Putting summer’s bounty to good use.
On a cool Sunday morning I was in the middle of rows upon rows of raspberries. Summer means u-pick season, and there’s something about standing in a field of berries that inevitably leads to overdose. Pick one, eat one, repeat. An hour and a half later I was on a sugar high and had my arms full of two cardboard flats with 13 pounds of raspberries.
13 pounds.
What does one do with 13 pounds of raspberries? Get to know your freezer, that’s what. But freezing berries doesn’t lead to instant gratification. A pile of raspberries on your kitchen table begs to be consumed right then and there. Taking my personal favorite Quinoa Cake recipe, I turned it into a muffin version, complete with summer’s other bounty, rhubarb. A few fresh figs laying around made their way into a quick and easy jam. Result? A raspberry treat that’s perfect for afternoon coffee.
Raspberry Rhubarb Quinoa Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 3 large stalks of rhubarb, chopped
- 1 cup raspberries
- 3 organic eggs
- 1/2 cup organic butter, melted (you can also switch this out for 1/2 cup coconut oil)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup raw sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
Directions:
Cook quinoa and set aside. To cook quinoa, bring two cups of water to a boil. Add quinoa and a dash of salt and let simmer for 12-15 minutes, or until water has cooked off.
Mix dry ingredients.
Whisk butter and eggs together and add to dry mixture.
Combine all ingredients, including quinoa, and stir in rhubarb and raspberries. Note that these muffins have a dense, cake-like consistency.
Pour into lined muffin tin. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F.
Raspberry Fig Jam
Ingredients:
- 8 fresh figs
- 2 cups raspberries
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2.5 cups sugar
- 1 vanilla bean pod
Directions
Cut the figs into small pieces, and place with raspberries and water in a saucepan. Cut the vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds and add both seeds and pod to saucepan.
Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.
Stir in sugar and simmer for an additional 3-5 minutes or until jam thickens.
Take out the vanilla pod, pour jam into clean glass jars and let cool. If you’re feeling up to it, you can can the jam too which will allow it to keep longer. But I assure you you’ll eat this up quick enough.
Store jam in refrigerator.