Blackberry Lavender Popsicles

Sometimes you just need a little inspiration. I have been trying to push myself to feel inspired by giving myself a project. I set out to read 30 cookbooks in 30 days. I know there are 31 days this month, but 30 was my first thought so I stuck with it. What can I say, I like round numbers. I decided not to set any further restrictions than that it be a recipe based book of some sort. It's fine if it's 25 pages or 200. Doesn't matter it's sweet or savory, vegan or dairy heavy. I just needed to spend some quality time looking at ingredient selection, composition, and thinking about things that I want to make. It's very unlikely that I will make many of the recipes in their entirety. My brain just doesn't function like that. I always make substitutions and change basic ingredients out to fit my preferences. But that's exactly what I needed. Nineteen days in, I am doing well. I have made my way through sixteen books and have a stack ready to be browsed this evening. It's feeling nice to make lists again of things I want to see in my mixing bowl. It feels like a clean slate.


Like most people, I don't have a huge budget for cookbooks. I generally only buy one or two year depending on how many have been released that peak my interest. Last year was sort of an anomaly, and I ended up with 6 new books & a stuffed shelf. This month I have been relying heavily on the library. I have had a library card in every city I have ever lived in. Growing up, we made frequent trips to the library, and it's a trend that has followed me throughout my life. Aside from studying in the giant marble building throughout college, I made weekly treks to the fiction section to pick up a novel or sat in a chair reading magazines to give my brain a rest. It didn't hurt that the library assistant who often checked me out was really cute, and I needed frequent excuses to ask him questions.
The DC library system is even bigger and more wonderful than any of the libraries in my past. Last winter I went on a several month binge on teenage dramas (which there were plenty of). But now that I am using it for food related books, I was happily surprised to find an abundance of cookbooks in the system too. Based on the books that I have brought home, I can tell that they are well used. So I didn't feel too bad if I happened to drip some popsicle juice on one of the pages, which I may have done. These blackberry lavender popsicles are revised from an recipe in an issue of Bust Magazine that I read in one of the comfy couches of the library's coffee shop. I scrawled the recipe on notebook paper in my organic chemistry binder and never made it until this year when I stumbled upon the recipe again online.


Blackberry Lavender Popsicles
adapted from Lindsay Larick's recipe in Bust Magazine
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups water
3 tbl lavender buds
2 1/4 cups frozen blackberries (approximately a 10oz bag)
3 tbl lemon juice
In a sauce pan combine sugar & water. Bring to a rolling boil. Turn off heat, add lavender, & allow to steep for 30 minutes. Strain lavender pressing down on the buds to release all the syrup. Pour syrup into a blender with blackberries & lemon juice. Puree until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds & freeze for several hours. If you do not enjoy the seeds in the blackberries, you could puree the juice and blackberries and strain that before freezing as well.


While in the winter I found it really convenient to place holds on every book I wanted and have them delivered to my closest branch, this month I have been pushing myself to visit all the branches in my quadrant too. I have made it to three new locations so far, and am hoping to visit another three that aren't too far away by the end of the month. It's great browsing through an online catalog and picking out some books that interest me. But what's really been my favorite thing this month is just walking up to the shelves and looking at all the titles. I have checked out a few books I never would have selected online, which is teaching me a lot about my preferences and taste.
Most of you probably know by now that Vegan MoFo is September instead of October this year. While I originally didn't think I was up to the challenge again, I have decided to keep pushing myself in the right direction. I doubt I will blog every day for the month and I certainly won't have a solid theme again, but I think it's a good motivation. Who's going to join me for the craziness that will be vegan blogging in September? Also do you have any cookbook recommendations? My list is starting to get a little low!