Tag Archives: Fruit

Summer Fondue Night

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Confession: this heat turns me into a whimpering baby.  I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to move, I don’t even want to think.  Today, the heat index was 103, which I realize is no where near as bad as it is where my college roomies live in Oklahoma and Arizona, but for this Ohio girl who loves her snow, I felt like I was suffocating.  We came home from a birthday party and I realized that I needed to feed the kids and nearly broke down in tears.  I made an off-handed comment about just wanting cheese and crackers for supper to Matt and he asked why we couldn’t do that.  Lightbulb!

Veggies, cheese, meat and dip platter

We eat a lot of fruit in the summer.  Tonight, the four of us put away a quart of strawberries, several cups of watermelon, bananas and cucumbers (which I do realize are not a fruit, but at 96% water, they made the dinner plates for a reason.).  I wanted some protein so I sliced up some local cheese and pepperoni to eat with a quick dip for the cucumbers.  And graham crackers.  We eat a LOT of graham crackers in this house.  Everyone gobbled their meals down and I had some leftovers to keep for snacking.  Yay!

Peanut Butter Fondue, fruit and crackers

Peanut butter fondue

  • 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 8 ounces Greek yogurt
  • 2 Tbsp. strawberry jam
Whisk together until smooth and fully incorporated.  Serve as a dip with various fruits, crackers or even carrots.

Lasting summer

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Last night, I had a dream that it snowed.  I was really disappointed when I realized that it was already in the mid-70s at 7am.    Confession: Summer is not my favorite season.  I love the fresh food and the pool opportunities and all, but I really, really hate being hot.  Really a LOT.  I love all the summer fun, I just don’t like being hot.

However, when I pop open a jar of my jam in the dead of winter, I sure am grateful for that heat that helped the fruit grow and ripen!  This recipe was inspired by the Strawberry and Lemon Preserves from Canning for a New Generation.  I adjusted the flavors a bit to give the jam more what I was looking for: a sweet jam than that finishes with just a little bit of a tart zing!

Strawberry Lemonade Jam

  • 3 pounds strawberries; cleaned, hulled, chopped
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 lemons; skins washed and sliced thinly
Once all the fruit has been washed and sliced/chopped, place it in a large bowl or lidded container.  Sprinkle the sugar over the top and then stir to combine.  Cover and place in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.  This time allows for the berries to thoroughly macerate in the sugar and form a thick syrup.
Transfer the berry mixture to a large, heavy bottomed pan and mash well.  Heat over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the syrup begins to thicken.  You will need to skim foam from the top of the jam after about 10 minutes of cooking and the jam was thickened to my liking at about 20 minutes of cook time.  Remove the lemons from the jam and do a final taste test to make sure the jam is sweet enough for you.  I wanted this jam to have the tartness of a lemon as a primary flavor, but if you need more sweetness, add up to another half a cup of sugar.
This jam only makes 4 half pints of jam, so clean and sterilize those jars, lids and rings.  Bring a pot of water to boil, making sure that there is enough water so that the top of the filled jars will be covered by an inch of water.  When the water is at a roiling boil, lower the filled and capped jars in using tongs, make sure the water height covers the jars sufficiently (if not, add more hot water to the pot) and return the water to a rolling boil.  Once the water is boiling, set your timer for 10 minutes and make sure the lid sets securely on top of the pot.
When the time is complete, remove the jars from the boiling water with tongs and place on a towel to cool.  The jars will need to remain on that towel for a minimum of 12 hours while they cool and set.  Once the jars are cool to the touch, you can check the lids to make sure they have sealed.  Place any unsealed jars in the refrigerator.  Label and store the jars… ready for a cold snowy day when you are longing for some summer fun!

Tropical wishes Pancakes

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Yesterday morning dawned cold and bright as the sun sparkled on the snow.  I like to make pancakes for the family on the weekend, but we’ve had trouble with Sylvi and dairy.  She always wants to participate in meals with us, so I played around the recipe to cut out the dairy.  In addition to these changes, I also took the opportunity to cook the pancakes in my stainless steel skillet.  I haven’t touched the teflon one in weeks, which means we haven’t had pancakes since then either.  Both changes turned out perfectly and I am pleased to tell you that these pancakes somehow turned out lighter than those I’ve made with baking mixes!  I couldn’t find the syrup when I made breakfast, so instead, we spread strawberry jam on them.  They were wonderful and I’m a little sad they’re all gone.  Oh well.  Next weekend!

Pancakes

  • 1 1/2 c. All purpose flour
  • 3 Tbsp. sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 c. coconut milk
  • 3 Tbsp. coconut oil
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Sift together the dry ingredients and mix together the wet ingredients.  Slowly stream the wet ingredients over the flour mixture while whisking constantly until fully incorporated.  Pour batter onto a hot griddle or skillet spoonfuls at a time and cook until browned on both sides.  Serve with strawberry jam, fresh fruit and yogurt.  Then, take a bite, close your eyes and pretend you’re on a sandy beach.  Make as needed to cure the winter blues.

Blackberry Vanilla Jam

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In college, in my Organic Chemistry lab, I neglected to waft during an experiment and sniffed instead.  It was a long time before I was able to smell again.  These days, my nose is very appreciative of the scents that surround me: clean diapers dried in the sun, freshly cut cantaloupe, and the smell of my babies after a bath.  This summer, I had determined to make 12 jars of jam.  I passed that goal easily with the strawberries a few months ago, but when I got my hands on a flat of blackberries, I had to make more.  I didn’t freeze as many as I had planned to, but I’d have to say that the 22 jars of jam in my canning cellar will just open up the door for me to learn how to make scones and sweet cream biscuits.  I promised Matt a batch of this jam from Crunchy Chicken’s Kitchen.  For some reason while I was waiting for that jam to jell, I suddenly remembered the smell of a blackberry lotion I had bought while on our honeymoon.  I played around with the flavor until I found what I was looking for.  Today, I used up the last drops of our store-bought jam from this past winter and I can’t tell you how excited I am to crack into my neat stash the next time I make Liam and I pb&j sandwiches for lunch!
Blackberry Vanilla Jam
  • 6 2/3 cups blackberries puree (after running them through a food mill on fine)
  • 8 1/3 cups sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. Vanilla extract
  • 7 1/2 Tbsp. Ball Classic Pectin

Once the berries have been run through the food mill, put them in a medium sized non-reactive and heat through.  Gradually add in the pectin and bring to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.  Then pour in the sugar and vanilla.  Return the jam to a boil and cook for 1 minute.  Then, remove from the heat and  pour jam into hot half pint/pint jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. 

Frozen fruit for a hot, hot day

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Ahhhh… the silence of naptime.  For the first time this week, I’m sitting here doing what I want to do.  I have a toddler and a newborn, my days start at 530 and end around 11 or 12.  I’m back to making meals for supper, but I will admit that most of them are partially completed since I’m still drawing on my freezer stores.  My brain is slightly addled with the addition of nursing schedules to already busy days that are now spent primarily outside.  Oh.  And my toddler no longer likes food.  He only wants to eat “nacks”.  I haven’t been able to get him to eat breakfast for 3 weeks, he refuses to eat any fruit other than bananas and only wants to see bread, cheese, yogurt or ground beef on his plate at mealtimes.  As a result, I’ve started mashing, pureeing and grating as many vegetables and fruit into our meals as possible.  Sometimes, it works.  Others, not so much.  
One thing I can get him to eat is ice cream.  I decided that I could also make frozen yogurt pops for us to snack on in the afternoons and get some extra fruit in him (and me!) that way.  This is a basic recipe, so I’ll be trying more and more combinations as the summer progresses.  I’m watching the store to see if they get some frozen mangoes in so I can make peach mango pops.  Yum!  I bought my Popsicle molds at Target and they’re nice, but I’ll warn you, the addition of yogurt makes the homemade Popsicle firmer and therefore more difficult to remove from the mold.  I had to leave the mold out on the counter for 20 minutes before the pops were loose enough to come out.  The wait was worth it, though!
Peach “Cream” Freezies
  • 1 lb fresh fruit or 3 cups frozen fruit
  • 3/4 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla
  • 1/4 cup water

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  Pour into Popsicle molds and freeze until firm.  

Pink Lady for a Birthday

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Today is my bloggy friend Abbie’s 30th birthday!  She has a lot to celebrate this month what with it being her birthday, the first birthday of her adorable son, her blogiversary… Wow!  To kick off all the celebrations she has this month, she has instituted a Spring celebration on her blog, the Farmer’s Daughter.  Today’s post is my contribution to the festivities. 
Birthdays in my house growing up were an opportunity to try new recipes and the birthday person could request anything they wanted.  My dad, he always pumpkin pie for his birthday.  My youngest brother liked German Chocolate cake, without the icing.  My mom, being the mom, always made her own cake until I was old enough to take over the request and do it for her… when you’re the mom, you have to take of things for yourself!  My other brother and I liked to change things up and try out different styles of desserts.  One year, I had brownies.  Another year, I just asked for fruit.  This year, I already know that I want this pie.  I’m a fan of rhubarb pie, but this little twist on the dessert is perfect for my birthday since it’s in the summer and this pie is phenomenal when served straight from the freezer!  Since it just takes a few minutes to prepare, it’s also the perfect solution to moms like Abbie and I who have busy little ones keeping up company in the kitchen all day!
Pink Lady Pie
- 2 cups rhubarb, diced
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 oz. strawberry gelatin
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 cups whipped cream
- graham cracker crust

Cook the sugar and rhubarb over low heat until the fruit is fully cooked down. Stir in the gelatin and continue stirring until it has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool. Add in the lemon juice and fold in the whipped cream. Heap the crust with the filling. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving and then garnish with whipped cream.

**Alternate version:  Add in an additional cup of either strawberries or raspberries when you are cooking the rhubarb.  Then, once you’ve chilled the pie and garnished with the whipped cream, sprinkle the berries over the top as an additional garnish.