Blackberry Sorbet…Sweet.

Another Tuesday, another post without Dorie in it. To be quite honest, I have been so busy lately I couldn’t even tell you what I was supposed to make this week. As you know from yesterday’s post, I was up to my eyeballs in baking last week, and beyond that, I had company, and beyond that… its haawwwt. God Lord is it ever hot.

The only good thing I can see coming out of all this heat is blackberries. Just last week I snooped up behind my house to check the progress of the berries, but none looked even close. Still hard and whiteish – but a weekend of hot sun and afternoon rains gave me a gorgeous surprise on Sunday afternoon – 2 quarts of fresh berries!

I immediately brought them in the house and cleaned them, and waited a couple of hours for them to dry. I knew exactly what I was going to make with the first berries of the season…Sorbet. So I searched the net and looked for recipes that would fit my needs – my needs meaning I don’t have to go to the store to buy anything. Luckily, sorbet is about the easiest and freshest thing you can make, using a little bit of nothing,

I settled on David Leibovitz’s Blackberry Sorbet from A Perfect Scoop, but I modified it quite a bit. His recipe is quite similar to many other blackberry sorbet recipes, as there are really only so many ways to make a simple sorbet. But here is what I did…(by the way, Thanks David for the Tweet – I appreciate it!)

Blackberry Sorbet
adapted from David Leibovitz’s A Perfect Scoop

24 ounces Fresh Blackberries
1 1/3 cup Superfine Sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice (I used the bottled variety as it’s all I had)

Combine the sugar and water and bring to a rolling boil for around 1 minute. Remove from heat. Combine sugar solution and berries in blender or food processor and process until smooth. Strain mixture through metal strainer to remove seeds (I didn’t use to do this in the past, but let me tell you, it’s worth the extra effort.) Combine with lemon juice and stir well. Refrigerate or place in freezer to cool, then place in Ice Cream maker to process.

Do you have a favorite Blackberry Sorbet recipe? I am anxious to try David’s Blackberry Lime (once I allow myself to buy limes, that is) but I would LOVE to hear YOUR favorite. And any suggestions you might have for all the other blackberries just waiting up there on the vine? I’d love to know your ideas…aside from Jam. Not a fan of Blackberry Jam. Nor any kind of coffee cake. Okay NOW tell me your favorite thing to make!

You all have a great week!

Day 13 Rundown: Spent 75 cents.

I had to go to North Carolina on Monday to buy things for my store…and one of the places we go happened to have packs of cheesey crackers (you know, like from a vending machine). They had 8 packs for 75 cents, so I snagged them for Jon’s lunches. No tax. I’m just cool that way. 🙂

Breakfast: Jon skips breakfast typically during the week. Seven and I were on the buying trip(that started out at 5am), and all food is paid for by the store. We didn’t eat fancy…we shared a Bojangles biscuit and BoRounds.

Lunch: I packed Jon a lunch he could haul and not have to keep cold – he was working in the field. He had a fruit cup, snack crackers from 2008 (yeah, I found them while digging in the cabinets under the griddle pan), A Starkist Tuna Pack (again, it was under the grill but still in date, yay!) and a little parfait cup. Sev and I were still on the road, and we stopped to have Carolina BBQ. Again, that’s part of the deal for buying merchandise for the store – food’s included…no money spent. We do this once a month or so – whenever we really need new items.