Citrus Glazed Fruit Kabobs

Today is National Eat Something on a Stick Day, so what better to post for your delight than some fruit kabobs! I discovered this while searching for some kiwi recipes for a recipe tag group I belong to. So I had to share this one with you all!

Citrus Glazed Fruit Kabobs

1 C. vanilla yogurt
1 T. chopped fresh mint
1/4 t. ground ginger
3/4 C. packed brown sugar
1/4 C. lime or orange juice
dash ground cinnamon
2 kiwifruit, peeled, halved and thickly sliced
1/2 C. each fresh peach, apricot, plum and nectarine wedges
1/2 C. thickly sliced ripe banana
1/2 C. cubed fresh pineapple
1/2 C. cubed peeled mango

For sauce, in a small bowl, combine the yogurt, mint and ginger; cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
For glaze, in a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, lime juice and cinnamon.  Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from the heat.
On 8 metal or soaked skewers, alternately thread the fruit, brush with half of the glaze.  Grill uncovered over medium low heat for 12-16 minutes or until lightly browned, turning occasionally and basting frequently with remaining glaze.  Serve warm with yogurt sauce.

Enjoy!

Date and Nut Muffins

Is there anyone who doesn't love muffins? I know I love them! I also like to double batches I make so I can stick some in the freezer. It works great!

The recipe I'm sharing is one I need to try. What I'll probably do is add a bit of cinnamon and also some protein powder. They up the nutrition of muffins and I like to eat them for meals.

In adding the protein powder or even whey powder, they can be sent for lunches for the kiddos in place of a sandwich. Cream cheese instead of butter is great and fruity cream cheese spreads can be added to. Or, try a couple thinly sliced apple pieces with the cream cheese. The muffins in the photo above have a chunk of apple in them. That's do-able with most any muffin recipe too! I've done that before too and it works GREAT!

Muffins are versitle and we can be with them! ENJOY!

Date and Nut Muffins

1 1/2 cups chopped dates
3/4 cup boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanila

In a small bowl, combine dates, boiling water and baking soda. In another small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and walnuts.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Beat in brown sugar, melted butter and vanilla. Add date mixture to egg mixture in large bowl, stir to combine. Add flour mixture to date and egg mixture, stir until just combined.

Spoon batter into greased of paper lined muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes.

Photo: Source unknown

National Date Nut Bread Day

DATE NUT BREAD

Source: Flowers and Thyme B&B

2 cups chopped dates
1 ½ cups boiling water

* Pour water over dates and let stand.

2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter

* Beat the above 5 ingredients together.

1 cup nuts
3 cups flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda

* Add to the creamed mixture and stir till blended. Add the date mixture. Pour into a 13x9" pan. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.




Date Nut Spice Bread

2 cups coarsely chopped dates (10 ounces pitted)
1/3 cup orange liqueur (recommended: Cointreau or Triple Sec)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 extra-large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (2 oranges)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (3 oranges)
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans (3 ounces)

For the cream cheese spread:
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom of an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pan.
Combine the dates and orange liqueur in a small bowl and set aside for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl. With the mixer on low, add the egg, vanilla, and orange zest. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. With the mixer still on low, add the flour mixture alternately with the orange juice to the creamed mixture, beating only until combined. By hand, stir in the dates with their liquid, and the pecans.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese, sugar, and orange zest on medium speed until just combined.
Slice the bread and serve with the orange cream cheese on the side for spreading.

National Blueberry Popsicle Day!

It's National Blueberry Popsicle Day!

Have you ever made blueberry popsicles? I haven't made blueberry and I'm not sure why not! I guess I probably just didn't think about it. Here's a few recipes to get you started!

Blueberry Bliss Popsicles

Ingredients:
2 cups blueberries
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
9 small paper cups
9 wooden craft sticks

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Mash everything together with a potato masher, squeezing as much out of the blueberries as you can.
3. Place a strainer over another bowl and dump the blueberry mash into the strainer. Use the back of a large slotted spoon to push through the strainer as much juice as possible.
4. Throw away the blueberry skins left in the strainer.
5. Pour the contents of the bowl into a pourable measuring cup.
6. Line up the cups and pour the blueberry mixture into each one. Fill them up about 3/4 of the way full.
7. Place a wooden craft stick in each cup.
8. Put the cups in the freezer for about 4 hours or until frozen.
9. Peel off the cup from the frozen pop and enjoy!

Blueberry And Vanilla Parfait Pops

Source: Food.com

Perfect for a hot day, and so yummy. Great way to get rid of canned or frozen
fruit! You can mix and match the flavors of yogurt and types of fruit, too:
cherries and chocolate is my favorite.

Ingredients:
2 cups low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, slightly melted
6 wooden popsicle sticks
6 popsicle molds, as large as possible

Directions:
1 Pour 1/3 cup of blueberries into each mold. Cover the molds with tinfoil, insert the popsicle sticks so that the tips are inside the blueberry mixture, and freeze overnight.

2 Take the molds out and remove the tinfoil (not the sticks!) Spoon in 1/3 cup of vanilla frozen yogurt into each mold, making sure not to pull out any sticks while doing so. The softer the yogurt is, the easier this will be. Put in the freezer for two hours or so to allow the yogurt to settle and refreeze slightly.

3 Take the popsicles out and enjoy!

Banana Blueberry Swirl Popsicles

Source: Martha Stewart

Perfect for hot summer days, this frosty treat showcases swirls of creamy
yogurt, sweet blueberries, and bananas. Although Martha uses Stonyfield Farm
BaNilla lowfat yogurt, you can substitute your favorite flavored yogurt in this
recipe.
Makes 10 ice pops

Ingredients
3 to 4 ripe bananas (1 pound)
1 1/2 cups yogurt
3 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions
In the bowl of a food processor, puree bananas until smooth. Add yogurt,
sugar, and lemon juice; pulse to combine. Remove half of the yogurt mixture;
set aside.
Add blueberries to processor, and pulse until just combined. Layer blueberry
and reserved yogurt mixtures into ten 1/3 cup ice-pop molds. Using a wooden
skewer, swirl the two flavors together. Insert ice-pop sticks. Transfer to
freezer until frozen, about 8 hours
Dip molds quickly in hot water to unmold.

Blueberry Fruit Pops

Source: US Highbush Blueberry Council

Ingredients
1 can (15 ¼-ounce) fruit in heavy syrup* such as pears, peaches or apricots
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup fresh, frozen or canned drained blueberries

Instructions
In a blender, puree the canned fruit with all the syrup and lemon juice. Transfer to a large measuring cup or pitcher. Return ¼ cup of the fruit mixture to the blender. Add blueberries
Blend until pureed.
Holding a 6- or 8-ounce plastic cup at an angle, spoon in a layer of fruit puree then a layer of blueberry puree. Repeat to make 4 layers filling the cup about two-thirds
Set cup upright and insert a plastic spoon or wooden ice cream stick in the center. Repeat to use all the pureed fruit and blueberries.
Place cups on a baking pan for support and freeze until firm, 4 to 6 hours.
To serve, place pops at room temperature for 5 minutes then twist from cups.

Quick notes
Per pop: 50 calories; 0 g protein; 13 g carbohydrate; 0 g total fat; 1.4 g fiber
* Note: Fruit canned with less sugar will produce frozen pops that are more
solid
Number of servings (yield): 8

Blueberry Equivalents
One dry cup (8 fl oz.) of fresh or frozen blueberries is equal to:
90-129 large blueberries
130-189 medium blueberries
5 ounces by weight (3 cups to a pound)
2/3 cup pureed
1/2 cup pureed and strained
2/3 cup after simmering 5 minutes with 2 tbsp. water
1 cup frozen blueberries = 2/3 cup thawed blueberries

I hope you enjoy those recipes and might be able to make some popsicles. IF you don't have the ingredients needed, you could make popsicles from blueberry juice. You could make some lemonade with blueberries mixed in or mashed blueberries. I would think one could use blueberry jello and add a bit of lemon juice or mix with some lemonade too.

Enjoy! They sure sound good to me and today is definitely a popsicle day! It's 90 out and HUMID!

National Days!

National Onion Day!

Caramelized Onions

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 cup coarsely chopped onion

1. Heat oven to 400°F. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium; add bell pepper. Cook 5 to 7 minutes longer, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and golden brown. Remove from heat.
Source: Pillsbury
Shar's Note: I usually add a dribble of olive oil to my pan first and then add the butter after the oil is hot when using butter. I find I have a LOT less trouble with the butter over heating. Also, if you onions start to get a bit dry before done, you can add a dribble of water to help get them done without burning their edges or burning the smaller pieces.

National Cherry Popover Day!

Dried Cherry Popover

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
3 large eggs, beaten
1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon, granulated sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup dried cherries

Heat oven to 375° F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 2-quart baking dish.
In a bowl, combine the eggs and 1/3 cup of the sugar. Whisk in the flour until no lumps remain. Whisk in the milk and melted butter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and scatter the cherries over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and bake until puffed and golden, about 45 minutes. Serve warm.
Source: myrecipes.com

Edited and a thank you to "westbrook" for catching the error in the carmelized onions direction! ;) I fixed it and I know the blog is getting read! THANK YOU, Ma'am!

Fun Day Sunday

National Banana Lovers Day

National Banana Lovers Day! I don't expect you to sleep with a bunch of bananas though! I just got a kick out of that banana graphic and it's IMHO perfect for the day! And, it's also National Compassion Day. Fitting, huh?

In case you ever wonder how much sugar is in a banana, those are sugar cubes to show you! Being diabetic, I will now have to pick up a box of sugar cubes at the store and see how many grams of sugar in a cube and all that important nutritional info. The nutritional info for a banana is misleading as bananas vary so much in size. I guess I should ask the diabetic dietician when I start classes next month!

And, if you don't like bananas to eat, carve them or make bread!

Why? Because it's also Just Because Day!

National Cherry Popsicle Day

It's National CHERRY Popsicle Day. Not strawberry, not any other flavor, JUST cherry!

The good news is that you can make them or buy them. If you make them you can use cool aid, drink mix, cherry juice, or marchino cherry juice. You can combine any of these in any amounts.

I've never heard of popsicle police so if you wanted to mix flavors, I'll never tell!

Something I've never tried but think might be interesting would be to use the liquid off of canned beets into popsicle makings. It would sure give a richer color and it would add some nutritional value from the leached vits/mins. That would also help take away from the lack of good stuff if cool aid or drink mix are used. I would start with small amounts of course and then add to one's taste preferences. Doctor Oz is pushing his red juice which is a beet, apple and carrot combo so beet juice added to popsicles would probably even impress him! Why not try it?

I'm going to have to wait and see if there are National Popsicle Days for the rest of the flavors!

National Banana Split Day

National Banana Split Day

Such a yummy celebration! There's not really a recipe for a banana split as it's more of a do-it-yourself-kit type of treat.

I like to slice my banana up into bite-sized pieces and then arrange (haphazardly of course) them around the ice cream. I'm not into pineapple with chocolate, but love it otherwise. I do like chocolate syrup and nuts on my splits. Then I like strawberries or cherries. If they aren't in season, dried cranberries or cherries are good too. then of course a dollop of chocolate cool whip (SF for me please) and even a marchino cherry, strawberry, cherry or such for the top crowning. As to the ice cream, I go with the diabetic friendly and like vanilla or chocolate. I don't care for the strawberry flavoring in strawberry ice cream. A wonderful sub for the scoup of strawberry is a mint chocolate chip though!

How do you like to make yours?

And while you're enjoying your wonderful treat, it's also Willing To Lend A Hand Day in case you get a chance to do so! Then you'll REALLY deserve to enjoy that split as you'll have burnt the calories off doing something good for someone!

Do we pay-it-forward with burning calories?

National Days!

National Eat a Peach Day! The peaches are ALMOST ripe here. I LOVE fresh peaches and home canned peaches. I LOVE peaches in ice cream or ice cream with peaches. But, that first, nice, RIPE peach of the season is the BEST!

It's also Pecan Torte Day!

I found 3 interesting recipes to share. Interestingly, what I see people are calling a torte is actually a tart. A tart is more like a pie. A torte is more cake like and in layers. Both are delicious though and they are fun to make.

Pecan Torte

Ingredients
3 cups finely chopped toasted pecans, divided
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda1 cup butter
3/4 cup dark corn syrup

FILLING:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
4 egg yolks, beaten
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Directions
1.Sprinkle 2/3 cup pecans each into three greased 9-in. round baking pans; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugar. Add egg yolks, one at at time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Stir in remaining pecans.
2.In a small mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Brush with corn syrup; cool completely.
3.For filling, in a heavy sauce, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in cream until smooth. Add the corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolks; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir for 3 minutes. remove from the heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cool, about 4 hours.
4.Place one cake layer, pecan side up, on a serving plate; spread with about 2/3 cup of filling. Repeat layers twice. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Refrigerate leftovers.

Pecan Torte Recipe

Serves 8
Ingredients
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups ground pecans
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon boiling water
1/2 cup pecan halves

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 8 inch round cake pans.
2.Beat egg whites in mixing bowl until stiff. Set aside.
3.In smaller bowl beat egg yolks well. Add 2/3 cup of the sugar, vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon crushed coffee granules. Beat well. Fold into egg whites. Gently fold in flour and cocoa. Add ground pecans and fold in. Spread batter into the prepared pans.
4.Bake at 350 degree F (175 degrees C) for 25 minutes. Let cakes cool then remove from pans. Fill and frost cake with Mocha Cream. Edges of tops may be trimmed to flatten before frosting if needed as they tend to be higher around the outside. Garnish with pecan halves. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
5.To Make Mocha Cream: Beat whipping cream and 2 tablespoons of the sugar together in mixing bowl until stiff. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of the coffee granules in boiling water. Cool. Add to cream. Beat in. Spread between layers and on top and sides. Serves 20
Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 207 Total Fat: 16.6g Cholesterol: 94mg Sodium: 28mg Total Carbs: 12.5g Dietary Fiber: 1g Protein: 3.5g

This one below is actually a pie!

Pecan Torte

INGREDIENTS:
3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder

PREPARATION:
Beat egg whites until stiff then add sugar gradually.
Fold in remaining ingredients.
Pour into buttered pie pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes.
Serve with whipped (commercial) topping.

In closing, it's also Be An Angel Day. I've been good! Have you?