Homemade Sorbet

I should say, this recipe is adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Canning and any soft fruit can be substituted to accomodate the season.

I made strawberries because that is the season that we just got out of.

And it is GOOD. VERY good.

If you like strawberries, you will think this divine.

If you are addicted to sugar, this will not fail you.

If you are hot, this is COOL. VERY cool!

You will need:

4 cups sliced fruit-any soft variety (I used strawberries)
2 cups sugar
1 cup orange juice (I used pinapple because that is what I had)
2 T. lemon juice

Puree fruit in food processor or blender.

Add remaining ingredients to a saucepan and stir over heat until sugar dissolves.

Add fruit puree.

Add to a freezable container.

(Now, the BBB-that is, by the way, Ball Blue Book) says to put it in a 13x9 inch pan and once frozen, bring it out cut it up, puree it again. Put in freezer safe canning jars and freeze in individual portions.)

Here is what I did (since I don't want to waste freezer space OR containers...

I just plopped it into an empty (and recycled ;-) ) 1 gallon ice cream pail and froze that.

You can too.

Then, when you are ready to serve some, simply cut out hunks enough to fill the crowd-and save the rest for later.

Puree or blend said hunks until light and fluffy.

ALWAYS garnish. It makes things lovely. Mint is a good standby! ;-)

Fudgcicles

SUPER DUPER easy~only take four ingredients you always have on hand and they truly taste JUST as good as the store bought ones.

3 T. flour
1 c. sugar
4 c. milk
3 1/2 T. cocoa

Stir over medium heat: boil one minute then freeze!

Unless you have those cool popsicles containers with straw-be prepared for some sticky goodness!

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Tortilla chips

This is so delicious. SO so delicious. The best part is, I don't feel bad about eating the entire bowl myself!

Now some fruit salsa's can be made with finely chopped red onion and green pepper. That makes a good tasting salsa too. But I tend to make a version with JUST fruit-basically because I don't want to bother mincing up anything else.

You can put whatever fruits in your salsa that you like. The more the merrier.

The one pictured above is blackberries, pinepple, strawberries, and peaches. It stopped there because that is all I had on hand.

Then I add about 2 T. honey and stir to coat. You can add more or less, or none at all.

This can be let to sit overnight, but you will notice there will be lots more juices.

To make the cinnamon sugar tortillas...

You'll need: tortilla wraps
1 cup sugar
1 T. cinnamon
About 1 T butter, softened per tortilla

Mix cinnamon and sugar.

Put two tortillas side by side on a cookie sheet and slather with butter using a pastry brush.

Heartily and Generously sprinkle cinnamon sugar on them.

Slice, as you would a pizza, using a pizza cutter.

Bake at 400 from 5-10 minutes or better said... when the cinnamon sugar begins to crystalize and the tortillas look hard. These overbake FAST-so don't go far away and keep checking on them.

Let the chips cool and then, chow down. Make lots-they go fast!

Iced Mochachino

The hottest days of summers have ended with Matt coming home from work and requesting one of these babies. For a while there, he had a blender full every day of the week!

I don't like coffee, so I relied on Matt's tastebuds to give or take. Without fail, after the first sip a long, drawn out sign would escape his lips.

If you like coffee, try it.

If you don't...try it anyway. You might surprise yourself.

Add 1/2 c. coffee (I use the leftovers in the pot)
1 cup milk
4 heaping T. cappuchino mix
8 or so icecubes
1 small splash (1 t.) vanilla

Put all ingredients in the blender and put on ice crush setting. It is the tastiest with bitty ice chunks still in it.

Drink as is, OR make things SUPER fancy by topping with whipped cream and drizzling with caramel sauce.