Strawberry Pickin'

My niece, Marlee, lives in Slater, SC, about 1/2 mile from Beechwood Farms. She called all the family together to meet at her house on Saturday - and we set out strawberry pickin'. It was a wonderful day! Slightly overcast with a chance of rain, so the sun wasn't beating down upon us. Much of my kin had never been berry picking before, so this was a new experience for them. After seeing the usual-size strawberries available year round in the produce section of our local groceries, they were amazed at finding so many palm-sized strawberries!

We took loads of pictures as all the children scrambled over the berry mounds, piling berries into their cardboard gallon containers.

Of course, my husband pointed out it's a very good thing they don't weigh the pickers on the way in and again on the way out! The children loved eating berries while they were busy filling their containers.

It didn't take long - there were a lot of us and a lot of berries. After about a half hour, a dozen containers were filled to overflowing with the succulent red bundles of vitamin C....as were most of the children's tummies!

The baby even got in on the act - we didn't let him pick any, but he reaped the benefit our labors!

I came home and made some cream cheese strawberry pies. Very easy! Here's how:

In a mixing bowl with beaters, mix 2 packages softened cream cheese, 1 medium container softened Cool Whip, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, and a large handful of sliced strawberries. Beat until smooth. Spoon into two graham cracker pie shells, making sure you completely cover the graham cracker shell about 1/4" thick. Place in refrigerator to get slightly solid.

Meanwhile, boil 2 cups water. Stir in two small packages of strawberry jello. Allow to cool a while, then stir in about 4 cups of sliced strawberries. Pour this into the chilled pie shells. Place back in refrigerator for a few hours. Top with Cool Whip or spray Redi-Whip all over the top of the pies. Slice and serve!

They look beautiful, as you have a graham cracker bottom, then a layer of strawberry cream cheese, then a layer of strawberries in jello, then a layer of white whipped cream. Mmmm!

Whenever you go strawberry picking - think of others you know who might like to be blessed with some berries! We picked a couple extra gallons just so we could share them with some of our neighbors and our Pastor's family. "We've been blessed to be a blessing!" Not my original words, but true, true, true!