Family Meal Plan: Bodacious Blueberry Muffin + Luscious Lemon Ricotta Drizzle + Breezy Blueberry Lemonade

Bodacious Blueberry Muffin in a Mug

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• crack :

  to break open or apart a food to get what's inside, like an egg or a coconut.

• dip :

  to briefly put a solid food, such as chips, fries, battered fried fish, hot sandwich (French dip), or veggie slices, into a liquid, like beef broth or a thicker sauce, like ketchup, dressing, or a dip to impart moisture and extra flavor to the solid food.

• drizzle :

  to trickle a thin stream of a liquid ingredient, like icing or sauce, over food.

• fold :

  to gently and slowly mix a light ingredient into a heavier ingredient so as not to lose air and to keep the mixture tender, such as incorporating whipped egg whites into a cake batter or folding blueberries into pancake batter; folding is a gentler action than mixing or whisking.

• juice :

  to extract or squeeze out the juice of a fruit or vegetable, like a lemon, orange, or carrot, often cutting open or peeling the fruit or veggie first to access its flesh.

• mash :

  to reduce food, like potatoes or bananas, to a soft, pulpy state by beating or pressure.

• measure :

  to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

• microwave :

  to heat or cook food or liquid quickly in a microwave oven, which uses high-frequency electromagnetic waves to generate heat in the food's water molecules.

• mix :

  to thoroughly combine two or more ingredients until uniform in texture.

• slice :

  to cut into thin pieces using a sawing motion with your knife.

• tear :

  to pull or rip apart a food, like basil leaves, into pieces instead of cutting with a knife; cutting breaks cell walls more, so herbs can discolor faster.

• whisk :

  to beat or stir ingredients vigorously with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air.

• zest :

  to scrape off the outer colored part of a citrus fruit's rind (skin or peel) using a metal tool with small sharp blades, such as a zester, microplane, or the small holes of a grater (avoid the "pith," the white, spongy lining of the rind that can be bitter).

History of Blueberry Muffins!

• Blueberry muffins originated with the Pilgrims, English settlers who came to America in 1620. When they arrived in the land that would become the United States, they discovered they could no longer make their favorite baked bilberry treat. Similar to blueberries, bilberries did not exist in the new land, but they soon discovered wild blueberries!
• A baked pudding made of dried, crushed blueberries, cracked corn, and water, known as "sautauthig" (sawí-taw-teeg), was commonly eaten by Native Americans long before the European settlers came. Many historians believe that "sautauthig" was served on the table when the first Thanksgiving was celebrated.
• The English settlers added flour, yeast, milk, sugar, and butter to wild blueberries to make muffins. A muffin was mentioned for the first time in print in England in 1703, but it was spelled "moofin." 
• The blueberry muffin is the official muffin of Minnesota. While studying state foods in their social studies class, third-graders from Carlton, Minnesota's South Terrace Elementary School, suggested that the blueberry muffin should be the official state muffin. In 1988, the Minnesota legislature granted their wish.
• National Blueberry Muffin Day is July 11th!

Let's Learn About the Pilgrims!

• A pilgrim is someone who travels to a foreign place, sometimes for religious reasons.
• The Pilgrims or Pilgrim Fathers founded Plymouth Colony in 1620, the second English colony in North America after Jamestown. They were originally known as the Old Comers. The word Pilgrims was used to describe this group in the 1800s.
• About one-third of the Pilgrims were Separatist Puritans, desiring to purify or simplify the Church of England. They came to North America, hoping to practice their religion freely and build fuller lives.
• With funding from a company in London, a group of 35 Separatists and 67 other English settlers, led by William Bradford, left Plymouth, England, aboard the Mayflower on September 16, 1620. 
• The voyage to the new land took 66 days, and they landed on Cape Cod, in what is now Massachusetts, on November 21, 1620. They had been planning to land in what is now New York, but storms had pushed the ship off course.
• The men quarreled about where they should settle. Bradford helped convince the passengers to stay together. While still on the ship, nearly all the men signed the Mayflower Compact.
• In December 1620, they settled in the new land, calling their new home Plymouth. The Pilgrims' first winter was a difficult one. The weather was cold, food supplies were low, and many became ill. By the spring of 1621, more than half of the group had died.
• A Native American man named Samosen brought the Pilgrims into contact with the Wampanoag people and introduced them to Squanto. They and Plymouth's first governor, John Carver, arranged a peace treaty between the English and the Wampanoag. Squanto also helped the newcomers plant corn.
• In the fall of 1621, the harvest was good. To celebrate, the roughly 50 surviving Pilgrims held a feast. In addition to harvested grains and vegetables, they prepared seafood and fowl—ducks, geese, and possibly turkey. They were probably surprised when a group of about 90 Wampanoag arrived. But the Wampanoag offered to share their deer meat, and the groups spent time together peacefully for three days. This event became known as the first Thanksgiving.
• Slowly, the colony became successful. The colonists grew crops, raised livestock, and traded with Native Americans.
• In 1715, a "great rock" was mentioned in town boundary records—about one-third remains. Plymouth Rock, with the date 1620 carved on it in 1880, can be seen at the spot where the Pilgrims first disembarked at Plymouth Harbour in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A portico was built to cover the rock in 1921. Visitors to Pilgrim Memorial State Park can learn more about the rock from guides from April to November. The Memorial to the Forefathers is also located in the park.