Frozen Cantaloupe Mojitos

June 26, 2013 · by ·

Frozen Cantaloupe Mint Mojitos

I recently received a cantaloupe in my organic fruit co-op. I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with it. My kids aren’t the biggest melon fans, so I knew I couldn’t just slice it up and serve for breakfasts.

Frozen Cantaloupe Mint Mojitos

I cut it up in small pieces, bagged it up and placed in the freezer. I figured that I would use it for a smoothie or something along those lines later on.

Later that evening though, we had some impromptu guests and I decided to see if it would work in an adult drink.

My favorite summer drink is a mint mojito. I have a crazy amount of mint growing in my herb garden. In past summers, my frozen mint mojito has been a huge success. I decided to experiment with the cantaloupe thrown in and was very pleased.

While the cantaloupe pieces sat in the freezer, I went outside to pick some mint and made up a small batch of simple syrup.

I placed the frozen cantaloupe in my blender along with some fresh mint leaves, some lime juice and simple syrup. I muddled the mixture a bit. I then added a few ice cubes and some Bacardi white rum. I knew then that it would be great!

 

mojito-blender

I blended everything together until it was the right consistency. I tasted a bit to see if it needed anything. It was perfect. I then served with a garnish of mint leaves.

I definitely need to make these more often!

Frozen Cantaloupe Mojitos
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • ½ cantaloupe, cut up
  • 15 mint leaves
  • ½ cup simple syrup
  • ½ cup white rum (I also use Bacardi)
  • 1 cup ice cubes
  • juice of 2 limes
Instructions
  1. Cut up the cantaloupe and freeze the pieces for at least 3-4 hours
  2. Place the mint leaves, the cantaloupe, the lime juice and the simple syrup in the blender.
  3. Muddle the mixture a bit to bring out the flavor.
  4. Add in the ice cubes and rum.
  5. Blend until you reach desired consistency.
  6. Serve and garnish with extra mint leaves.
  7. Enjoy!

cantaloupe-mojitos
Filed Under: cocktails, drinks, frozen, fruit · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Strawberry Balsamic Yogurt Popsicles

July 8, 2012 · by ·

As the heat wave continues, I realize that I have to get creative in the kitchen. I am grateful that I bought that Popsicle maker. It continues to be such a hit, and I can make a variety of yummy frozen treats.

This week, I turned to the strawberries. They were on sale and had to be used up. I love a strawberry salad with a balsamic dressing, so I decided to see if it would work in a Popsicle. As my picky daughter can testify, it was a success! She gives it two thumbs up!


Strawberry Balsamic Yogurt Popsicles
Ingredients:

3/4 pound of fresh strawberries
2 tbsp. white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar (always use the good stuff)
3/4 cup plain Greek Yogurt

Directions:
Slice up the strawberries and place in a non metallic bowl.  Sprinkle the sugar over the strawberries and put them aside for 30 minutes to an hour to let them macerate.

IMG_1668

With an immersion blender, puree the strawberries. It can be chunky, but not too chunky. Mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Pour mixture in to Popsicle mold and freeze.

Eat them quickly before they melt.  Enjoy!

IMG_1671
Filed Under: dairy, Dessert, easy, frozen, fruit, Gluten Free · Tagged: , , , , ,

Caramelized Pear and Ginger Popsicles

July 3, 2012 · by ·

It’s been something like 100 degrees here every day this week. Every single day with no break. Yes, I sit in air conditioning all day. I don’t have it all that bad, but it’s disgusting the moment you walk outside.

When I was pregnant with my older daughter,  I lived on popsicles. We went through box after box.

Last year, I came across this popsicle mold on a similarly hot day. It appeared on the perfect day. I have made popsicles a few times since, including these.

While not pregnant, I am still a big fan of popsicles. Today, I was in the mood for something fruity. I turned to pears and ginger because I love that combo. I’ve become a bit of a ginger addict when it comes to flavoring foods. That or garlic or both – and I don’t think garlic tastes good in popsicles.

I was so excited for these popsicles to freeze up so I could taste them. I wasn’t disappointed.


Caramelized Pear and Ginger Popsicles
Ingredients:

5 pears, cored and cubed
1/2 stick butter, unsalted is better
1/2 cup brown sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2.5 tbsp. chopped ginger

In a large saute pan, melt the butter. Add 1 tablespoon of the chopped ginger. Keep it going until the butter starts to foam. 

Stir in the brown sugar. Let the brown sugar melt a bit.

Add in the rest of the ingredients.  Let the pears caramelize and get soft.

The pears will start to give off it’s own juices. This is good. This should take 5-10 minutes.

Let the mixture cool a bit. 

Transfer mixture to a bowl and blend using an immersion blender. You could also transfer to a standard blender.

Chill the blended mixture in the fridge for about half an hour.

Pour in to popsicle molds and freeze overnight.

Enjoy!



Caramelized Pear and Ginger Popsicles
Filed Under: dairy, Dessert, frozen, fruit · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Vietnamese Iced Coffee Popsicles

August 2, 2011 · by ·

I rarely succumb to impulse buys. Especially when the ads show up in my inbox. I will blame the heat. These 90+ degree days are doing something funky to me.  I keep getting emails advertising a variety of popsicle makers and popsicle stores. There’s even a popsicle food-truck! 


I haven’t been in to popsicles since I was pregnant with my older daughter. Popsicles were my crack. I am not a fan of most store-bought popsicles. I like the occasional Fudgsicle or pudding pop. Do pudding pops still exist even? Trader Joes and Whole Foods make some pretty tasty fruit juice popsicles.  When I am there though, it’s just not something I reach for. When my sisters and I were kids, we used to pour juice into dixie cups and then stash them in the freezer. Only to have my mom open the freezer to half-frozen cups of juice pouring on to her. My parents stopped buying dixie cups at some point. They did buy popsicles.  They weren’t evil. They just didn’t like the sticky mess all over the freezer. I get it now.

Anyhow, those emails worked.  Good marketing, Amazon! Good marketing, Williams Sonoma! You got me on an online popsicle search. They have these handy dandy electric popsicle makers now! I’ll admit, that appliance was tempting. I don’t need my popsicles to be ready in 5 minutes, though. I also don’t really need another big appliance. I want more than 3 popsicles at a time. The old-school plastic popsicle molds are great, but you end up losing the pieces.  I decided to buy this one. I like the familiar shape of the popsicle and I like to use the traditional wooden sticks. It’s very easy to use. Highly recommended. It also showed up in my inbox, on sale, on a 100 degree day. Once again – good job, Amazon! 

It showed up in my house 2 days later and I had to make something. I knew that coffee had to be the star of my first shot at popsicle making.  We had just cleaned our pantry and noticed three cans of sweetened condensed milk.  3 cans? I never use that stuff? Good thing those cans have a long shelf life.

When I was in college and high school, I used to spend the majority of my time (when not in class or work) at a local coffee shop. Cafe Wyrd was the best coffee shop around. I used to sit with my school books, a pack of American Spirits, and a big pot of coffee. Being that I was a regular there, the baristas used to push special drinks on me every so often. They introduced me to Vietnamese Iced Coffee. I could get hooked on that drink. If it weren’t for the fact that I was a poor college student at the time – I probably would have been hooked.  I am not usually a fan of sweet coffee, but that stuff was good and it stuck with me, in the back of my coffee addicted mind. It’s so easy to make.  A good espresso and some sweetened condensed milk over some ice. It’s perfect popsicle fodder! I didn’t even need a real recipe!

Vietnamese Ice Coffee Popsicles
Ingredients:
2 cups espresso
1 small can sweetened condensed milk

I brewed up some super strong espresso. About 2 cups.  I let it cool for a bit. I poured the sweetened condensed milk into a small mixing bowl. About 3/4 of that small can. Add in the cooled off espresso. Mixed it all up. Let the mixture chill in the fridge for about a half hour. The poured everything in to the molds.  Put the mold in the freezer for an hour. Stuck the sticks in when partially frozen. Let freeze overnight.  



This made for amazing popsicles! What’s my next popsicle flavor?


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Coffee Oreo Ice Cream

May 21, 2010 · by ·
coffee-oreo-ice-cream

The title says it all. How could you go wrong with coffee oreo ice cream? It was a dairy holiday, with the weather warming up. Ice cream had to make it on the menu. I first sampled this flavor either at Sebastian Joe’s in Minneapolis, or Max & Mina’s in Queens. Either way, it’s the perfect flavor combo and I was determined to make it my own.

Around 5 years ago, I received this handy dandy Cuisinart ice cream maker as a token of appreciation for doing some product research stuff. I used to do various focus groups and product testing in my “free time.” My love of kitchen appliances brought me this baby. I think I can count on my hands the number of times I have actually used this appliance. It averages out to two times a summer. Making ice cream is so easy. Not necessarily cheaper than buying it though. Still, it’s wonderful when it’s homemade and Shavuot calls for yummy, delicious, homemade ice cream.

Coffee-Oreo Ice Cream
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Dessert, Ice Cream, Frozen
Ingredients
  • 1 cup milk
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons instant espresso powder
  • ¼ cup very strong coffee/espresso (ice cold)
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extra
  • broken up sandwich cookies (I used Trader Joe's chocolate Joe Joe's) - About 20 or so, maybe more.
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, whisk the milk, sugar, coffee, and espresso powder to combine.
  2. Whisk in the heavy cream and the vanilla.
  3. Pour into the ice cream maker. Turn the machine on.
  4. Let it run a good 20 minutes.
  5. Watch it thicken up and turn into ice cream.
  6. Toss in the cookie pieces. Let it run another 5-10 minutes.
  7. When done, it will be like soft ice cream. Think Carvel. You can enjoy it now, or you can let it freeze and harden a bit more. Enjoy!

coffee-oreo-ice-cream

Filed Under: Dessert, ice cream · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Chocolate Cookie Brownie Ice Cream

May 20, 2009 · by ·

I screamed for ice cream!

I used to do many product reviews. Product reviews come with free stuff. Sometimes that stuff is worth it, like 409 cleaning spray, and sometimes the free stuff sucks, like crappy drugstore makeup. Some of my coworkers will remember the endless supply of microwave popcorn that I had to test, even though I can’t eat popcorn.The Cuisinart ice cream maker I received a few years ago, was definitely the upside of the whole product review era.

So this ice cream maker arrived from kitchen appliance heaven on my doorstep. I had some visions of making all sorts of cool ice cream flavors. Heck, I could be the next Ben or Jerry. The reality is that this little machine has been used maybe three times each year. We don’t even buy ice cream that much. Either we eat the tub too fast, or it just sits in the freezer gathering ice crystals.

I pulled the machine out of the abyss of my pantry the other day and put the bowl in the freezer so I could make some yummy ice cream this week. I bought the cream and some whole milk. I hadn’t really thought out the whole flavor thing though. I decided to wing it. I had some cookies and leftover brownies lying around. I figured that would be perfect for the stuff. I decided on chocolate “oreo” brownie ice cream with a touch of cinnamon to kick up the flavor.

The recipe is as follows:

Chocolate Cookie Brownie Ice Cream

2 cups heavy or light cream – icy cold
1 cup whole milk – icy cold
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 big squirts dark chocolate syrup
1.5 cups smushed up oreos/sandwich cookies
1.5 cups smushed up leftover brownies

In a mixing bowl, whisk the milk, cream, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, choco. syrup, and vanilla until blended.

Pour in to the chilled bowl of your ice cream maker.

Turn the machine on. Mix the creamy mixture for around 20 minutes. When you start to see it thicken, add in the mixins. Mix for another 5-7 minutes. It will be the consistence of Carvel or other soft serve ice cream. You can sample a bowl now if you would like. It is preferable to freeze. Enjoy!

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