Substituting Fruit for Sweets--A Challenge

Missy Tippens

Our insurance company has a wellness program. They offer incentives for exercising and eating well. We can earn points and actually get cash or other prizes.

So I just signed up to take part in one of the challenges. Whenever I want something sweet to eat, I'm supposed to eat fruit. If I do it 5 of 7 days this week, then I'll be a winner.

So far, so good! I've grabbed apples with peanut butter instead of eating scones. I've added frozen strawberries to oatmeal for breakfast and for a snack. And another morning, instead of eating regular jelly, I made cooked strawberries and spread them on my toast!

I thought the idea was pretty clever.

I took about a cup of frozen berries and heated them in a skillet until they were softened and cooked through. Then I mushed them a bit.

Then I spread it on my toast.

Next time, I'll probably add a sprinkle of Truvia to sweeten it some so it'll taste more like jam. But it was a good substitute! And it helped me be successful in my challenge. :)

Have you ever made your own jam or jelly without added sugar?

www.missytippens.com

Poached Nectarines with Blueberry Compote

Hello, everybody! Mary Jane here, reporting from the West side of the state. It was 108F and hotter where we live so although we hadn't planned a trip, we decided to get out of town!
We spent a while in White Salmon, then Stevens Landing, then a town called Government camp in Mt. Hood National Forest , and now we're on the beach. *whew* MUCH cooler!
                                     
Reading on the beach... is there anything better? I do have writing, but no sand in the laptop, so I was forced to read. :)
                                                        
OK, start with two cups of blueberries and assorted blackberries/ cherries/ huckleberries/ marionberries. Or what you can find in the garden. We missed blueberry season at home so it was nice to arrive just in time for blueberry season in the west. What a difference a few hundred miles and a mountain range make! We picked these Toros early one morning, and the blackberries after lunch.
                                                           
Depending on how ripe your berries are, mix about 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water into the pan. Stir on medium high heat for ten minutes or until mostly cooked, but some berries are still whole.
                                
California nectarines brought straight up from a farm near the border. Mmmmm. Depending on number of guests, cut nectarines in half so there are several slices for each guest.
                                                     
1/4 cup of brown sugar and 4 TBS real butter in a cast iron skillet, melt over medium heat.
                                                        
Place face down and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
                                                 
Turn several times as the sugar becomes caramelized.
                                        
Remove from the heat and set on a plate. Add whipped topping with a dash of nutmeg.

Layer on the blueberry/ assorted berry compote! Serve hot!

Any leftovers can be used as pancake topping the next morning. :)

Be sure to stop by my author pages of Mary Jane Hathaway and Virginia Carmichael for all my book news, and I hope you're finding ways to stay cool this summer!

Summer Fruit Trifle and Cowboy Music

Are you enjoying this summer? I hope so, because it's slipping away!

Jan here, with a great summertime recipe.

One advantage to having adult children is that sometimes they find that perfect person to marry and bring into the family!

Our oldest son, Jacob, married Katie in February, and her love of cooking has fit so well into our family! She gave me permission to share the recipe she brought to our church picnic last week, and I thought it was so delicious - perfectly smooth and cool for a summer meal!

Summer Fruit Trifle

ingredients:

2  8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

2 tubs frozen whipped topped (Cool Whip)

2 cups strawberries

2 cups blueberries

2 cups blackberries

In large bowl, mix softened cream cheese and whipped topping together. In another bowl, mix the fruit together - gently!

In a trifle dish or other serving dish, make layers of fruit and filling (about 3 layers of each), ending with a layer of fruit. Cover and chill for 2-3 hours before serving.

Isn't that easy? And it was SO GOOD!!! 

And Katie used sugar free whipped topping, which made the recipe a little easier on the calorie punch.

You could also use real whipped cream, of course!

While you're enjoying your trifle, let's move on to other fun stuff. I'm sure you realize by now that I am in love with the Black Hills. After almost seven years, we still thank our Lord every day for bringing us here!

Saturday night we spent the evening with a bunch of folks who are deep in their own love affairs with the Hills!

That's our daughter, Carrie, on the bass, playing with the classic country group, Aces & Eights. This summer they're headlining monthly shows at the Black Hills Opry. The concerts are played in the historic Homestake Opera House.

The Opera House deserves an entire blog post of its own, but you'll just have to head to their website to get the scoop - Historic Homestake Opera House

There are better videos on Youtube where you can listen to Aces & Eights, but this one includes Carrie. It's from "Deadwood Days" earlier this summer when they opened for Sawyer Brown. Yes, THE Deadwood. Check out the Aces and Eights Youtube channel for more of their music - www.youtube.com/channel/UCCFqXmVlJtZ3L0ooZvZu2dA

On Saturday, Aces & Eights was joined by some guests. One was Paul Larson. This guy is a cowboy who retired from the Rodeo Circuit after qualifying and competing in the Worlds Finals Rodeo in the team roping event. He has made his home in the Black Hills, keeping busy with cowboying for neighbors, custom carpentry, and singing in shows like this one. 

For a sample of his music, head over to his website, http://www.plcowboymusic.com/video--mp3.php, and scroll down to the mp3 samples. His song, "Home" is my favorite. True Black Hills cowboy imagery. *sigh* I love this song...and of course, I bought the CD. :)

The other guests - and the reason why we chose Saturday to head up to Lead for the concert - were Allen and Jill Kirkham.

You may know them better as Meg Brummer's parents!

Yes, Meg comes from cowboy music loving stock. :)

Allen and Jill on stage at the Black Hills Opry

Head over to Reverb Nation to learn more about their music and listen to some samples - www.reverbnation.com/KirkhamMusic

Or just listen to this classic cowboy song from their "Ghost Towns" CD - 

Or this one by Dan Seals, sung by Allen and Jill at the Western Music Association Friday Night Opry- -

Needless to say, we had a wonderful time.

So what do you think about Cowboy Tunes and Western Music?

When I listen to it, it tugs me toward writing another cowboy story....

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com

BLUEBERRY EVERYTHING

Hello, everybody!! Mary Jane here. We've recovered somewhat from our bout with the stomach flu. Glad that's over! I hope I haven't spoken too soon because I'm pretty sure we got it twice in a row.
Anyway, it's that time of year again....

 No, not quite yet.

 Still nope.

Still months away...

YES. But that's not where I was headed. 

(We definitely have cherries here.  These bowls are from our trees, and it was only a tiny percentage of what was ready to pick. This is why our neighbors love us- we share!) 

                                        

Closer.... 

 Closer...

 (I just have to gaze at that picture again. What a great memory! We were picnicking on the coast and we brought over blueberries, and my mother brought loganberries, boysenberries, and pink raspberries, and we made a delicious buckle in a cast iron pot over the fire.)

DEFINITELY NOT. But it sure looks good...

YES.

Ohhhh, yes!!

So, in honor of blueberry season, I'm posting a few of my favorite blueberry recipes!

                     
                  

            LEMON BLUEBERRY MUFFINS          

 Preheat oven to 425F
Ingredients:
 4 TBS unsalted butter
2 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
 grated lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
 2.5 cups blueberries

 Sift the flour, baking powder and salt, stir all sugar but 2 tbs into mix and make a well in the center. Then beat the egg, add the melted butter, lemon zest, vanilla and milk. Beat again until foamy. Pour into the well you just made in the dry mix.

 Mmmmmm.......

 Stir the mix until smooth, then gently fold in all the blueberries.

 Pour into muffin papers until about 3/4 full, bake 12-15 minutes. Take the lemon juice and sugar and mix together, an then brush the tops of the muffins.

 Taaaasty....

 I like my muffins with a little bit of cold butter, so it melts as they come right out of the oven.

I love this picture! They're all so little!! I can't believe that kiddo there in the blue shorts is 3 inches taller than I am now and wears a sz 13 shoe. Gracious!

MINIATURE CINNAMON AND BLUEBERRY PIE
  Usually I try to avoid the whole sugar/fruit/lard crust concotion because it's like cocaine. At least to me.  

How can we have our pie and not eat TOO MUCH OF IT, too??

That is the question.

And here is the answer. Ramekins.

In case any of you are applauding my cleverness, just remember that some people in my family won't eat their pie. That means I get leftovers.

 MORE PIE FOR ME!

Blueberries. Washed. Picked over. Lady bugs released outside.

Uh, oh. I spy a stem. This isn't the end of the world, but I try to get them out. If not, more fiber, right?

For 8 cups of berries, I used 1/4 cup of lime juice. I like lime better than lemon. And add the sugar. I will not say how much I put in. :) Maybe a cup. Or two.

Some people like blueberry-peach, blueberry-apricot, blueberry-raspberry. I like cinnamon in mine. I think it really brings out a deep flavor in the berries. So, for a 4 cup pie, I'd put in 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. For this batch of 8 cups I put in 1/2 tsp. Mmmmm....  Smelling delicious already.

Adding the thickener is up to you, since it will be confined to a ramekin. I added corn starch because I actually like the flavor.

Pie crust. From a box, or from the freezer section. Or using CRISCO SHORTENING in the old style recipe!! (I'm scared just reading that, but it will be worth it.) Cut into half inch strips.

Pretty. 

Or an old-fashioned version if you don't have the time or coordination to make tiny lattice work pies the size of your palm.

Waitaminute. Don't I have six million kids (like Mary Curry so aptly put it)? Ah. Here's one of theirs.

I wasn't very sure how much time these would take so I set it for 15 minutes and checked them every so often. Oh, and put them on a cookie sheet. Your oven will thank you. 

Super hot. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EAT.

You will regret it and your tastebuds will never forgive you. 

Oh, MERCY. Is it cool yet?????

This is my big hot mess of pie, with a few spoonfuls of homemade apricot ice cream on top.

 Yes, it was good.

No, there was none left.

Haha, this is a picture of a  'I got a really sour berry' moment.

The great thing about pie is that you can make it as fancy as you want, or as simple as you want. 

RASPBERRY-BLUEBERRY GREEK YOGURT PARFAIT

This dessert is about as simple as it gets!

The best blueberries for this are the sweet Toros. They don't freeze well. You pick them to enjoy, within hours.

Mix 1/4 cup honey into 1 pint of plain Greek yogurt. Some say it's fine without the honey, but as much as I love Greek yogurt, without a sweetener it tastes like sour cream to me. 

Place about 6 tbs in the bottom of the glass. Add blueberries, then raspberries, then the graham cracker crumbles. Repeat until filled. Add some mint if you like!

BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM SAUCE

Home made blueberry syrup is sweet, potent, addicting.

Three cups of blueberries, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup water. 

Heat to a boil, stirring constantly. 

Add 1 tsp lemon juice and a pinch of salt. 

Let boil (stirring constantly, you do NOT want to burn a pan of blueberries) for ten minutes. 

Dissolve 2 TBS corn starch in 1 TBS hot water. Add to the blueberry mixture and boil for three minutes, or until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool. 

BLUEBERRY MINT LEMONADE

I have to admit, I'd drink this all day instead of water if I didn't have to act like an adult and be sensible! 

Two cups blueberries

3/4 cup lemon juice

half gallon of water

1 cup sugar, or to taste. (Of course, it's always best to heat the sugar and some water on the stove to make a syrup, and then add it. Otherwise all the sugar is at the bottom...)

Mix up the lemonade. Shred three mint leaves and add to the lemonade. Crush the blueberries and add to the mix. Chill overnight or as long as you can wait. ENJOY!!

 Well, I'd better stop here, but can you tell I'm excited for blueberry season? I hope you get to try a few of these recipes. Let me know what you think!

Be sure to stop by my author page at Mary Jane Hathaway or Virginia Carmichael. And be sure to check out my next release "Autumn's Majesty" right here.