Happy National Cookie Day!

Who doesn't love cookies? 

We definitely do, but where cookies even came from? Or who makes up all these random holidays? Well, we looked it up! (Thanks, Google!)

 Turns out the English word "cookie" is derived from the Dutch word "koekie" which means little cake.  There have been cookie-like wafers in existence for as long as baking has been documented, their ability to travel well made the quite popular, however, they weren't nearly as sweet as the common cookie. The origin of the cookie seems to be in Persia in the 7th century, soon after the use of sugar became popular in the region. After that, they spread to Europe through the Muslim conquest of Spain. Cookies were common at all levels of society throughout Europe by the 14th century, from the royal cuisine to the street vendors. Cookies arrived in America in the 17th century. Macaroons and gingerbread cookies were among the popular early American cookies.

In 1976, Sesame Street included National Cookie Day on its calendar for the first time on November 26. The Cookie Monster also proclaimed his own National Cookie Day in the 1980 book The Sesame Street Dictionary. Then in 1987, Matt Nader of the Blue Chip Cookie Company out of San Francisco created Cookie Day celebrating it on December 4.

So, how can you celebrate National Cookie Day, and still eat healthily? Our Clean Eating Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies are a great option! 

Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are soft and extra chewy! Our dried blueberries add a bright and sweet burst, while the warm cinnamon and oats provide a comforting backdrop. They'll stay soft for up to a week if stored in an airtight container.

Yields About 15 Cookies

Ingredients:

1 Cup instant oats
3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 large egg, room temp.
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 Cup honey
1/4 Cup Sunset Valley Organics' Dried Blueberries

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the honey until thoroughly incorporated. Add the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Fold in the blueberries. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. (If chilling longer, cover with plastic wrap, ensuring it touches the entire surface of the cookie dough.)

2. Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

3. Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops on the baking sheet. (If chilled longer than 1.5 hours, flatten each slightly.) Bake at 325°F for 13-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Happy National Cookie Day! 

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Previously seen in our January 2017 newsletter, it's finally making it's way to the blog! Better late than never? This week we transition from Summer to Fall officially, but we can't say bye to fresh blueberries just quite yet! 

"A deliciously moist, lightly sweet "coffee" cake bursting with juicy ripe blueberries."

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• Zest from 1 lemon
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (divided)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups fresh, ripe blueberries
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar for sprinkling

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Lightly grease and flour an 8-inch springform pan. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Remove two tablespoons of the flour and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter, lemon zest and ¾ cup of sugar. Beat for several minutes, scraping down the sides as needed, until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in the egg and vanilla just until incorporated.
6. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Beat on low until incorporated. Add ⅓ of the buttermilk and blend until smooth. Repeat adding ⅓ of the flour then ⅓ of the buttermilk until both are incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
7. Toss the blueberries with the reserved 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold the blueberries and any extra flour into the batter using a rubber spatula. Take care not to rupture the blueberries.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar and bake in a 325 preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.

Blueberry Peach Scones

This is a short little post on some delicious scones we just had to share! This summer is so weird for where we live. Usually blueberries are in season from late June to mid July, then peaches come in to season with blackberries in August. Not this year though, all three are over lapping which is so exciting! We got to use fresh blueberries, and fresh peaches in these scones. We usually used dried blueberries, and dried fruit, so it's a bit of treat to use fresh fruit.  Work has been so busy with harvest that this is really the first time we've had a chance to bake in what feels like forever.


What You'll Need:

• 2 cups all-purpose Certified Organic flour, plus more for hands and work surface
• 6 TBSP  Certified Organic Sugar
• 2 1/2 TSPCertified Organic Baking Powder
• 1/2 TSP Salt
• 1/2 C Certified Organic unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 C Certified Organic heavy cream
• 1 Large Certified Organic Egg
• 1 TSP Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cup Certified Organic Fresh Blueberries
• 3/4 Cup Fresh Peaches, chopped

What You'll Do: 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, or spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Grate the frozen butter (a food processor is perfect for this). Mix in the grated butter into the flour mixture and combine it with your hands until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk cream, egg, and vanilla together. Slowly pour into the flour mixture and stir the two together with a spatula until everything looks like it's been moistened. Slowly, and carefully add in blueberries and peaches. At this point the dough will be very wet, and a bit sticky, you'll want to work the dough into a ball.
4. Transfer the dough ball onto a floured surface, press into a flat disk and cut into four quarters. Then cut each of those in half so you have a total of 8 equal wedges. Because the dough is overloaded with fruit it's ok if the dough doesn't want to stay as a wedge. When baked they will just be a bit more on the round side.
5. Place wedges onto prepared baking sheet, at least two inches apart from each other. Place in over, bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cooling rack.

Make A Head Tip: These scones are awesome to enjoy in the mornings all week long. They be kept at room temperature for 2-5 days. They also are awesome to freeze, and will keep for up to 3 months. Just thaw them out and heat up to your liking!

Blueberry Broccoli Spinach Salad

Blueberry Broccoli Spinach Salad 

This spring has been such a treat for fresh veggies at our local farmers market. One of the tasty treats we've been enjoying this spring is a Blueberry Broccoli Spinach Salad. It's super simple and easy to through together with just a few ingredients. It's delicious with your favorite dressing or a poppyseed ranch.

Salad Ingredients:

• 4 oz fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup chopped broccoli
• 1/2 ripe avocado
• 1/4 cup blueberries (fresh, frozen, or dried)
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2-4 TBSP dried cranberries
• 2-4 TBSP roasted pumpkin seeds (also try sunflower seeds)
• black pepper, to taste

Poppy Seed Ranch Dressing

• 1/2 Cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• 1/2 Cup chopped broccoli
• 1/2 rip avocado
• 1/4 Cup blueberries
• 1/4 Cup mayo
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp poppy seeds
• 1/2 tsp dill
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• pinch of salt
• pinch of black pepper

Instructions:

1. Make the dressing (skip if you are using store bought dressing)- mix all the dressing ingredients together. Ranch dressing always tastes better if it's chilled, so if you are making this dressing, it's best made ahead of time. Whisk and chill for a few house before serving, or you can even make the salad and dressing the night before. 
1. Peel the garlic clove, and mash and mince into a paste.
2. Add a pinch of salt to the paste.
3. Take salted garlic paste and add to the rest of the dressing ingredients and whisk well.
4. Place in fridge to chill for a few hours.
2. Make the Salad: 
1. Wash + Dry spinach
2. Combine with broccoli, blueberries, dried cranberries, avocado, feta cheese, and pumpkin seeds.
3. Toss with dressing & serve.
4. Season with pepper to taste.

Spring Superfood Bowl ft. Blueberry Ginger Dressing

Spring Superfood Bowl
Featuring Blueberry Ginger Dressing

Spring offers so many yummy greens while we wait for fresh berries to come back into season in Summer. Lately we've been obsessed with spinach and have been enjoying our superfood bowls a little too much! So much so in fact that we just had to share!

Ingredients:

• 4 oz spinach
• 1/2 cup cook quinoa
• 1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts
• 1/2 cup chickpeas, rinsed
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 6 oz fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1 avocado, peeled, cored, and diced into small pieces

For the dressing:

• 1/3 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• salt & peper to taste

Instructions:

• Add all of the ingredients for the dressing to a food processor. Pulse until well blended. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• For the salad divide the spinach into two bowls. Top spinach with quinoa, sprouts, chickpeas, almonds, and blueberries, and avocado, dividing evenly between bowls. Top with blueberry-ginger dressing and serve. 

May 2017 News & Updates

What a wet spring we have been having!

Oregon is home to rain but some sun every once in a while would be nice too! With a little luck the fields will start drying out and we can get on with preparing for the coming harvest. The rain has caused us some disruptions, but the berries have been doing well with all the wet weather and our blueberries are starting to bloom. 

WE HAVE NEW PRODUCTS!

What a great reception we have received from our powders! We are so happy to hear that so many of you enjoy them! For those who missed last months newsletter, we have new berry powders up in the shop.  You can now purchase:

• Red Raspberry Powder
• Blackberry Powder
• Aronia Berry Powder
• Black Raspberry Powder
• Blueberry Powder

Our berry powders are a supercharged way of getting your daily fruits into your diet. You can mix our powders into baking, oatmeal, smoothies, milk, ice cream, and more! Just like our dried berries, there are no additives or preservatives, so we're keeping the product as natural and nutritious as possible! 

*Note: Our powders are not soluble*

We've also added a new size to our powders. Now you can purchase all of our powder varieties in 2 lbs. quantities for $110.00.  

We would also like to mention that our free shipping amount has increased to $235.00 after coupons are applied. Our spreads and frozen do not qualify for free shipping. 

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Changes Are Coming:

Most of you are aware that last summer we were crazy busy during harvest. In the summer of 2016 we harvested about 2 million pounds of fruit, this year we are projecting at least 3 million. With that much fruit to be harvested we have had to make some hard choices in where to cut back so a balance can be achieved. This has resulted in our decision to not have a U-Pick this summer. We are sad that we can not continue, but our harvest is our first priority. 

We will still be offering already picked & washed blueberries in 30 pound boxes and 5 pound bags. For these you pull around to our office and we help you there. The price for those this year will be the same as in the past at $100 (30 pound box). 

We would like to thank everyone who has come out and supported us over the years. We hope you will continue to enjoy our berries. 

We will have a blog post late May/early June about all the changes we are making why we are making them. 

And did you see our delicious post this month? No-Bake, Nutrient Dense Energy Bites! YUM! 

Our normal office hours are:

Monday - Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST  

Cold Weather Shipping 

Cold Weather Shipping is still going! Since spring is here, if the temperature gets above 75 degrees where you are please call us and we will discuss if it's safe to ground ship berries to you. May is the last month we will be able to ship, and it might not even be available the whole month. It just depends on what the temperature decides to do. 

Thank you to everyone who has taken advantage of our Cold Weather Shipping! 

For those who are new to this, every year when it’s cold (nation-wide) we are able to send our frozen berries by ground rather than 2 day air, which saves a lot of money! We can only offer this while it’s cold out, usually fall through the early part of spring.

You do need to call us if you would the ground shipping though. Our online store is not set up for it. You can call us at 541-752-0460 Monday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm Pacific Standard Time.

**PLEASE NOTE: We are not responsible for shipping delays due to weather conditions**

LEMON BLUEBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE

Original Recipe from quartzandleisure.com

Ingredients:

BLUEBERRY FILLING INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 Cups fresh blueberries
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 oz. water

CRUST INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 Cups Graham cracker crumbs (I used all 3 blocks from the package – we’ll reserve some of the leftover crumbs for topping)
• 1/3 Cup melted butter

CHEESECAKE INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Packages cream cheese (8 oz. each)
• 1 Cup sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Pure vanilla extract
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 Cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)

Instructions:

BLUEBERRY FILLING DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour blueberries & sugar into a pot over medium-high heat. Simmer for about 10 mins.
2. Add the cornstarch to the water and mix well.  Pour this into the berries.
3. Continue to stir until it thickens up.
4. Remove from stove and allow to cool completely (approx 1 hour).

CRUST DIRECTIONS:

1. Place graham crackers in a Ziploc bag and smash into crumbs.
2. Measure 1.5 cups of crumbs and mix with the melted butter until evenly coated.
3. Press into the bottom of a spring form pan and set aside.

CHEESECAKE DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix for 30 seconds before adding the next egg.
3. Blend in the vanilla extract and the lemon zest.
4. Add in the heavy cream and mix until competely smooth.
5. Scrape down the bowl and give the batter one last mix at HIGH speed for 1 minute.
6. Pour over the graham cracker crust.
7. Make a foil “nest” that the pan will sit in while cooking.
8. Cook the cheesecake for 65-80 minutes at 300° or until the surface no longer looks shiny.
9. Allow the cheesecake to cool to room temp before moving it to the fridge to cool completely.
10. Serve with fresh whipped cream and garnish with the remaining graham cracker crumbs.

Our Featured Products in the online Shop:

Red Raspberry Powder

Black Raspberry Powder

Aronia Berry Powder 

We are almost to full bloom in our blueberries. The bees have been hard at work despite the rain we've been having.

Double Blueberry Breakfast Scones

This month is going to be really busy for us here on the blog. Every Saturday there will be a new post plus a couple of other posts that will be published through out the month. We hope you enjoy everything we have prepared! We are still exploring and playing around with our berry powders. They are so versatile that you can really use them in anything! It's sort of like adding salt or pepper to a recipe, it's just something that comes naturally. 

So first up are these delicious double blueberry scones, we used our dried blueberries and our blueberry powder in them. They are gluten free and if you replaced the honey with maple syrup or agave nectar then it would be vegan too! 

Serves: 8-12 Scones
Time:

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups Almond Flour
• 1 TSP Baking Soda
• 2 Eggs
• 2 TBSP Honey (or Agave Nectar,  or Maple Syrup)
• 4 TBSP Lemon Juice
• 1/2 Cup SVO Dried Blueberries
• 2 TSP SVO Blueberry Powder
• Pinch of Salt

*Optional: Add in 1/4 C. of chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Add the almond flour, baking soda, salt, blueberry powder,  and lemon zest to a large bowl and combine.
3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the wet ingredients starting in the center, stir the dough until combined. Fold in dried blueberries (and chocolate chips if desired). 
4. Using a large ice cream scoop, drop the scones onto a prepared baking sheet. Lightly wet hands and gently flatten tops of the scones. They should be about 1 inch thick. 
5. Bake 18-20 mins until tops are golden brown.
6. Cool on wire rack.

*Store in air proof container.

January 2017 Newsletter for SVO

Happy New Years! Happy 2017!

We hope everyone had a good holiday season! We enjoyed our two week break with a lot of relaxing and family time. We know 2016 wasn't the greatest year for the world but have hopes that 2017 will make up for it, and we hope everyone has a fantastic 2017!

We still have our annual survey available until the end of January. As a thank you there is a coupon at the end that can be used on your next order. We truly value your feedback, and it helps us improve where we can. 

Our next Instagram sale will be starting sometime during the week of the 16th. Be sure to be following us to know when the sale starts! 

The Pacific Northwest has been getting a good amount of snow. The snow has melted here in the valley; however, Portland still has a decent amount of snow which has been interfering with deliveries and shipments. We thank everyone who have bared with us. This is the first winter where the snow has actually effected more than a day of normal operations.

With the snow melted, we've been starting to prune our blueberries. If you have blueberries in your back yard now is a good time to start thinking about trimming them up, and be sure to check out our blog post on pruning.

Our normal office hours are:

Monday - Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST 

Our Featured Products in the online Shop:

Freeze Dried Blueberry Powder

Freeze Dried Blackberry Powder

Dried Aronia Berries

New Products Coming Soon:

• Red Raspberry Powder
• Black Raspberry Powder
• Aronia Berry Powder

Cold Weather Shipping 

Cold Weather Shipping is back! For those who are new to this, every year when it’s cold (nation-wide) we are able to send our frozen berries by ground rather than 2 day air, which saves a lot of money! We can only offer this while it’s cold out, usually fall through the early part of spring. You do need to call us if you would the ground shipping though. Our online store is not set up for it. You can call us at 541-752-0460 Monday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm Pacific Standard Time.

**PLEASE NOTE: We are not responsible for shipping delays due to weather conditions**

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

A deliciously moist, lightly sweet "coffee" cake bursting with juicy ripe blueberries.

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• Zest from 1 lemon
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (divided)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups fresh, ripe blueberries
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar for sprinkling

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Lightly grease and flour an 8-inch springform pan. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Remove two tablespoons of the flour and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter, lemon zest and ¾ cup of sugar. Beat for several minutes, scraping down the sides as needed, until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in the egg and vanilla just until incorporated.
6. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Beat on low until incorporated. Add ⅓ of the buttermilk and blend until smooth. Repeat adding ⅓ of the flour then ⅓ of the buttermilk until both are incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
7. Toss the blueberries with the reserved 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold the blueberries and any extra flour into the batter using a rubber spatula. Take care not to rupture the blueberries.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar and bake in a 325 preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.

Saturday Morning Waffles

Saturday Morning Waffles

The weekend is always the right time for delicious waffles, so this morning we broke out the waffle iron and had some delicious nutrient dense blueberry waffles.

Now the rains have set in here in Oregon it really feels like fall, and waffle also tend to just fit in to a lazy rainy day feel.

We hope you enjoy the waffles as much as we do!

Ingredients

•  1 3/4 c. AP flour
• 1/4 c. corn starch
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 c. frozen blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, corn starch, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Add the wet ingredients and mix: eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla paste.
4. Fold in the blueberries.
5. (Grease waffle iron before each use) Pour approximately 1/2 cup batter onto the hot waffle iron, and cook for 3:30 minutes, or according to your waffle iron's instructions. (It really depends on your waffle iron size, one of our fits the 1/2 cup mentioned while we have another that is 1/4 cup)
6. Enjoy!

*Store leftovers in an air tight container*

January 2016 Newsletter

Happy New Years!

News From Around the Farm

We hope everyone has had a great holiday season. We spent the majority of it relaxing and spending time with family. Now we are back in the office and starting to get ready for another great year.

2016 is going to be another big year for us. This coming year we expect to have our freeze dried powders back in stock. This summer we will be harvesting black raspberries and aronia berries for the first time. Then this fall we hope to have freeze dried powders of those two berries available for purchase. 

In the immediate future it's time for us to work on pruning our blueberries. We have had our blog post about pruning blueberry plants, and we will be posting a new video about how we prune our blueberry plants coming later this month. 

We Need Your Help!

We are in the mists of making changes and gearing up for new projects. But we need your help! We would appreciate it very much if you could fill out our survey. At the end there is a coupon as a thank you for helping us out. (The link has been fixed since last month)

Click this link to help us out.

Freeze Dried Powder Update:

This month we expect to be reciving our freeze dried powders, & we have packaging on the way. Once those two are here we will be ready to sell our powders! (yay!) We will not have raspberry, or strawberry powders still. When we recieve our powders we will be calling anyone who has been on the waiting list, as well as posting on our socials about it. We would like to thank everyone for their paiotents while we have sorted this whole process out. When our freeze dried powders are out, please use POWDER for 10% off. This coupon will be good for 30 days once we make our powders active on our website. 

Food For Thought

In recent weeks we have seen a rise in nutritional information articles about Black Raspberries, and Aronia berries. Information about Aronia berries is still a bit vague but Black Raspberries have been more and more in the news, and we are delighted. The more information that is out there about their health benefits the better! 

We will be sharing all articles we find on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. But these are a couple of articles that we really like that have been posted recently. 

The Superfood of the year is the black raspberry

Black Raspberry May Be New Superfood: Other Best Superfoods For Weight Loss

We will have Black Raspberries + Aronia Berries available to purchase in the Harvest of 2016. 

Cold Weather Shipping is Back!

We know a lot of you guys have been waiting for our cold weather shipping to come back. For those of you who are new to our site, every winter we are able to offer better shipping prices on our frozen berries. We are able to do this by shipping by ground rather than by 2-day air, which is standard in our store online. To take advantage of our ground shipping this winter, give us a call at 541-752-0460 (10 am to 4 pm, PST). 

Winter + Holiday Office Hours

Our Winter hours are Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST. 

Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars

An easy, one bowl, no-mixer recipe that takes just minutes to make. The crust and crumble topping are one in the same so there’s one less step and one less bowl to wash. Cook Time 30 Minutes Total Time 45 Minutes

Ingredients:

Crust and Crumble Topping
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned whole-rolled oats (don't use quick cook or instant, they're finer and behave like flour and will make mixture too dry)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
pinch salt, optional and to taste

Blueberry Layer
12 ounces (2 cups) blueberries (fresh or frozen; I used frozen and didn't thaw)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside. Lining the pan helps with cleanup and is recommended.
2. Crust and Crumble Topping - In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
3. Add the flour, oats, sugars, optional salt, and stir to combine. Mixture will be dry and sandy with some larger, well-formed crumble pieces.
4. Set 1 heaping cup mixture aside to be sprinkled on later as crumble topping.
5. Transfer remaining mixture to prepared pan, and using a spatula or your fingers, hard-pack the mixture to create an even, smooth, flat crust; set aside.
6. Blueberry Layer - In a large mixing bowl (same one used for crust and crumble is okay), add all ingredients and toss to combine. If sugar hasn't dissolved fully that's okay because it liquifies while baking.
7. Evenly distribute blueberry mixture over the crust.
8. Evenly sprinkle with the reserved heaping 1 cup crumble topping mixture. Before sprinkling, I squeeze the mixture in my palm to encourage bigger crumble pieces to form.
9. Bake for about 55 minutes, or until edges are set and center has just set. Crumble topping should appear set and very pale golden. I used frozen berries without thawing and the pan was very cold going into the oven. If using fresh berries, baking time will be reduced, but I'm not sure by how much, I'd guess at least 10-15 minutes, possibly less. Bars may take longer than 55 minutes if blueberries are very juicy. Watch your bars, not the clock, when evaluating doneness. Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. If you try to slice bars before they've cooled completely, they'll be extremely messy and could fall apart. Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, in the fridge for up to 10 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Blueberry Noel Cookies

Blueberry Noel Cookies

Ingredients:

2- 4oz Salted Butter at room temp.
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 TBSP Milk or Cream
1/2 TSP Vanilla
1/2 TSP Salt
2 1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup chopped Walnuts
3/4 Cup chopped dried SVO blueberries
1/4 Cup extra sugar
Squeeze of Lemon
Red or Green Food Coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  In a medium size bowl mix butter and sugar and mix together until the mixture has a fluffy consistency.
OPTIONAL:  Add red or green food coloring to the batter to make it more festive. Add food coloring to your liking of desired color. 
3. In a separate bowl, Combine milk, vanilla, flour, and salt. Then add the the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until combined.
4. Mix in blueberries and nuts into the rest of the mixture.
5. Take the mixture and roll out into two logs, wrap them in saran wrap, then place in the freezer for 30-60 minutes or until firm.
6. Remove from freezer and unwrap. Place cookie rolls on parchment paper, and cut cookies rounds about 1/4" thick.
7. Place cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet (or lay parchment paper down) and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and cool on racks, then serve and enjoy!

Men' Health Awareness Greek Yogurt + Honey Blueberry Muffins

Healthy Greek Yogurt + Honey Blueberry Muffins

Inspired from Baker by Nature

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup low-fat greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup whole milk (you may use another fat percentage if preferred)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup olive OR coconut oil (if using coconut oil, be sure it is at room temperature)
•     1 cup blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F).
2. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
3. In a large bowl whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl whisk together the yogurt, milk, vanilla, eggs, honey, and oil.
5. Gently fold the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture, and using a spatula, fold until combined, being sure to mix just until all the flour disappears. Fold in blueberries.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin tins, place pan in the oven, and bake for 18 minutes, reducing the heat to 375 degrees after 9 minutes of baking.
7. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before carefully transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.