Forty Eighteen

I have a confession to make.

I don’t love blueberries.

In fact, of all the berries I know, I only have those special true love feelings for strawberries. Truly, madly, deeply.

Raspberries? Meh. Blackberries? Blech! Blueberries? Sometimes maybe…

I pulled out a container of blueberries today, and my youngest asked if she could have one of those grapes. When I explained they were blueberries, she looked at me like I had grown an extra leg out of my head.

Apparently I never buy blueberries, which is a shame really, since Babs loves them. She was ridiculously excited about our little blueberry recipe experiment today.

You see, I joined up with a fabulous group of bloggers to share some amazing blueberry recipes, so I needed to get over my sometimes maybe feelings about blueberries and find a way to LOVE them. And I think this just might be it.

I am a HUGE fan of breakfast for dinner, so tonight I planned to enjoy scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit, and yogurt. I just needed a little somethin’-somethin’ to add that extra special touch this meal needed. And oh, did I find it!

Blueberry. Orange. Muffins.

Doesn’t that just sound like a little bite of sunshine?

These babies are a breeze to toss together. This recipe makes just the right amount so you’re not left with 47,812 muffins you need to get rid of. And if you want a great blend of a fun family of flavors, this is it.

Blueberry Orange Muffins

• 1 3/4 c flour
• 1/3 c sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 c milk
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/4 c butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 3 Tb orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Start by preheating your oven to 400. Then line your muffin pan with baking cups — or get a cute assistant to do it. Joy’s assigned dinner job tonight was chef, so she was my fabulous helper. This recipe makes 12, so you only need one standard muffin pan.

Now grab a pretty big bowl and mix up the dry ingredients. That’s the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Give it a good whisk and set it aside for a bit.

In a smaller bowl, mix the wet ingredients. That’s the milk, egg, butter, OJ concentrate, and vanilla. Mix these until well combined.

Now it’s time to pour the wets into the drys. Be careful not to over-mix these. You just want to mix until the dry ingredients are just moistened. It’s okay if it’s lumpy – that means you did it just right!

Now add those blueberries! Be sure to fold them in gently so you don’t end up with mashed up blueberries. Just mix them in until they look pretty evenly distributed so you don’t end up with some MAJOR berry muffins and some with only 1 lonely berry.

Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full. Honestly, I don’t usually fill my muffin cups as full as I did with these babies, but it worked out perfectly! So don’t be afraid to fillerup.

Speaking of filling up muffin cups… Do you know the greatest way to do that without making a colossal mess? Cookie scoop! You’re welcome.

Toss those puppies in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. If you used frozen berries, you’ll probably want to add another 5 minutes to the time. When they’re done, let them cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove them to a wire rack. Serve them warm with plenty of butter. Yummmmmmm

Want some more blueberry goodness in your life? Be sure to visit the rest of the fabulous #FoodieExtravaganza bloggers to see what they whipped up!

We hope you all enjoy our delicious blueberry foods this month and come see what next month’s new ingredient is.  If you would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza.  We would love to have you!