Feeling Blue

Yesterday we made our annual pilgrimage to Sadler, TX, home of Bailey’s Berry Patch.  We have been doing this each year since Crisana was just a toddler, and even though it’s a bit of a hike, the crop of ripe juicy blueberries is always worth the drive.

This year we were joined by my dear friend Christin and her two little ones.  We had a great time and picked for nearly two hours.  Actually, most of us picked, and Berkeley just ate all her blueberries.  She loved her little pail, though, and would listen to the sound as she plunked one, two, three blueberries inside before she ate them all up.  It was so cute hearing her repeat, “Mya all gone!” as she showed her empty bucket to everyone.

We got out there at around 11:30 and the place was PACKED!  I have never seen so many cars there before!  But thankfully, there were still plenty of blueberries to go around.  Trey was extremely focused, working hard to find all the shiny dark blue berries to fill his bucket.

Crisana contributed her share of berries to our cause, but mostly she just chatted and socialized…all with definite hollywood style.

Christin, Brooks, Berkeley and Crisana braved the blackberry patch and each found a blackberry to sample, but not enough to pick.  Besides, we hadn’t brought extra buckets with us and you can’t mix the berries.  Before we knew it, however, 2 hours had passed and our buckets were filling up.  We realized how hot, hungry, and tired we were and decided we’d had enough.  We headed over to the picnic area for lunch, with the kids all bundled up in the wagon.

We cooled off by the fan as we ate, and then watched the workers sort, clean, and bag our blueberries.  We shopped for yummy preserves and homemade butters at the country store and enjoyed some ice cream together before it was time to pack up and head home.  We left hot, sweaty, and tired, but full of good memories and blueberries.  Sure, we were feeling blue…but in a good way!

yummy blueberry recipe below the fold

Here’s a recipe I made for brunch this morning using some of the blueberries we picked yesterday.  This recipe is from the Cupboard Classics cookbook we received when we joined PCBC – Margie Loven submitted the recipe.

Blueberry Ripple Cake

perfect for a coffee or as dessert

1 C light brown sugar

1 C flour

1 1/3 T cinnamon

1 t salt

1/3 C butter or magarine, softened

1/2 C chopped pecans (optional)

1 pkg.  (1 lb. 12 oz.) white cake mix

1 1/4 C fresh blueberries (can use a 12-oz. pkg. of frozen blueberries, thawed before using)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 13″ x 9″ baking pan.

Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter.  Mix well with pastry blender.  Add pecans if using; blend thoroughly.  Sprinkle 1/2 of this mixture on the bottom of the baking pan.

Prepare cake mix according to package directions.   Spread cake batter evenly over the brown sugar mixture.

Sprinkle blueberries and the remaining 1/2 of the brown sugar mixture over the cake batter.  Using a knife, fold berries and sugar mixture into the cake batter for a ripple effect.   Bake for 40 minutes or  until done.  Cut into squares, serve warm or cooled.

Yield: 12 3″ squares