Blackberry Pie

Tonight we had our friends Cam, Anne and baby Savi and Nick, Steph and little Matt who just turned 1 year old over for dinner. It was so much fun that I forgot to take a picture of the kiddos! Blake had fun sharing his toys with Matthew, and Savi enjoyed lounging in her parents' laps. Steph and Anne both brought amazing dishes that we paired with my all time favorite turkey burger recipe. To finish off the meal we enjoyed fresh made blackberry pie with the berries from the cabin and vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Now here is where I become my grandma.  I don't really have a recipe for the pie, I just learned the end flavor I want to create by watchin her make this pie with freshly picked blackberries from the cabin.  So here are the basics, but add more/less depending on taste...

Blackberry Pie

4 c. fresh blackberries

1-3 Tbsp flour (depends on how juicy they are - more juice, more flour)
1 c. sugar (more or less depending on how sweet/ripe the berries are)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (you can also add a bit of zest for a citrusy hint)
1 Tbsp butter
2 discs of rolled pie dough

Line pie pan with one rolled pie dough. Gently combine blackberries, flour, sugar and lemon juice and pour into pie shell.  Top with chunks of butter and cover with second pie dough.  Cut little steam vents on top pie crust. Bake in 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 and back for another 30 or so minutes.  Basically, you want the top crust nice and browned.

Fruit Fly Trap

Today I carried on the tradition of picking blackberries at the cabin. My grandma had this down to a science but still came back with the usual scrapes, thorns and blackberry juice stains. I used her tricks and picked about 10 or 11 cups of wild blackberries just from our property, so ripe they fell off the vine.

At the end of the day we had an infestation of fruit flies. They probably followed me in from the blackberry patch, but who knows. Anyways, had to use the old vinegar trick (again, grandma would be so proud), and wanted to share this on the blog for anyone with fruit fly issues...

Pour apple cider vinegar in to a small bowl. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and poke a few small holes in top. Make them so flies can get in but they can't easily escape. The smell of the apple vinegar will drive flies nuts and you'll be amazed at how many you'll catch!

JackFire and Jam

Today Tony began 'JackFire'. What I called his combination of burning the three massive piles of yard waste while drinking Jack and cokes. Probably not the safest combo, but JackFire got the job done after 3 full days of burning... yes, that includes burning through the night. What fun.

The smoke finally got the best of Tony during this photo opp...

While Tony got his man-card punched burning stuff, I got another mark on my Susie Homemaker card. Inside, away from the bonfire stench, I made peach freezer jam. Freezer jam is beyond easy to make thanks to Ball brand freezer jam pectin.  Honestly, it is so easy!  Cut up fruit, add some sugar and the pectin as instructed, then put in the freezer.  Ball also makes very handy reusable jam jars (as seen in picture below). Try it out for yourself. 

After our traditional cabin spaghetti meal (minus any noises from our woodland friends), Blake experienced s'mores for the very first time! He did this little Flashdance run in place ditty after every bite. Cracked us up!  For some fun S'mores ideas from Hershey's, click here.

A Top Spot for a Doughnut

Its tough knowing that if a take a certain route to or from Blake's daycare that there is a Top Pot Doughnut shop just two blocks off course. Finally after holding out for almost the entire pregnancy (notice I say 'almost'), I cracked under pressure and took Blake to Top Pot yesterday afternoon.

Tomorrow Blake will officially be 2 1/2 years old! And what does an almost 2 1/2 year old do to celebrate? I figured eating a Top Pot doughnut for breakfast was perfect! The selection was picked through when we got there, but they still had a large variety... though my cream filled, chocolate covered faves were sold out! And yes, I did have a doughnut at the shop before we left -though I was kind enough to share with Blake. Below is a pic from my camera phone to prove it.

This morning Blake couldn't wait to dig in to his 'chocat spinkles dohnut'. He actually told me before we went to the shop that he wanted 'cake with chocalate fosting and spinkles'. Lucky for him they had exactly what he was looking for (I'm still trying to figure out how he knew about chocolate with sprinkles though!).

Just in case you need some convincing (uh, hello, who needs convincing?) to visit your local Top Pot, here a very small portion of their menu...

Box o' Carbs

Today I met my friend Kim to discuss an auction we're both working on and deliver baby announcements I made for her. When we were headed out to leave she told me she had a treat for me in the car. Her treat was a box about three feet by four feet across filled with new bakery products! This is the downside (ok, upside) of knowing someone whose family owns a bakery company. Multiple kinds of cookies, breads, bagels... I was in heaven and had already sampled three of the twelve or so products before I even made it home.

Mmmm, me and baby #2 are love'n the carbs!