The All American Blueberry Muffin - Bonus Recipe

Once summer was in full swing back in Connecticut, my mom used to pack us girls up into the car to go strawberry and blueberry picking with my Memere and Pepere.  Needless to say we LOVED everything about these trips - from hanging out at our Grandparent's house to sneaking pounds of freshly picked berries as payment for our efforts.  I am serious about "pounds" and use the term "sneaking" very loosely...if you have ever eaten dessert with me, you know what I'm talking about:

Mom, I am pretty sure Christa ate that chocolate cake...

My mom used to say that they were going to need to weigh us on the way in and the way out of the fields to account for all the fruit we ate while picking.  I can think of worse things to be loading up on!

I have yet to come across a "pick your own berry" farm out here in Colorado.  These days we settle for expensive quarts and pints of berries at the supermarket which definitely do the trick - but nothing beats fruit fresh from the fields.  I guess I better get on planning that garden for next year!

On a recent trip to the grocery store I bought an enormous bag of frozen blueberries (for about 1 million dollars).  On my first Mother's day all I really wanted were blueberry pancakes.  My body knows no limit when it comes to blueberry pancakes - like pizza, cereal, and ice cream, I could eat them all day long and that "you are full" filter would never kick in.  It is a problem.  The great thing about an extra large bag of blueberries is that once the pancake batter runs out, you can whip up a batch of blueberry muffins.  I made these muffins for dessert one night when we realized we were deficient in the sweets department.  They are really quick to pull together and they make the house smell amazing as they come out of the oven.  Fresh is always best, but once they are completely cool, if you wrap them individually in wax paper and put them in freezer bags, you can enjoy them a few weeks later and they are just as good!  We have pulled out frozen muffins for quick snacks in the morning before heading up skiing or off to work and it is always nice to know you have something good on hand.  I didn't get the greatest picture of them (it was kind of late and our kitchen lighting leaves a lot to be desired), but they certainly disappeared quickly in our house!