Keep It Simple Foods » Fruit

Grill Baby Grill

Jennifer — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:33:05 +0000

Summer is the season for grilling. Below, I’ve shared a few quick, healthy, and inexpensive cookout favorites. I hope you enjoy!

Grilled pineapple

Crispy grilled baguette with butter, olive oil and sea salt.

Grilled zuccini, squash and onions. Dice, coat in olive oil, salt and pepper and wrap in aluminium foil. Toss on the grill and cook until tender.

Barbecued tempeh. Marinate in bbq sauce, soy sauce, and lime juice. Grill until browned.

Strawberry and ginger muffins

Jennifer — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:49:00 +0000

Inspired by a similar recipe found in my latest favorite cookbook, Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights, I decided to whip up these delights on a lazy sunday morning. The original recipe calls for pear, but I opted for strawberry because that’s what I had on hand (an it is currently more seasonal). The substitution was delicious!

The recipe is as follows and make 12 muffins.

Ingredients:
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp gound ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 and 1/4 cups spelt flour (or you could do 1/2 and 1/2 using all purpose flour)
1 and 1/2 cups rolled oats
*1 cup of strawberry puree (blend fresh or thawed frozen strawberries in the blender with a splash of water to make puree)
4 egg whites beaten
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup agave syrup or honey
*slice strawberries (optional for decorating)
1/2 cup raisins

Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees and spray muffin pans with non stick spray (or use liners). Sift baking poweder, soda, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl. Add spelt flour and oats. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add all wet ingredients. Gently fold the ingredients together until well mixed and all dry ingredients are wet. Pour batter into muffin tins, about 2/3 full. Bake for 25 to 30 min. Serve with apple butter, jelly, marmalade, or honey.
* denotes a change in the original recipe

Sweet and Spicy Roasted Japanese Pumpkin

Jennifer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:13:16 +0000

After reading about Heather’s many meals featuring japanese pumpkin (kabocha), I decided to try making my own. Besides, it’s the perfect time of year for roasted veggies. I couldn’t find kabocha at my local grocery store, but I was able to find it at the japanese grocery store. But, it was pretty pricey, esp for being so small! Almost 3 bucks a pop! But, I’ll have to say it was worth it in the end.

After I found the pumpkin, I decided on Just Hungry’s recipe for roasted sweet and spicy kabocha. She was right about the fact that it doesn’t come out pretty, but boy was it tasty! I loved the combination of the soy sauce, brown sugar and spices.

Kabocha cooks up soft, similar to the consistency of a butternut squash. It’s semi-sweet, but not too sweet and the flavor of the pumpkin is easily heightened with a little salt or sugar. It’s great sub for sweet potato, pumpkin, or butternut squash. I ate mine over a bed of pan fried soba noodles. Was delicious!

Pomegranate knife skills

Jessica — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:11:24 +0000

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll do it again. I LOVE pomegranates, so you can imagine my excitement when I spotted some at the grocery store this weekend and I remembered, they are back in season! Pomegranates are in season from October to January, typically and I guess they’ve started early this year (however, I suggest waiting until October as the pomegranates are not at their full flavor potential yet). I bought a few and then forgot that I have never tried to open a pomegranate before and this is tricky business. If you have ever tried to cut a pomegranate down the sides, you end up cutting through the arils or seeds of the pomegranate which is the only edible part. So I have experimented and found a relatively quick and simple way to open your pomegranate!

First, use a sharp knife and thinly slice the top and bottom of the pomegranate- carefully so as not to pierce through the seeds. Then, make a lengthwise indentation with your knife on the top and bottom of the pomegranate, careful again not to pierce through the seeds. Then, again (carefully!), pull the pomegranate apart into two halves. Then again pull apart each of the halves into two (ending up with four pieces total). All of the arils should be visible and then you just have to pluck them out which does take some time. Then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Sprinkle the arils on yogurt, dessert, grain salads, etc! They are truly delicious.

Lemon Honey Fruit Salad

Jessica — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:48:50 +0000

I apologize for my absence- Jennifer has done a GREAT job this past week since I’ve been gone! I was vacationing in Maine and I will definitely share some of the trip including, of course, some food in a separate post.

What I love about summer is the huge selection of fresh fruits. When attending a party or get together, a favorite for everyone tends to be a beautiful fruit salad.

While I enjoy fruit salads without any sort of topping or dressing, this is an extra special way to prepare a salad. I prefer crispier fruits in this salad if you plan on saving it or eating it over the course of a few days. I used banana, but next time I could envision this salad with crisp Granny Smith applies or a nice Bosc pear. I’m also sure that blueberries would make a nice addition as well.

Honey Lemon Vinaigrette, inspired by Ellie Krieger’s honey roasted sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 tablespoons of raw honey
1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Drizzle the above vinaigrette over freshly cut fruits- I used strawberries, banana, and sliced green grapes. I REALLY liked the green grapes and strawberries in this, but as I said above, if you want to save this, I would definitely add some diced apples.