Lemon Blueberry Sweet Tea

Lemon Blueberry Sweet Tea

12 oz. pkg. frozen blueberries

1/2 cup lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 gallon Sun Tea

for garnish:

Lemon Slices

Fresh Blueberries

I like to make my iced tea using the energy of the sun.

But, you can make the tea using your favorite method.

Place frozen blueberries and lemon juice in a medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Cook, Stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.

Pour through a wire-mesh strainer into a bowl.

Use the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much juice as possible.

Discard the solids.

Pour tea, lemon blueberry juice, and sugar into a serving pitcher.

Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Serve over ice.

Garnish with fresh blueberries 

and a lemon slice.

Summer Berry Tart

Summer Berry Tart

1 box vanilla instant pudding mix

1 orange, zested

1/2 pint raspberries

1/2 pint blueberries

6 large strawberries, sliced

1 graham cracker crust

Prepare homemade graham cracker crust using your favorite recipe.

I like to use my tart pan for this dessert, 

but you can also use a pie pan.

Bake for 8 minutes.  Allow to cool thoroughly.

Scroll down a post to find Lucy's tips on zesting.

(or click here)

Prepare the pudding mix according to the pie filling directions.

Let stand 5 minutes.  Stir orange zest into the pudding.

Spread a layer over the graham cracker crust.

Arrange fruit on the pudding.

Blueberries

In some areas, blueberries are in the height of freshness. Nothing says summer better than fresh blueberry muffins, blueberry pie, blueberry cobbler, blueberry ice cream - can you see we love blueberries?

When making baked goods like muffins, mix your dry ingredients together and reserve approximately 1 TBS of the flour mixture. Add your wet ingredients according to your recipe directions. Before adding your blueberries, toss them with the reserved flour mixture and then gently (very gently) fold the blueberries into your batter. 

Tossing the berries with flour helps in a couple of ways:

• It will keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of your muffins and cakes. The reason behind this is because your blueberries are heavier than the batter.
• It will also help the berries retain their beautiful blue color. 

(Remember: gently fold the berries into your batter.)

This tip can also be used for anything you add to your batter, such as nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruits, etc. Anything that is heavier than your batter will tend to sink but when coating with flour allows everything to be more evenly distributed.