This summer seems to be the best berry season in a long time!

Fresh blueberries can dress up many a dish and can make a fast, fresh change to any table.

Whether you are buying grocery store blueberries, picking your own or getting wild blueberries from a roadside or farm stand, you can use them in myriad ways throughout the day and throughout a meal.

If you, like me, have been enjoying masses of beautiful blueberries this year, you may want some ideas about new ways to enjoy them.

Of course, you can enjoy fresh blueberries in your cereal, tossed in a bowl with whipped cream or ice cream. But many people ask me about other ways to enjoy fresh blueberries.

One of the best blueberry ideas is to toss fresh blueberries in a salad with toasted pecans and a blueberry or balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Or add whole blueberries to chicken salad in the place of grapes. Another is to replace the grapes on a cheese or charcuterie board with fresh blueberries.

People love to just pick up a few and enjoy them out of hand.

You can also freeze blueberries and use them as “ice cubes” in blueberry lemonade or martinis. And don’t forget the magic of a stack of fresh blueberry pancakes!

Baking with blueberries leads one to muffins, coffeecake, pies and crumbles.

But it’s hot this summer, so I am always looking for the fastest way to create blueberry desserts without actually turning the oven on.

My absolute favorite is this variation on an old recipe from Craig Claiborne. It’s a four-ingredient, three-minute blueberry pie. No kidding.

If you have the ingredients available, this pie literally takes just three minutes to make! Talk about fast, delicious and fresh. Enjoy it tonight!

Fresh Blueberry Pie

2-3 cups fresh blueberries, cleaned and dried
1 jar currant jelly, jam or preserves
1 graham cracker pie crust
sweetened whipped cream or sour cream

Place the blueberries in the pie crust. Take the lid off the jar of currant preserves or jelly. Place it in the microwave and heat it for one minute. Carefully remove it and stir it up in the jar. If it isn’t liquid yet, heat it another minute. Once it has liquefied, pour it over the blueberries in the pie crust, gently using a spoon to distribute the hot jelly throughout the blueberries. Let the pie cool and/or chill it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it. Serve with a topping of sweetened whipped or sour cream—whichever you prefer.