Sylvia's Scenario

We picked twelve cups of blackberries the other day while we had visitors here and turned it into blackberry coffee cake.  This recipe used 3-1/2 cups of blackberries so I also made two loaves of  blackberry bread   and the most popular  blackberry cobbler  that got eaten so fast I never got a photo of it.  And I still have blackberries leftover.  All these recipes are from a very old cookbook of mine called Wild & Free Blackberries that I've had since around the mid-1990's.    And this is definitely the time of year that this little cookbook is sitting out on my kitchen counter.  We picked them at our local golf course because Bruce sees how plentiful they are when he plays golf and he has been eager to get us out there to pick and we finally did. Our visitors have returned home now but they had three children who LOVED picking blackberries and also LOVED eating them.  They were children of Bruce's nephew who was here with his ...

We managed to get a few more blackberries for this refreshing drink, although you don't really need blackberries for it.  It's made mostly with blueberries and the blackberries are used for a garnish.  I got this recipe off of  Heather Christo's blog  once again.  You make a simple syrup with blueberries and you can use fresh or frozen.  It's another refreshing cocktail for summer so hurry up and try this one before our wonderful summer comes to an end.  (I'm not ready for summer to end yet.  Can you tell?) Makes 2 drinks 6 Tbsp. Blueberry Syrup (recipe below) 4 ounces vodka 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice chilled natural blackberry soda like IZZE ice Blueberry Syrup 1 cup water 3 Tbsp. sugar 1/2 cup blueberries To make the blueberry syrup:  Simmer everything together in a small pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the blueberries have gotten plump and soft and release their juices -...

Our blackberry season is coming to a close but we managed to scrounge around to find enough to make these drinks last night.  My favorite margaritas are jalapeño margaritas that I order at one of our frequented restaurants called  Cactus .  At Cactus, they are called Baja Margaritas.  Well, I've found a recipe that tastes just like the Baja Margaritas only using blackberries.  And they are even better than the regular lime margaritas. Lauren and Ari came over for dinner last night so I wanted an interesting before-dinner cocktail. I found this recipe from Heather Christo's blog who focuses on allergy free recipes. But her recipes are outstanding even if you don't have allergies. A perfect way to end our blackberry season. For 4 drinks 3/4 cup tequila 1/2 cup triple sec, Grand Marnier, or Cointreau 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice 1 cup blackberry jalapeño syrup (see below) ice cubes fresh blackberries and line wedges for garnis...

We are in the middle of a full blown epic blackberry season this year.  They are just everywhere you turn, all over town, including in our own backyard.  Bruce goes out to pick some whenever we need to fill our container back up. We've been putting them on cereal, ice crea m, yogurt and   Dutch Babies and sometimes we'll combine them with peaches on the Dutch Babies since it's also peach season. I have a whole cookbook just for blackberri es called  Wild and Free, A Cookbook and Guide to Northwest Blackberries . This cookbook is a collection of blackberry recipes that the author gathered from neighbors and friends and then she ran ads in the newspaper asking for others to send her recipes. So, some of the recipes are a little sketchy and vague with not a lot of explanation but this blackberry bread is pretty basic.  Since we had house guests over the weekend, I thought I'd make this bread as a grab and go snack, along with the...