Monday, July 26, 2010

Buckets of Blueberries!

by Julie on July 26, 2010

in Recipes,Smart Food


Smart Food

Last week, I went blueberry picking for the first time. I decided to try a new farm, which ended up essentially being a retired couples’ backyard. They had a TON of blueberry bushes, though!

Blueberries

At first, I thought I needed to pick the darkest blueberries, like you see in the stores. But through some encouraged tasting, I found that the light blue/almost lavender berries were the sweetest and best-tasting blueberries I’ve ever had! Pink or green though = too early!

Blueberry

I came home with just over 7 pounds of blueberries for a mere $15 (!!), and set to work preserving most of them. Of course, I saved some for fresh eating!

I made up 2 1/2 pints of blueberry butter. Be warned, though the recipe says 6-12 hours in the crock pot, mine was going for almost 26 hours! Check the temperature periodically to make sure it isn’t getting into the DANGER ZONE** (40-140*F).

Blueberry Butter
Canning is not nearly as scary or difficult as I expected it to be. Just be careful, follow all directions, and use only approved recipes for safety!
Blueberry Butter
After processing the jars, there was a little bit left in the pot, so I refrigerated it for us to eat this week. It is SO good. I think it rivals the cherry butter in flavor!
I also left some of the blueberries whole and made 3 1/2 pints of spirited blueberries (with cherry brandy). Can’t wait to break into these this winter for some summer-fresh flavor!
Spirited Blueberries

Smart Fitness

I wasn’t feeling the long bike ride this morning, so I decided to do a bunch of mini workouts!

  • 2 mile bike ride
  • 25 minutes of yoga
  • 10 minutes of Pilates
  • Upper body weights

To help with my knee problems, I decided to adopt a more precise training plan. For the next few weeks, I plan to take a long bike ride every other day, with short rides on the ‘off days.’ After that, I’ll move to 2-on/1-off and keep working my way up so that I can bike for all 7 days of our honeymoon! Hopefully this will help. :)

Smart Life

Okay, so I didn’t quite get all of my miles in last week, but I did get the rest of our planting done! Check back tomorrow for my tips on planting!

Don’t forget, tonight is the last evening to use the 10% off coupon for my Summer Tea Bundle! Just enter SavvyTea at checkout.

**From: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/poison.html

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