Cascadian Farm Organic Goodness

This past weekend I was on a mission. Inspired by an amazing stack of Vanilla Blueberry Almond Pancakes (at my favorite breakfast spot, the Coffee Cup) I was determined to bake a loaf of bread that combined those delicious flavors. And since I love baking Banana Bread, because it’s so quick and easy, I wanted to come up with a bread recipe for the summer time – using blueberries. This bread makes a perfect breakfast or snack with your afternoon tea. Add a glaze, it’s a tasty dessert. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did – I baked 3 loaves!

1 cup organic blueberries, washed and dried

1/4 cup sliced almonds (plus a few more to sprinkle on top)

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (plus ¼ cup to coat berries & nuts)

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Pre-heat the oven to 325°. Grease a 8.5” x 4.5” loaf pan.

Toss the berries and almonds with 1/4 cup of flour to keep them from sinking in the batter.

In a large bowl, combine 1 ½ cups of flour, oats, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Fold in the almonds and blueberries.

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and bake for 55 - 65 minutes, rotating the pan partway through. Allow bread to cool completely before slicing.

Photos by Kari Burks

It's February, and if you're anything like me, now is the time when you start wishing for the thaw.  The snow has come, I had fun, and now, well, now I'm ready to plant my garden.  This time of year definitely has me digging deep into my freezer to pull out the frozen products from last year's gardening efforts.  I use my pesto stash much more freely, and a few days ago, I pulled out a few containers of shredded zucchini that I had parboiled and just slightly and frozen.

While I had been overwhelmed by the amount of zucchini my single plant seemed to produce last year, seeing those white and green shreds packed deep in my freezer were a welcome contrast to my overcast, gray winter days.  If you don't have your own, don't worry.  Just buy a bag of frozen pieces and send them through the food processor.

I had planned on making zucchini bread loaves when I originally took my zucchini out of the freezer to thaw, but my mind was changed indefinitely when I visited Deb's blog and saw these.  I instantly started dreaming of a creamy orange-kissed center inside my favorite quick bread mix.  It didn't disappoint.