My oldest headed off into the second grade today. I’m stuck at home with her younger sister and a boat load of fresh produce. Today for afternoon snack we used up the remainder of the blackberries and apples. But we’ll probably go and pick more soon. I’ve got a major addiction to pick-your-own this year.
My preschooler really enjoyed this snack saying things like “This is the best snack ever!!!” and “What did you put in this mama?!” She said these things very loudly as preschoolers are apt to do.
4 medium apples, washed and peeled
1 cup fresh blackberries, washed and picked over
3 tablespoons water or apple juice/cider
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 – 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Roughly chop the apples and discard the cores. Place the apples, blackberries and water in a medium saucepan. Bring the apples and blackberries to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat and cover. Cook for ten minutes or until the apples easily turn to mush when squished with a fork.
Allow the cooked applesauce to cool slightly. Transfer to a strainer placed over a medium mixing bowl. Press the applesauce through the strainer with a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon. Keep pressing the applesauce through until not much more than the blackberry seeds remain. Serve or store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Yield: approximately 2 cups
Prep-time: 15 minutes
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More often than not I don’t actually enjoy cantaloupe. I went out on a limb when I picked this one up at a farmer’s market. The day after I bought it home the whole kitchen started to smell like cantaloupe so I knew it was time to cut it up and see what we had.
Well, it turned out to be something quite beautiful and I’m not talking about its appearance. This cantaloupe smelled and tasted absolutely amazing. Again, fresh in-season produce puts its grocery-store counterparts to shame. This cantaloupe was everything a melon should be: sweet, bright, juicy and firm. No flacid sweetness and mealy texture here.
Since my kids are used to cantaloupe from the grocery store, the only way I was going to get my youngest to even try it was to make it fun. So we did cantaloupe “smiles” and after the first bite we were all hooked. Everyone went back for more.
I will be buying a melon every time I see one at the farmer’s market now.
All we have here is dehydrated applesauce, blackberry puree, and peach puree. And I’m hoping that it will make the my second grader’s classmates green with envy.
Darianne commented on my Homemade Strawberry Fruit Rolls Ups post that her kid is less than happy with the lack of stamped images on her homemade fruit roll ups. It got me thinking. And I have rapidly ripening fresh local produce coming out of my ears right now. With Darianne’s kid in mind, we made a fruit roll up that kicks it up a notch. Who can say no to polka dots? Or better yet, fruit leather they’ve decorated themselves?
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
Fresh blackberry sauce
Fresh peach sauce
Spread applesauce out onto a lightly greased lined dehydrator tray to 1/4-inch thickness. I find a large offset spatula works well, but if you don’t have one spread the applesauce out evenly as best you can with the back of a spoon. “Decorate” the applesauce with the blackberry and peach sauces using separate plastic squeeze bottles.
Place the prepared tray in the dehydrator and set the machine to 135 degrees Farhient. Run the dehydrator for 4 hours or more until the fruit leather is no longer tacky and completely dry. The amount of time necessary depends on the thickness and amount of sugar in the fruit.
Remove the fruit leather from the tray and cut into approximately 2-inch wide strips. Store rolled up in wax paper in an airtight container. Should keep for weeks, if not months.
Yield: 1 12-inch square sheet (4 or 5 rolls)
Prep-time: 10 minutes
Dehydrating-time: 4 hours or more
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I used some freshly picked berries for this sauce. Grocery store berries or frozen berries may need some extra sugar and/or lemon juice.
1 pint fresh or frozen blackberries (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon sugar
If you are using frozen berries, allow them to thaw. For fresh berries, mash the berries and the sugar in a small bowl with a fork to get the juices flowing. Puree the mixture with a hand/immersion blender until smooth.
Pour the mixture through a strainer set on top of a medium bowl. Use a rubber spatula to push the pulp through as much as possible. Discard the seeds left in the strainer. Serve or store the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Yield: 1 cup
Prep-time: 10 minutes
This recipe requires farm fresh local peaches. No grocery store peaches. No. No. No.
4 ripe peaches, pitted and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
Puree peaches and sugar in a medium bowl using a hand blender or in a blender.
Pour the puree through a strainer set on top of a medium bowl. Use a rubber spatula to push the pulp through. Set the strainer aside and discard the bits that did not pass through. Serve or store the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Prep-time: 10 minutes
Perhaps I’m not the only one feeling all kinds of self-imposed pressure to live it up before the summer suddenly comes to a close. I’m sure no matter how much we run around livin’ it up before school starts, come September there’ll be about forty things that I’ll wish we had done. But, there’s always next summer… and as long as I’ve got a glass of mint lemonade in my hand, I believe I will be able to chill out and actually enjoy the time we have left.
4-5 fresh mint leaves
5 ice cubes
5 tablespoons (2 1/2-ounces) freshly squeezed lemon juice (about two lemons)
3 tablespoons (1 1/2-ounces) simple syrup
1 cup (8-ounces) cold water
In a large glass, smash up the mint leaves a bit with a muddler or the back of a spoon. Add ice cubes, lemon juice, simple syrup, and water. Shake or stir well and serve immediately.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Prep-time: 5 minutes
I love this zippy little summer salad when I have a little extra time in the afternoon. It gives us a break from the usual carrot sticks. If you don’t have champagne vinegar, you can try lemon juice. Champagne vinegar is also lovely with strawberries or on salads containing fruit. (A cucumber technically is a fruit, right?)
This recipe is adapted from a recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.
1 medium fresh-picked cucumber, peeled
A generous pinch of fine salt
Pinch ground white pepper
1 – 2 tablespoons of champagne vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh dill (optional)
Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Slice the cucumber thinly and transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle on the salt, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, and dill. Mix with your hand or serve as is.
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I’m okay with the snow and the humidity and the lack of sidewalks because until I moved out here (from central California) I had never tasted anything like this:
Or this:
Or this:
I’m probably living under some sort of delusion. But these fruits of summer (and a few pretty leaves in the Autumn) are seriously why I’m able to endure. So don’t tell me you can get all this stuff in California now. That would crush me.
Nothing says summer like a big plate full of watermelon slices. When it’s too hot to take a break from running through the sprinkler, a slice of watermelon serves as the perfect snack for grown-ups and kids alike. I’ve rediscovered watermelon recently and am gravitating toward the seeded varieties. They pack so much more flavor! And my kids are finally old enough to handle a good ol’ seed spittin’ contest.
I found a Sweet Baby (solid green on the outside) and a Yellow (striped on the outside) watermelon at a farm stand. Here’s the Sweet Baby:
And here’s the Yellow:
And here are the slices before we devoured them:
They were both delicious. I think the Sweet Baby was a little bit sweeter, but I’m a sucker for the color red.
My in-laws are growing these edible flowers in their vegetable garden. As soon as I saw them, images of snacks sprinkled with flowers started racing through my mind. I was feeling like quite the culinary genius until I finally decided to taste one. Whoa! Maybe I just got a bad one, but it was beyond bitter. If you ever have the opportunity, I recommend you keep a glass of milk nearby. Pretty flower though.
