The Charmed Kitchen

Easy Fruit Sodas

When its hot- and even when its not- cold, fizzy drinks are great. Want a super easy, super tasty drink you can make at home? No special equipment required and better for you than commercial pop. I use 2 ingredients- club soda and either concentrated fruit juice or fruit syrups. In every grocery store you can find juice concentrates in the freezer section. Just place a spoonful of the concentrated juice in your glass- add club soda and stir gently to mix. Add ice and serve. Ready when you want it. .

One benefit is that you can control how much juice to add. Make it more or less sweet to suit your taste. You can also use fruit syrups- sold in lots of grocery stores and beverage stores. Read the label. The ones I buy have 2 ingredients- fruit juice- which is listed first and sugar which is listed second. That’s  it. No high fructose corn syrup or a bunch of artificial ingredients.

I’ve make “soda” from frozen grape juice, orange juice, apple juice and pineapple juice. I’ve used  syrups made from blueberries, sour cherries, strawberries and blackberries.  You can use them individually or do combos. They are fun for kids to make, too.

Dress them up with fancy ice cubes. I add small pieces of fruit or mint leaves to ice cube trays and then fill with water and freeze.  Also nice when guests stop over.

Is this stuff better for you than water? I suppose not. I actually drink water most of the time and really like it. Sometimes we need something different. For me this is a nice option- fizzy fruit juice.

This dessert is easy to make and a nice alternative to ice cream. Don’t get me wrong, I love ice cream but sometimes I want something lighter. Nice for those who are lactose intolerant, too. If you do like ice cream you can also serve this as a Strawberry Creamsicle- a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with a scoop of the sorbet.

Strawberry Sorbet

2 c. fresh or frozen strawberries (allow frozen berries to thaw a little first)

1/4 c. sugar, or to taste

3 T. fresh lemon juice

Place ingredients in food processor and process until smooth. Place in shallow pan and freeze. If you are using frozen berries re-freezing will take only about 1 hour. Up to 30 minutes before serving remove sorbet from freezer and allow to soften enough to break into chunks. Place in processor and blend again until very smooth. Serve immediately. Serves 4.  

Freezing Strawberries

Berries can be frozen with or without sugar. Rinse and drain berries then hull. Un- sweetened berries are just placed in freezer containers either whole or sliced. To freeze berries with sugar add 3/4 c. sugar to each quart of prepared berries, stirring gently until well-coated. 

Chocolate Beet Cake

Chatting with a very nice lady about canning beets. She got 100 lbs. of beets as is planning on canning them. Put me in the mood for Chocolate Beet Cake. Moist and flavorful it is always a welcome guest at the party. The taste of the beets are subtle enough that even non-beet people like it. I think you will like it, too. It is made with cooked, then shredded beets. I often cook extra then freeze leftover shredded beets in the amount I’ll need for cake ( 1 1/2 cups).

Chocolate Beet Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3 large eggs, beaten

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons oil

1½ cups grated cooked beets

2 teaspoons vanilla

Powdered sugar, optional, or cream cheese frosting- recipe below

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine flour, soda, salt, sugar and cocoa in a bowl; set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs and oil. Beat in vanilla and continue beating until well blended. Slowly beat in dry ingredients until well mixed; stir in beets. Pour into a greased and floured 9×13-inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for 25 to 35 minutes, or until cake bounces back when touched lightly with finger. Cool in pan on a rack. Frost cooled cake or dust with powdered sugar.

Frosting recipe:

8 oz. Cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. powdered sugar- or more to taste

1 stick butter, room temperature

Beat all together until fluffy. Frost cake and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

These are a simple cookie, but loaded with flavor. Shortbread cookies are one of my favorites. Adding mini chocolate chips makes these just a little more special.  The addition of cornstarch gives them a delectable melt in the mouth texture. 

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

1 c. butter (no substitutions), softened

½ c. brown sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

2 c. flour

¼ c. cornstarch

½ c. mini chocolate chips

2-3 T. granulated sugar

With electric mixer beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla until well mixed. Stir in flour and cornstarch and then stir in chips. Form into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Pour granulated sugar on a small plate and dip bottom of drinking glass into the sugar and use this to gently flatten down the cookies.  Bake in a preheated 300-degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cookies start to brown on the bottom. Cool on sheets 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Makes about 3 ½ dozen.

Blueberry Chef Salad

I love blueberries and am always looking for new places to use them. I added some to dinner tonight in a chef salad. Made a Honey-French dressing. Served it on a bed of fresh lettuce from my garden. 

Blueberry Chef Salad

Dressing:

1/3 c. honey

1/4 c. white wine vinegar or cider vinegar

1 t. paprika

1 t. dry mustard

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. olive oil

3 cups blueberries

Salad:

6 c. torn salad greens

12 oz. cooked chicken, turkey, ham etc, cut into strips

1 c. cubed cheese

1/2 c. cashews

In blender, combine first five ingredients and start running machine on high. Add oil in a slow stream until mixture becomes thickened. Pour into bowl and stir in berries and chill, several hours if you can. When ready to serve arrange greens on one large platter or on smaller salad plates. Arrange meat and cheese on platter or plates. Spoon over the dressing and cashews then serve. Serves 4-6. 

Thought I would share a few little hints with you. Hope you fine them helpful.

Cutting board in jelly roll pan

When you cut up a pineapple, melon or other juicy fruits do you get annoyed at juices dripping everywhere? Simple solution: Place your cutting board in a jelly roll pan. That way drips are contained and clean-up is so much easier.

Fruit fly trap

Bothered by fruit flies? They seem to turn up out of nowhere. Simple solution: Place a 1/2 cup of cider vinegar in a jar and add a drop of dish detergent. Cover with plastic wrap and poke a few holes. Fruit flies are drawn to the smell and drown in the vinegar.

Leftover chow mein noodles? There are always some in any order of Chinese take-out. Do you just toss the extras? Simple solution: They are still noodles, just fried. You can add them to soup or casseroles. They soften quite quickly in almost any liquid.

Coffee filters in flower pot

Dirt everywhere from potted plants? Simple solution: Before filling a planter with  potting soil drop a couple of coffee filters in first. They will keep the soil from falling out of the bottom of the pot but will still allow water to drain.

Asparagus with Pasta

Wanted a quick dinner tonight. Decided to go through the fridge and freezer and see what I could come up with. I must say this pasta dish was just what I was looking for. It is light but quite satisfying and cooked up in no time. I had frozen quite a bit of local asparagus but fresh would have worked fine, too.

Asparagus with Pasta  

8 oz. uncooked pasta

1 T. butter

1 T. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Put pasta on to cook. While it is cooking saute onion in skillet in butter and oil until onion is wilted. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add asparagus and saute until asparagus in tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drain pasta and toss into skillet with asparagus. Toss to combine, adjust seasonings. Sprinkle generously with cheese and serve. Serves 2.

Banana Bread

Since my grocery store had a lot of ripe bananas marked down I decided to take advantage and buy a bunch- well a few bunches! I made some banana and mashed and froze the rest of the bananas for use later. You can make it the regular way or do what I did and use some whole wheat pastry flour for part of the flour in the recipe. Adds some fiber and does not affect the taste or texture. Enjoy!!

Banana Nut Bread

1 ¾ c. flour

1½ t. baking powder

¾ t. salt

½ t. baking soda

2/3 c. sugar

1/3 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

2 T. milk

1 c. mashed ripe banana

¼ c. chopped nuts, optional

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Combine sugar with butter and beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Beat in milk until mixture is smooth. Beat in flour mixture alternately with bananas. Fold in nuts, if desired. Pour batter into greased 9×5 -inch loaf pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 60-65 minutes. Use toothpick to test for doneness. Cool in pan 10 minutes before placing on rack to cool. Store in plastic wrap to preserve moisture. Makes 1 loaf.

Cream Wafers

These are a great cookie for showers., tea parties and the like. Delicate and rich they will melt in your mouth. The secret is the simple, rich dough consisting of just three ingredients: butter, cream and flour.

Cream Wafers

 1 c. butter

1/3 c. heavy whipping cream

2 c. flour

extra fine or granulated sugar

Frosting:

¼ c. butter, softened

¾ c. powdered sugar

1 T. milk

1 t. vanilla

food coloring, if desired. I sometimes add a few drops of pomegranate juice for a natural tint.

Mix butter, cream and flour well. Wrap and chill at least an hour. Roll chilled dough 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured board.  Cut out into 1½ inch rounds or even little hearts or stars. Transfer cookies to a sheet of wax paper heavily coated with extra fine or granulated sugar and coat both sides. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and  prick each cookie 4 times with a fork. Bake at 375-degrees 7-9 minutes until lightly browned and puffy. Cool on rack. Mix frosting ingredients. Put 2 cookies together with frosting to make “sandwiches”.