Curious Parents Family Health Resources

food bites

Sweeten Up Your Summer with Nutritious BLUEBERRIES

By Angela Capelli

Blueberry season is upon us invoking fond childhood memories. As a young girl growing up in South Jersey, my family would make the trip to the local farm to pick our own blueberries, enjoying more than a few as we picked them. Once we brought them home the real fun would begin. We would transform our blueberries into jam, muffins, pancakes, and my personal favorite, blueberry crisp! We would even freeze them so that we could enjoy them throughout the year. The word antioxidant wasn’t even in our vocabulary back then; we simply enjoyed them because they were delicious!

Today, still living in South Jersey, I have a family of my own and I truly love sharing these traditions with them. We look forward to our annual July 4th picnic and I always bake the blueberry crisp to share with our friends. My mother first discovered this recipe in her old church cookbook. I love it even more today because it has two powerhouse ingredients, blueberries and oatmeal. Blueberries are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. They are also a good source of dietary fiber, and a very good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin K and Manganese.

Blueberry Crisp 8 Servings

Fruit

3 cups blueberries, washed, stems removed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Crumb Mixture                                                  

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt     

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup quick oats (not instant or old fashioned)

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. For fruit, toss blueberries with lemon juice. Spoon into 8-inch square glass baking dish. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. For crumb mixture, combine brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form.  Combine milk and vanilla. Drizzle over crumbs while tossing with a fork. Sprinkle over blueberries.

3. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is bubbly and crumbs are browned. Serve warm with cream, whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

E-mail Angela Capelli at foodbites@curiousparents.com with any questions, comments, suggestions or baking tips that you may have.