Posts Tagged ‘fruit’

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday and enjoying the day. We had a wonderful dinner and instead of doing some big rich dessert I decided to go simple and refreshing for our finish this year. Sweet and tart cranberry sorbet, a perfectly light and yet festive holiday dessert. This would be divine to also serve on New Year’s Eve, especially if you scoop a few balls and put them at the bottom of a glass, then top with champagne. Cranberry sorbet floats, anyone?

Happy Holidays!

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The last time I visited home my mom gave me this recipe torn out of a magazine (along with a pile of newspaper articles and miscellaneous bits of reading materials she thought I’d be interested in), so it seemed only fitting I would make it on Mother’s Day.

A fool is a British dessert traditional using layered whipped cream and egg whites with fruit puree, but this healthier pseudo-breakfast version is just as tasty. Instead of whipped cream you use thick Greek yogurt and the fruit is a quick rhubarb preserve with that perfect sweet-tart tang. This is one of those dishes that can’t decide if it’s dessert or breakfast and is deceivingly “healthy” (trust me, with all the sugar, it’s not), yet it’s still easy and delicious — two things everyone can love.

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This past Christmas I spent every evening working my way through a Terry’s Dark Chocolate Orange. I love the ritual of it. The initial thwack!, peeling back the shiny foil, and eating a few slices at a time. The flavor and texture of the chocolate is just delicious and got me craving orange and chocolate hardcore.

Since citrus is at its finest right now, I figured I’d flip the orange-to-chocolate ratio and make one of my favorite French treats at home: orangettes. Candied sliced orange peels dipped in chocolate (dark for me) and a great way to sate that sweet tooth without feeling too guilty. Yes, they’re a bit labor intensive and lengthy but in the end you only use one pot and most of the time is unattended cooking, so it balances out!

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Man, I didn’t even realize it until recently but I have been in a serious cooking rut this summer. I know I’ve complained about the heat and not being hungry due to work and blah blah blah on here, but it was only this past weekend that I realized I had kind of lost my excitement and joy for cooking at home. I used to get a little jolt of glee in my stomach every time I found a new recipe to try or idea that would come up. That just hasn’t been happening the past 2 months. I blame it on spending all my creative juices at work coming up with recipes on demand and focusing so much on that. The home cook in me was exhausted. Cold cereal, yogurt, take-out… it was a lot of assembling – not cooking. But last week something changed.

I was making scrambled eggs for breakfast because I had a few extra minutes before work and realized I hadn’t done it in months. I used to love actually making breakfast every day before work when I lived in Colorado, and I just stopped doing it when I moved. So all week I made breakfast. Egg sandwiches, waffles, bagels w/cream cheese and lox. No yogurt. Cooking – not assembling. It felt so good.

And suddenly, the jolt was back. The yearning to cook and bake everything I was going to eat instead of gorging at panel at work and then snacking for dinner. I wanted to save space and make dinner. Screw my kitchen being boiling and being exhausted at the end of the day. It’ll be worth it. And this dish is worth it.

When I saw this recipe my stomach did the familiar little somersault. Perfect summer tomatoes, perfect summer herbs, all nestled in a flaky pastry dough and topped with creamy goat cheese. Pure summer and dead simple to boot. I knew I would make this and love it. And I did. I hope you do too.

I have had quite the dilemma this summer.

Summer produce is quite possibly the best thing about the season. And other than just eating the fruits and veggies raw, baking is the next best thing. However, when choosing my new apartment I went for style over practicality (“It’s ooold and pretty and look at the crown moldings and who cares if there’s no AC in the kitchen?”). It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but 3 months later I’ve realized just how horrible and downright impossible it is to use your oven in a windowless room when it’s 95° outside. Woe.

But I woke Saturday morning to cloudy skies and mid-70′s temperatures, knowing I wanted to make something for my coworker Robin’s summer party that night, and jumped on the chance to bake. Since blueberries are gloriously cheap right now and simplicity is the best approach to summer fruit, I decided to make these easy and delicious crumb bars which honestly have ingredients almost any average kitchen will have (minus the fruit). Buttery and sweet crumb layers with tart and juicy blueberries in between, these will be a hit at any party or just serving yourself.