Blueberry Almond Tart

Alejandra from Always Order Dessert frequently raves about almond paste and its many uses, so when I saw it at the grocery store, I grabbed a couple cans just to have on hand.

When the CSA provided me with a ton of gorgeous plump blueberries, I thought they might go well with the almond paste. I did a quick Google search and found this blueberry-almond tart recipe which used those two main ingredients, plus other pantry staples.

Wow, this tart was really pretty. And tasted really delicious, too! The almond paste gave it a really rich, sweet, nutty flavor.

Quinoa Salad with Blueberries, Snap Peas, Feta and Almonds

Inspired by some snap peas from Star Hollow farms, some blueberries from the store and the ginormous bag of quinoa I got at Costco, I decided to make a healthy quinoa salad for lunch. Riffing on these quinoa salad recipes, I added raw blueberries and snap peas, feta, toasted almonds, minced green onions and parsley and a lemony dressing to my salad. Really easy, pretty good and definitely good for you!

Blueberry Pie Bars

I had 2 pints of blueberries in the fridge and Chuck and Tony brought back a third one... so blueberry pie bars it was!

The photo of blackberry pie bars on Joy the Baker looked really good, so I figured I would try replacing the blackberries with some of our many blueberries.

I halved the recipe, because none of us really needs a 13"x9" pan worth of baked good. I used a 9"x9" pan. Because that 4 extra inches of baked good was really putting this over the top.

Eat these slightly warm. Mmmm.

Mini Blueberry Tarts

These are great for a BBQ... blueberry pie, no fork or knife required. Planning on topping them with a little bit of whipped cream. Made them using the awesome blueberries from the CSA and the mini-tart press that Martha put in my stocking one year. The tart press doesn't get used often, but when it does, it rocks. Thanks, Mom!

I can thank the other Martha for the recipe. However, I can advise, for those of you that may try this recipe, that the 2 cups of blueberries required is far too much. At 17 minutes left of cooking, I checked on the tarts and they looked fine... with 7 minutes left, the blueberries had exploded pretty much everywhere- some of the blueberries had been violently propelled out of the tin. I would say use closer to 1.5 cups, to be safe. Do not overfill those little guys!

In any case, they tasted great with the whipped cream. I recommend these!

Blueberry Pierogis... Meh

As I promised, I tried to make some blueberry pierogis using this epicurious.com recipe for the dough. I can't remember where I had them as a kid, but I remember them tasting really good. The ones I made this past weekend... not as good. They were fine, but a little bland, and the dough was excessively chewy.

I stuffed them, boiled them, and then pan-fried them in some butter. Served with sour cream.

Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

I got a pint of amazing (huge, firm, sweet) blueberries in my CSA share this week... I also bought another box to supplement it, so we are swimming in blueberries here at 1346.

I saw this Dorie Greenspan recipe for blueberry sour cream ice cream several times on Tastespotting and Foodgawker (2 food porn websites I look at daily), and couldn't resist trying it, figuring that so many people couldn't be wrong (although I guess that's a dangerous assumption). It's very simple as far as ice cream recipes go: requires no separating eggs, no tempering egg yolks, and it's an awesome color... plus it tastes great: sweet and tangy. Kinda like blueberry cheesecake in ice cream form. Even Chuck, an avowed blueberry disliker, ate her bowl up.

Next blueberry and sour cream experiment: blueberry pierogis. Coming soon.