Blackberry Cobbler and Freezer Pickles

Today we went to the Capitol Market here in Charleston, WV. This is sort of a deal DandeDave and I have worked out between us...our house doesn't have room for a vegetable garden, so he doesn't complain about how much produce I bring home all summer to put in the freezer. At this point, I've figured out how to freeze almost everything, so we enjoy my freezer bounty all winter long. In February, we discovered a bag of sweet corn in the depths of the freezer. Score! I think there's still a bag of green beans in there somewhere under a mountain of applesauce, and a man at one of the stands assured me he would have fresh beans possibly as soon as Monday. Again, score!

I have a batch of freezer pickles in the fridge right now, well, pickling. Yes, you can make pickles in the freezer. Yes, it really works. Yes, they are AWESOME. Last year I made one batch just because I was not convinced I would like them. I did half dill and half bread & butter, so we had four precious little containers of pickles. Every time I pulled one out, the kids celebrated like I was letting them have candy for supper. I'm trying a new recipe this year for my dill pickles which includes some garlic and a little crushed red pepper. DandeDave has dubbed them "Nichols Wicked Freezer Pickles."

My other treasure from the Capitol Market was a basket of fresh picked blackberries I scored at The Purple Onion. Some lady in line behind me said, "Where'd you get THOSE?" Yeah, I got the LAST basket. These berries were as big as my thumb, and have become an absolutely divine cobbler.

If you're from the South, you have probably already participated in the Great Cobbler Debate. (It's like the Great Cornbread Debate, but it's not.) People seem to have very strong feelings around here regarding what constitutes a proper "cobbler." My dad only liked the kind of cobbler that was basically a messy square pie-- two crusts in a baking dish. Other people like the kind where you drop a sort of sweet biscuit dough on top. Fortunately, DandeDave likes whatever kind we're having as long as there's milk to pour over the finished product. The recipe I used this time involves pouring blackberries over a simple batter that bubbles up between the berries. It was super easy and very delicious, and if anybody wants to pick me another mess of blackberries, I could possibly be persuaded to make you some...

Recipes to follow in individual posts.