Grammy Jan's Visit, Isabella's Birthday, Blueberry picking, and a Delicious Treat

Chris' mother is visiting this week and we've been having fun spending time with her. Isabella celebrated her 3rd birthday (on the 4th of July) and we had a friend party on the 10th. Of course after two-three weeks of hardly any rain we had a deluge during her party. Thankfully it didn't stop us (and Isabella!) from having fun.

Friends of ours let us borrow a giant blow up waterslide for the party and the kids played on it even though it was raining. We had two good outside times and two inside times while it poured. Izzy had her "rooster" cake and we all had a blast. Five years ago, I would have a been a big ball of stress, but having kids and finding peace with running has mellowed me out a bit. I still have my ever-expanding book of rules, but at least I can do it with a smile instead of gritting my teeth.

Getting back to what this post was supposed to be about...blueberry picking and the delicious (I hope!) breads I made as a result. We always take Grammy Jan blueberry picking when she visits. The place we go to is around the corner (about 2 1/2 miles from our house) and it's a good time by all. We stuff our faces with blueberries while we pick, take silly pictures and overall enjoy the hour or so in the fields. Doe Orchards also has raspberry bushes, peaches and apples in the Fall. We end up there a bunch of times in the summer for the blueberries and I think we picked apples at least three times last year.

I first thought about making a blueberry lemon pound cake, but then thought that would be too fattening -- with all the butter and sour cream. So then I decided I would find a recipe that was lower in fat and chose a coffee cake type recipe with yogurt. I thought I'd use Greek yogurt and since the grocery I went to was out of Fage, I picked the one that had the least amount of sugar, which happened to be Cabot. It turns out that I was so focused on the sugar, I forgot to see if it was non fat. And guess what -- it was whole milk. So much for a low fat version! I ended up putting a streusel with a small amount of butter on top with brown sugar. I did use whole wheat flour and I used a loaf pan (mistake #2). Thankfully, I used enough non-stick spray, it was easy to get out and the cake looks good. At least I think it does. It's still too warm to cut, but we plan on taking some to the Fruitlands band concert tonight. Grammy Jan is only here two more nights and then she returns to Edmonton.

I'll let you know how it tastes. And the miles I need to run to work it off!