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The summer, which seemed to be crawling along, has sped up its pace now that I realized school is starting in a week. So I better post those berry recipes and children’s cooking activities I promised you!

I found out from our resident gardener (my husband) that we have some raspberry and blackberry bushes that ripen early in the summer, and other  bushes that ripen later on. No wonder we seem to have pints and pints of berries all summer long. Lucky us!

A couple of weekends ago, daddy was golfing, so I had Nathan and Lucie out picking berries in the morning when it was still cool. I love my children, but they can be very lazy. They kept telling me that they were tired, hot and hungry and couldn’t find any more berries to pick. (The trick is that you have to lift the branches to get to the berries in the back.)

I figured out a solution. I wore a garden glove on my left hand to push up the branches. (Berry bushes have thorns.) Then I picked berries with my right hand and dropped them into a collender that Nathan was holding. Lucie was in charge of swatting away all the mosquitos that were trying to bite me through my clothes, and running around the yard screaming, “Oh my god, mommy, a wasp!”

Using this sure fire method, “we” picked enough berries to make berry cobbler to a friend’s home for dinner with enough left over (and then some) for berry pancakes.

Berry Pancakes

1. Make pancakes according to your favorite recipe. I use Krusteaz pancake mix that I buy in the large bag at Costco – it’s delicious and convenient. I like to make the batter using equal parts mix and milk – it’s more runny that way. However, Krusteaz mix does contain eggs, but it’s the last ingredient on the package. Lucie’s egg allergy hasn’t been that bad lately and she doesn’t seem to have problems eating baked goods with small amounts of eggs.
2. We have a non-stick double burner griddle always on the stove, so making pancakes is super easy. I turn on the burners to medium. When it’s hot enough, I melt a little butter on the griddle then spoon the pancake batter on to the griddle.
3. After letting the pancakes cook for 30 seconds (the batter must be gooey on stop) I sprinkle the berries over the pancakes. I’ve found that if you mix the berries into the batter, the batter turns pink or purple and your berries turn into mush.
4. I let the pancakes cook another 30 seconds or so. Then I spoon a thin layer of batter on top. That way when you cook the pancakes, the juicy, warm berries are in the middle. If you don’t, when you flip the pancake, the berries are cooking directly on the griddle, bubbling away and getting messy.
5. When the batter on top sets, I flip the pancakes and cook until they’re golden brown.
6. We like to serve pancakes with a smidgen of butter and real maple syrup.

KITCHEN TIP: Cut pancakes with large pizza wheel cutter. It’s so much easier than sawing away with a butter knife. You get cleaner edges, and the kids find it amusing that you’re cutting pancakes with a pizza tool. That funny mommy!

A roundup of berry recipes

I’ve been collecting many wonderful berry recipes, but haven’t been able to make them. Either I don’t have ingredients or the recipe contains eggs. Still, I have to share!

I picked recipes that would be easy for children to help make and delicious enough that they’d ask for second helpings.

• Mixed-Berry Spoon Cake (Food & Wine magazine, August 2008)
• Blueberry Pound Cake Crisp (Food & Wine magazine, August 2008)
• Plum Cobbler (Food & Wine magazine, August 2008) (egg free) – you can make this with stone fruit like peaches and plums, or berries
• Stone Fruit Crumble (Food & Wine magazine, August 2008) (egg free) – you can make this with stone fruit like peaches and plums, or berries
• Article: Savor the West’s best berries – Sunset magazine, June 2008, includes recipes for”
  • Blackberry Hazelnut Honey Crisp – egg free, but contains nuts that are an integral part of the recipe
  • Spiced Blueberry Pie
  • Blueberry Sorbet – you’ll need an ice cream maker and some dried culinary lavender
  • Raspberry Fool (egg free)

Make berry growing, picking, and cooking a family activity

Remember, children can help measure ingredients, mix batter, and roll dough. Measuring ingredients helps with math skills (try doubling the recipe). Reading recipes out loud helps improve reading skills.

Going to a farmer’s market to buy berries if a fun family activity. And if you can, find a local farm to pick them. Go in the morning when it’s cool, wear gloves and long sleeves (to avoid getting scratched up). Hopefully, your children will think berry picking is more fun than my kids.

Finally, berries are easy to grow if you have garden space and live in the right climate. Our jungle of raspberry bushes were originally a few sticks we got in the mail from an online nursery. Same with our massive blackberry bushes. The raspberries are so out of control that they’ve grown under the fence into our neighbor’s yard. Luckily, our neighbors like to make raspberry jam.

Do you have a favorite berry recipe? Please share in the comments below or link to the recipe on your blog.

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