Growing up, my family always had a large garden. And our summers growing up were usually spent planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, and cooking with the produce grown in it. Most summer mornings, we would wake up to find my mom outside watering the garden, weeding her flower beds, or picking fresh fruits and vegetables. The first place that my dad usually went after work was outside to check on the progress of things he’s planted.
All of the hard work my parents (and sometimes us kids) put into the yard and garden pays off every year. Not only do my parents have a beautiful yard full of flowers and lots of green. But we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor and share them with our friends and neighbors too. Now that I’m an adult and living on my own, I don’t participate in much of their gardening, but I’m still lucky enough to benefit from the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor.
We haven’t started a garden of our own yet, but we still enjoy fresh produce every summer, straight from my parent’s garden. The kids even get to help plant the garden. And every time we’re over, they check to see how things are growing. They love eating things fresh from the garden or bringing them home to add to dinner. It’s safe to say one of our favorite things about summer is all of the fresh food we get to eat.
One of my mom’s favorite summer foods is raspberries. And my kids look forward to when she has some from the garden or the store and always shares. We eat them fresh, make jam with them, and put them in a lot of different recipes. These raspberry buttermilk muffins, or really any muffin she makes, usually disappear into our bellies before they even have the chance to cool off.
Of all the muffins my mom makes, the raspberry buttermilk muffins are probably my favorite. They make the perfect addition to breakfast on our deck, a picnic at one of our favorite free summer activities, snacks at the beach, etc.
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 Tbls butter (1/3 cup)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (thawed)
Directions:
Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg and buttermilk; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in berries. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until browned
Makes one dozen muffins.
These muffins freeze really well and we will probably be eating them for breakfast all fall/winter. While I reminisce about summer mornings spent picking raspberries. And summer nights eating these muffins with cheese and fresh veggies for dinner. You could also make them with frozen berries and add a little summer to your life when you’re getting sick of the snow and cold weather in six months.
What is your favorite thing to make with fresh produce in the summer?
