30b430 Goal #17: Pick Berries and Bake Something with Them

This goal was a fun one! I love baking and cooking so I already knew I could do that. However, I've never picked fruit and used it in my own cooking. I was planning on going to one of those u-pick places when I stumbled upon these bushes while trail running with Running Bud Joe one afternoon:

RBJoe told me they were edible and I didn't believe him. I'm a city girl... I can't help it! I ate a few and my mouth didn't go numb and I didn't pass out, so they seemed safe. I went back to my car to grab a grocery bag and spent the next forty minutes picking wild blackberries! My run was cut short... dang.

Evidence.

When I got home I washed the berries and froze them for a few weeks-- not before eating a crapload of them!

Deliciousness.

Then I had some time to think about what to make with my precious berries and it was suggested to me to look at a cookbook that was already sitting on my shelf:

Buy it here!

Shameless plug: This cookbook is my favorite cookbook of all time. The recipes are amazing, easy, flavorful, and creative. When I got this cookbook a few years ago I didn't go to the farmer's market on a regular basis or think about where my food even comes from. Simply in Season changed that for me and I highly recommend it! Back to our regularly scheduled blog post... 

I doubled the recipe and made two coffee cakes: A blueberry coffee cake and a coffee cake with my handpicked blackberries. It was almost hard to use the berries because it took such a thorny long time to pick them! I don't know if it's okay to post the whole recipe, but here it is:

The Easy and Scrumptious Blueberry Coffee Cake Recipe from Simply in Season:

1 cup/250 ml flour

1/2 cup/125ml whole wheat flour

1/2 cup/125ml sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine in a large mixing bowl.

1 1/2 cups/375ml blueberries

1 teaspoon lemon peel (grated; optional) This shouldn't be optional because it smells SO GOOD!

Gently fold in. 

1 egg

1/2 cup/125ml milk (I used almond milk)

1/4 cup/60ml butter (melted) or oil

Whisk together in a small bowl. Add to flour mixture and stir carefully. Batter will be very stiff. Spread into greased 8x8 inch/2-L baking pan. 

 1/3 cup/75ml sugar

1/3 cup/75ml whole wheat flour

1/3 cup/75ml walnuts or other nuts (chopped and optional)

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Mix together until crumbly and sprinkle over batter.

Bake in preheated oven at 425F/220C until top is light golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Eat!!! 

Although I could have eaten both one on my own, I brought them up north and shared them with the family over some french-pressed coffee. 

My, that was a tasty goal.

1. Complete an indoor triathlon. 2/12/12
2. Complete an outdoor triathlon. 6/2/12
3. Swim across West Twin Lake and Rose Lake (or Pine Lake). 7/14/12 and 6/26/12 

4. Bike the Kal-Haven Trail.7/30/12
5. Play the piano in front of people.
6. Visit my family in the Philippines (or at least have tickets booked by my 30th birthday).
7. Have a conversation with a dear Senegalese friend in French or Wolof (preferably Wolof).

8. Visit my grandparents in California.
9. Pop a champagne cork with no fear.
10. Make leche flan (it's Filipino, it's amazing, and I'm makin' it).
11. Jar or can veggies, pickles, sauce... something.
12. Revised 5/1/12 because I remembered that I'm supposed to graduate in December and my Master's degree is really important to me!!! Get my Master's degree and submit some of my academic writing and then, maybe, you know... get it published.
13. Travel out of the country with Nate.
14. Pay off at least 50% of my remaining undergraduate credit card debt.
15. Sing karaoke by myself in Kalamazoo in front of all of my friends.
16. Eat clean for one month.
17. Pick berries and bake something with them. 8/24/12 

18. Write at least one chapter of the novel that I write in my mind while I'm walking the dogs.
19. Thank my mom for everything she's done for me.
20. Go further into the UP than the Mystery Spot tourist trap and jump into Lake Superior.
21. Get chosen for one more summer fellowship in another country where I am able to work with youth.
22. Go on a police ride along.
23. Get to 200 blog posts.
24. Revised 5/1/12 Make some decisions about my career and/or PhD prospects. Apply for PhD programs.
25. Attend roller derby training so I can learn the moves.
26. Learn how to flip turn when I'm swimming laps. 4/19/12
27. Take a real personal day. 6/8/12
28. Learn how to drive a stick.
29. Go horseback riding.8/8/12
30. Poach an egg perfectly.