Raspberry Almond tea bread

Berries are abundantly available this time of the year, and I love to pack some in my weekly grocery shopping. The only downside is that they go bad so quickly, it breaks my heart having to throw away a couple of them. I had picked up different berries in the hope to make a terrine. But I ended up using them in different breads/cakes/pancakes etc. Here is the tea bread - it is actually more like a cake - just not as delicate. This is a wonderful raspberry studded quick bread with some almonds thrown in. We enjoyed it with some whipped cream, although it is good as is.

While using these delicate berries in cake batter, I much prefer to use frozen berries that are not thawed. With fresh ones, I invariably end up crushing a few no matter how gentle I am. And when you cut into a slice - it presents a gooey hot pink blob in the cake. Or with blueberries - the purple colour it lends is usually enough to ward off any unsuspecting guinea pigs!

In this recipe, I used fresh ones raspberries. And managed to find a couple of slices that were quite presentable.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen, unthawed)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, and grease a loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar

3. Add in the liquids - the egg, milk and whip them togethe

4. In a seperate bowl, tip in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and mix it up

5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and gently mix until combined

6. Add in the rasperries and almonds and gently mix them into the batter

7. Pour it into the loaf pan and bake for about 60 to 70 minutes

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Raspberry smoothie

I think I have written enough in praise of berries in my earlier posts, that I love them, and how one look at all of them together is a celebration of summer itself! At the risk of repeating myself - 'I love berries' - all kinds! My favourite ones are blueberries but raspberries make for such a lush and rich red drink, or for garnish, along with strawberries, that I love them simply for their colour!

When I had bought my Magic bullet , I thought smoothies and juices would now be the order of the day. I guess I was on a high from reading all those 'Power juice' and 'Fasting with juice' books and how it will detoxify my system, make me 'live a fuller life' etc. I think I was just being too ambitious thinking I'd accomplish that! I still do have the intention of making a healthy concoction with veggies and fruits every morning, but it has remained just that - an intention!

Smoothies with fruits like berries are such a breeze! No peeling, no deseeding, no mess at all. Guess that's why I always have at least one berry in my weekend shopping basket.

Anyways, this is just one of the smoothies me and my husband are addicted to these days. Here's how I made it.






The ingredients are :
- 1 and 1/2 cup fresh raspberries. Of course you can thaw and use frozen raspberries too.
- 1 medium sized ripe banana
- 1/4 cup + about 2 tablespoons milk. I use whole milk.
- Sugar if you need, according to your taste.

The banana I used was nicely ripe and gave the smoothie just enough sweetness, so I didn't use any sugar at all.
So it's as easy as blitzing it all together into a lush red smoothie. Try it, you'd love it! Share