Showing posts with label blueberries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blueberries. Show all posts

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Blueberry Chicken Salad with Sage Butter Biscuits

This chicken salad came about as some other of my recipes do, simply because I'm trying to use what I have on hand, instead of going to the store and spending more money.  Does anyone else do this?  We were going to small group and everyone was supposed to bring an appetizer.  My mind was drawing a blank, though, so a friend inspired me by suggesting chicken salad in cream puffs (which, by the way, would be awesome--I just didn't want to spend the time to make the cream puffs, but someone really should tackle this!), which made me decide on chicken salad.



I found a great recipe tucked away in my collection that I had saved from a Better Homes & Gardens magazine in 2008.  I altered the chicken salad recipe a bit, but kept the original biscuit recipe.  There weren't any sandwiches left after our dinner, so I guess you could say that everyone liked them.

Chicken salad recipes are wonderful, but everyone has a different opinion on the proportions of dressing to chicken and other ingredients.  The recipe below is what I used, so you may need to adjust it to fit your own chicken salad preference.



These would be great for a shower, luncheon, or just make the chicken salad and serve it on a bed of lettuce. Hope you all enjoy!

Blueberry Chicken Salad:
2 cooked chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons sour cream
Blueberries
Craisins
Slivered Almonds
chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine chicken, mayonnaise and sour cream.  Gently stir in as many blueberries, craisins, almonds and chives as you desire.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Chill for at least an hour before using.  Spoon onto Sage Butter Biscuits (recipe below).

recipe adapted from Better Homes &Gardens, April, 2008


Sage Butter Biscuits:
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup chilled, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 425F.  In a small bowl, whisk together milk and egg until blended; set aside.  Blend flour, baking powder, salt, sage and pepper with a pastry knife, or in a food processor.  Add cold butter and pulse or quickly blend with pastry knife until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Do not overmix.  Add milk mixture and process just until moist clumps begin to form.  Transfer dough to a floured surface.

Knead dough until it holds together (this part was tricky for me because my dough was super moist.  I probably added about 1/2 cup of flour to the dough by the time I was done kneading it) about 6 turns.  Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness.  Using a floured biscuit cutter, or the rim of a small drinking glass, cut out biscuits.  Reroll scraps and cut remaining biscuits.  Transfer to a large nonstick or lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.  Slice in half and spoon in Blueberry Chicken Salad.

recipe slightly adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, April, 2008


Linking to: Strictly Homemade Tuesday at Strictly Homemade

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Monday, August 1, 2011

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Every now and then I pull out the cookbook that was compiled by ladies from the church I grew up in.  I love that as I look through the recipes I see names of women I have known since I was a little girl!   This coffee cake recipe comes from that book and it is easy, sweet and yummy!  It's baked in a springform pan, so you can get some extra usage out of those pans that normally just sit in your cupboard (unless you love making cheesecakes!).   It is a coffee cake, so technically could be eaten for breakfast; we ate it for a dinner dessert, so take your pick!



Recipe:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4-1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional-I left these out)
powdered sugar

Grease and flour a 9" springform pan.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix eggs, 1 cup sugar, flour, melted butter and oil.  Pour berries on the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup sugar and then the chopped pecans (if using).  Pour the cake batter over top of this.  The batter will be quite thick.  Spread to cover all of the fruit.  Bake for 35-45 minutes, until top is well browned.  Remove from oven and remove outer ring of pan.  Turn over on to a large plate.  Using a knife, loosen pan bottom from the top of the cake, spreading the topping back into place where needed.  Dust with powdered sugar.

source: A New Taste of Our Heritage, church cookbook


Linking this to Strictly Homemade, Homemade Tuesday

Saturday, July 30, 2011

10 Recipe Ideas for Blueberries



There are now 7 pounds of fresh blueberries in my kitchen, thanks to myself and my two daughters who picked blueberries today.   I guess I should just say one daughter.  Mallory, my 18 month old, stood at a bush almost the entire time, popping blueberry after blueberry into her mouth!  She's my little fruit lover and I think she enjoyed our outing!

Now that I have tons of blueberries, I'm trying to figure out how to use them all.  Most will go in the freezer to use throughout the year, but I want to go ahead and use some now.  What better place to look for ideas than Pinterest?  I'm still learning my way around there, but so far I'm loving it!  As long as I can limit myself to looking for what I need...If you haven't joined yet and would like to, let me know and I'll send you an invite!

Happy Saturday!


Lemon-Blueberry Iced Tea


Blueberry Banana Cake



Blueberry Pull Apart Bread


Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes


Blueberry Crumb Bars

Blueberry Butter, for Pancakes, Biscuits, Toast, Bagels.  This sounds so yummy!



Blueberry Cake
Source: tumblr.com via Rosa on Pinterest


Blueberry Popsicles


Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Cheesecake