|
1.5 water to 1 fruit ratio, put it in a plastic tub and drop 'em in the fridge. 24 hours later, they're really blueberries. (This is according the the self-sufficiency guides I inherited from my parents and it works with dried cherries and dried cranberries. I'll try it this weekend with dried blueberries.)
As an aside: DH, a Gulf War Vet, said to locate a military field cook and pick zer brain - put a notice in Craig's List or even the lounge. The situation you're in is exactly the situation that most field messes deal with - weird supplies, limited time, inexperienced hands, and a budget that would make a miser blanch. He was not a field cook, but said that given your restraints, he'd do a steamed cobbler (like I've listed below)
Once they're blueberries, then drain them of any excess water (there won't be much). Grease the crockpot. Drop half the berries in the bottom, then mix a plain cake or a cheap cake or a one-egg cake recipe (and these are exactly what they sound like - very inexpensive cake recipes) and drop half the cake recipe on top of the cake. Repeat. (Cake recipe below.) Don't sweeten the berries - that's what the cake is for.
Basically, what you're doing here is making a steamed pudding that will work like a cobbler. (I've copy-pasted a steamed blueberry pudding from SOAR below; very similar concept, but you wouldn't need to do the coffee can thing - though you could - then just fill the crock pot with water and put it on high.)
Another option would be blueberry cornbread - especially if for any reason you can think of a tie-in with an American History class. Dried blueberries mixed into corn cakes pretty much were a winter staple in the New England colonies. So a sweetened corn polenta with blueberries would be very appropriate, inexpensive and tasty. (I like stewed blueberries in various porridges so...)
STEAMED BLUEBERRY PUDDING Recipe By : Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Puddings Desserts Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 2 c Sifted flour 1 1/2 ts Baking powder 1/2 ts Salt 1/2 c Shortening 1/2 c Dry bread crumbs 1/2 c Sugar 1 Egg, beaten 2/3 c Milk 1 1/2 c Blueberries Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in shortening and add bread crumbs and sugar. Add egg and milk, mix thoroughly and carefully fold in blueberries. Pour into greased mold, cover and steam for 2 hours. Serve with any sweet pudding sauce.
This is the blueberry-polenta mix I make (I just don't use bananas because I don't like them and I use vanilla yogurt instead, increasing the yogurt to about 1 cup.)
That Blueberry Banana Polenta Thing 2 very ripe bananas 1 cup corn flour (maybe *fine* ground corn meal, at your own risk) 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (might add wheat germ to increase fiber) 2 T. honey (sorry, I think I've seen honey used before on this list) 1 T. Succanat (or 3 T. Succanat and no honey for vegans) (or plain sugar...) 1/2 cup water (or use *nonfat* milk, juice, or soy moo) 1 1/2 tsp. Ener-g egg replacer (or 1 egg white) 1/2 tsp. baking soda (or slightly less) 2 T. nonfat yogurt (this is needed to make the baking soda work) 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (or as much as you can handle, ie. more...) 1/2 tsp. cardamom (ditto) 1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh) Preparation: Mash bananas with a potato masher, add all remaining ingredients, except for blueberries. Stir well. Lightly oil crockpot. Pour batter into crockpot Sprinkle top with blueberries, the more the better. Blueberries won't sink to the bottom, so you have to press them down if you want to get even more of them in. Cook for 3-4 hours. Serve warm. This will taste quite rich, the warm melted blueberries get runny and yummy!
(Note: if you use yogurt and serve with yogurt on the side, it would be a complete meal.)
Cheap Cake: 3/4 c Sugar 1/4 c Shortening 1/4 ts Salt 1 ts Vanilla 1 Egg 1 1/2 c Flour 1/2 c Milk 2 ts Baking powder Instructions: Cream shortening and sugar. Add unbeaten egg. Add flavoring. Beat thoroughly. Sift flour, measure, and sift with salt and baking powder. Add alternately with milk to creamed shortening and sugar. Pour into well-oiled loaf pan. Bake in moderate oven (375 F) 35 minutes.
|