Blackberries for the pickin'

 

As many blackberries as we eat while we pick them, 

we are still lining up as soon as the blackberry cobbler comes out of the oven!

 

 

 

At our end of the summer staff party, we had a blackberry bake-off/taste-off.

Sarah's tried and true blackberry bars were present. 

This is what my kids asked for after our first berry picking.

So good.  I could eat half the batch all by myself.

Blackberry banana bread (just add blackberries to your favorite banana bread recipe)

and lemon ricotta blackberry muffins were my contributions.

Both were good

but

the champion of

blackberry AWESOMEness

had to be

Bekah's blackberry filled donut holes!

She used a Krispy Kreme dough recipe and squooshed it around the blackberry filling.

Deep fried and glazed.

What what!

 

What is your favorite blackberry dish?

 

 

joe friday : resipe for summer

Sweet Mint

Last week when we went to the farmers' market, I picked up this huge bunch of mint.

The first thing I thought of was sweet mint tea!

Sweet mint tea reminds me of

Hooligans in Tuscaloosa and

rocking on a back porch swing with some friends from Mississippi. 

How far west does sweet tea go exactly?  I think there is some in St. Lewis, but it surely doesn't come as far as California.  And sweet MINT tea is just perfectly refreshing for this time of year.

simple mint syrup:

take equal parts

sugar

water

& chopped fresh mint

boil for a few minutes

cool and pour into container

let it set in the refrigerator 2-3 days

then strain out the mint leaves

Add to tea to desired sweetness!

It is also lovely to add to lemonade!  Mint Lemonade!  I do suggest using the little KoolAid lemonade packets that come without sugar.  So instead of adding sugar you just add the mint syrup.

That's my summer recipe.  Tomorrow Joe will give you his.