First Fruits!

The first fruits are my favorite, waking the tastebuds from a long dormancy.  Birds and torrential downpours made us miss the first blueberries, but today gave us the first harvest of raspberries!  That amazing POP of succulent sweet-tartness followed by a light crunch of the seed reminds us this isn't some tasty concoction created in a chemistry lab, but goodness straight from Nature's garden.   Eating them straight off the stem is good enough, but there are so many delicious things to make that it is hard to choose.   Fresh with cream?  On yogurt?  Custard?  In a tart?  With granola?  Ice cream?  A smoothie?  Cobbler?  Sometimes choices can be a bad thing!

Off to the kitchen to see what we have available to compliment these delicious RASPBERRIES!

Smoothie Time!

Fresh Berry Smoothie 
1 serving

Large handfull (1/4 to 1/2 cup) of fresh raspberries
5 or 6 frozen pitted cherries (or strawberries)
4 or 5 ice cubes
large ice cream scoop of plain greek yogurt
3-4 drops of pure vanilla extract
1 tsp raw honey
1/4 to 1/2 cup of fruit juice (I like CranApple)
1/2 cup milk (We use 2% so I add 2 tbsp of heavy cream)
1/2 banana - optional

Reserve some of the juice and mix in blender.  If it is too thick, add more juice.  Strain into the glass if you don't like the seeds.  That's it; refreshing goodness!