Something Sweet Something Salty

I love doing this blog so much but am still trying to find the secret to balancing my crazy life with the hours it takes me to complete my blog entries. I just told my self that I was going to make a good valiant effort to fit it into my chaos.  Thank you every one for continuing to come back to my blog day after day to try my recipes, even though it’s been a while.  Today I was noticing that my blog has been viewed in 87 different countries! Is that amazing or what?!

The summer has kept me busy, between visiting family, 4 straight weeks of swimming lessons, t-ball, gardening, play dates, a traveling husband, and all of the little things that being a mom entails that you really can’t name at the end of the day, but regardless eats up the majority of your time (sorry major run-on sentence).  I have also just started a new adventure that I am soooo very excited about.  I happened upon a company that sells the most amazingly fabulous all-natural spices, infused grape seed oils, mixes, sauces, marinades, etc.  and fell completely head over heals in love with it.  After cooking with the products, I had to become a representative for the company so I could have it all.  If you want to check it out, my website is http://www.mywildtree.com/ahansen. FYI they have large selections of gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and low-sodium products and everything is made in a nut-free facility.

Now, I know I  have said that if you didn’t hear anything about my garden over the next few months, chances are, it died- but that is far from the truth.  I have absolutely loved gardening and it has been pretty forgiving of my not-so-green thumb. I planted my garden on Mother’s Day and over the next two and a half months, it rained almost every day.  I don’t know if I even had to bust out the hose more than 5 times to water it before mid July.  Because of the rain, a few tomato plants and pepper plants were sacrificed and replaced when the rain died down, but other than that, along with some ant and slug home remedies, it has been a huge success and is spilling over with wonderful fruits and veggies. The boys love going out every day and snacking on whatever they can harvest.

That brings me to today’s recipe.  Our property is lined down one entire side with pesky thorny blackberry bushes.  I loathe them 11 months out of the year but for one glorious month each year, I get to have an endless supply of big, beautiful, juicy blackberries to make pies, jams, syrups or whatever else my sweet tooth desires (not to mention one entire month where I look like I was attacked by a pack of angry stray cats).  It amazes me just how much I will sacrifice to get to that one giant berry I can see deep within the bush, or way way up high.  In the end, it’s so worth it…. I think 🙂

This pie crust can be used with any mixture of berries you please, or other soft fruits for that matter.  The recipe was passed on to me from my husband’s mom and sister.  It is possibly the perfect pie crust, especially for someone like me who prefers crisps and cobblers to pies with traditional crusts.  It is really simple and quick to make and has a short baking time compared to say an apple pie. What? You’re ready for me to quit gabbing and get on with the recipe? Sorry, it’s been a few months so my brain has been on blog-backup overload.

Ingredients:

1 cup soft butter (I microwave my butter (one cube at a time) on high for 10 seconds, flip it over for another 10 seconds, and voila! soft butter)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all dry-ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl.  Mix butter into dry mixture with a fork until the butter is evenly distributed and the mixture is crumbly.

Pour half of crumble mixture into a greased pie pan.  Press down on bottom of pan and up the sides, covering your entire pan evenly.  Fill bottom crust with approximately 5-6 cups of your favorite berries.

Crumble the remaining mixture on the top of the berries.  Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Let cool slightly.  Serve warm.