by jphilo | Jul 25, 2012 | Recipes
A cantaloupe smoothie is not something I would have tried in a normal summer. But this summer’s far-from-normal heat and drought is playing havoc with our community supported agriculture (CSA) shares. This week, the heat caused all the melon fields to ripen at once, so our friendly, local farmer sent us home with three large melons…and a couple recipes for cantaloupe smoothies.
Hiram, my husband who eats almost anything, doesn’t like smoothies much. Or cantaloupe for that matter, so this recipe will never get his coveted seal of approval. I was a bit skeptical, too, but with three melons staring me in the face, what was there to lose? My first sip of the concoction was disappointing. But gradually, the flavor grew on me, and the drink was extremely refreshing on a hot, hot day. The recipe below is non-dairy, with the dairy equivalents in parentheses.
Cantaloupe Fruit Smoothie
2 large slices cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and cubed
1/2 cup crushed ice
1/2 cup almond milk (skim milk)
1/3 cup raspberry or orange sherbet (3 ounces yogurt)
1 tablespoon honey (if using yogurt)
Put all ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Serve immediately. Makes two small or one large smoothie.
by jphilo | Jun 22, 2011 | Recipes
Nestled at the bottom of today’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) bag were two quarts of beautiful, hand-picked strawberries. This is the third week of strawberries Hiram describes as “red all the way through.”
That red translates into flavor all the way through and means the berries have to be used quickly. So as soon as I got home today, I picked some rhubarb and threw together a strawberry-rhubarb crisp – quicker than a strawberry-rhubarb pie and just as delicious. So give this recipe a try. If you have rhubarb, but not strawberries, use twice as much rhubarb and a little more sugar.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp
2 cups sliced rhubarb
2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
3/4 – 1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
2/3 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put fruits in a 9 x 9 glass or ceramic pan and mix together.
Combine sugar, flour, oatmeal, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cut in softened butter. Spread over fruit. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes until topping is brown and fruit is bubbling. Serve warm with ice cream, milk or cream.
by jphilo | Sep 16, 2010 | Recipes
Lately, our CSA weekly share has been overflowing with squash: summer, zucchini, acorn and butternut. You name it, we’ve got it. That means my husband, an avid squash lover, is a happy man.
My best squash recipe is below. It’s also my only recipe. Hiram doesn’t mind eating it over and over. But, I don’t love squash as much as he does and need some new ways to prepare this fall vegetable. So if you have some good recipes, please leave them in the comment section. Thanks!
Baked Squash
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash into halves and scoop seeds out of the interior cavity. Fill a 9 x 13 pan with about two inches of wanter. Place squash halves upside down in pan. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes until it starts to get soft. Turn squash over. (Careful, the hot steam can burn you!)
Place a small pat of butter, a tablespoon of brown sugar and a pinch of salt in each cavity. Add water until cavity is almost full. Bake for 15 – 20 more minutes and serve.
