We are in the thick of berry season on Oregon, and we are loving it.

My daughter and I were finally able to get out to Sauvie Island this week and start picking our stash for the year. We picked 18 pounds of raspberries, blueberries and boysenberries before the heat got to us (I used my blue stripe linen scarf as a little sun shade for the berries—that scarf has already proved to be quite handy on many of our adventures). My goal is to have 50 pounds in our chest freezer, so we’ll be heading back this week!

We used our abundance of berries to make some raspberry frozen yogurt, and it was SO good on a hot summer night. One of the things my mom handed down to me recently was an ice cream maker, and this was our first time using it. I have been a little intimidated at trying ice cream (I know that getting the right ratio of milk, cream or egg custard can be a challenge), but this frozen yogurt was amazingly simple and super delicious. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, just fill popsicle molds with the mixture. Enjoy!

Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
2 cups plain yogurt (I always use whole milk yogurt)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3-1/2 cup sugar (this depends on your sweet tooth and the tartness of your berries, start with 1/3 and adjust to taste)

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until completely smooth. Taste and add more sugar if you wish. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve to remove most of the seeds. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. For hard-packed yogurt good for scooping, place in a separate container and freeze until firm. Alternatively, place mixture in popsicle molds and freeze.

—SCB