What? I've Gone How Many Weeks Without Posting a New Recipe?!

Well I don't know about you but lately, I've been having quite the hankering for fruit. It's weird, I know. I'm retardedly picky about fruit. I can't eat bananas because they make me feel like a truck ran over my gut. And don't give me any of yer 'fancy fruits' either - none of this mango and guava and *shudder* papaya. I like citrus fruits of almost any kind, some apples, pineapple, cherries in certain preparations, nectarines, peaches, most berries, and grapes. I think that might be it.

Living in North Central Washington really ruined me for fruit. With fresh fruit available more months of the year than not and several friends with orchards, you get spoiled pretty quickly. You've really never tasted a nectarine until you've tasted one picked just that morning - Oh sweet, sweet Independence, sweet, sweet Flavortop - how I miss you! Finding a decent peach up here in No Man's Land is like trying to find a cheeseburger on an Arctic ice floe.

That said, one thing Maine really has going for it is blueberries. Wild blueberries have twice the nutritional value that cultivated blueberries have and they are readily available in the freezer section at our favourite Super W-mart. They're also reasonably cheap. So last night I set out with the intention of making blueberry pudding cake because it's three Tastes of Amazingness in one title: Blueberry. Pudding. Cake. Mmmmm....What can go wrong?

Let's check out the recipe, shall we?

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh or (thawed) frozen blueberries (wild are best, regular are okay)
Juice and rind from one lemon (I used rind from an orange and 1/4 lemon juice because we didn't have a fresh lemon around)

1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup sugar (the recipe calls for 2/3 but I used 1/3 and it tasted just fine)
1/2 cup milk or soymilk
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter (or whatever you use at your house)
1 teaspoon vanilla

very scant 3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Mix the blueberries and lemon rind/juice and spread in the bottom of a lightly greased casserole dish or 8" square pan.
2. Mix dry ingredients (flour - sugar) in a bowl. Mix milk, egg, butter, vanilla in a separate bowl, then incorporate into dry ingredients. Spread batter over blueberries.
3. Combine sugar and cornstarch. Sprinkle over batter. Pour boiling water over the sugar/cornstarch mixture.
4. Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes.

Total prep time (including baking) is about an hour. You'll want to let it cool slightly before you eat it so you don't burn your insides. It might be good with some whipped cream or ice cream, but then again, it's quite fabulous on its own. The recipe makes four very big servings, 6 medium servings, or 8 'sample size' (or 'pointless') servings. Enjoy!