Surviving the Slush…
We are in the slushy middle of winter in the Northeast, and my garden is buried under almost 2 feet of snow. Along with digging out of the slush, I’m digging into the reserves of last summer’s crops and slowly emptying my freezer.
I like to look at my freezer reserves as preserved good memories of last summer, rather than get depressed by the lack of fresh bounty. I get to enjoy, chicken corn soup from the sweet corn I husked in July and blueberry sauce from the blueberries I devoured by the handful in August. Of course, the frozen stuff doesn’t taste quite as good as the fresh stuff, but there is nothing like enjoying the bounty of the summer on cold winter days.
Even if you don’t have my squirlish tendencies and haven’t stored your summer produce, frozen fruits and vegetables can be a good choice this time of year. Scroll to the bottom of this post for my recipe for Lemon Pound Cake with blueberry sauce.
Thinking of planting blueberry bushes this spring?
Bumper blueberry crops can be achieved even in areas with heavy deer populations. Spray the plants with Liquid Fence Deer & Rabbit Repellent. If you are planting new blueberry bushes this year, be sure to promptly apply the repellent after planting.
And because Liquid Fence Deer & Rabbit Repellent is safe to use on edible crops, you can even apply after fruit appears. Just be sure not to apply it immediately before harvest. Because you’ll want to protect more than just your blueberries, buy the Liquid Fence Repellent 40 oz. Concentrate with Sprayer. The 40 oz. concentrate will cover 10,000 square feet. That’s enough to protect your shrubs AND blueberries from deer and rabbits!
Lemon Pound Cake with Homemade Blueberry Syrup: Makes 5 servings
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 eggs, room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Preheat oven to 325°F. In small mixing bowl, sift together flour and baking powder, set aside. In a larger mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese in an electric mixer. In the mean time, combine the lemon zest into the granulated sugar. Add the sugar to the butter mixture and continue creaming. Add the lemon and vanilla extract, and eggs one at a time, beating for about one minute after each egg. Scrape down the bowl after each egg. Slowly add the sifted flour and baking powder. Don’t over mix! Pour into a greased and floured 5”by 9”loaf pan and bake for 60- 75 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Homemade Blueberry Syrup
2 cups of cleaned frozen blueberries
1 ½ cup of sugar
½ cup of water
Dissolve sugar into the water. Add the frozen blueberries. Bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Strain blueberries, if you like fruit-free sauce. Or keep them in for added flavor and texture. Serve the syrup warm over the pound cake.
