Blueberry Syrup

ahhhh summer, here at last!

My refrigerator is bursting with produce and the girls and I are loving it, except for some reason my lovlies are boycotting blueberries this week. Why? No idea, but I am pretty positive that they will be back in good standing sometime in the near future.

In the meantime, I had to come up with a plan for my 3+ pints of blueberries and I decided on making a blueberry syrup.  You can add the syrup to anything - pancakes, waffles, ice cream, oatmeal (i had it this morning), the possibilities are endless and the blueberry flavor makes everything sing summer.  


blueberry syrup:

Ingredients
1 1/2 pints fresh blueberries, rinsed
1 cup vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions
Combine the blueberries and vanilla sugar in a large heavy saucepan. Add 1 cup water and the lemon juice and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the mixture begins to thicken.

Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve. Cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate.

chicken, corn, zucchini, and black bean enchiladas

Enchiladas are one of my favorite meals to make, because they are simple, quick and delicious. I found this recipe in the True Food cookbook, and have made it several times, tweaking it a little differently each time depending what I have in my fridge. These are delicious and I don't feel as guilty about eating them, since they are filled with fresh, seasonal vegetables that I can usually find at the farmers market.  

Ingredients

2  cups corn kernels 

    (from 2 ears of corn)

1 1/2 cup diced roasted 

    chicken

1  red pepper

1  poblano chile, roasted, 

   seeded and diced

1  small zucchini, diced

1/3 cup cooked black beans

3  ounces Manchego 

   cheese, diced

1/4  teaspoon chili powder

    salt and pepper

6  corn tortillas

1/2 cup shredded Manchego cheese

1  Jar tomatillos salsa

6  tablespoons Greek-style yogurt

2  teaspoons chopped cilantro

6  lime wedges

1. Start by roasting the Poblano. If you have a gas stove, the easiest way to do this is turn on a burner and place the Poblano directly about the fire. Rotate the Poblano, allowing the outer skin to blacken. Once the majority of the pepper has blackened, remove it from flame and put it in a bowl, covering it with plastic wrap. Once the pepper has cooled, peal off the skin, seed and chop. If you don't have a gas stove, you can roast the pepper in the oven by broiling it, using the same technique, rotating until blackened. 

2. Meanwhile, place the corn kernels and red pepper in a large skilled over medium heat, stirring occasionally until lightly browned. 

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine chicken, zucchini, black beans diced Manchego, corn, red pepper, diced poblano, and chili powder. Mix well, adding salt and pepper to taste. 

4. Ladle 1/4 cup of the Tomatillo salsa into a shallow, oven dish (9x9).  Taking a tortilla spoon the filling into the center of the tortilla, rolling it and placing it seam down in the baking dish. Fill remainder of tortillas. (If you have extra filling, place in dish at the ends of the tortilla.)  

5. Top with the remainder 3/4 cup of the tomatillos salsa and shredded Manchego. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Let cool slightly. Serve with greek yogurt, cilantro and lime.  

I have recently been obsessed with a new tortilla shells called La Tortilla Factory. There are many varieties, but my personal favorite the green chile tortillas. :)

I have been slacking on posting because I have been busy making some of my favorites from the blog. Make sure to check out the S'more Bars, Rhubarb muffins, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and Strawberry Bruschetta. 

Tagalongs

Bridget and I have been slacking on our posts. We are both still baking/cooking a lot, but we haven't been sharing.  Not because we are like my toddlers and HATE sharing, but because we finally have some reprieve from our awful winter and we are enjoying the summer-ish weather.

I am beyond excited for all of the summer produce to arrive at the Farmer's market, but until that happens, I will continue to survive on food comprised of Peanut Butter and Chocolate, like these amazing homemade tagalongs!

Tagalongs - Recipe from Siriously Delicious

Cookies:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Coating:
6 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
6 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vegetable oil

With an electric mixer, cream butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and almond extract and mix. In a separate bowl, sift together flour and salt. Slowly add sifted ingredients to butter/sugar and mix until combined. Shape dough into a disc, cover in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Using a small circular cookie cutter (also lightly floured), cut out cookies and place on parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until edges just begin to turn golden. Let cool.

While cookies are cooling, with mixer combine peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Once cookies have cooled, scoop approx. 1/2 tsp of filling on top of each cookie. Using a knife, place the tip in the middle of the peanut butter, and spread down to the side of cookie. Repeat that motion as you go around the cookie. It should look slightly domed in the middle.

In a double boiler (or place a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the bowl), melt all chopped chocolate. Add vegetable oil and stir until you have a glossy chocolate. Using 2 forks, dip cookie into chocolate. Make sure to flip over and cover cookie completely. Lift cookie out of chocolate with one fork, using the other to scrape excess chocolate off the bottom. Repeat with each cookie and place them on foil or parchment paper. Let cookies cool at room temp and then peel off paper or foil.