The season for fresh fruit is already upon us here in Western New York, and there are so many different things to do with all these berries!

While a lot of us may be perfectly content with just eating them fresh, sometimes the activity of picking your own berries provides you with so many that you can’t just keep eating them plain.

In order to make them last, you need to turn them into something.

Something that will keep longer than fresh fruit, and maybe something that can be more of a meal than just a snack.

Here are a few ideas to put those berries to good use!

Berry Smoothie.

This is one of the easiest tasks for your berries, and can be done with really any kind, or combination. It’s also a great way to use up some of those bananas that get overripe in the hot summer months.

INGREDIENTS

¢ – 1 C. Ice

¢ – 1 C. Berries

¢ – 1 C. Yogurt

¢ – 1 C. Milk or Almond milk

1 Banana

You may have noticed the different amounts for each ingredient that I used, as either being half a cup or a full cup.

This is to quickly make more than one serving, if you are feeding more than one person.

The half-cup portion will provide a generous serving for 1-2 people, and using one cup of each could easily feed breakfast or a snack to a mom and her three kids for example.

I say this because we’ve done it a couple of times.

Stick all those ingredients in a blender and process until smooth! This is a great way to cool down in the afternoon, or a quick on the go breakfast.

Berry Salad

INGREDIENTS

1 C. fresh berries

2 grilled chicken breasts, sliced

1 cucumber, sliced

3 C. fresh lettuce

™ C. blue cheese crumbles

Balsamic dressing

There are plenty of ways that you could mix this recipe up, adding or switching out dressings and extra veggies, but this one is a favorite in our house, especially with raspberries on top.

Start with the lettuce, then layer chicken on top, cucumber slices, blue cheese crumbles, berries and then top with dressing.

This makes for a super quick summer dinner that is light and refreshing, enjoy!

Berry Cobbler

INGREDIENTS

Filling

5 C. Berries, any combination

§ C. Sugar

2 tsp. Lemon juice

1 Tbsp. Corn starch

Topping

1 ¢ C. All-purpose flour

1/3 C. Sugar

1/3 C. Brown sugar

1 ¢ tsp. Baking powder

¢ tsp. Salt

1 stick butter, cut into cubes

1/3 C. Boiling water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375∂ and spray 13×9 pan with non-stick spray.

2. Rinse berries.

3. Sprinkle berries with sugar, then add lemon juice, and corn starch. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes.

4. Pour berries into prepared baking dish.

5. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and salt together.

6. Using a pastry blender, fork or food processor, mix butter into flour mixture until crumbly.

7. Pour boiling water into flour mixture and stir until combined.

8. Spoon mixture over berries and spread gently making sure berries are covered completely.

9. Sprinkle additional sugar on top of batter, optional.

10. Bake uncovered for 55-60 minutes or until topping is cooked thoroughly and has started to brown.

Serve warm topped with vanilla ice cream, or fresh whipped cream. Enjoy!

Katy Wise is a Fredonia resident.