Blueberry Picking

What’s more frugal then picking your own local blueberries in season? (To answer my own rhetorical question: growing your own.) Well we didn’t have enough room to grow them this year so we did the next best thing and picked a few pounds at Schartner’s Farm. Although we tried to get an early start by the time we got there it was getting hot so after a few pounds worth we gave up.

Although we’ll probably freeze most of them we felt we needed to make at least one dessert with the fresh blueberries so we decided to make a tart. The discussion of custard began…and it was immediately vetoed. Mom didn’t want to bother and Randy said he probably wouldn’t like it anyway. So we came up with a brilliantly lazy solution: vanilla pudding! (Although we weren’t totally lazy, we didn’t get the no-cook variety). We also copped out and bought pre-made dough which we blind baked with some parchment paper and marbles to weigh it down. We then filled it with the vanilla pudding which we had gussied up with some almond extract. When it had set for a couple hours in the fridge I painstakingly arranged a single layer of blueberries on top. For the glaze we heated some grape jelly (the only kind in the fridge that wasn’t moldy) to which I added a little triple sec to thin it. The glaze ended up being fairly thick so I probably could have thinned it even further but the “tart” (which rightly should probably be called a pudding pie with blue berries and jelly on top) came out very pretty! After eating some I concluded it probably didn’t need glaze at all.

Since my pictures of the pie didn't come out very well...here's a picture of my cute kitty who keeps me company while I type my blog!