Fruit Popsicles
http://savoryseasonings.blogspot.com/
1 cup orange juice
3 carrots, juiced
2 banana’s, frozen
1/8 cup black berries, frozen
1 cup strawberries, frozen
Water or milk
or
2 cups strawberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
3 cups canned peaches
3 carrots, juiced
1/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Thin with water or milk until you reach desired consistency. Serve immediately as a shake or freeze in popsicle molds. Fill each popsicle mold with fruit/vegetable mixer. Insert wooden sticks and freeze for at least 6 hours or until solidly frozen.
Remove molds from freezer and allow to soften for 5 minutes, then remove popsicles from molds. Serve immediately or wrap separately in plastic wrap and store in a bag in the freezer.
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My daughter loves these! These are a favorite summertime snack and a great way to use up frozen berries. It’s nice that you can mix and match the fruits and vegetables to whatever you have on hand. I have the Omega 8003 juicer to juice vegetables and a few other fruits and have really liked it. It’s really easy to add juiced vegetables to these smoothies or popsicles. It’s pretty quick and isn’t messy at all.
Fruit Popsicles
Strawberry Yogurt Pops
Strawberry Yogurt Pops
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1 LB strawberries (fresh or frozen), hulled
¼ cup sugar
1/2 TBSP lemon juice
2 cups yogurt, sweetened with sugar and vanilla to taste
Puree strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Pour into a squeeze bottle or bowl, then set aside. If using plain yogurt, sweeten with sugar and vanilla then pour into a squeeze bottle or bowl.
Fill each popsicle mold with strawberry and yogurt mixes, alternately squeezing or spooning the mixtures into each mold to create a swirl pattern. Insert wooden sticks and freeze for at least 6 hours or until solidly frozen.
Remove molds from freezer and allow to soften for 5 minutes, then remove popsicles from molds. Serve immediately or wrap separately in plastic wrap and store in a bag in the freezer. 
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If you don’t have squeeze bottles on hand, using a bowl and spoon will work just fine. Squeeze bottles are usually just over $1.00 at any super store (like Wal-Mart) or kitchen store. They are great to have around for dispensing syrup, dressings and sauces. I keep several of them on hand and use them often. Recipe inspired from Women’s Day magazine.
Perfect Lemonade
Perfect Lemonade
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1 cup water
1 cup sugar (can reduce to ¾ cup)
1 cup lemon juice from 4-6 lemons
3-4 cups cold water
Make a simple syrup by heating the water and sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice. Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it. Serve with ice and sliced lemons.
Recipe courtesy of http://www.elise.com.
Lemon and Lime Juice
Lemons or limes
Ice cube trays
Watch for lemons and limes to go on sale, when prices are the lowest of the season, buy a large quantity and juice them all. Juice can be frozen in ice cube trays, then transferred to Ziploc bags for later use (it is best to store the juice in a deep freeze). 1 ice cube = 1 TBSP of juice (or the juice of half a lime). A few favorite uses for lemon and lime juice are marinades, sauces, gravies, lemonade, salsa, avocado salsa, and savory lime chicken.
1 medium lemon = approximately 2 to 3 TBSP of lemon juice
1 medium lime = approximately 2 TBSP lime juice
1 medium orange = approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup juice
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I purchased a $30.00 citrus juicer attachment for my Bosch mixer and use that for quickly juicing my lemons, limes and oranges. If you don’t have a juicer, you can always squeeze out the juice by hand. Room-temperature lemons, limes and oranges will yield more juice than those that are refrigerated. Use your palm to roll lemon, lime, or orange around on the counter top a few times before squeezing.
Banana Bread
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup soft whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 TBSP cooking oil
1 TBSP water
1 TBSP lemon juice
Grease 3 mini loaf pans; set aside (when working with egg free recipes it is important that the loaves be mini as the dough does not have enough leavening to lift one large loaf of bread but does fantastic with a mini loaf or cupcakes). In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture. In another bowl, combine the bananas, sugar, oil, water and lemon juice. Add banana mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).
Pour batter into your prepared pan. Bake at 350° F for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pans and continue to cool on wire rack until completely cooled. Freezes well.
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I have been looking for a dairy/free banana bread recipe to replace my all time favorite banana bread. I love the banana bread that my mom made when I was young but when I tried to convert it to be dairy/egg free it was awful. I recently stumbled upon this recipe and it was easy to convert and it turns out to be my husband’s all time favorite banana bread now! My daughter couldn’t get enough of it too. So this recipe is now becoming the family favorite. It’s quick and easy and freezes well.
Original recipe published in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and also featured on the Dinner Inspiration blog. I have modified this recipe to be egg free.
Canning Applesauce
The day before canning:
1. Check jars to make sure none have nicks on the rims, cracks or sharp edges.
2. Gather all canning supplies and assemble strainer (it is worth $10.00 to purchase a canning jar lifter and a magnetic lid lifter, worth every penny!!).
3. Wash all kitchen towels and washcloths (you'll need them).
4. Create a plan for dinner for tomorrow that doesn’t include any cooking (something fast and easy).
Day of Canning:
Step 1: Wash jars and rings in dishwasher, then leave in there until needed (this will keep them hot).
Step 2: Fill a clean sink with warm water and fill it with apples. Rub apples by hand to remove any residue, dirt, or spray.
Step 3: Cut apples into quarters with a large knife. Do not leave the apples in the cut stage too long or they will turn brown.
Step 4: Steam apples by filling a 12 quart stock pot with 2 cups of water and cut apples. Cover with lid. As the pot boils the steam will render the apples soft. You need to stir the pot often so it doesn't burn on the bottom. Use a long wooden spoon and try to lift up from the bottom of the pot to the top and push the hard apples on the top to the bottom. When the steam has rendered the apples soft (they will start to fall apart and will look mushy) take the pot off of the stove. This process generally takes about 20 minutes. If you have room on your stove, you may want to have two large pots steaming apples.
Step 5: Using a colander, strain the apples from the water. Allow the apples to sit in the colander for a 3-5 minutes until they cool enough to handle (they will still be very hot).
Step 6: Separate skins from sauce by filling up the strainer with the steamed apples and processing them. When the bowl is full of applesauce pour it into another 12 quart pot on the stove and cook over medium low stirring occasionally to keep the bottom from burning.
Step 7: Repeat steps 2-6 until you create enough applesauce to can a full batch.
Step 8: Fill water bath canner half way with water, heat to low boil (or 140° F). I prefer place my water bath canner on my camp chef propane stove on my back deck and process my canning there. It keeps the heat outside and allows me to have more room on my stove (just bring the jars inside to cool after processing).
Step 9: Add sugar and spices to applesauce. None is required. Sugar will help hold the color but is not required. 1/4 cup sugar per quart, 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt for taste, 4 sprinkles of cinnamon, 2 sprinkles of allspice. Some may like to use some ground cloves. I personally don’t add anything to my applesauce.
Step 10: Bring lids to a boil. Some recommend not boiling lids but to bring them to 190° F. I think that is difficult to get them to that temperature and bring to boiling rather than test the temperature. We have never had any trouble with boiling. Don't boil them for a long time, just bring to boiling and take them off of the stove.
Step 11: Bring applesauce to a boil. Stir often and keep the heat evenly distributed in the apple sauce so it will not burn (about 20 minutes). You do not want to scorch the sauce and spoil the flavor.
Step 12: The applesauce is boiling and the jars are hot, now is the time to begin filling up the jars. Fill the jars to within a 1/4 inch of the top (use a cloth towel to handle the hot jars). Wipe the rim with a clean damp cloth to remove any spilled sauce on the rim. Put on a lid and finger tighten ring on the jar.
Step 13: Load jars into bath with rack above water. Slowly lower jars into water and add extra water if necessary to ensure 1” of water is covering jars. Cover and bring to a boil. When boiling, start timer and reduce temperature to maintain a gentle boil. When timer is done, remove jars from canner and allow jars to cool at room temperature away from drafts.
Step 14: The next day check to make sure all of your jars sealed (if you find one that didn’t seal, store in the refrigerator and use within a few weeks). Remove rings, wash jars and use within 3 years.
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Check with your local extension service for current guidelines on processing times. As of 2008, our extension service offers the following time table for applesauce. I live at 4,930 feet, so I process my quart jars for 30 minutes.
I can a two year supply of applesauce in late September so I only need to can it every other year. I enjoy using applesauce in my baking as a fat substitute so it’s nice to have plenty of jars in the basement. Plus I love how the memories of canning applesauce with my mom come flooding back as soon as I smell the sweet apples as they cook on the stove. There is something so gratifying about canning your own fruits.
1 bushel of apples weighs 48 pounds and yields 14 quarts of applesauce. Working alone it generally takes 5 hours to process 28 quarts of applesauce.
Dehydrated Peaches
Dipping Solution (for color retention)
1 ½ cup water
½ cup sugar
½ cup honey
or
4 cups water
5 grams pure Ascorbic Acid*
Combine water, sugar and honey in a medium sauce pan, then heat until sugar dissolves. If using ascorbic acid, mix with water, then set aside.
Wash peaches, then dip in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, then submerge in cold water. Peel, remove pit, then slice each half in 5-6 slices. Dip slices in solution (see above), then pat dry with paper towels or kitchen hand towells.
Fill dehydrator trays with a single layer of peaches with at least ½” of spacing between fruit. Follow dehydrators directions for drying process. Once dry, store in ziplock bags.
*I use a pure powder mixture of Ascorbic Acid from Now Foods.
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We try to dry peaches each day for 6-8 days each August/September with Lemon Elberta Peaches. They are a perfect snack! I have two Nesco dehydrators and it takes 5-8 hours to dry a full batch of peaches. Start to finish (including set up, prep and clean up) it takes about an hour to get two full batches of peaches drying- but worth every minute.
If you start a batch in the evening and they aren’t quite finished when you’re ready for bed- just unplug the dehydrators for the evening, then plug them back in first thing in the morning or use a timer to stop the dehydrators in the middle of the night.
Fruit Dip
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup toffee bits
Blend all ingredients together and chill. Serve with any fresh fruits.