FUEL YOUR FROZEN WITH
BC BLUEBERRIES
The small but mighty frozen BC blueberry is the perfect winter sports snack pairing. With BC blueberries, you’re not only fuelling up with something sweet, delicious, and healthy, you’re also taking your sport snacking to all new levels—talk about being powered by nature.
Let Frozen BC Blueberries Fuel Your Frozen Fun
The small but mighty frozen BC blueberry is the perfect winter sports snack pairing
As any snow sports fanatic can attest, the cold can really take it out of you. This is why it’s so important to fuel up properly before, during and after your winter sporting endeavours. With BC blueberries, you’re not only fuelling up with something sweet, delicious, and healthy, you’re also taking your sport snacking to all new levels—talk about being powered by nature.
But where to find BC blueberries in the middle of winter? In a slightly ironic twist, if you head for the freezer aisle, you’ll find frozen BC blueberries which serve just as well as fresh in fuelling your chilly fun! Plus, we’ve got a duo of freeze-tastic snacking-on-the-go recipes, using frozen blueberries, designed to keep you powering through powder for hours, no problem.
No Bake Blueberry Cocoa Seed Bites
The ultimate on-the-go power bite.
Ingredients
1 cup (150 g) B.C. blueberries, fresh or frozen
½ cup (75 g) Shredded unsweetened coconut, plus extra ¾ cup for coating
½ cup (75 g) Pitted dates, chopped
½ cup (30 g) Unsalted raw sunflower seeds
⅓ cup (25 g) Dried blueberries
⅓ cup (80 ml) Sunflower or nut butter
¼ cup (25 g) Cocoa powder
2 tbsp (25 g) Flax seeds
2 tbsp (25 g) Hemp hearts
1 tbsp (15 ml) Coconut oil or softened butter
2 tsp (10 ml) Lemon juice
1 tsp (5 ml) Cinnamon
¼ tsp (pinch) Salt
Directions
In a food processor fitted with the S blade, pulse all the ingredients (scrape down the sides every few pulses) until combined into a crumbly mixture, but not pureed.
Remove blade and refrigerate for 15 minutes if mixture seems too moist.
Moisten fingers with water and form into 1½ ” bite size balls.
Roll in shredded unsweetened coconut to coat.
Blueberry Jam Almond Bars
Jammy blueberry on-the-go goodness to lift the spirits and the stamina.
Ingredients
3 cups (450 g) B.C. Blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup (160 g) Sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) Orange zest
1 tbsp (15 mL) Orange juice
¾ cup (180 g) Salted butter, softened
1 cup (150 g) Brown sugar
1 cup (150 g) Whole wheat flour
1½ cups (150 g) Old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup (125 g) Ground almonds
1 tsp (5 mL) Cinnamon
1 tsp (5 mL) Baking powder
Directions
Position oven rack in the centre and pre-heat to 350°F/175°C.
In a saucepan, bring the blueberries, sugar, orange zest and orange juice to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring frequently for 15-20 minutes until reduced by almost half. Set aside to cool completely.
Lightly grease a 9″ x 9” baking pan and line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar for a minute until fluffy.
In another bowl, mix the flour, oats, almonds, cinnamon and baking powder.
In three intervals, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and mix with a spoon until crumbly.
Press ¾ of the crumb mixture to the bottom of the lined pan and pour the cooled blueberry jam over top. Sprinkle with the remaining crumb mixture and press down lightly.
Bake for 37-40 minutes until golden brown.
Allow to cool at room temperature, then refrigerate until cold and cut 3” into bars.
Love Pie (Especially Blueberry)? There’s a Day for That!
Which is the most superior of all the pies and why is it BC blueberry pie?
“Yes please; blueberry pie for me, thank you!” Says everyone always.
Given how loved blueberry pie is – and pie in general if we’re being fair – it’s little wonder that pie lovers the world over have come up with not one, not two, but three days to celebrate this concoction of buttery crust and whatever your favourite filling may be. Of course, should you choose to celebrate each of these pie days with a blueberry pie of some description, we’ve got BC blueberry pie recipes aplenty to help you keep it interesting.
Read on for all the juicy details about the three celebrations of pies, with each day designed to give you license to reach for the pie.
National Pi Day – March 14th
Technically speaking, one of the three “pie days” – National Pi Day – isn’t a celebration of pie the food, but rather of pi the equation. But who are we to deny anyone another excuse to eat pie? To be sure, there’ll be no pie-denying around here!
National Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Why is Pi Day observed on March 14? Because the 3/14 month/day format mimics the first three significant figures of π – 3, 1, and 4. It was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an employee of the San Francisco, California science museum, the Exploratorium.
You know what else is a constant? Humanity’s collective love of pie – which explains why so many choose to observe National Pi Day by eating, and sharing, pie.
Our pick for National Pi Day? Blueberry Pocket Pies (made using frozen BC blueberries) – easy for eating on the go… even during math class.
National Blueberry Pie Day – April 28th
Finally, we come to National Blueberry Pie Day – the best of all the pie days (we say with bias). Observed on April 28th and a great way to use frozen BC blueberries, National Blueberry Pie Day has no set inaugural date. What we do know, is that the very first blueberry pie recipe was published by Mrs. Bliss in the “Practical Cook Book” in 1850. Mrs. Bliss indeed.
With Spring in the air, but fresh blueberries not quite ready yet, our blueberry pie pick for this celebration is a kid-friendly No Bake Frozen Blueberry Pie recipe.
National Pie Day – January 23rd
National Pie Day – a celebration of pies of every kind – was baked into the calendar of ‘celebratory days’ in the mid-1970s by an American nuclear engineer, brewer and teacher named Charlie Papazian. Charlie loved pies so much that he declared his own birthday, January 23, to be National Pie Day. This day would later become sponsored by the American Pie Council.
Unsurprisingly, given that it involves guilt-free indulgence of pie, National Pie Day has become a world-wide celebration.
Here in Canada, and in BC specifically, we like to celebrate National Pie Day with a traditional Blueberry Lattice Top Pie – consider it an ode to both traditional pie-making techniques and delicious frozen BC blueberries which are abundantly available in the freezer aisle of your grocery store.
Happy Pie Days, all, but please do remember this: you never need an excuse to make blueberry pie.
NATIONAL BLUEBERRY PANCAKE DAY
January 28th is National Blueberry Pancake Day. Celebrate with the perfect vegan blueberry recipe. Our fluffy BC Blueberry pancakes contain a big burst of berry flavour in each bite. They are a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.
Healthy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
1/2 cup oat flour
1 cup almond flour
1 cup BC blueberries, frozen or fresh (plus lots more for topping)
2 tbsp flax seed + 5 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 mashed banana (1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup almond milk
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp Apple cider vinegar
Directions
In a large bowl, mix the oat flour, almond flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.
Mix flax seed and water and set aside for 5-10 minutes until it forms a gel-like consistency.
In a separate bowl, mix mashed banana, almond milk, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, and flaxseed + water mixture.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix together, then add the 1 cup of blueberries to the batter.
Heat pan or griddle to medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Scoop batter onto pan in small pancake shapes (2-3 small spoonfuls of batter per pancake). **Note: smaller pancakes will be much easier to flip – when using almond/oat flour it can be harder to flip pancakes so by making them smaller makes it easier to work with (plus you get more pancakes!)
Let cook for 5-6 minutes or until bubbles form on the top, and when you can comfortably get a spatula underneath the pancake to flip it without breaking the pancake in half, it is cooked enough to flip. Flip the pancake and let it cook for another 1-2 minutes and then remove from the pan.
Top with more blueberries and whatever pancake syrup you would like. Maple syrup pairs really nicely with this, as does a drizzle of peanut butter or almond butter.
