Saturday Recipe Swap: Blueberry- Cornmeal Pancakes

All pictures from today's post were taken with my cell phone camera.  You will see some discoloration in some of the photos.

Last week, the Thursday before Memorial Day, my aunt and cousin invited me and Addie to go blueberry picking with them.  It was a very busy day for Addie Girl and me, but this hour time period gave us the most wonderful, relaxing time during our uncommonly busy day.   We went to an organic farm (not that that helped us make the decision to go there) on my aunt's road.  Upon driving through the gate we were greeted with field upon field of blueberry bushes all ready and waiting to be picked.

"Tih-teh"- Addie's version of the words chicken.  You moms know the translations of your child's language.  Addie loves animals so she was thrilled to see the chickens.  I was almost afraid she wasn't going to be inerested in picking the blueberries.

My cousin's twin daughters are Addie friends.  She loves seeing them, and they love playing with her.  She was the first baby they ever got to experience from the hospital room up to where we are now.  They are ever amazed at what Addie is able to do or say each time they see her.

I only had to show Addie what to do with the blueberries one time.  She got the hang of it immediately and was going to town collecting.  Because she is so small and had a vantage point that none of the rest of us had, she saw blueberries down inside the bushes that we couldn't see.  Sometimes, she would put her whole body in a bush just to get the blueberries she saw.

Having her know her colors was very helpful.  She had collected a few green berries and tossed them into the bucket.  I showed her the green ones, and told her, "No green.  Pick blue ones."  She put the green ones in her hands on the floor and started picking the blue ones again.  Most of what you see in the bucket, she collected.

I kept asking her if she wanted me to hold the bucket, but she always answered "No".  Then at one point towards the end, she handed me the bucket and said, "Is heavy."  I had no idea she knew the word heavy, let alone what it meant or how to use it in a sentence ("is heavy" counts as a sentence to me)!

You know those moments when God turns your attention to a spot that you have absolutely no reason to look at?  I had one of those moments that day.  For "some reason" I looked down at Addie's foot to see that she had just stepped into an ant hill (here in Florida we have red fire ants which have a bite that burns and hurts).  The ants had just begun climbing her sneaker.  After yelling, "Dear Lord!", I picked her up and took the basket out of her hand at the same time, yanked off her sneaker and sock, and threw them on the floor.  Only two ants made it onto her foot but I squished them immediately.  She looked at me like, "Mom, what came over you?" I had to thank God for my choice in footware for her that day.  I had debated between putting on her sandals to keep her feet cool or putting on the sneakers and socks to keep her feet clean (I know, why am I always thinking about clean?).  The latter reason overruled the former, and I put on the sneakers.  Had she been wearing sandals, I would never have gotten to her feet in time.  The ants would have been inside the slits in no time. After it was all said and done, I looked back at where she had been standing.  The ground was literally moving with hundreds of red fire ants. 

I wanted to make something with the blueberries that we collected that day.  For breakfast on Friday morning, just before we began packing for our trip down south, Brian asked if I could make pancakes.  I had no pancake mix, but I love using my cookbooks and making things from scratch.  So I looked for a pancake recipe.  And low and behold, I found a recipe in the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook for Blueberry Pancakes.  When I first told Brian what I was going to make, he wasn't too thrilled, he later told me.  But after tasting them, they have become a favorite for him.

Blueberry- Cornmeal Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour2 tbsp cornmeal
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 cup sour milk or buttermilk (recipe for sour milk given below)*
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• Syrup

Directions

• In a bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.
• In another bowl stir together egg, milk*, and oil.  Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture.  Stir until just moistened (batter should be lumpy). Gently fold in blueberries.
• For each pancake pour or spread about 1/4 cup of the batter into a 4 inch circle onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet.  Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes on each side or until pancakes are golden brown, turning to second sides when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and edges are slightly dry.  Serve warm.  If desired, top with syrup.