Featured: DailyBuzz Moms: Strawberry, Sage and Grapefruit Granita

I was looking at the DailyBuzz Moms site today and stumbled across my Strawberry, Sage and Grapefruit Granita on their Top 9!

Loving that I'm featured and can't wait to try the Blackberry Lime Tarts from Thyme of Taste's website.

Click on over to see the feature and check out some of the other recipes while you are there.

Raw Juice: Spinach, Carrot, Beet, Avocado, Peach, Strawberry and Banana

Raw juice made with strawberry and vegetables is tastes great and gives you a great energy boost in the morning. I'm reposting this Raw Spinach, Carrot, Beet, Avocado, Peach, Strawberry and Banana Juice recipe this week  because I'm in New York and it's about 30 degrees warmer than I'm used to in San Francisco and I need some relief!

I'm thinking of juicing every day, in addition to the great food my parents are making for us, and will start with this recipe as soon as I get everything together.

Here's what you'll need. Make this juice, or any other combination of fruits and veggies you may have around. It'll cool you off from the summer heat.

Raw Spinach, Carrot, Beet, Avocado, Peach, Strawberry and Banana Juice

Ingredients

• 1/2 avocado, skin removed, cut into chunks
• 15 to 20 spinach leaves (a small handful)
• 1 beet, skin removed, sliced
• 2 carrots, skin removed, cut into rounds
• 1 small peach, pit removed, sliced
• 1 banana, sliced
• 2 strawberries, hulled, sliced
• lime juice (about 1/4 of a lime)
• 1 cup coconut water
• Ice cubes

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients in a blender or drink mixer with a good blade.
2. Pulse on high until everything is chopped up.
3. If you want the juice to be thinner, add more coconut or regular water to the mix.

Enjoy!

Homemade Slushy: Cran-Raspberry with Strawberry Slushy

Summer means icy drinks like this cran-raspberry with strawberry slushy.

 This past weekend my daughter asked if we could make slushies. We searched for a machine that might assist us in our efforts, but came up empty.

Isabella then remembered an As-Seen-On-TV slushie shaker that she had seen at our local Walgreen's. They have two shelving units full of As-Seen-On-TV products (wait, I noticed yesterday that they've replaced this section with back-to-school items, even though it's still July). We purchased a Slushy Magic cup and went home to give it a go (we paid only half the price that was listed on their site).

The cup comes with some "magic" ice cubes (whose ingredients I decided against investigating) that you put in the freezer for a few hours. Then you pour juice into the shaker cup, add the "magic" cubes, cover and shake.

It seems that we didn't leave the cubes in the freezer long enough. And, I think it would take about forty minutes of dedicated shaking to get the Magic Slushy cup to create a nice smushy iced beverage.

We went to plan B: use my drink blender, with the juice, some whole strawberries and ice. We blended several batches, poured them into some red Solo cups (Isabella sang the song while we worked, the "Glee" version) and put them in the freezer for two hours.

They were great. When we got to the party, we poured them into smaller cups, added some ginger ale and a sprig of mint.  A great standard kid-friendly drink was born!

Cran-Raspberry with Strawberry Slushy

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cranberry-raspberry juice
• 10 strwberries, hulled and cut into chunks
• 8 to 10 ice cubes
• 1 cup ginger ale
• 10 mint sprigs for garnish

Method:

1. Put juice, strawberries and ice into a blender. Mix until ice has become crushed and strawberries are just past being chunky.
2. Pour mixture into several plastic cups.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for two hours.
4. Remove from the freezer, pour into individual serving cups.
5. Stir in a splash of ginger ale into each drink. Garnish with the mint.

It's as Easy as Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Three words I never would have put together on my own. You see, I don't love cooked strawberries, except in a jam-like state. And, rhubarb and I have previously been unacquainted. Pie is not something I make as a regular event.

My friend had a birthday and she loves fruit pies. So I thought I'd try my hand at making one for her. My CSA box contained both strawberries and rhubarb this particular week. I took a chance, asked a few friends some questions and concocted this lovely pie.

To be honest, I only had a small bit of it (I used regular flour pie crust instead of gluten-free) and I was wary of all that cooked fruit goodness in one place. I was pleasantly surprised by the resulting pie: not too juicy, nor overly sweet with a nice crunch from the rhubarb. I did read later on that there should be no crunch from the rhubarb but my friend said she preferred it this way (maybe only to be nice?!).

I think I also understand the saying "It's as simple as pie" now. I diced a few things, measured out some sugar, vanilla and lemon juice and plopped it all in a pie crust (yes, I used pre-made, we've already discussed that I am not much in the way of pastry doughs). Ina bout an hour, I had a pie that was cooling on a rack awaiting some frozen treat to be served alongside of it.

Pies are going to be featured a little bit more in my summer cooking. It's still quite warm here in San Francisco (which is not the weather we normally have in June) which is inspiring me to experiment with some more pie combinations soon. I'm thinking a plum variety, maybe with some apricot thrown in there, with a gluten-free piecrust so I can fully enjoy myself.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:

• 3 stalks rhubarb, cleaned and diced
• 1.5 pounds strawberries, cleaned, hulled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsps real vanilla extract
• 2 prepared pie crusts (gluten-free pastry dough mix can be found here)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl place the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.
3. Using a large spoon (or I use my hands) thoroughly coat the rhubarb and strawberries in the sugar and liquids.
4. Let sit for ten minutes, to get the juice flowing out of the fruit.
5. While the mixture rests, take one of your pie crusts, flatten it out and cut it into strips to form the lattice for the top of the pie.
6. After ten minutes has passed, put the fruit mixture into the remaining piecrust, making sure all of the juice get into the pie as well.
7. Cover with strips of piecrust, making a criss-cross (or whatever pattern you like if you have a favorite style, as long as there are air holes of the steam to escape while baking).
8. Crimp the edge of the top lattice to the bottom edge of the piecrust.
9. Place the pie pan on a baking dish or put some aluminum foil underneath the pan to catch any drips.
10. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.
11. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes.
12. If the crust is browning too quickly, tent the pie with foil.
13. Once the pie is out of the oven, rest it on a cooling rack for an hour (or if you want it to be warm, 40 minutes) before cutting and serving.
14. Serve alongside ice cream or sorbet.