June has proven to be a busy month and it is just barely half over! It’s hard to believe that the first day of summer is officially this Tuesday, the 21st. It has been so warm here that it seems like summer arrived weeks ago! Another event in June is Father’s Day. It has been many years since I was able to celebrate Father’s Day with my own dad. He passed away 22 years ago, about 2 weeks after Barbi’s birth. I have many memories of my dad. My father’s birthday was also in June. This year he would have been 108! Although he was older by the time my siblings and I arrived in the family (he was 57 when I was born!), he always made time for us. Among favorite memories is our times of travel each summer. We were living in New Jersey, and he always made it a point to make sure we got to western Iowa every August for the McCoy-Kelly Family Reunion with my mom’s family.
This morning I was up by 6:30 and outside picking blueberries and blackberries before the day’s heat became too oppressive. I picked so many that I was able to make the season’s first batch of jam! This batch is Blueberry -Peach! Can’t wait to try it on toast in the morning!
And of course, I needed a Father’s Day dessert for tomorrow. The hubby loves blueberries, so I decided on a crisp which can be served with ice cream. It came from one of my very first cookbooks, Better Homes and Gardens Step-By-Step cookbook. Enjoy!
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 stick butter softened
2-1/2 cups each blueberries and blackberries
Measure dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Lightly grease (spray oil) a 9×9 baking pan. Mix the berries and pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle oat mixture over the top of the berries. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until berries burst. Serve warm with a dollop of ice cream!
