Berries

Blueberries will be in season pretty soon. A lady at work asked me if I wanted some she had frozen from last year before she puts them up from this year. Of course I wouldn't be turning this down. So I took them home on Friday. Today I made a blueberry coffeecake. It is really easy, nice to look at and yummy. We added some strawberries to it and whipped cream. It made for a nice snack this evening. The recipe is from Ina Garten at foodnetwork.com. It is her Blueberry Crumb Cake. It is now one of my favorites. My other favorite from Ina Garten is Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins. I've made these as is and I also like to make them with a streusel topping. These always get rave reviews when I make them and decide to share. I should say, IF I decide to share.

I love anything to do with fruit. Give me fruit pies, cobblers, coffeecakes, etc. I love chicken with lemons and oranges. I'll try mostly anything as long as there's fruit in it. Glazed ham with apricot, pineapple, cherry sauce. Raisin sauce, too. Yummy!

Down the road a bit, there's a blueberry farm. It is only about a mile away. I am so psyched to go picking this year. I've never been there, but I pass it all the time. Next year, I hope to have some of my own bushes. Actually I have a wild bush growing out back. It looks like it'll be good for about 2 cups of berries this year. This is the most I've seen on it. Luckily Hubby hasn't chopped it down. It is located in a really weird place and we've considered cutting it down before. It never produced like it is doing this year. Being it's doing well where it is, I'll be planting a couple of other bushes near it.

Also, out back we planted some elderberry seeds. They are going to flower this year. There are two flower heads growing and that is a start. This is the second year for the plants. Next year we should see an abundance of them. I've been keeping an eye on the bushes at the roadside. They are flowering really well. Some are even starting to fruit. I'll be gathering and making some jelly this year. My brother-in-law, who visited last week, likes elderberry jelly. So I'll be making extra to take to him.

Strawberries are giving the second round of berries right now. They are almost all at least as big as a quarter and larger. Hubby is getting excited. So am I, to tell the truth. You'd think we'd get tired of eating them. NOPE! Ain't going to happen.

Wish us luck with our plants.

Take care.