Lemon Blueberry Muffins

We were lucky enough to have a great sale on blueberries recently. I have been putting them in everything - smoothies, steel cut oats, and of course, for Sunday breakfast, I made blueberry muffins.
This was a great recipe I found online. They had a lot of blueberries in it, next time I will probably cut it down to a cup.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

from Food Network Kitchens
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus more for preparing the muffin tin
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for the top of the muffins
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly brush a 12-muffin tin with butter and set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand-held mixer in a large bowl, cream the butter, zest, and 2/3 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour in 3 parts into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk in 2 parts, until just combined. Fold in the blueberries. Take care not to over mix the batter. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin and sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool muffins in the pan on a rack. Serve warm.

Smoothies

So today is my birthday and I am taking it easy - no work, no big events, just relaxing at home. I think I might whip up some creme brulee for tonight. We shall see how it goes.
For my birthday I decided to share with you one of my favorite breakfasts - smoothies! (I also have these for lunch, dinner, or a snack!) It is freezing here, so this helps me remember the warm days of summer.
This is more of a method than a recipe so pay attention to the tips at the bottom.

Smoothies

1 cup ice
2 cups frozen fruit (store bought or leftovers from the summer)
1 cup yogurt - any flavor
splash of lime/orange/lemon juice (optional)
2-4 cups fruit juice


Place ice, fruit, ice, lime juice, and enough fruit juice to come almost to top of fruit in the blender.

Blend until smooth, Add remaining fruit juice if needed to thin out the smoothie. Makes about 6 cups.
The smoothie I have pictured has peaches, strawberries, blueberries, strawberry yogurt, and grape juice.

Tips:

• Put the food in the blender in the order I listed. It makes blending easier because the ice doesn't just float and avoid the blades. 
• I like my smoothies a little thicker - add more juice or even milk if you want to.
• I like my smoothies to have something tart - so that's why I add lime juice - use your judgment. 
• Try many combinations:
• Peaches, Mangoes, Strawberries with orange juice
• Strawberries, peaches, with lemonade and limeade
• Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries with your favorite juice
• Pineapple, bananas, strawberries, with pineapple juice
• Peaches, Strawberries, Bananas with peach juice
• Taste before serving it up - depending on the ripeness of your fruit you may need to add sugar or something a little tart to cut the sweet.
• Experiment!

Broiled Grapefruit

I love grapefruit and this time of year they are delicious. I was introduced to this way of eating grapefruit by one of my best friends when we were in high school. I didn't really like grapefruit at all, but this converted me. (I like it without sugar now too).
This is really simple to make too!

Broiled Grapefruit

serves 2
1 grapefruit (I prefer pink over yellow)
2 Tbsp brown sugar

1. Cut grapefruit in half, remove seeds if visible.
2. Sprinkle each half with 1 Tbsp (give or take depending on your preference)
3. Place under preheated broiler for 1-3 minutes or until sugar has dissolved and started to caramelize (I could have gone a little longer). Eat!

Apple Butter

A woman in our ward has a small orchard but does not sell her apples or pears. She and her husband just let as many people that want to come roam their orchard and pick to their hearts content. Lou was in heaven eating the apple straight from the tree. I wish I would have brought my camera. Between that and the two cats, it was better than any park or playground she had ever been to.
I am not a big canning person and don't have the tools to make large amounts of applesauce or apple pie filling. So, I brought one bucket. Lydia ate her fair share - asking for an apple every day until I made this butter.
This apple butter is one of the easier recipes I found - no need for making applesauce before hand. Plus, your house will smell delicious for at least a day. If you are lucky like me, you will do it overnight and literally dream about it. This is a very adaptable recipe - use the spices you like or the ones in your house.
Oh, and happy Apple Month!

Apple Butter

1 crock pot almost full of peeled, cored, and chopped apples. (I have a 2.5 qt size)
3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup water

Place all items in crock pot, stir until combined. (If it is easier, use a large bowl to mix then dump in the crock pot... that's what I did.) Cover and cook overnight on low. If desired, blend until desired texture.

Tips:

1. Depending on the juiciness of your apples your butter may be more liquidy or a little dry. If you need to add liquid, add a touch of water or apple juice. If you need to remove some liquid, turn crock pot to high with the lid off until desired texture. (This was the case for me, I left my lid off for about 4 more hours... they were really juicy.)
2. Sorry - I was just peeling away at the apples and didn't really notice how many it took to fill the crock pot, my guess - about 10 to 12.
3. Use like you would use a jam - on toast, baked goods, as a filling, on a spoon...

How to: Freeze Fruits

Have you ever stuck some fruit or something else in the freezer, only for it to come out in a big block and you can't use it until you defrost the whole thing. Well, I have a trick for you!
So I am a memeber of a produce co-op and get some amazing things. I have been gone from my house a little more than normal so I can't use up all the produce before it goes bad. Plus, my husband is gone for the week and can't help me eat it. So I decided to freeze some things rather than letting it go to waste. I love freezing fruit because I can make delicious smoothies later.

How to freeze fruits:

Place items you want to freeze (for me, it was blackberries, strawberries and bananas) on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer until hard.

Remove and place in freezer safe bag.
Not too hard right?

If you are going to freeze something like peaches, mangoes, etc - it works best to cut them up in peices then freeze them. That way they are ready to go into any dish.
For bananas - I just cut them in half because I only use them in smoothies or banana bread (if you use it for banana bread, let them defrost a little. But you could also cut them into slices to make it easier on your smoothie blender.

Other produce that freezes well:
Mangoes
Peaches
Pineapple
Grapes - these a fabulous mini popsicles (don't thaw great though)
All berries
Corn
Peas
Beans
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Brussels sprouts
*if you see it in the freezer section at the grocery store - you can freeze it too.