This week, we went blueberry picking so consider this just the first of a few blueberry recipes. As we were making this, my 10-year-old joked that we were going to turn into blueberries with all the blueberries we’ve eaten this week. We laughed that we would have to be rolled out of the house like Violet Beauregarde in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This brings to mind a funny story that I’m always reminded of and asked to tell again and again by my girls every time we watch that movie (both the original or the new Johnny Depp one). I’ll share my story with you!
If you are not familiar with the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it is a movie from 1971 based on the book by Roald Dahl. It was remade in 2005. In the movie, Willy Wonka is an peculiar chocolate factory owner that decides to send out Golden Tickets hidden in five chocolate bars. The Golden Tickets are an invitation to go inside his “secret” factory for a tour. On the tour, the kids and their accompanying adults are guided through the factory and see all the quirky unconventional chocolate making steps and strange factory workers. One of these golden ticket children on the tour is Miss Violet Beauregarde. Violet is a little bratty child who is a competitive gum chewer and boasts that she has been chewing the same piece of gum for three months. In one scene it shows her sticking the piece of gum behind her ear while she eats. Well, in first grade, I was chewing a piece of gum in school, which was not allowed. It was gym time and I knew the gym teacher would notice the gum for sure, so I did just what I saw Violet do. I stuck the piece of gum behind my ear so I could enjoy it again after gym. I had long blond hair and didn’t think there would be any issues, but I guess I was wrong. You guessed it, the gum became stuck and tangled in my long hair. I was a good student and a fairly good girl, but I was not going to tell my teacher what happened. I did not want to get in trouble for having any gum in the first place. So I snuck some scissors. I can’t remember if I went to the bathroom or just managed to quickly hide in the classroom and snip out the gum, along with the section of hair that had become tangled in it. So the gum tangle was out, and all that was left was a hunk of hair missing around my ear. In the clear, right? Nope! My mom of course noticed the missing hair right away so I had to tell her what happened. Well, I changed one little teeny tiny detail of the story. I told her the gum had become stuck in my hair and my teacher tried to get it out and couldn’t so my teacher cut my hair. Mrs.R, if you are reading this- I’m so sorry. My mom was furious! She was mad that the teacher didn’t call her so my mom could give it a try before cutting those precious long locks. I’m lucky she didn’t go right down to the school and talk to my teacher, but she didn’t. She loved my teacher as I did and I guess she figured it could have been worse or on top of my head and it was just hair and would grow back. My mom got over the hair cutting episode and after a few years went by, (um, I mean ten years or so), I finally admitted to my mom what actually happened. We laugh about it now and she always reminds me that paybacks are hell when it comes to ornery kids! I tell this story to my girls in hope that they will always remember to just tell the truth, no matter how bad they may think it is. We can get through it. And also so hopefully they don’t stick gum behind their ear, thinking it will not get tangled, because it will. It will indeed! 🙂
Blueberry Lemon Bread
Makes one loaf of bread
Ingredients:
1/2 C self rising flour
1 C All Purpose Flour plus a little more for dusting.
2 teas baking powder
1/2 teas salt
Juice and Zest from one lemon
1 C plain yogurt
2 large eggs – slightly beaten
1 C sugar
1 teas vanilla extract
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 1/2 – 2 C fresh blueberries
Glaze – you could omit if you are trying to cut back on sugar in the recipe.
1 C powdered Sugar
4-5 teas water
1 teas vanilla extract
lemon zest for garnish
Directions:
I doubled the recipe so I could make a full loaf plus a few mini loaves. Keep this in mind when looking at my pictures.
Coat a loaf pan with non stick spray and then lightly dust with all purpose flour.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.
In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, sugar, vanilla, and oil. You could use a hand mixer, or a whisk works fine. Just be careful not to over mix.
Add in the slightly beaten eggs, stirring well to incorporate all the wet ingredients.
Zest the lemon into the wet ingredients, but save some of the zest aside for later.
Juice the lemon and pour the juice in the wet ingredients, straining out the seeds.
Mix again to incorporate all the wet ingredients.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well.
Stir to combine all the wet and dry ingredients to make the batter.
Gently stir a little flour into the blueberries to lightly coat them.
Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Fill to 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes until the center is done and top is golden. Middle should not be jiggly.
Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes.
Run a knife around the edge of pan and carefully turn out onto cooling rack.
I didn’t want the top of my loaf to look smashed or have the grid marks from my cooling rack, so I carefully flipped my loaf over so the right side was up while cooling.
Let the loaf cool completely before glazing or slicing.
In the meantime, make the glaze.
Combine the powdered sugar, water, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth. You may need to add a bit more water if the glaze sits a while.
When the loaf is completely cool, drizzle the glaze over top. While the glaze is still wet, sprinkle the saved lemon zest over the top.
Slice and serve.
Enjoy!
Stay tuned for more blueberry recipes! My fingers just may be permanently stained a lovely purplish blue!
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