The good people at Driscoll’s kindly sent me some vouchers for free berries (the best kind of voucher). The idea, I surmise, was to get me to remind you that biting into a raspberry is like tasting the essence of summer. And also that raspberries are super healthy. I had so many plans to use my raspberries, but I ate them too quickly for those plans to materialize. Here’s how I enjoyed my raspberries:

Because I failed to get creative with my raspberry bounty, I thought I’d turn to some of the brilliant bloggers from Fortify: A Food Community to inspire you to cook and bake with raspberries.

First up: This gorgeous savory recipe for Raspberry Risotto with Herbs de Provence and Chevre from Shari at MyFancyPantry.com. Shari always posts the most drool-worthy exotic recipes and I aspire to reach even a portion of the depth and breadth of her talent someday.

Second: A sexy (and would you believe healthy?!?) recipe for Raw Double Raspberry Lemon Dream Cake from Amy at Fragrant Vanilla Cake. Trust me, I *will* be dreaming about the beautiful swirls and colors in this cake.

Next: This dazzlingly decadent Chocolate Raspberry Tart from Amy at Amy on the Prairie. If I had a piece of this right now, I’d lick the plate clean. I wholeheartedly believe that raspberries and chocolate go together even better than raspberries and my breakfast cereal.

Finally: An ode to sweet summer raspberries from the venerable Kate in the Kitchen. She says it better than I ever could.

Summer. Plump, juicy raspberries. Happiness. Sigh.