Homemade Popsicles
When I was a little kid, I thought a “popsicle” was orange or grape juice that your mom had frozen using some special little popsicle molds that she picked up at a Tupperware party. I loved these chilly treats, and never felt like I was missing out by not having Orange Creamsicles in the freezer.
Well, homemade popsicles are back. And with all due respect to my mom, whose creative and culinary gifts I can only aspire to, I’d like to think that I’m taking Mom’s frozen juices to a new level. Here’s a recipe I came up with as part of my effort to conquer our 10-pound strawberry pile.
Strawberry Mint Popsicles
1 pint ripe strawberries, washed and stems removed
2 heaping spoonfuls of plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon agave nectar (optional)
3 mint leaves, chopped
Combine all ingredients in food processor, pour into popsicle molds, and freeze. Makes 4-8 popsicles, depending on the size of your molds.
If you don’t have these ingredients on hand, you can of course make popsicles any number of ways. You can alter this recipe as summer progresses, using whatever fruit is in season. Alternatively, I often just use frozen fruit with a splash or two of fruit juice.
Here’s a snapshot of my little kid, enjoying his very first popsicle:
Spicy Strawberry Preserves
As I’ve said before, one of my favorite tools for culinary inspiration is Epicurious. Have some interesting farmers’ market produce that you have no idea what to do with? Not a problem. Just type in your ingredients using the recipe search function, and you’re bound to be presented with at least a couple of recipes that will get you started.
When I came home with my strawberry haul on Saturday, I had the idea to make some sort of jam or preserves, and Epicurious was the first place I looked for a recipe. And I’m so glad I did, because I don’t think that I would have ever thought to make strawberry preserves with black pepper and balsamic vinegar. I’m guessing that the person who dreamed up this recipe had even more strawberries on his/her hands than I did.
The modifications I made to this recipe were very simple. First, I doubled it. Did I mention I had 10 pounds of strawberries to get rid of? I left out the sugar and the water, and instead put in 1.5 cups of agave nectar. Then I just stirred and waited, stirred and waited. And because the fruit was going to cook such a long time, I threw in the few stray white strawberries that had found their way into our flat (thanks to the toddler among us). Supposedly, underripe fruit is higher in pectin, which comes in handy when you’re trying to make jam.
The secret to making preserves without sugar is patience. You have to be prepared to let the fruit cook down for a really long time. In this case, it took about an hour. I didn’t mind this, because I had plenty of other strawberry projects to tend to while I kept an eye on my preserves.
I served the finished product on toasted baguette with goat cheese, alongside arugula salad and salmon croquettes. The jam has a nice sweet foretaste, and the pepper leaves a warm sensation in your mouth after you swallow. Want to impress your guests? I’m pretty sure this recipe will do the trick.
Strawberry shortcake may just be my all-time favorite dessert. Fortunately, because shortcake usually isn’t very sweet, this is an easy treat to adapt if you’re going sugar free. For the shortcakes, I started with this recipe from Epicurious. I followed it pretty much to the letter, except I dropped the sugar and subbed in a tablespoon of agave nectar. I forgot to add the heavy cream, and they turned out just fine:
For the strawberries themselves, I decided to branch out more from the original recipe. I whisked together two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and one tablespoon of honey. To this I added 1/4 teaspoon of lemon zest before pouring this mixture over the strawberries. I allowed the strawberries to sit in the glaze while I made up a batch of my sugar-free whipped cream.
Assembling the shortcake
Just before serving, I finely chopped the leaves from one sprig of mint and mixed them in with the berries. (Mint leaves can brown once they’ve been chopped, which is why I waited until the end.) I also saved a few mint leaves for the garnish.
Strawberry season has come to Maryland! Here in this fair state, or in any other state of our Union for that matter, you could be forgiven for missing this fact because strawberries are available pretty much year round in your local overly air-conditioned supermarket. At least they pass for strawberries, if you don’t mind that they’re firm, not particularly red in color, and have the texture of a mealy apple.
On Saturday afternoon we asked E if he wanted to go get some strawberries. And like any red-blooded American, he responded by saying, “Gonna go to the store!”
“Actually,” I corrected, “we’re going to go to the farm to get strawberries.”
I’m pretty sure he didn’t really know what a farm was, but I think he understands it better now. If E were a farm kid, he’d probably be learning a few farm chores by now, so we didn’t waste any time putting him to work:
(that's his Mimi showing him the ropes)
What he lacked in precision, he made up for in enthusiasm. My favorite thing about two year olds is that they don’t differentiate between “work” and “play.” It’s all work, really, but they don’t have the negative associations with work that most of us adults do. Work, to a toddler, is inevitable, because their minds and bodies are always in motion. (At least when they’re awake. But if you’ve ever shared a bed with a toddler, you know there’s a lot of motion going on then, too.) When your mind and body are both engaged in the task at hand, learning is inevitable.
And I learned something too. I learned what it feels like to pluck a glistening strawberry right off the vine and put it in your mouth. It feels…warm. This seems obvious given that we were out in a sunny field, but the sun is so far removed from the grocery store strawberry, that I think it’s easy to forget that this little fleshy round got its sweetness from the sun.
I also learned that 10 pounds is A LOT of strawberries. See that flat behind E? We filled the entire thing. Oops.
I’m determined not to let any of these strawberries go to waste. E has definitely done his share by cramming fistfuls into his mouth. We grown ups have done our share of that as well, but really, there are only so many strawberries you can eat straight from the container. I spent Saturday night and most of Sunday coming up with ways to use these strawberries before they turn bad. I’ve sliced them and folded the into pancake batter, I’ve cut them up over yogurt, and I’ve carefully frozen a large bag for later use. And how many strawberries were left after these efforts? Um, a lot. A way lot. But I am not accepting defeat. Check back later in the week for some of the ideas I’ve come up with for using a surplus of strawberries.
A Scandalous Confession
I never intended for this blog to become a personal tell-all, but I’ve been sitting on a secret that I feel it’s time to share: I don’t like broccoli. This is something that very few people know about me. I like neither the texture nor the taste of this very healthy vegetable. I can palate it if it’s been steamed, but will not touch it if it’s served raw. I occasionally prepare it at home as part of a larger meal, but I always eat it before I touch anything else on my plate, so that I can get it over with.
But this morning something happened. While I was pushing my son around the produce section of Whole Foods, he pointed straight at the broccoli and said, “Want some this.”
“This?” I said, gesturing hopefully at some of the neighboring greens.
“This!” he repeated emphatically, making a stabbing gesture at those verdant little trees.
“Broccoli? You want broccoli?”
“Broccoli!” he nodded. (Strangely, he pronounced it brocc-O-li, including the silent O. National Spelling Bee, here we come!)
“Okay,” I said, trying to sound excited. “Let’s buy it and then we can have broccoli for lunch.”
Back at home, I decided to rise to my son’s challenge: I would get excited about the broccoli. I would prepare it in a way that would hopefully be tasty for both of us, and involve my son in the process. Here’s what I came up with:
Broccoli Latkes
2 small potatoes, peeled and shredded
1 small head broccoli, broken into small pieces
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 egg, beaten
freshly ground pepper, to taste
If you have a little helper, place all the ingredients in separate bowls on the table. Let the child combine them together. In our case, my son didn’t need any prompting. As soon as he saw all of the little bowls filled with ingredients, and the one big empty bowl, he got right to work.
Working with our hands, we formed little pancakes and placed them on the baking sheet. We baked them at 375 for 10 minutes on each side. When they came out of the oven I sprinkled a little shredded cheddar on each one and let the cheese melt while the latkes cooled. I served them with a side of sour cream, because I happened to have some in the fridge.
The verdict? A most delicious way to get your broccoli. But as long as I’m coming clean, I might as well admit that the boy wasn’t wild about it. But then I put the pieces together and remembered that he actually seems to dislike potatoes. (Probably one of about three people on the planet who could possibly object to the humble little spud.) When I picked out some of the broccoli and gave it to him that way, he accepted it. I guess I should have kept it simple…but that just wouldn’t have been as fun.
Ingredient Spotlight: What Is Maltodextrin?
Maltodextrin is in lots of things, and because it’s usually shuffled somewhere near the bottom of the ingredient list, I think a lot of people don’t think much about it. I didn’t either, until I started writing this blog and decided to pick another ingredient for my ingredient spotlight feature. (My original ingredient spotlight focused on dextrose.)
As its name suggests, maltodextrin is a relative of dextrose. Like dextrose, it is a man-made ingredient that comes about by altering plant starch (from potato, rice, or America’s favorite, corn) through hydrolysis. And yes, I forgive you if you don’t remember from my previous post that hydrolysis is the process through which water is used to break compounds down into simpler compounds. Maltodextrin is actually a short chain of molecularly linked dextrose molecules. It may contain anywhere from three to 19 dextrose units.
Sound vague? It is. Maltodextrin can be used to label any chain of dextrose with fewer than 20 molecules. It does not specify the plant source that it was derived from (potato, rice, or corn), which is probably just as well since I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t remotely resemble anything your grandma would have recognized as plant matter. Because it’s a polymer, and therefore more complex than a single molecule, I suppose it’s considered less refined than dextrose, but not by much. I can’t find a consensus on where maltodextrin sits on the glycemic index–probably because maltodextrin is more of an umbrella term than a specific ingredient. Some sources indicate that its GI level is similar to glucose, others say that it’s lower. Either way, if your goal is to avoid highly refined sugars or to eat food that comes from a farm and not a laboratory, you’ll probably want to add this to your “do not eat” file.
Pizza Party
One of the things I’ve most been looking forward to as a parent is sharing my love of cooking with my son. I hope that he will grow up feeling empowered to think and cook creatively in the kitchen. At two, he is just now reaching the very early stages of being able to really “help” out with meal prep. So the other night we pulled his little table in the kitchen to create a work space, and together we made our favorite food: pizza!
We started with dough that I purchased at a local Italian specialty food store. In my experience you can buy dough at pretty much any Mom and Pop pizza joint. I know it’s not actually that hard to make pizza dough yourself, but I find taking that step requires just a little more advanced planning that I’m up for these days. Here’s my little helper, inspecting our handiwork after we rolled out the dough:
(And don’t worry, we had an adult size rolling pin too.)
Adding the mozzarella:
Adding some toppings (we used thawed frozen spinach, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and lemon zest):
We baked this at about 475 degrees until the crust was done to our liking. While it was cooking, I also let the little dude make the arugula salad, which we dressed with fresh lemon juice and olive oil:
While you may not think that a two-year-old would be wild about eating spinach and arugula, the meal was a huge hit. I think this goes to show that involving kids in the cooking process (and ideally, even the farming process) motivates them to eat the end result, even if it’s really green and healthy. And for the record, my husband said this was the best pizza he’s had since we moved to the D.C. region. That may not be saying much, but I’ll take the compliment!
No-Mayonnaise Egg Salad
Giving up mayonnaise in order to be sugar free was no sacrifice for me. I’ve always been a mustard girl, and have never been able to palate anything that contained mayonnaise – not tuna salad, not BLTs, nothing. Still, I’ve enjoyed the challenge of finding ways to make sugar-free versions of tuna salad, egg salad, and the like, and in the process I’ve opened the door to eating these really simple and satisfying foods.
Yogurt is an obvious substitute for mayonnaise, but the trouble is that yogurt has a much flatter, blander flavor. After experimenting with ways to add some zing, I’ve fallen upon this recipe for egg salad that I like quite a bit.
No-Mayonnaise Egg Salad
6 hard boiled eggs
2-3 TBSP plain yogurt
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cumin
Dollop of Dijon mustard (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Chop the hard boiled eggs. Stir in the yogurt one tablespoon at a time to reach the desired consistency. (If you’re planning to add the mustard, you’ll want to go easy on the yogurt.) Add remaining ingredients and stir together. Serve over toast or salad.
Note: Those of you who know me know about my struggle to avoid waste, so if you have a little extra celery or onion that you want to use, you can throw some in to the egg salad to give it some extra crunch.
And So It Begins
Folks, it has happened. My sweet, innocent, two-year-old son has fallen prey to Madison Avenue. Okay, that might be overstating it a little, but we have officially hit the age where I have to be careful which aisles I take him on in the grocery store.
Last week we ran into Safeway for some cinnamon. As I was perusing the spice aisle, my little guy’s eyes fell on the extensive selection of juice boxes that was sitting opposite. He has been introduced to juice boxes, and I do let him have some juice now and again. But what struck me was not that he noticed the juice and asked for some, but that he asked for a particular juice (one that he had never had before) and asked for it based on what was on the carton. It was a blue box with a picture of Clifford on it. I don’t think he knows who Clifford is, but what kid isn’t enticed by a cartoon drawing of a smiling dog? Words still don’t come very easily for him, so putting together a sentence requires some effort. Still, he managed to get his point across by saying: “want some doggie blue juice?” (The dog was red, of course, but the box was blue).
I think we’re all suckers for snazzy packaging, but kids especially. For a child, I imagine there is a huge, important difference between a plain old box of apple juice and a box of apple juice that has a dog on it. But how do we teach our kids to think critically about marketing and packaging without coming across as big old party poopers?
Sugar-free Whipped Cream
Apparently, Cool Whip is now available in an aerosol can. You know, in case it’s too much effort to remove the lid from the container and get a spoon out of the drawer. Now you can just spray Cool Whip (ingredients: water, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated coconut and palm kernel oil, sodium caseinate, vanilla extract, xanthan gum, guar gum, polysorbate 60, and beta carotene) directly into your mouth. This ties into yesterday’s post, namely how American food manufacturers are coming up with ever-easier ways for us to cram food into our mouths without realizing when we’ve had enough. I guess as the obesity epidemic gets worse, this will be an essential strategy, since we’ll all be too huge to go through any effort to feed ourselves.
I found out about the Cool Whip in a Can while I was at the gym of all places, when I saw an ad flash by on the t.v. About an hour later, I was at Trader Joe’s, where I purchased a carton of heavy cream, wondering if I could come up with a sugar-free version of whipped cream. I don’t think I was consciously thinking about the Cool Whip ad, but in retrospect it’s pretty clear that the ad influenced my behavior.
The result, my friends, was out of this world:
Sugar-free Whipped Cream
1 pint heavy cream (although if you can find a smaller container, I would encourage you to use that instead and reduce the recipe.)
3 TBSP agave nectar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Beat the ingredients together until they’re the right consistency, and you’re done. I served it on top of some organic peaches and blackberries. It was toddler approved, as you can see below. And because there was lots left over, the next day I put a dollop in my coffee as a special treat.
MAJOR DISCLAIMER: Please don’t make this thinking that you’re serving up health food. Whipped cream is not a low-calorie, low-fat food. It should only be made as an occasional treat and then eaten in moderation. However, I still think it beats the heck out of Cool Whip. For one thing, you have to put some effort into preparing it. This means you can’t just eat it mindlessly. Moreover, the ingredient list of my whipped cream is short and natural, versus all of that junk in Cool Whip.
