Tag Archives: strawberry

Strawberry Banana Sherbet

5 Mar

I know it’s the middle of winter in the US… but it’s 83 degrees in Puerto Rico.  I am working without air conditioning for a few weeks now and I need something to cool off with when it gets hot.  So I decided to put together a few frozen things I already had in my freezer and see how they tasted all-together…

This is how Strawberry Banana Sherbet was born.  Nice little experiment, no?

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STRAWBERRY BANANA SHERBET

1 cup strawberries
1 medium banana
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh orange juice – nobody will notice if you use Tropicana, so don’t worry
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup of kefir – this will make it a sherbet, rather than a sorbet
  1.  Mix all the ingredients in a blender.
  2. Pour the mixture in a container to freeze up.  I used an ice tray… it’s convenient and helps in portion control too.  You could also use mini plastic cups or even place a wooden stick to serve as popsicles.
  3. Freeze for about 2-3 hours until it hardens up

 

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I used fresh fruits I had frozen myself, but you can use fresh ones if you have them around or even frozen fruits bought from the supermarket.  I am sure you can use the same method to create other nice fruit sherbets.  I will be experimenting a few more in the coming weeks.  I promise to share.

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Freezing Berries

20 Jan

I guess I am in a very fruity mode these days… but I indeed mentioned that one of my new year’s resolutions were to eat more fruit and vegetables.  I am taking you along for the ride…

I love making myself fruit smoothies in the mornings.  Particularly, I LOOOOOVE adding fresh berries to them.  Unfortunately,  in a way, is that berries are pretty expensive… I am paying these days between $7 and $8 for a pound of strawberries.  I guess they’re not in season in the US and they’re bringing them from God-knows-where. And there’s little I can do to reduce my carbon footprint in regards to this… because we don’t grow berries in Puerto Rico, I either buy them imported, frozen, or not eat them at all.

What I want to share with you is about freezing berries… this is a trick I learned, again, from my good friend Martha Stewart (she does not know how good friends we are…)   With the price I pay for berries, I can’t eat them all at once and they’re prone to spoil fast.  To avoid this when I purchase these beautiful strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or any other berry… is to freeze them individually on a baking sheet and then store them.

I wash the berries, remove any stems, dry them as well as I can and place them without touching on a baking sheet.  Place the baking sheet on the freezer overnight and then store the berries in a freezer plastic storage bag.  Never freeze them all clumped up in a bag, because then you’ll have a tough time separating them if you need just a small amount at a time.

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This way, I have great tasting berries anytime.

Hope this helps…

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Strawberry Banana Smoothie

7 Jan

As part of my New Year’s resolutions I have to eat more fruits and vegetables…

I wish I had the time to make myself a huge fruit salad every morning, but I don’t.  So my alternative is to make myself a fruit smoothie every morning.  I try to mix up the fruits to use what’s in season, but also to suit my cravings.  I also try to add ingredients that will increase my protein and fiber content in the smoothie, such as soy protein powder or oatmeal.

This is the smoothie I made this morning…  strawberry banana with passion fruit juice.  It’s yummy…

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STRAWBERRY BANANA SMOOTHIE

1 banana
3 medium strawberries
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
3/4 cup fruit juice – orange, passion fruit, pineapple would all work
2 tablespoons of oatmeal
squirt of honey, optional
a few ice cubes
  1. Mix all ingredients well in a blender.
  2. Add a little water if it’s too thick.

Other fruit combinations I like:

papaya and mango

papaya and banana

strawberry and orange juice

strawberry and kiwi fruit

mango with passion fruit juice

mango and orange juice

blueberries and banana

raspberries and pineapple juice

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Strawberry Kanten

23 Dec

This is a recipe I learned from Diane Carlson while at a cooking retreat called the Conscious Gourmet back in April of this year.  I made some wonderful friends and learned some awesome recipes, this being one of them.  Among the wonderful friends, my friend Kathleen from Kathleen’s Vegetarian Kitchen.

 I learned this is called KANTEN because that’s another name of the agar-agar in the recipe. It’s an easy recipe, but you need time to make it… you’ll see why…

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 STRAWBERRY KANTEN

4 cups apple juice – Knudsen’s organic brand is highly recommended
1/4 cup agar flakes
1 tablespoon roasted almond butter
dash of lemon juice
pinch of sea salt
2 cups strawberries
1 tablespoons maple syrup or to taste
  1. Place apple juice and agar flakes in a medium saucepan.  Set aside for 15 minutes so the agar flakes start to dissolve a bit in the juice.  Bring liquid to a boil, lower heat and gently simmer for 5 minutes or until agar is completely dissolved.
  2. Pour the hot kanten into a metal bowl or metal baking dish and place in freezer until very firmly set.
  3. Slice 1/2 cup of strawberries for garnish.  Puree the remaining strawberries in a blender with maple syrup and salt.  Strain the strawberries through a fine sieve to remove as many seeds as possible.
  4. When the kanten is fully solidified, break it up into a food processor.  Add the almond butter, lemon juice and salt and puree until smooth. Layer kanten and strawberry sauce in parfait glasses.  Garnish with remaining strawberries.

It’s important to use the metal bowl to help the kanten solidify faster.  Depending on how cold your freezer is, this part will take at least 2 hours.

 The color of the apple juice you use will definitely affect the color of your kanten.  The Conscious Gourmet version was made with Knudsen’s apple juice.  The version I did on  my own was made with Mott’s Natural apple juice, therefore, this latter version was beiger, while the Knudsen version is pinkier.

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