Being an independent minded sort of person, I’m aways thrilled to celebrate Independence Day!! Yay for Freedom!! When the family came for brunch over the weekend, I wanted to fix something that was in keeping with the season so the kids and I made a “breakfast tart” in the shape of a flag.
The granola base was easy to do, using store bought granola. You could make your own from scratch, of course, but there are some really good brands of organic granola available now. Mix 1 1/2 cups granola with a stick of melted butter and 3 tablespoons brown sugar or honey and press into a rectangular pan. You could also roll out a tart or pie shell and cut it into a rectangle and use this instead.
The blue and red parts were easy; blueberries, of course, and raspberries. It was the white that was the stumbling block. I thought I was going to use vanilla yogurt over the granola and put the stars and stripes on top of this, somewhat like a yogurt parfait. But all that yogurt that I thought was in the ‘fridge wasn’t. I didn’t want to go to the grocery so I kept rooting around until I found a can of spray whipping cream. The kids were thrilled and it was fun for them to squirt out the stripes. The whole thing was fun and easy delicious. Even though it was a bit crumbly, we ate the whole thing!
Aside from the obvious holiday connection, this is the perfect time of year to use a lot of blueberries. They are in full production in Georgia and the berries are big and sweet. Last week, I spent a morning at Cool Springs Blueberry Farm in Gainesville and picked almost 2 1/2 gallons of berries.
There are two types of blueberries – rabbit eye, which is native to Georgia, and high bush, which grows from Georgia all the way into New England. Rabbiteye is a great species to use in a home garden, though be sure to plant more than one variety for better cross pollination and increased production.
Compared to picking wild huckleberries, which are about the size of a pin head (well, almost) picking these lucious big berries was quick and easy. No thorns, no chiggers – and no grizzly bears! What a way to celebrate the Fourth of July. Happy Independence Day to all.
Check it out at http://coolspringsblueberryfarm.com