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.

All the noodle and bun eating made me hungry and gave me a great idea for a Kung Fu Panda inspired meal – dim sum!

Eat In, Take Out, or Make It At Home

We like to drive into Denver on the weekends for dim sum at the Empress Seafood Restaurant. We were going to stop by on Father’s Day, but we woke up too late and my husband wanted to watch the US  Open on TV. So we headed over to our nearest Asian Market to pick up lobster for dinner, and noticed they had dim sum take out. We got sticky rice in lotus leaves, shrimp balls, and sesame seed dumplings with sweet bean paste.

We also picked up half a roasted duck since Lucie wanted to try it. Delicious, but greasy as to be expected. (Lucie is eating a sesame seed dumpling in the picture, and has pieces of duck on her plate.)

When we got home we also steamed up some Chinese beef buns that we had in the freezer. What a feast!

If you don’t have an Asian grocery with take out dim sum, try making your own at home. It isn’t as hard as you think thanks to Sunset magazine.

In their April 2008 issue, Sunset featured an article on Delicious Dim Sum with recipes for homemade potstickers, dumplings, and egg tarts. You can buy potstickers at Costco and other grocery stores. Instead, start off with something easy like Spicy Rice Balls.

Spicy Rice Balls

Sunset also calls these “porcupine balls.” I haven’t seen these at our local dim sum places, but they’re an easy, child friendly way to experiment with making and eating dim sum.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup short-grain, sweet, or sticky rice
2. 1/2 pound ground pork
3. 1 egg
4. 2 tablespoons soy sauce
5. 1/2 teaspoon sugar
6. 5 green onions, finely chopped
7. One 1-in. piece ginger, peeled and finely shredded (about 1 tbsp.)
8. 1 bird’s eye or serrano chile, seeded and minced

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, soak rice in 2 cups water for 2 hours. Drain; put on a plate. (Since you want rice to be sticky, try using sushi rice, which should be available in the Asian section of most grocery stores.)
2. In a medium bowl, combine pork, egg, soy sauce, sugar, green onions, ginger, and chile. Cover and chill until rice is ready.
3. Divide pork mixture into 32 pieces. Roll into balls, then roll balls in rice. Put balls in parchment-lined steamers (see “How to Steam Dim Sum” below). Cook until rice is tender and pork is cooked, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

How to Steam Dim Sum:

1. Measure your steamer basket and choose a pot with a diameter at least 2 in. wider. (If you have a steamer insert for a large stock pot, you can use that instead of buying a bamboo steamer basket.)
2. To keep dumplings from sticking, cut a circle of parchment paper 1 in. smaller in diameter than the basket (so steam can flow up around the edges) and fit it in. Don’t use paper towels – they’ll stick to the food!
3. Pour enough water into pot to come 1 in. up side and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat but keep water at a rolling boil.
4. Fill basket with dim sum first, then set it in the pot.  Cover and cook, adding hot water as needed.

This Father’s Day, I hope your family will be getting together in the kitchen to cook up a breakfast made for a king. (We’re going out for dim sum, which will probably involve going to the Asian market afterwards to buy a lobster for dinner. More on this next week.)

Make Dad Some Fancy Pancakes

One great idea I missed for the Recipe Roundup was sent to me by Kendra of the My Insanity blog. She and her kids made a special School’s Out for Summer Breakfast where they put pancake batter in squeeze bottles to make pancake.Basically you use the squeeze bottle to make pancake shape outlines, let them cook for a little bit, then fill in the shapes. Here’s a picture of Kendra’s son, Trenton, and his spaceship pancakes.

You can have fun making pancakes like these for dad. If he’s a sports fan make pancakes the shapes of footballs, hockey sticks, or baseball bats. If he likes to fish, make him some fish- shaped pancakes, fishing poles, and a few hooks and worms. If I was making these for my husband, I’d make a motorcycle-shaped one!

(Kendra’s post also contains a recipe for an Orange Julius, too. Yum!)

Spend Father’s Day with Little Bear, His Dad and some good books

One of the most endearing father-son pairs in children’s books is Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear and his dad, Father Bear. Why not get a few Little Bear books for dad to read to the kids before nap or bed time? Two good choices are Father Bear’s Special Day and Father Bear Comes Home. Both are terrific books for toddlers up to children age 8.

Don’t you think Little Bear would like some honey on his pancakes? I bet your family’s “papa bear” would like some, too!

For more Father’s Day book ideas check out:

• Pig Pile Elvis Style, Lemon Bars, and Father’s Day
• Father’s Day books celebrate dads of all kinds
• Father’s Day books from Daddy Dialectic

My assignment from my FoodieView Blog editor is fun breakfast ideas with kids. I have a few dishes in mind, but would also love to get some recipes and pictures from my fellow food and parent bloggers.

If you have a post you’d like me to consider, email me at readablefeast at gmail dot com or leave a comment below with your name, email, your blog’s name URL, and the URL of the post.

Remember, the recipe should either be kid friendly (i.e., something that they could make with a little supervision) or a special breakfast treat that would appeal to kids. It doesn’t need to be healthy (though that’s a plus) just lots of fun!

Of course, I will link back to your blog and give you full credit for the recipe and/or picture.

As part of Brain Awareness Week/Month I’m giving away 3 Horizon Organic coupons good for any ONE FREE Horizon’s product up to $4.99 (excluding gallon milk and 16 oz. butter) in value.

To Enter:

1. Leave your name, email address, and blog address (if you have one) in the comments below.
2. You must be willing to send me your full name and address so I can mail you the coupon. I will not share your personal info with the public. However, if you do have a blog, I will link back to it when I announce the winners.
3. You have until midnight MT on March 27, 2008 to enter.
4. This contest is limited to the continental U.S.
5. I’m also offering having this contest at This Mama Cooks! On a Diet. Feel free to enter there as well. One entry on each of my blogs is allowed.
6. The coupon cannot be used in CO, MA, MO or ND, so don’t enter if you live in those states.
7. I will announce the winners on March 28, 2008 and mail out the coupons via USPS by the following week.

Brain Food

Dr. William Sears is a big advocate of the whole family having smoothies for breakfast. By using Horizon’s DHA Omega-3 milk, you can make this recipe even healthier.

School-Ade: A Breakfast-on-the-Run Smoothie

Here’s a Sears family recipe for a smoothie they drink for breakfast. Dr. Sears believes it’s a powerful performance booster for working parents and school-children.

1. 3 cups milk or soy beverage
2. 11/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
3. 1-2 servings Juice Plus+® Complete or similar multinutrient supplement (Read more about Juice Plus+ here. I’m a big believer in their products, too.)
4. one banana
5. 1 cup frozen blueberries
6. 1/2 cup each of your favorite fruit, frozen (e.g., organic strawberries, papaya, mango)
7. 2 tbsp. flax oil or 1/2 cup flaxseed meal (great source of fiber)
8. 4 ounces tofu
9. 2 tbsp. peanut butter (optional)
10. 1 tbsp. cinnamon
11. 1/2 avocado

Combine all the ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve immediately after blending while the mixture still has a bubbly milkshake-like consistency.

This family-size recipe makes four 16-ounce servings (approximately 550 calories per serving). Each serving containing approximately 25 to 30 grams of protein, 55 to 60 grams of carbohydrates, 8 to 16 grams of fat (mostly healthy omega 3′s), and 5 to 10 grams of fiber.

School-Ade Quick Smoothie

1. 2 cups of milk or soy or rice beverage, or 1 cup milk and 1 cup yogurt
2. 1 serving Juice Plus+® Complete or similar multinutrient supplement (Read more about Juice Plus+ here. I’m a big believer in their products, too.)
3. 2 tsp. flax oil
4. 1 small frozen banana, cut up
5. 1/2 cup each of your favorite fruit, frozen (e.g., blueberries strawberries, papaya)
6. 2 ice cubes if fruit is not frozen or if you want a lighter taste

Makes one 20-ounce serving. (approximately 550 calories)