What I Love About Summer: Raspberries

There are few things in the world more perfect than the raspberry. They symbolize summer to me. Plump, juicy, flavorful, and a beautiful rosy red color. My parents grew raspberries in our backyard when my brother and I were growing up, and I'll confess- I spent a lot of time hunkered down in those raspberry bushes. My mom would freeze raspberries, make raspberry syrup for pancakes, and bake raspberry cobblers in the oven. She would keep large bowls of raspberries in the fridge, and they went on everything from my cereal to my bowl(s) of vanilla ice cream.

Now that I'm an adult, my lust for the raspberry has not abated. I would cook or bake everything (well, almost everything) with raspberries if the hubby wouldn't start to question my sanity. I do love to cook with them though- that means I get to eat whatever I put them in. Here's a few of my favorite raspberry recipes:

Raspberry Filled Vanilla Muffins

Raspberry-Peach-Lime Lemonade

Raspberry Banana Oat Muffins

Raspberry Filled Mini-Doughnuts

Raspberry Lemonade Muffins

Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

And, a couple of recipes on my to-do list:

Brownie Bites with Raspberry Sauce- Hardly Housewives

Raspberry Crisp- Pioneer Woman

Raspberry Lemonade Bars- Annie's Eats

Raspberry Bread Pudding- Chef In Training

Raspberry Mint Ice Pops- Cooking Light

I always dread that time of year when raspberries are no longer in season. I'm hoping to grow my own berries next year, so hopefully at this time next year, I'll have raspberries out the wahzoowilla. Yes, that's right. I said wahzoowilla.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!