The most simple blueberry recipe.

Ever feel like having something homemade, but are too tired to bake?  Well, this recipe is one of the easiest, fastest recipes I  have ever used.  It actually comes from my husband, who gets a wild hair occasionally, and decides he needs to bake something.  He always seems to be on the lookout for something unusual, but in this case, he found down-to-earth basic.  He got the recipe from a blogger named Jennifer Cisney, who got it from her mom, who got it from her mom.  It is actually called a pudding – I think because it is suggested that it is good warm, with milk poured over it, but it is definitely a coffee-type cake.   

Blueberry Pudding??

The original recipe gives no directions, so I have changed it a bit – not the amounts, or ingredients, but the order of ingredients, with some added directions.

Butter the size of an egg

1 Cup sugar

1 Egg

1/2 Cup milk

1 and 3/4 Cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 Pint Unalaska blueberries (of course, you can use any kind of blueberries)

Cream butter and sugar.  (I do this by hand – it only takes a couple of seconds.)  Add egg and incorporate well.  Add milk in about 4 increments.  In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder.  Add to wet ingredients and mix until all dry ingredients are incorporated.  Fold in blueberries.  Pour into 8×8 pan (spray with non-stick spray, or butter and flour your pan) and bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees F.  If you are using frozen blueberries, an additional 10 minutes should be added to the cook time.  (That is, if the blueberries are still frozen when you throw them in the batter!)  Test the center of the cake to see if it is done.

You can eat this right when it comes out of the oven, steaming.  Just be careful not to burn your tongue on the smoking blueberries.  It is great with coffee in the morning.  If you like a sweeter cake, you can add a struesel topping or simply sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar.  I like it just as it is – the perfect amount of sweet for our tart Unalaska blueberries.  Yummy!

March comes in like a lion….

Oh yeah!  It was blowing from the south, with blizzard conditions, all day.  Then around 5 or 6ish, it switched around to northwest and is rocking and rolling with gusts up to 70-80 MPH.  I love living on the front beach, although we can’t see too much at times like these.  This shot is out the front door (of course we only have one door), looking out at the bay.  Can you see it? 

And then looking out the living room window towards mom’s and dad’s house and the WWII bunker.  Now you see it, now not so much. 

And this is a shot of one of the school parking lots that is actually jam packed with cars.  Howling winds and blizzard conditions can’t keep Unalaskans away from watching the Western Regionals.  The school put their name on the list to host the games 17 years ago, so a little wind and snow aren’t going to spoil the fun!  Thanks to all the various airlines in Alaska who participated in getting all the teams here by yesterday! 

I feel as if I am in a little cocoon, all warm and toasty, all my windows covered in white, now.  But my cocoon is shaking a bit.   I sleep very well in a storm so I’ll be a happy little camper tonight!

Unalaska at its finest.

We have been enjoying our beautiful February weather over the past week or so.  Mom and Dad say that they have always done a lot of boating in February because the weather always offers up a couple of weeks of beautiful, flat calm days with brilliant sunshine. 

This past week has also shown another finest of Unalaska, besides its February weather. It has been an action-packed showcase of the generousity of Unalaskans, from the Channel 8 auction (with their awesome and hilarious soap opera, Dutch Harbor 99692 ), to the Ballyhoo Lions bowling, spilling over to the Museum of the Aleutian’s Chocolate Extravaganza, and ending up on Sunday with the Preschool Ice Cream Social.  Where else but Unalaska, could you wear yourself out donating money to great public ideas in action?  And having fun doing it? 

A couple of my indispensable chocolate making tools.

I also wrapped up my segment for the Unangan Program at the elementary school.  My last week with the cutest little first graders you will ever see, was a breeze after my previous week with almost 30 second graders!  Not that the second graders weren’t cute…..there were just soooooooooooo many of them.  Keeps you on your toes when you are working with hot oil. 

Awesome journal-ing.

Suzi Golodoff now has five weeks with the students, teaching about our Aleutian feathered friends, and, last but not least – in fact, most importantly – Laresa Syverson will give 5 weeks of her afternoons in the pursuit of passing on Unangam tunuu (the Aleut language) to a generation younger than her!

Can you find the grey-crowned rosy finch?