But what to make? Then I saw this recipe at the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle website that supplements Barbara Kingsolver’s fantastic book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, I knew I had the perfect entry for the next edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Srivalli from Cooking 4 All Seasons - Basil-Blackberry Crumble.

Basil in a dessert? Actually, it’s amazingly good in a sweet ‘n’ sour, slightly sophisticated sort of way. In fact, it reminds me a little bit of cold beet borsch. The vinegar (!) and basil may not be to your children’s taste, but have them give it a try anyway. If they don’t like it, don’t worry. Then there’s just more for you!

And not only did the basil come from our yard, so did the blackberries.

Basil-Blackberry Crumble

Ingredients:

1. 2-3 apples, chopped (I used two large Pink Lady apples. Make sure you use sweet apples and not tart. The vinegar adds enough tartness.)
2. 2 pints blackberries (6 cups)
3. 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
4. 1 large handful of basil leaves, chopped
5. ¼ cup honey – or more, depending on tartness of your berries

Preheat oven to 400. Combine the above in an oven-proof casserole dish, mix and set aside.

Crumble Ingredients:

1. 5 Tbsp flour
2. 3 heaping Tbsp brown sugar
3. 1 stick cold butter

Directions:

1. Cut butter into flour and sugar, then rub with your fingers to make a chunky, crumbly mixture (not uniform). (Do this fairly quickly as the heat from your hands will turn the mixture into paste making it harder to sprinkle over the berries.)
2. Sprinkle it over the top of the fruit, bake 30 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Activities for the kids:

• writing out the shopping list
• picking basil and blackberries
• washing basil leaves and apples
• rinsing berries
• cutting apples and basil
• measuring ingredients
• figuring out how many pints equals how many cups
• counting how many blackberries are in one cup, pint, etc.
• mixing the crumble ingredients
• sprinkling the basil or crumble over the dish

Notes: There was a lot of juice from the berries making it a bit soupy. Maybe serving it over angel food cake or sponge cake would help sop the extra liquid up.

Also, I would have liked a little more crumble for a little more sweetness. (The texture of the crumble is a nice contrast to the liquid and berries.) Next time I make it I will multiple the crumble ingredients by 1.5 as doubling it may be too much. Finally, it’s best served very warm or the leftovers very cold.

Shawn on the other hand thought I was supposed to do this week’s Carnival. Actually, I’m supposed to do next week’s. But since it’s all done, go over to Food History for next week’s carnival…I think. We’ll get it figured out.

Enjoy these wonderful dishes with your family:

Lane presents Vegan Cream of Asparagus Soup posted at Vegan Bits. Don’t tell the kids is asparagus. Just tell them it’s green slime soup instead.

Bobby presents Chicken Parmesan Recipe posted at Free Online Recipes | Free Recipes.

N. & J. presents Sunday Morning Yum Yums- Baked Broccoli Frittata posted at Bad Human! Don’t take chemicals from strangers!.

Lovelyn presents Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe posted at The Art of Balanced Living. Nothing better than making pizza with the kids!

Keith presents Gorgonzola Salad posted at The Screaming Saucepan.

Marsha Hudnall presents Healthy Recipe: Genuine Northern Thai Style Papaya Salad with Peanuts posted at A Weight Lifted.

Arvid presents Indian Mango Ice-cream posted at Arvind Devalia.

Karen Dowell presents Oatmeal Gingerbread (and a cure for dizziness) posted at Wiggly Wigglers.

NerdMom presents Strawberry Amaretto Pastries posted at Nerd Family Food.

Kathee presents CHICKEN SPAGHETTI posted at Chicken Recipes. Also the name of one of my favorite children’s book blogs.

Michele presents Toscana Soup at Meanderings.

Jean Mosher presents Kelly’s New Vegetarian Cooking Blog « Always in Motion posted at Always in Motion.

Bill presents Amish Friendship Bread posted at World Famous Recipes. Baking bread is always a terrific family activity.

World Famous Recipes presents Braised Oxtails posted at Recipes.

Thelly presents Chicken Recipes – 4 Clove Garlic Vampire Chicken posted at Chicken Recipes.

Famous Recipes presents Butternut Squash Soup posted at Famous Recipes. My favorite soup to make for sick friends. And my kids love it!

Slow Cooker Recipes presents Slow Cooker Turkey Breast posted at Slow Cooker Recipes. A slow cooker (crockpot) is every parents best friend.

Diabetic Recipes presents Diabetic Recipes: Cocoa-Date Oatmeal posted at Diabetic Recipes.

East Valley Living presents Cauliflower Potato Salad posted at East Valley Living. Sneak those veggies into your kids’ diet!

Cookie presents Helen’s Meatloaf at Cooking Capers. Meatloaf – everyone’s favorite comfort food!