Valentine's and Blueberries

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!  I was happily surprised when the FedEx man showed up at my door with beautiful red roses:

They're gorgeous and came with a lot of pretty greens instead of baby's breath, which was nice.  Baby's breath always makes me think of funerals...is that weird?  Probably.  Anyhow, I was excited about these and about the ice cream cake.  I'm not really a jewelry girl and Chad knows this, so he went out to Mitchell's Ice Cream (possibly the best ice cream place ever.  If you find yourself in Northeast Ohio ever, do go) and came home with a cookies 'n cream cake.  He knows me too well.

As part of his present, I made him blueberry bars.  Seriously, that boy could eat an entire pan of these in one sitting and it's possible that that very thing has happened.  Possibly.  I got the recipe here and have made it tons of times.  It's easy and will make your house smell like delicious blueberries (or raspberries, blackberries, or whichever berry you choose to use).  This time of year, I buy frozen.  They're cheaper and will last a long time in the freezer until summer comes and you can get better fresh ones.

You'll need:

not pictured:  baking soda

1 cup flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 stick butter
2 cups blueberries
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, divided
1 T. lemon juice
2-3 T. sugar (depending on how tart or sweet you want your bars to be)
2 T. water
1 tsp. salt
1/8 t. baking soda

Stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, 1/4 t. cinnamon, and baking soda. 

 Melt the stick of butter and stir into flour mixture.  Reserve 1 cup of the mixture and press the rest into an ungreased 8X8 baking dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

 While that's baking, put the blueberries, lemon juice, remaining cinnamon, water, and sugar into a saucepan over medium heat. 

Don't those look delicious?  They make me think of summer.

 Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and lightly breaking up the blueberries (don't mash).  When the crust is finished baking, pop it out of the oven and pour the blueberry mixture on top.  Crumble and sprinkle the cup of reserved oats on top, then stick it back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes.

Last step:  try not to eat them all at once.  Good luck.

I hope your Valentine's Day was lovely.  I leave you with a picture of my Valentines (minus Howard, who had better things to do than pose for a picture.  Like bark at the squirrel outside he will never, ever catch). 

See those sweet, pudgy fingers?  Her Daddy is wrapped around Every. Single. One.  Love them :)

~Stacy