Spinach Salad with Peaches and Blueberries

I made a delicious spinach salad for Yoli and Eric over the weekend using the fruit that we bought at the farmer's market and the yummy blueberry balsamic vinegar.

I rinsed and picked them stems off of some spinach.  Then I pitted and sliced some peaches and tossed them in blueberry balsamic vinegar to keep them from turning brown. I placed the peaches and some blueberries over the top of the spinach with some feta cheese.  I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and more blueberry vinegar over the top.

Breakfast Crepes

One of my favorite summer breakfasts is fruit crepes. They're healthful, delicious, and easy to make.

To make the crepes, I just throw a cup of flour, 2 eggs, a cup of skim milk, a dash of salt, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter into a blender and blend them until they are well mixed. Then I spray a small skillet with cooking oil.  I heat the skillet to a medium-high heat.   Then I pour about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet and swirl the batter so that it covers the bottom of the pan.  I cook the crepe until the sides start to curl up, flip it over, and cook it for about 30 more seconds.  I place the cooked crepes on a large dinner plate and cover it with a kitchen towel to keep the crepes warm until I finish making all the crepes.

I make the filling by sweetening some yogurt with stevia powder or honey. Sometimes I add other favorings like high quality flavored balsamic vinegars or spices. I added cinnamon and blueberry balsamic vinegar to the filling in the crepes that I made this weekend. I fill and top the crepes with the filling and fresh fruit. I used mango and blueberries in the crepe shown above.

Wordless Wednesday

Little Green Berries

My berries plants are finished flowering and are now forming berries.

Blueberries:  Elliot

Blackberries: Triple Crown

Red Raspberries: Heritage

Strawberries: Honeoye

The Blueberry Experiment

I LOVE blueberries.  It just don't love how much fresh berries cost in the grocery store.  Since I live in Central Indiana where the soil is rather alkaline, blueberries won't grow well in the ground here.  Last year, I researched how to grow them in containers so that I could better control the PH of their planting medium.  Colorado State University did a study of the best planting medium in which to grow blueberries in containers.   They found that a mixture of 40% coir, 40% peat, and 20% perlite resulted in the highest blueberry yields from blueberries grown in containers.  Coir is coconut fiber that can be purchased in quantity at hydroponic stores.

Last spring, I planted 5 plants of three different blueberry varieties in the recommended planting mixture: Elliot, Northland, and Coville.  Blueberries produce the most fruit when different cultivars are planted together because their fruit production benefits from cross pollination.  I planted the bushes in 24" pots which should give their roots the room that they will need.

All of the bushed survived the winter unprotected in my backyard.  They all have buds.  Only one of them suffered winter damage and has several dead branches.  Even that one has an adequate number of branches with buds.