seasonal plant-based recipes
I take a ton of photos for work but only a very small percentage end up making the cut to be used/published. Since I shoot predominantly with a fixed distance lens, my body is the zoom. In other words, I have to physically move around to frame my shot. Because of this I often take several images of the same thing to see which one works best. And inevitably, I end up with a lot of outtakes that are never used or edited. I decided to share a few here today for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
Foraged dewberries are paired with fresh lemon and cardamom in this simple and tasty vegan cobbler. You’re just 10 ingredients away from a warm bite of this lovely vegan dessert! If you don’t have access to dewberries, you can use blackberries in their place.
When I was a kid, spring always meant an impromptu hunt for wild dewberries with my Dad. They weren’t too hard to find, usually on that border between development and the “wild”. They like sun but don’t like wet feet. And as I mentioned above, fence lines were almost always a good bet as they lend some support for the brambles to grow. Once we found a patch, we set to work picking (and eating). We didn’t have fancy picking baskets, usually just a bucket or large metal mixing bowl.
The best berries were the ones that were deep purple, almost black. You could tell they were ripe and ready because they would easily come off the stem when pulled. At first your eyes would only pick up the bright red unripe berries, but the longer you foraged, your eyes would adjust to the dark purple of the ones you wanted. For every few berries picked, one would be eaten. As many times as I’ve foraged for dewberries I can definitively say that they are truly best when eaten off the vine, still warm from the sun and so incredibly flavorful and juicy.
Once we had our fill, we would untangle our clothes from the brambles and load our harvest into the car. It was only during the ride back that we would notice our purple-stained hands and scratched up arms. For as beautiful and delicious as dewberries are, they don’t give themselves up without a bit of a fight.
Dewberries are by far my FAVORITE thing to forage! If you aren’t from Texas or the surrounding southern states, you might not know what the heck a dewberry is. To put it simply, it’s a wild relative of the blackberry. They tend to grow along the upper banks of creeks and streams, often in disturbed areas. Since Texas is hot as hell in the summer, dewberry season is in spring (April, May, and sometimes very early June). Dewberries are generally a bit smaller than blackberries and have a more intense flavor. If you can’t find any dewberries, you can easily use blackberries in this recipe!
If you find yourself with some leftover dewberries after making this cobbler, I highly recommend trying out these zucchini cakes with dewberry glaze!
Foraged dewberries are paired with fresh lemon and cardamom in this simple and tasty vegan cobbler. You’re just 10 ingredients away from a warm bite of this lovely vegan dessert! If you don’t have access to dewberries, you can use blackberries in their place. Recipe adapted from here.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add your berries to a 1.5 to 2-quart baking dish along with the lemon zest and juice. Gently stir the berries to distribute the zest and juice.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, combine the vegan butter and the sugar. Beat them together until the mixture starts to look fluffy then add the vanilla extract and oat milk. Mix well before adding the flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. Mix until you have a thick batter. Pour the batter over the top of the berries in the baking dish. Tap the dish a few times on the counter before putting it in the oven to help remove air bubbles and encourage the batter to settle down over the berries.
Bake the cobbler for 45-55 minutes or until the top is golden and the juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
