Blueberries & Ice Cream

After our eventful morning, we went back to the cabin to clean up, relax, and have some lunch.  Finally Mark was in the mood for the boring activity I had insisted we try since we were in the area...blueberry picking!

 A few miles north of our cabin on Hwy. 12/27 near Merrillan, we found Comstock's Berry Patch (Strawberries and Blueberries) open for business.  Only $1.50 a pound!

 Shae found the camera...

 Blueberries are sooooooooooo much easier to pick than any other berry....no thorns, no back-bending, no bugs either!

 We picked six pounds, which I planned to take home and freeze. (except for eating some right away, of course)

 Blueberries are a SUPERFOOD:  great for your heart, memory, anti-aging...they lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation, improve brain function, and taste delicious!  What's not to like?

 So of course after all of that healthy berry picking, we had to go and ruin it at the Dairy Way in Black River Falls (highly recommended to my sister by ice cream experts).

This was a sweet treat for about an hour's worth of driving to find the elusive Wildcat trail.  The park attendant at Lake Arbutus gave me directions to a Wildcat ATV trail, not to the state park trail with rock climbing.  And let me tell you, driving gravel roads in the middle of 68,000 acres of forest with an ATV trail map, you tend to get a little lost.  And bored.  And hungry for ice cream!!

Shae and I ordered the slush/ice cream thing (sorry the name escapes me now).  Hers was green apple and very yummy.  Mine was cranberry and just delicious.  Had the right combination of cool & creamy with a tang.  5-stars!

A few days later (back home in SW Wisconsin), I found an easy, healthy recipe for some of those blueberries.  I adapted it a bit to suit our needs/tastes.  The younger kids are too fussy to try it, but hey - more for Mom, Dad, and Cy!  It's gluten-free for Ally and is a light, tangy/sweet dessert.  I will definitely make it again.  Great with ice cream, too :)

BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE

2-3 cups of fresh blueberries, washed

1/2 cup flour (I used rice flour to make it g-free)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup oats +

3 T chopped nuts (I used sliced almonds)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, sliced up

Spray a 9X13 pan and cover the bottom of it with blueberries.  Mix the dry ingredients, cutting the butter in to form a powdery mixture.  Sprinkle mixture on top of berries and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  DeLISHus!!