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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!

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I’m off to the BlogHer conference tomorrow, and the kids will be off to their grandma’s later today. After my children’s escapades yesterday, I’m glad to get a break from them. You see, Nathan decided to spray PAM all over the kitchen floor while I was upstairs folding laundry and packing bags. Somehow Lucie didn’t witness his shenanigans either. What possesses an eight-year-old boy to do that is beyond me. I’m not sure he knows why he did it either or why his sister covered for him.

So I leave you with some things to read and a yummy recipe to make. Hopefully this will keep you busy enough so your son or daughter won’t cover your house in cooking spray.

To read:

• I Don’t Want to Go by Addie Meyer Sanders and published by Lobster Press. It’s about a little boy, Joey, who is scared to visit his grandparents on his own for the very first time. I’m lucky. My kids are thrilled to be staying at the old folks apartment where their grandmother lives. They’re even excited about going to church with her. If your child is afraid of any type of transition, this would be a good book for them since it shows a little boy overcoming his fears.
• Kersplatypus by Susan K. Mitchell from Sylvan Dell Publishing. A strange little creature appears out of nowhere after heavy rains Down Under. The other animals wonder what he could be. The For Creative Minds section provides more information on platypuses and other Australian animals.
• Some blog reading - Strengthen Your Family Ties by Believer in Balance and Simple Summer Fun from Seasonal Kids Activities. Both blogs are on the Sparkplugging blog network - Work at Home Resources & Community for the Web 2.0 Generation.

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In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck is one of my  favorite books of the summer. (Thanks Jim for emailing me and offering a review copy!)

For children ages four to eight, In a Blue Room is the story of a little girl named Alice. She is wide awake and insists on having a blue room before she can fall asleep. Her mama brings her flowers, tea, a quilt, and lullaby bells to help her sleep. While none of these things are blue, they help Alice get ready for bed. Then her mama turns out the light. Magically her darkened room becomes blue as moonlight fills her bedroom with blue light.

There are so many things I love about In a Blue Room. First, the illustrations by Tricia Tusa are gorgeous. I wish my room looked as beautiful as Alice’s bedroom. Then I love Jim’s use of color and the five senses - smell (lilacs and lilywhites), taste (orange tea), touch (a silky-soft and warm quilt), sounds (lullaby bells) and sight (colors and light). Not only is it a beautiful bedtime story that teaches the colors and senses, but it also reminds parents that we have to “set the stage” for good sleep both for our children and ourselves.

Foods that Make You Sleepy

I’ve written at my blog, This Mama Cooks! about foods that can make your children sleepy. In fact, a new study has come out showing that carbs may help you fall asleep faster because they raise tryptophan and serotonin levels.

But now that it’s summer, your child may be having a tough time getting to sleep because they’re too warm. If you don’t have air conditioning, try a cooling shower or bath before bedtime. A drink of ice water or cool milk (tryptophan!) will help, too.

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Another sign of summer are all the recipes I keep seeing for berry dishes. From the Denver Post food section  to Sunset and Bon Appetit magazines, there have been some terrific new takes on what to do with the summer berry harvest. Best of all, they’re very kid friendly, so I’ll be sharing the recipes (and some good books to go with them) in the next few weeks.

First, to get us in a berry good mood, from Sylvan Dell Publishing comes Blackberry Banquet for children ages four to eight . Author Terry Pierce tells the story of forest animals squeaking, tweeting, slurping, yipping, and chomping over the sweet, plump fruit of a wild blackberry bush. When a bear arrives to take part in the feast, chaos strikes.

Like all Sylvan Dell books, the last few pages feature a “For Creative Minds” educational section with fun facts and other activities.  (You can also view it online on their website along with Teaching Activities, quizzes: Reading / FCM / Math, and Learning Links.) I learned that even foxes like to eat berries - who knew?

Terry got the idea for her newest picture book while vacationing in Oregon. “Blackberry Banquet came to me one day when I was approaching my favorite wild blackberry bush to pick berries for making a pie,” she explains. “As I neared the bush, a flurry of animals fled from it, and it made me start thinking about how we’re not the only animals who enjoy such a sweet treat!” (You can read an interview with Terry on the Sylvan Dell site.)

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In My Backyard by Valarie Giogas and illustrated by Katherine Zecca is a wonderful counting and rhyming book for ages four to eight. Familiar wild backyard animals from foxes to squirrels are featured. If your child is like my daughter Lucie, baby animals are the coolest thing around. So I liked how each animal is shown by baby as well as family group name.

Each stanza gives readers information on the animals including including what they eat, where they live, or what kind of noise they make. So not only are you getting an entertaining story, but your children are learning about wildlife that’s all around us.

As with all Sylvan Dell Publishing children’s books, there’s also a “For Creative Minds” section. It includes animal facts, how to watch for signs of wildlife, and what to do if you find an injured animal.

So what kind of animals are in your backyard?

We have our neighborhood cat, the occasional rattlesnake under the deck, birds, and a zillion grasshoppers, flies, and mosquitos. Nearby we have foxes, prairie dogs, and frogs in the pond at the golf course. Some folks even have toads living in their window wells. Our neighbors had a garter snake living in theirs.

We also have lots of wasps that we have to watch out for when we pick blackberries. The challenging thing about berries is that you have to part the bushes, which are full of thorns, to get at all the berries. But we managed to pick enough to make a blackberry cobbler.

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