NewsBreak Original

Berries are great edibles to grow in a home garden. They are super delicious, nutritious and very versatile. Can be eaten for snacking, for breakfast, for dessert, as toppings on salads, for baking. The possibilities are endless and they are very easy to grow.

Berries are great edibles to grow in a home garden. They are super delicious, nutritious and very versatile. Can be eaten for snacking, for breakfast, for dessert, as toppings on salads, for baking... the possibilities are endless. They are the easiest to grow too.

The peaches, the blueberries, raspberries and a lone strawberry that were picked from the garden all came together on a shredded pancake, the Austrian version called "kaiserschmarrn," which was carried back to the backyard and eaten under the shade of a fig tree.

One of the great things about growing a garden is the endless bounty of fruits and vegetables -- like the donut peaches that are dropping off the tree. I picked some of them along with a handful of blueberries, raspberries and a lone strawberry for our breakfast while I listened to the birds sing their morning song. Nothing is fresher than the food grown from your own garden and it doesn't get more local than your own backyard.

First, some backyard garden harvest - raspberries, figs, pear, bitter melon and calamansi. Then, we made some crunchy toast topped with our backyard pickings, sprinkled with powdered sugar. The calamansi were turned into a carafe of calamansi juice. Cheers!

Some berry pickings on my second most favorite dessert - CREME BRULEE. This elegant French dessert is surprisingly easy to make. The ingredients: 3 cups of heavy cream, five eggs, half cup sugar and a teaspoon vanilla extract. Forty minutes on a 300°F pre-heated oven, then on to the fridge for at least a couple of hours. A sprinkle of turbinado sugar caramelized with a kitchen blowtorch, then topped with mint and berries from the garden - blueberries, raspberries and boysenberries.