Blueberry Pickin' Family Fun!

Summertime is awesome for many reasons, but one of the best reasons is the fresh fruits and vegetables available. People who have gardens or orchards really enjoy sharing their bounty with neighbors. Last week, we got lucky when a friend invited us to pick blueberries in his orchard.

I love blueberries. My favorites are the huge ones that seem to explode when you bite into them. My daughter Kelsey, however, prefers the tart ones that are just beginning to turn blue. I don't see how she can eat those! She's one of those people who likes sour candy whereas I won't waste the calories unless my candy is sweet.

We had a great time picking the berries, followed by an even greater time baking a cobbler using them, and the greatest time of all in eating the fruits of our labor (get the pun?)

My son Kevin grabs the plump ones growing low on the bush. 

The limbs were heavily laden with juicy, ripe berries.

Drew liked picking the blueberries. He worked on one bush for about 20 minutes.

My niece, Mary Griffin, and granddaughter Cloee keep picking the blueberries while my daughter Kelsey keeps eating them.

The girls got on their aprons when we got back home and jumped right into preparing the cobbler. Note: these aprons belong to my mom. I do not own such an item. 

These girls laugh about anything all the time. 

  

We used the Quick and Easy Cobbler recipe that's been around for years:

1/2 cup of self-rising flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 stick of butter

1 and 1/2 cups of fruit (sweetened if you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with non-stick spray. Melt the 1/2 stick of butter and pour into the bottom of the casserole dish. Place the fruit in the dish with the melted butter.

They picked out the ripest, plumpest berries for the pie.

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients until well blended. Pour this over the fruit. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

The cobbler is ready to go into the oven for 30 minutes.

I've used this recipe with all kinds of fruit, even canned peaches. I like this recipe because I always have all of the needed items in my pantry.

The blueberry cobbler was delicious!

The finished blueberry cobbler. It's great topped with vanilla ice cream!

Everything about these berries was fantastic: they were free, they were delicious, and they created family time. I think the latter was my favorite part.