We Have Blueberries Too

I love summer fruit.  In fact, summer is the one time of the year that I  choose fruit over say, ice cream.  That's saying something, because I love ice cream.

Summer fruit is delicious.  Sometimes.

Yes, sometimes.

Here's the thing.  Most fruit is picked early so that it can be shipped without being damaged.  This is great because it all looks really pretty in the grocery store.  On the other hand, peaches and nectarines are often hard as rocks, and strawberries are flavorless.  Now what's the fun in that?

Despite having enough kale and zucchini to sink a ship, both of my CSA subscriptions have been shall we say, a little light on the fruit.  So far, all I've had in the fruit department is a pint or two of strawberries (delicious), and a couple of pints of absolutely divine blueberries.  Both just made me hungry for more.

So imagine my glee, yes glee, when one of my CSA's offered for sale additional flats of blueberries.  I jumped at the opportunity without considering that a flat of blueberries is 12 pints of blueberries.  That's a lot of blueberries.

But not to worry.  Not only are these blueberries beyond delicious on their own, they are equally sublime in this quick and easy blueberry loaf cake.

Now I can have my blueberries and eat them too.

Recipe:  Blueberry Banana Almond Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup slice almonds

Directions:

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Butter and flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and almond extract until well blended.  Stir in the bananas.  Toss the blueberries with just a pinch of the flour mixture, and carefully combine.  Add the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the almonds on top.  Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.