 While scrolling trough a social media feed recently I saw an image of red white and blue strawberries. I didn’t see any instructions but thought “I can make those” and I did. All it took was strawberries, candy melts and sanding sugar.  First, melt some white candy melts. I made a double boiler by placing a metal bowl over water steaming in a large pan. I dropped the candy melts in the bowl and stirred as they slowly melted. You can also use a microwave.  Once the candy was melted, I took a strawberry and dipped it into the delicious melty vanilla candy. I covered about two-thirds of the strawberry.
Then I shook sanding sugar on the bottom third, so I had a red, white, and blue strips. I first tried dipping the candy-coated strawberry into the sugar, but that didn’t go well. I found I got better results by shaking the sugar over the berry and letting the excess sugar drop into a bowl. I saved the excess sugar to use again later.  I used one pound of strawberries and got about 2 dozen sweet firecrackers.   4th of July Strawberry Firecracker 1 lb strawberries
6 oz white candy melts (about half a 12 oz bag) 2 Tbs blue sanding sugar Melt candy melt per package directions. Dip a strawberry into the candy melt, coating berry about 2/3 of the way up. Shake blue sugar on the bottom third of the strawberry. Place strawberry onto parchment or wax paper lined sheet pan. Repeat with remaining strawberries. Refrigerate to harden candy and until ready to serve.
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 A hallmark of a cold winter’s day is cuddling up on the couch in blanket, watching a movie, and sipping a mug of hot chocolate. I usually just make a mug with a packaged mix and then add some toppings. Some of my favorite toppings are just what you would expect – whipped cream, marshmallows, and candy canes. I also like the flavor of cinnamon in my cocoa.
My next cocoa food adventure is learning to make drinking chocolate. I found a recipe online that looks super simple – just melting a chocolate bar in whole milk and cream and adding some vanilla and brown sugar. The trick to getting that delicious thick drink is the ratio of chocolate to liquid. Looks like about 8 ounces of chocolate to 2 to 2-1/2 cups of liquid does the trick. What is your favorite flavor of cocoa? And have you make drinking chocolate?  With a crunchy tart and sweet topping, this lemon bread is the perfect neighbor holiday gift. The bread is moist and tender, but the simple lemony topping takes it over the edge of goodness. I bake them in mini disposal aluminum pans then wrap each bread in aluminum foil. For a homey look I cut paper grocery bags into strips with pinking shears and wrap that around the foil. I then add a mesh ribbon, tag, and small Christmas ornament for a second gift. Each batch of the recipe will make about 5 mini loaves or 2 full size loaves.   Lemon Bread Batter
3 cups flour 3 tsp baking powder (reduce if at a high altitude) ½ tsp salt 2/3 cup shortening 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 1 cup milk 1 Tbs lemon zest (about one lemon zested) Topping 2/3 cup sugar 4 Tbs lemon juice
With Strawberry, Mango, Coconut Filling  This is one of my favorite easy to make desserts. A bar cookie with fruity filling is sandwiched between layers of oats and brown sugar. Whip those up for your family holiday get together or wrap up a plate to take to your neighbors. In mixing bowl combine old fashioned oats flour, butter, brown sugar, and a little baking soda for leavening.  Save about 1/2-2/3 cup of the mixture and press the rest into a square 9 X 9 X 2 inch pan. No need to grease it.  Now make your fruit filling. The great thing about these bars is you can make any flavor of filling you like. I made a Strawberry, Mango, Coconut filling – YUM! It was so quick and easy – I just heated frozen strawberries and mangos with a little sugar and some shredded coconut. I cooked it until it was thick like jam, using a potato masher to break up any large pieces of fruit.  An easy recipe for jam is 1-1/2 cups of fruit and 1/2 cup sugar. How about apple and cinnamon or blueberry and lime or apricot and pineapple. But here is a secret – you can just use store bought jam. What?? It’s true, just use about 1 cup of your favorite flavor of jam in place of the fruit filling. Whether you decide to use homemade or store bought, the next step is to spread the jam over the oat mixture.  Grab the reserved oat mixtures and crumble it over the top of the fruit filling.
Bake until the topping is browned and the jam is bubbly.   Fruit and Oat Bars with Strawberry, Mango, Coconut Filling  Crust
1 cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats 1 cup flour 2/3 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup butter Filling (for a time save use 1 cup of jarred jam or preserves) 1 cup frozen strawberries 1/2 cup frozen mango chunks 1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut 1/2 cup sugar Prepare crust. Combine oats, flour, sugar, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is the size of coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 to 2/3 cup of mixture. Press remaining mixture into a 9 X 9 X 2 inch baking pan. Make filling. Place strawberries, mango, coconut, and sugar in medium saucepan. Stir together while cooking over medium heat. Use a potato masher to break up any large chunks of fruit. Cook until fruit is soft and mixture is thick like jam. Spread filling over the pressed crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake in a 350° F oven for 30 minutes until the top is golden. Cool in pan, then cut into bars. Cooking my Way through Neighborhood Cookbooks  While flipping through the neighborhood cookbook this recipe for a Mandarin Orange Cake caught my eye. I thought it would be a light and refreshing summer treat. And it was. Start with a box of yellow cake mix. Add in some unsweetened applesauce, the juice from a can of mandarin oranges, egg whites, and a whole egg.  Mix until well blended. Then fold in a can of mandarin oranges. The recipe didn’t specify if the oranges should be whole or cut into pieces. I folded whole oranges into the cake mix, but when I make this cake again (and I will) I’ll cut the mandarin oranges into chunks and maybe put in two cans.  Pour the cake batter into a 9 X 13 inch pan and bake at 350° F for 30-40 minutes. I went for the low end of time – 30 minutes and the edges browned a little too much. The center was still moist. In the future I’ll start with 25 minutes and check for doneness.
Now comes the most delicious part of this cake. The topping. Mix together a small box of coconut pudding, a can of crushed pineapple, and some whipped topping.  I was traveling with this cake, so instead of “frosting” it I packed the topping to take with. By the way the topping filled way more than one whipped topping container.  When I make recipes from the neighborhood cookbook I look for ways to bump up the nutrition. But with desserts I think you should just enjoy them. And… this recipe had “weight watcher” points printed next to the recipe; I think someone substituted the applesauce and egg whites for oil.  Mandarin Orange Cake (my suggested updates in parenthesis)  18 oz unprepared yellow cake mix
¾ C unsweetened applesauce 3 egg whites 1 egg 11 oz can mandarin oranges (I would use two cans and cut oranges in half or thirds) 1 small instant coconut or vanilla pudding mix 20 oz can crushed pineapple and the juice 8 oz lite whipped topping Thoroughly mix the cake mix with the applesauce, the juice of the mandarin oranges (one can only), the egg whites, and the egg. Fold in the mandarin oranges. Pour into a 9 X 13 inch cake pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 ° F. (I suggest started at 25 min and checking for doneness). Cool completely. Mix the pudding mix with the crushed pineapple and fold in the whipped topping. Spread on the cooled cake. (I like putting a dollop on each piece so you can store the cake longer). Top with more mandarin oranges if desired. Refrigerate if topping is spread all over or just refrigerate topping. June is Strawberry season and my patch is delivering. The strawberries are super tiny this year, but sweet and delicious. I love a bowl of strawberries with a fruity balsamic vinegar and a touch of sugar, but decided to branch out to something new -- a Strawberry Taco!  Start with a small flour tortilla, butter one side and place in a skillet on over medium heat.  Next spread on some cream cheese, that has been lightly sweetened with sugar. I didn't want mine too sweet so just added about 1 tsp sugar to 4 Tbs cream cheese.  Now cut up a few strawberries and mix with a little cinnamon and sugar. Put a nice scoop of the strawberry mixture on the cream cheese. The strawberry and cream cheese mixture will be on one half of the tortilla.  Flip the tortilla over the top to make your taco shape.  Cook until browned on one side and then flip over and brown on the other. I lost a few strawberries on the flip.   Recipe Strawberry Dessert Tacos
4 Tbs Cream cheese 1 Tbs Sugar, divided 1 Cup Diced strawberries 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 2 Flour tortillas 2 tsp Butter In a small bowl, mix cream cheese with 1 tsp of sugar. Toss diced strawberries with remaining sugar and cinnamon. Butter one side of each tortilla and place butter side down in skillet over medium heat. Spread half of cream cheese mixture on each tortilla, covering one-half of tortilla. Top each cream cheese layer with half of strawberry mixture. Fold tortilla over to cover the strawberries. Cook until lightly browned on bottom, flip over and cook until other side is browned.  For years my mom and dad have made Chocolate Peanut Clusters for their neighborhood Christmas gifts. As they’ve gotten older, I’ve helped make these delicious treats. There is really no recipe – all you need is chocolate and peanuts. READ MORE.
 Alright, alright, it is technically not ice cream if the recipe is 100% fruit. But the frozen bananas in this tasty frozen treat give it an ice cream like texture. And, the recipe is embarrassingly simple. First cut up 1-1/2 bananas into chunks and freeze. Next pop the frozen bananas into your food processor.
 The pears in my fruit orchard ripen in early fall. But nationwide, pears are considered a winter fruit as they are widely available and inexpensive in January, February, and March.  My no-bake pear cheesecake combines the winter fruit with a hint of fall spices and because it is low-fat it won’t ruin your new years resolution to lose the holiday weight. The crust is simple and laced with flavor. Add fall spice to the crust by pulsing vanilla wafers with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in a food processor.
Summer fruits provide fresh take on desserts. Shortcakes are quick, elegant, and can be filled with most any type of fruit.
Shortcakes are basically a biscuit enriched with sugar and egg. Mix flour, sugar, leavening, and little salt together, then cut in a fat (butter adds the best flavor). Stir in some milk and egg to make an enriched dough. |
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