January 28 is National Blueberry Pancake Day. Blueberries are nutritious and have a number of health benefits, including (according to a USDA study) slowing the aging process.

Celebrate the day with this recipe for Blueberry Cinnamon Pancakes:

2 cups Sifted flour
3 teaspoons Baking powder
1/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup Shortening, melted
2 Lightly beaten eggs
1 1/4 cup fresh blueberries

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add milk, shortening and eggs. Mix lightly and stir in blueberries. Spoon batter onto lightly greased hot griddle. Cook on both sides, turning once.

This recipe from CDKitchen.com serves four.

^{(photo credit: istockphoto)}

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National Blueberry Pancake Day

Australia Day is also when the Australian Prime Minister announces the annual “Australian of the Year” award. This year’s winner is country singer, Lee Kernaghan. Past winners have included opera singer, Dame Joan Sutherland; cricketer, Steve Waugh; and tennis player, Evonne Goolagong.

Happy Australia Day to all of our friends “Down Under.”

^{(image provided courtesy of australiaday.gov.au)}

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Australia Day

January 24 is National Peanut Butter Day. In honor of this nutty occasion, here are some peanut butter facts:

• Georgia is the #1 peanut producing state, but did you know that Texas is #2?

• Peanut butter was first sold at the Universal Exposition of 1904 in St. Louis.

• It takes 772 peanuts to make a 16.3 oz jar of peanut butter.

• The peanut is not a nut, but a legume related to beans and lentils.

• The average American consumes more than six pounds of peanuts and peanut butter products each year.

• Americans eat more than 700 million pounds of peanut butter each year.

• Two peanut farmers have been elected president of the USA – Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.

^{(photo credit: istockphoto)}

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National Peanut Butter Day

Gold was discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Central California on January 24, 1848, an event that changed that state’s history. The strike happened at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, about 60 miles east of Sacramento. Over 300,000 fortune-seekers, from all over the world, journeyed to the area within six months, turning the sleepy village into a boom town.

Today, Coloma is all but deserted, home to just 300 citizens. The Gold Rush era is honored with Marshall Gold Discovery State Park, which features reconstructions of the old Sutter’s Mill as well as other buildings from the era.

^{(photo credit: © R Scott Jones/cc license)}

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California Gold Rush Day is January 24

King, who advocated non-violent change, is best know for his “I Have a Dream” speech. But that famous oration is far from the only thing Dr. King had to say. Below are just a few other King quotes:

• “The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”

• “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”

• “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it. “

• “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him. “

• “If man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

• “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

^{(Library of Congress photo)}

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Martin Luther King Day

January 18 is Winnie the Pooh Day. The day marks the anniversary of the birth of Pooh creator, A.A. Milne in 1882. Milne, a noted British novelist and playwright, penned a voluminous body of work, including 25 plays, 7 novels, and a number of non-fiction works. He is, however, best known for his two children’s novels, Winnie the Pooh (1926) and House at Pooh Corner (1928), which he wrote for his son, Christopher Robin.

The books feature a loveable teddy bear, named Pooh, and his friends, Tiger, Eyeore, Owl, Rabbit, and Piglet.

After Milne’s death in 1952, the Walt Disney Company purchased the rights to Winne the Pooh from Milne’s widow. They have since created several movies and television shows based on the character and his friends. Pooh characters and merchandise are also featured at all of the Disney theme parks.

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Winnie the Pooh Day

St. Anthony, who is honored on January 17, is a handy guy to have around. He is the patron saint of domestic animals, basket makers, Sicily, Brazil, butchers, cemetery workers, hermits, hogs, and monks–an eclectic mixture, to say the least.

The real St. Anthony lived near Alexandria, Egypt, in the 3rd and 4th centuries. He was a solitary man, who lost his parents at an early age. St. Anthony is known as the “Father of Monasticism,” although monasteries had already begun to string up around the Christian World. After his death, however, his followers created a community based on St. Anthony’s ascetic life.

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The Feast of St. Anthony

January 16 is National Religous Freedoms Day. The day marks the anniversary of the Virginia General Assembly’s adoption of Thomas Jefferson’s landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on this day in 1786. This important document became the basis for the separation of church and state, a novel idea at the time, and led to freedom of religion for all Americans as protected in the religion clause in the US Constitution’s First Amendment.

The day is marked each year with an official statement by the President of the United States and with the First Freedom Awards banquet in Richmond, Virginia.

^{(public domain image)}

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National Religious Freedoms Day

January 9 is National Apricot Day, another fun, food holiday. Apricots are loaded with nutrients, particularly beta-carotene (Vitamin A), Vitamin C, iron, potassium, and fiber. According to the Apricot Producers of California, just 1/2 cup of preserved apricots or three fresh apricots provide between 35% to 45% of the daily recommended intake for Vitamin A.

Celebrate National Apricot Day by making these Apricot Waffles (recipe and photo courtesy of the California Fresh Apricot Council):

California Apricot Pecan Waffles

1 lb. fresh apricots^*
1 c. low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsps. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 c. buttermilk
1 large egg yolk
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1/4 c. finely chopped pecans
3 large egg whites

^*1 can (15 1/4 oz.) California apricot halves may be substituted when fresh apricots are not available.

Heat waffle iron. Dice apricots. Combine whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and 1 Tbsp. sugar; set aside. Whisk together buttermilk, egg yolk, vanilla, and oil. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in apricots and pecans. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; add remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar and continue beating until firm peaks form and egg whites are shiny. Stir 1/4 of egg whites into waffle batter. Fold in remaining egg whites. Measure 2/3 cup batter for each waffle. Cook about four minutes.

Recipe serves eight.

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National Apricot Day