Huckleberries for the Holidays

Weather youandrsquo;re eating a scrumptious huckleberry pie or feasting on warm huckleberry sauce over vanilla ice cream this holiday season, huckleberries are sure to be a crowd favorite. Wild blue huckleberries look like a small blueberry however they possess a much stronger, sweeter flavor. Huckleberries are perfectly more tart and perfectly more sweet then a blueberry making them perfect for desserts. Huckleberries also have twice as many antioxidants in them as wild blueberries making them a very healthy treat too. I will share with you three of my favorite holiday recipes using wild huckleberries purchased online from Northwest Wild Foods.

So first is my favorite recipe, a Huckleberry/Apple slump. This recipe is extremely simple to make. It requires a few basic ingredients; 10 minutes prep time, 1 hour bake time and boom, a great tasting holiday dessert that will be sure to impress all your loved ones. Your ingredients will include 1.5 lbs of wild blue huckleberries, 1 box of yellow cake mix, 1 cube of butter and one thinly sliced apple. The apple and huckleberry flavors together make an irresistible combination. So let the huckleberries thaw for a few minutes, they donandrsquo;t need to be unthawed and place them into a 9 x 9 baking pan. Put your thinly sliced apple over the huckleberries then coat that with the yellow cake mix. Melt your butter in the microwave and simply pour the melted butter over the yellow cake mix. Put it into the oven at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and bam, a wonderful dessert. This is so easy to make and great tasting too. It goes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!!!

Recipe two is another extremely delicious and easy huckleberry recipe. I call this my Simply Delicious Huckleberry Topping. And thatandrsquo;s exactly what it is. This recipe can easily be expanded for the whole family or just for yourself. Simply take two cups of frozen huckleberries, add them to a sauce pan over low heat and let them warm up. This will unthaw them and create lots of juice quickly. After they are warm add andfrac12; cup sugar, 2/3 cup of water 1 andfrac12; tablespoons of cornstarch and andfrac12; teaspoon of lemon juice to the huckleberries and let all the ingredients heat and mix. You can add more cornstarch if you desire the sauce thicker but this should be a good consistency. Let this mixture cool for 10 or 20 minutes and pour over ice cream. This will quickly turn any ice cream to the best tasting youandrsquo;ve ever had. Enjoy!!!

My final huckleberry recipe is a well known holiday favorite, the wild huckleberry pie. My basic recipe calls for 5 cups or 1.5 lbs of blue huckleberries, 5 Tablespoons of cornstarch, 2 cups of sugar, 4 tablespoons of tapioca, 1 teaspoon and 3 dabs of butter. Mix all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and pour into the bottom of a pie shell of a 9 inch pie pan. Dot the top of the huckleberry mixture with 3 dabs of butter and cover with the top of the pie shell. Crimp the pie crust to your desire. To bake preheat the oven to 450 degrees. When the oven is heated bake the pie for 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 350 and continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes or until the filling starts to bubble over and the crust is golden brown. Cool the pie on a rack and serve. This will make a wonderful pie everyone will love. Enjoy!!!

Holiday Gift Ideas
It is that time of the year again, when hearts are filled with joy. One great way to shorten that gift list is to give gift baskets. It is a unique solution because it can be a hit with casual recipients or close, personal friends. It is the time to rejoice and the time to cherish. It is the time to give and the time to share. It is holiday time. If you are new to this whole idea of gift baskets and want to take the short route, explore online shops that specialize in this. And what better way is there to rejoice and cherish than to give gifts to friends and loved ones.

When you do this it’s good to remember a few important things order early. For moms or for dads, for kids or for grandparents, holiday gift baskets will double the joy of the celebration. The other tip is just as important avoid disappointment. For friends or for co-workers or for the whole family if it’s a vendor you are unfamiliar with, contact them to confirm that the basket will contain the items listed on their site. If the recipient doesn’t care for some of the items, they can always serve them at a party. Holiday gift baskets can say it like nothing else can. Every holiday brings a special flavor, a special mood. Depending on your budget you could include gift certificates to a coffeehouse or pastry shop. There are little things, little joys associated with each holiday.

Other items you might include could be a box of note cards or a small book of quotes. And there is a special gift basket for each holiday that can bring out the essence of the season. For close friends you probably have a good idea of what they would enjoy. A fall harvest gift basket is filled with chocolate covered dried fruits, roasted nuts and dried fruit and cookies. Gourmet food items like fruits, chocolates and cheeses are all time favorites. It is so redolent of all the aromas of the season and will bring back sweet memories.

A basket of fresh flowers or sweet smelling fruits will be well received on any holiday. Such things like a ball cap with an inscription, or a pair of tickets to an event, or box of note cards that fit’s the theme. A picnic gift basket or a movie gift basket with videos, popcorn and drinks can be a wonderful way for loved ones to enjoy a holiday. If you are talented in the kitchen, homemade goods could be a good fit, mixed with exotic fruits, cheeses or sweets to give a well rounded theme. Just get into the holiday mood and select the perfect gift basket and carefully pick each gift to go in the basket. If you decide to include some of your own creations be sure they are nicely packaged.