I Found My Thrill....

When my children were little, my in-laws gave them a great book by Maine author Robert McCloskey called Blueberries for Sal.

It's about a little girl named Sal and her mother and a little bear cub and his mother who are picking and eating blueberries on Blueberry Hill.  If you have young children, I highly recommend it.  Whenever Sal would put some berries in her little metal pail, it would make a distinctive sound: kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk.

Reading this story was like a step back in time.  I grew up in Upper Michigan where there used to be loads of wild blueberries ripe for the picking.  My Uncle Pete would take us to all of his secret places where we would fill our own little metal pails--kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk--with the blue nuggets.  Wild berries are small but perfectly tart.  Domesticated berries are much sweeter and not quite as intensely flavored, but I love them all!  At this time of year we buy mounds of blueberries because in my mind, it's just not summer without them.

I usually bake up some fabulous double blueberry muffins or make berry, berry extraordinary french toast or even throw some blueberries in a spinach salad, but this time I tried Ina Garten's Blueberry Crumb Cake.  I made it exactly according to her recipe except that I used large eggs instead of extra large and put a few sliced almonds in the crumb topping.  I also baked it in a springform pan so it would have a nice presentation.

Tangy sour cream adds moistness and butter adds incredible richness.  The lemon zest is a zingy counterpoint to the sweet berries.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch spring form pan.  Cream butter and sugar for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy:

Add eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream and mix thoroughly.  Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add these dry ingredients plus fresh blueberries to the creamed butter mixture and gently stir in by hand.

Spoon mixture into the prepared spring form pan, and smooth the top.

Make the streusel for the top:

I like to grind my own nutmeg, which lends nice flavor.

Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of the batter.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool completely, then unmold.  Garnish with powdered sugar and additional blueberries.

Cut a wedge!

I found my (Blueberry) Thrill!

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Big Easy Mango Freezy

When we lived in New Orleans, one of my favorite events was the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival that is held the last weekend in April and first weekend in May.  It's a riotous celebration of all genres of music as well as food and crafts from the different cultures represented in the New Orleans metro area (Cajun and Creole French, Italian, African American, Latino, and Vietnamese, among others).  The music is hot, the people are cool, and the food?  Unforgettable.  Unparalleled.  Seems like I have sampled every one of the Jazz Fest food offerings over the years.

Although held in the Spring, The Fest gets plenty HOT since it's held at the Fairgrounds where there is not a lick of shade.  Some people cope by bringing their umbrellas

But most people just "glisten".  What I used to do to beat the heat was slurp down a wonderfully cooling treat called a Mango Freeze.

Things are heating up in Texas (triple digits tomorrow...Lord, have mercy!), so I decided to try my hand at making Mango Freeze for myself.  Brings back some GOOD memories!  Watch and listen to New Orleans' own Rebirth Brass Band as you scroll through the pics to get the full effect. :)

First you'll need to make a simple syrup with 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar.  Boil down until you only have 1 cup liquid in total, then cool to room temperature.

Next you'll need the pulp from about 3 1/2 lbs. ripe mangoes.  Two of mine were huge and one was smaller.

Mangoes have a flat pit right in the center, and if you don't cut the fruit correctly, the pulp can be stringy and difficult to extract. Here's a little visual on the technique I use:

Cut down one side slightly off center, then do the same on the other side.  Score each section and flip it inside out.  Use your knife to cut away the cubes.  I also use a spoon to scrape as much pulp out as I can.

Put the mango in the bowl of a food processor or blender.  

Juice about 2 small limes (you'll need 3 tablespoons in total).  I only had 1 lime, so I used that and half an orange.

Combine the citrus juice and simple syrup, and slowly pour it through the feed tube of the food processor with the machine running.

You will end up with about 5 cups of mango puree base for the sorbet.  Cover and chill for several hours in the refrigerator.

I used my ice cream maker to churn this because I wanted a velvety smooth result.  My pic may be grainy, but my mango freeze sure wasn't!

I have read that you can freeze the base in ice cube trays and then pulse the frozen cubes before serving to smooth it out, but I haven't tried that personally.

We haven't been to the Jazz Fest since 2005, but  our family is going next year f'sure!

Wanna meet me in the Gospel Tent?  I'll be the woman with the Mango Freeze and a smile of pure joy because I'm soaking up the sights and sounds of one of the most unique places on earth.

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Comfort Food Classic

I'm the third of four children, a "middle child."  I have an older brother, an older sister, and a younger brother.  When I was a little girl, every summer my mom would let me spend a day with her older sister, my Aunty Isabelle.  That was such a special treat, because I was treated like a princess for the day.  I would read lots of comic books

and help Aunty Iz with her housework (seemed like fun at the time!).  She would watch her soap opera while she ironed and I would watch, too.

It made me feel so grown up.  And I remember that for dinner, she would let me try a little coffee with lots of warm milk (cafe' au lait, before I even knew what that was!) which I pretended to like but really didn't.  And Aunty Iz always made my favorite dessert, too:  chocolate pudding.

Aunty Iz has been gone for many years now, but to this day, when I go home to visit my mom, she makes me chocolate pudding.  Unfortunately, I don't get home to visit as often as I would like.  January is my personal  nightmare on the job front, and as much as I would sometimes like to return to those easy, breezy childhood days, I can't.

SOURCE

So instead I made a batch of chocolate pudding to conjure up the warm, fuzzy feelings of the past and to celebrate the end of January.   Ten minutes and a few kitchen staples are all you need to create your own comfort food classic!

Rich and Creamy Microwave Chocolate Pudding
(click here to print)

3 cups milk (I usually use a combination of evaporated skim milk and regular skim milk)
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks, well beaten
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

In an 8 cup pyrex measuring cup (or microwave safe bowl), combine the milk, sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks.  Whisk vigorously to blend.  Add the chocolate.

Uncooked mixture

Microwave on high for 3 minutes, then whisk.  Microwave on high for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, then whisk again until smooth.

You may have to add additional milk to thin it out to your desired consistency.  Add butter and vanilla and stir until incorporated.

Pour through a fine-mesh strainer to eliminate any lumps.  (There aren't usually many lumps with this microwave method.)  Immediately press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the pudding to prevent formation of a skin.

Let cool for about a half hour if you like to eat it warm.  You know I can't resist!

Otherwise, refrigerate and serve it cold.  It's great either way, but you better hide it in the back of the refrigerator if you don't want your kids to eat it all.  Trust me on that.

 Oh yeah, I feel SO much better!

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