Blueberry Muffins

Here's a pretty good recipe that I have used over and over again using wild blueberries. 

 There were 100's of plants with 1000's of blueberries to pick from. This was a good blueberry year.

 My container full of blueberries to make muffins and ice cream.

Two examples of the finished muffins.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C and gas  6). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil  (I use olive oil) into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Our trip to the forest of Col de Grenouze

This morning we took a ride way into the country to a place called “Col de Grenouze.” Col de Grenouze is one of my favorite places to visit as there is a big forest where we usually collect (depending on season) mushrooms, blueberries (June and July) and chestnuts (Autumn season).

Since living in France for the last few years I found I really like three places; Riverie (where we live) and its surrounding area, Col de Grenouze and the Camargue and their surrounding areas.

On this particular trip we didn’t find mushrooms as it was not very warm or sunny. The ground was moist as we have had lots of rain and the skies remained grey. I did pick up a few blueberries to make blueberry muffins. (blueberry muffin recipe)  I’ve also made blueberry ice cream during the summer. Unfortunately we were late in the season so our findings was very little…. but enough to make some cupcakes.

I notice there were a lot of holly trees throughout the forest. Some trees already had their berries but not ripened yet. 

We didn’t find mushrooms except for yellow fungi. This fungi was constrained to a small area. I’m always amazed at the many varieties and colour of mushrooms. 

 

                  A rather large beetle resting on a blueberry plant.               

                 

This is Iris chewing on a stick. This was her first time visiting this forest, and she went absolutely bonkers. She kicked me a few times as I was sitting on the ground, and jumped on me as well. She is a very hyper dog.

This image just shows you how really green it is within the forest.

The small plants that are growing around this stump are future chestnut trees.

Five minutes drive away from where we were are fields and fields of wheat and other grains. I love the look and colour of wheat.

Ginger, my Orange Tabby and Siamese mix is four years old today

My sweet kitty just turned four years old today. 

I remember her when she was given to me by my (now) husband Norbert. I fell instantly in love with her.  She was about 5-6 weeks old when we got her. I have had so many cats but Ginger will always have a special place in my heart. 

In celebration we got her special food to eat, and she loved it.