Sweet smell of summer.

I have been slacking on my blog and I apologize. I get busy, I get tired, I try and survive the heat wave, and I get caught up in the motions of life...and I forget! I have been enjoying the nice summer weather, but not the heat! Our CSA started about 3 weeks ago, so we've been getting lots of fresh vegetables from the local farm that is providing them. So far we've gotten corn, lettuce, potatoes, beets, zucchini, summer squash, Swiss chard, beet greens, and cucumbers (we may have gotten other things, but I can't remember). It's really exciting to use these fresh local vegetables in many of our lunches and dinners, and it also feels great to share with others. Our garden is coming along nicely, too! We've had about 10 cucumbers, a few tomatoes, squash, mint, basil, parsley,etc. Other stuff is still growing, but it is coming along nicely. On the other hand, I am terribly sad, because my sun flower, that I grew from a seed, met it's untimely death a few weeks ago...but that is the way things go :(.  I hope that you are enjoying your garden, local produce stands and farmers markets, crop shares, community gardens or whatever sustainable gardening/harvesting you are doing. I know I always say it, but you can really taste the difference. Speaking of tasting the difference, about a week or two ago, I made homemade blueberry muffins, from scratch. They were delicious, or so people said...but I think that it was the fresh local blueberries that really made them great! I believe it is really important to incorporate in season, ripe, local fruits and vegetables into your dishes...I really can't stress how great it tastes and how good it is for the environment. Do you know how much gas you are saving by buying locally? Do you know how many chemicals are not being used when you buy locally?...the answer to both is A LOT! By buying locally you are helping yourself, your local economy and community, and you are saving your earth and that is something to be proud of. Another thing, especially if you are from NY, there is a great wine country in NY state and it produces delicious and sustainable wine. I have been to Napa Valley and Sonoma and I believe that the wines from NY state are just as delicious as the wines from California's wine country, plus you are supporting your own state, which is a great thing & you can always go pick up your wine at the vineyard or have them ground ship the wine to you, cutting down on the cost, because it is not being driven or flown across the country.

Anyway, I want to share my blueberry muffin recipe with you, so that you too can enjoy these fresh delights.

My blueberry muffins with fresh local blueberries :) . 

Next week I will share a summer vegetable recipe.

Ingredients You will need:

• 3 cups & 2 tablespoons of  flour (all purpose is good, but you can substitute it for a gluten free flour, in which case, you should look to see if other ingredients are gluten free).
• 3 tspns of  baking powder
• 6 tablespoons butter - I used local amish butter, but grocery store butter works well too. Make sure it's at room temperature, and use a little more to grease the pan
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 and 1/4 cups of sugar
• decorative sugar, cane sugar, or crystallized sugar for sprinkling on top
• 1 lg egg
• 2 lg egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• If you want a little extra, put just a small scraping of vanilla bean in there ;-)
• 1 cup milk, but eyeball it, you may need 1 cup and a few more tablespoons of milk to keep it moist.
• 1& 3/4-2 cups of blueberries, or really however many blueberries you want...but I suggest you use the plump, fresh, local, in season blueberries.
• Honey (just a squirt, or even a partial substitute for some of the sugar)

Directions you should follow:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Use the extra butter or nonstick spray to coat the muffin pans
• sift flour
• In a bowl mix baking powder, sifted flour, and salt together (and then set it to the side)
• In another bowl, such as your kitchen aid mixer or electrical mixer bowl, mix in butter and sugar and continue to mix it until it reaches a creamy texture
• Add the 1 egg and 2 egg yolks to the butter and sugar mix, keep the mixer on low speed
• Add the vanilla to the sugar,butter, egg mix
• Add the milk and flour/salt/baking powder simultaneously. You really should begin and end with the flour, but you may need to add a little more milk in, especially if it seems to gummy.
• continue to mix all of the ingredients together until they are smooth.

• Add in a squirt of local honey( but shhh. it's a secret...it just adds a great flavor!!)
• Fold in the blueberries...mix mostly with hands and by hands I mean spoon, it's just to messy to do it with hands!
• Then this is a big no-no, but for about 2-10 seconds turn the electrical mixer on very low speed and continue to mix, it really helps get the juices flowing in the blueberry batter and just makes it tastier!
• Then put the batter into the muffin tins. The recipe should make about 6 really really big muffins or 12 medium size muffins, but again, you can gauge it
• Place in the oven( that is already preheated)
• Sprinkle sugar and drizzle a little bit of honey over each before they really begin to bake
• Let them cook for about 35-45 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Stick a knife in them to see if the batter sticks to the knife, if it does let them bake more...and you can always rotate for more even baking.
• Once done, take them out of the oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes, then remove them from pan and let them cool off just a little more.
• Voila and enjoy!!!