Food and Hearts: Homemade Blueberry Soda



I came across this little gem the other day whilst I was perusing Pinterest a while back. My son loves soda. He can hear a can pop open from the other side of the house. He knows he can’t have any, but every time he asks, “coke?” No, no coke for you buddy! So I thought this might be a tasty alternative to try out. I got the inspiration from here. The only real difference is I used some awesome local honey I scored at our local flea market instead of the sugar. Basically, soda is a simple syrup combined with some carbonated water. So, here we go!

Homemade Blueberry Soda

What you need for the blueberry version (you can get creative and use any kind of fruit you want, I’m going to try strawberries next time!)

Ingredients:

 

• 12oz bag of frozen blueberries (no sugar added) ; thawed
•  ¼ c. honey
•  seltzer water or club soda ( I used seltzer water and got the 6 pack of mini bottles)

And that’s it! Easy peasy.

Directions:

      1. First heat your pot to medium heat and add your thawed blueberries and their juices and stir in the honey. 

      2. Bring contents of pot to a boil, then reduce heat and let it do its thang! And by that, I mean reduce by half. 20-30 minutes. Just keep an eye on it, you do not want burnt blueberries! When it looks about done, get a potato masher and mash those bad boys to release more juices and simmer a few minutes more. 

      3. Next, strain the whole thing into a cup. I used my handy mesh strainer that came with my juicer. 

      4. You should probably wait for it to cool before using, but I couldn’t wait and had to try some J. Get a big ol' glass and put some ice in it. Add the syrup (I used about 2 tbsp, but I really think it needed more) and top with your seltzer! Now this part is all about personal preference. If you like more carbonation, then by all means add more! Just experiment with what tastes good to you!

And another plus, I finally found something to put in those coffee creamer containers I’ve been saving!

 Hope you enjoy this, I will definitely be experimenting more with some different flavors in the future. Cheers!

The little man casually enjoying his soda!

Blueberry Peach Bundt for 4th!

Mr. P and I were invited to a fellow couple's 4th of July gathering. She if a fellow pinner (and suuupper friend! <3) who will be moving to Colorado very soon. :(

She's also a grilling queen. She listed off a Cajun themed feast like no other. I got to provide part of the dessert. Another baking goddess came who made the best most perfect sugar cookies on the planet. She totally told me where she found the recipe. (Maybe I'll share some other time! ;p )

On my search for a "Cajun" dessert I came to a screeching halt. Bananas were out, the hostess didn't like them and the baking goddess's hubby was allergic I found out later! (wosh, close call!) The hostess's hubby isn't a chocolate fan, and Mr. P doesn't like strawberries or cherries. What am I going to do?! Found a picture of a delicious looking Blueberry Peach Bundt cake on Pinterest. I get to the site and it's all in Spanish. I can only comprehend the most minimal of Spanish. The pictures of the cake are so enticing, I know I must, absolutely must, make this exact recipe. So, I translate each line and try to comprehend what a free translator spits out. I did a pretty damn good job. To lighten such a heavy bundt cake, I decided to slice it in half and make a yummy layer of my new favorite icing. It's my now "go to" whipped cream cheese frosting from the Pumpkin Praline Cake.

So, here's my version in English!

Blueberry Peach Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, smoothed out.
• 2 cups sugar 
•  6 eggs 
• 1 tsp Almond Extract
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• about 3 1/2 cups. of flour 
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.
• 1/2 cup of sour cream.
• 2 cups peach preserves
• 1 cup of blueberries

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar in electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
3. Combine the extracts and beat well.
4. In a seperate bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix well.
5. Alternate adding the flour mixture and sour cream to the creamed sugar/butter. Finishing with the flour.
6. Fold the blueberries and peach preserves into batter.
7. Pour into greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 F for 60-70 minutes. (It began to rain on the day I made mine, so I had to leave it in a little longer)
8. When toothpick inserted comes out clean remove and let cool 15 minutes.
9. Release from pan to cool completely.

I whipped up the frosting right before we left for the party, made a layer to the cake, and piled on the whipped goodness. I garnished the cake with about a peach and a half sliced and the remaining blueberries.

Muy Bueno!