Tuesday Book Look....Blueberries for Sal ( for Blueberry Month)

July is Blueberry Month. So, this Tuesday's Book Look is a classic "blueberry" book. Blueberries for Sal was written by Robert McCloskey in 1948. It was awarded the Caldecott Honor in 1949 for it's illustrations.

"One day,  Little Sal went with her mother to Blueberry Hill to pick blueberries." So starts the timeless story of Sal, her mother, a momma bear and a cub as they all pick or in the case of Sal and the bears, eat blueberries on Blueberry Hill.  I won't ruin the book for you but it's really cute and lots of fun. (A little hint: at some point Sal and the bear cub get mixed up and follow after the wrong mother but it all turns out well.)

The first activity I thought of for this book was, naturally, cooking with blueberries. But I decided to find at least one none eating activity. My crafts for Blueberries for Sal are making Dye from blueberries, making Blueberry Yogurt Popsicles and a really simple 4 ingredient recipe for Blueberry Cobbler.

How to Make Natural Dye from Blueberries
Materials:
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 quart water
large enamel or stainless steel (not aluminum) pot
wooden or plastic stirring utensil
sieve
container to collect dye
material/items to dye

Directions:

1. Combine blueberries and water in the pot.
2. Simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Crush berries and simmer for another 15 minutes.
4. Strain mixture and discard the berries.
5. Add the material to be colored to the dye.
6. Let the material soak in the dye until the desired color intensity is reached.
7. Wash dyed item separately in cold water.

Blueberry Yogurt Popsicles
You'll need:
12 paper or foil baking cups, 2 1/2 inch size
Zest and juices of one small lemon
2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
1 pint blueberries
12 popsicle sticks

1. Line twelve muffin pan cups with the paper or foil baking cups.
2. In a bowl, blend the lemon zest, lemon juice, yogurt, and sugar until smooth.
3. Stir in the blueberries.
4. Divide the mixture amount the paper-lined muffin pan cups.
5. Freeze for 1 1/2 hours, or until almost firm. Remove from the freezer, cover with plastic wrap and insert a popsiscle stick in the middle of each popsicle.
6. Return to the freeze and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.
7. To serve, peel off the paper liners and let the popsicles stand at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly.

Easy Blueberry Cobbler
1 (21 oz.) can blueberry pie filling
1 (8 oz.) can unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained
1 (9 oz.) pkg. yellow cake mix
1/3 c. butter, melted

1. Spoon pie filling into a lightly greased 8-inch square baking dish.
2. Spoon pineapple over pie filling.
3. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over pineapple.
4. Drizzle butter over cake mix.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes.