen.  I like some of her stuff but she uses an awful lot of veggies and I just don't know if I'm there yet.  I do take notice of her fruit recipes, though and I was very pleased with how this one turned out.   

To start, mix the fruit filling and put it in an oven-safe dish:
1 1/2 (about 4 cups) pounds peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into slices
1 pint blueberries, rinsed and dried
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Then mix the biscuit topping:
3/4 cup (3 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fine stone-ground cornmeal
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup buttermilk

Stir together the flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into the dry mixture with a food processor until pea-sized butter pieces form. Stir in buttermilk with a rubber spatula until a wet, tacky dough comes together.

Plop spoonfuls of the biscuit dough over the filling.  Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the filling is bubbly and the biscuit topping is browned.

Let cool slightly and scoop it into bowls. Top with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, whatever naughty things you have hanging around that would taste good on a cobbler.

I cut into it too early so it was a bit runny.  This can all be fixed with some well-placed ice cream to mix with and scoop up the excess.  It can also be fixed by keeping your grubby paws off the thing for just a few more minutes but I just couldn't do it.  It smelled so good.  The cornmeal, the peaches, the blueberries...it was all too much and I had to dig in.

Blueberry Pie

Mmmm, nothing says summer like blueberry pie.  I actually made this over 4th of July weekend but I've been busy getting a job and constantly cleaning up dog hair and washing oil out of Josh's coveralls so I'm just posting it now.  You'll forgive me.  

I loooove my mommy's blueberry pie.  It has even served as my birthday cake a couple years.  That and coffee cake.

Anyway, Josh, his dad, his dad's partner, and I went to pick blueberries the day I made the pie.  They told me they'd do it if I made something naughty and yummy so I gladly obliged.

For an 8 or 9 inch pie crust:

2 cups of flour

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of sugar

2/3 cup of shortening

4 to 5 Tbs of cold water

Blueberry filling:

1/3 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of flour

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

4 cups of blueberries

1 Tbs of lemon juice

2 Tbs of butter or margarine

Pulse the crust ingredients in a food processor until pea-sized balls form.  The humidity in your house can affect how much water you need so start with 3 tablespoons and add as needed.

  

In a bowl, mix the blueberries (preferably fresh but if not, then thawed, rinsed, and dried.) with the sugar, flour, and cinnamon.

Toss to coat evenly.

Meanwhile, flour a rolling mat and roll out half the dough until it's just a little bigger than your pie pan, about 1/8" thick.  Gently put it in the pie pan and trim the edges.

Add the blueberries...

...and drizzle the lemon juice on top.  Cut the 2 tbs of margarine into small pieces and put it on top of the filling.

 Roll out the other half of the dough just like the first.  Fold it into fourths, cut off the tip, and score the edges.

Unfold the top onto the bottom half of the pie and crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork.

Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for an hour.  As the time draws near, check it and take it out when the crust is golden brown.

Let the pie rest for about 30 minutes so that the inside can reconstitute and not run all over when you cut it.  I know it's tough, but it's worth it in the end.

This is such a delicious crust.  I love pie crust like I love pizza crust.  It just all builds on each other to make a great dish.  Pie brings back memories for lots of people.  Like pancakes or bran muffins, blueberry pie feels like home to me.  It's something my mommy made so between the memories and the taste, this is one of my favorite dishes.

Bluetini

I usually hate gin.  I used to live in the backwoods of Georgia and anything that reminds me of picking up pine cones and raking pine needles is not for me.  Josh on the other hand, loves gin.  He's able to drink it straight but recently, he thought it would be cool to add it to the blueberry-pomegranate juice I usually add to tea.  It's fantastic.  It takes away just enough of the piney flavor but keeps the cool essence of the juniper berries.  Since I had just frozen some fresh-picked blueberries, I added those to the glass instead of ice.

As you can see, there's not much to this recipe.

Add a handful of frozen blueberries to your glass.  If you don't have frozen ones, add fresh ones to a few ice cubes.  We keep our liquor in the freezer anyway so it's already ice cold.

Add two shots of gin; one if you're a sissy.

Then fill the glass with the blueberry-pomegranate juice.  For my glass, that meant about 8oz of juice.

Careful.  These go down easy and sneak up on you later. It's ok, though.  Just tell yourself that you're getting your antioxidants and fruit for the day and pour another.  Cheers.

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Since picking fresh blueberries last week, Josh has requested in no uncertain terms that I keep these muffins constantly in stock.  I make them frequently anyway with frozen berries but fresh ones just make them irresistible. My husband, who has two degrees mind you, then complains about burning his mouth because he can't even let the poor muffins cool.  I can't really blame him though.  When the smell of fresh baked blueberry muffins fills your house, all self-control is lost.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

1 egg
1 c plain, nonfat yogurt
1/4 c oil or softened margarine
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 cup quick oatmeal
1/2 c agave nectar or honey
1/4 c brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 c fresh blueberries (or thawed and drained if previously frozen)

Combine everything BUT the blueberries.

Then gently fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups.  The batter doesn't rise much so fill them to the top.

Cook for 20-25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and slightly crisp.

Unlike frozen ones, fresh blueberries burst a bit in the muffins.  That just means there's too much delicious for the muffin to hold, nothing to worry about.