Zipzicles - Homemade Ice Pops

Last June was quite a bit warmer than the 46 degree cold fronts we've been experiencing this June and when I saw these Zipzicle bags somewhere on Pinterest, I had to get some and try them out. Ice Pops or Popsicles are the perfect summer treat but they're usually so full of artificial everything that I hate to buy them. These were the perfect opportunity to have the yummy treats, but make sure I knew what was going into them.

 The girls had a great time helping me make them and were so excited to try them out after their hard work. We tried three different flavor combinations: Pinapple; Coconut Key-Lime; and Watermelon. 

Pineapple: 

For the pineapple, I just made my normal pineapple juice blend and poured it into the bag. Since the sweetness of each fruit is different, the sugar amount and water will vary for each recipe. The trick is to start with a little and add a little at a time, until it's just right for your liking. 

 Watermelon:

For the watermelon, I made my fresco de sandía (watermelon juice) and at the end, I just added a few chia seeds for the look of tiny watermelon seeds - chia is a super food that can be added to just about anything and is great for hydration, endurance, digestion, omega 3's, etc. 

Finally, I made a coconut key-lime with banana:

Coconut Key Lime:

1 can coconut milk - refrigerated

1/4 c key lime juice

1 banana

agave nectar or sugar to sweeten

Remember, do not over-fill them - there is a fill line on them. Make sure to stick to it so that when they freeze, they don't burst. 

Check out zipzicles.com for products and other recipe ideas!

Peach Basil Pizza

I made this delicious pizza last fall when the peaches were perfectly ripe and I was still harvesting basil from my garden. The recipe fell in my lap and I thought it was the perfect opporutnity to use some of the fresh ingredients that I had around. It turned out absolutely delicious and when I received a bag full of basil in my bountiful basket this week, I longed for some juicy ripe peaches. It must be spring time, cause I'm already looking forward to the yumminess that comes from fresh summertime fruits. I'll share today and you can pin or bookmark for future reference. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 loaf french bread, sliced in half length-wise
2 tsp olive oil
1 dash sea salt
4 ounces, sliced Brie or Mozzarella cheese
3 whole ripe peaches, pitted and sliced
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh basil

Instructions:
Place bread on a baking sheet and brush olive oil over each half. Sprinkle with a dash fo sea salt. Top each half with cheese and peaches.

Place panin the oven and bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven to broil and let broil for 30 seconds or until the cheese gets a tiny bit brown and bubbly.

While pizzas are baking, place vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons (about 5 minutes or so).

Drizzle balsamic reduction evenly over pizza and top with basil. Cut pizza into slices and serve.

Avocado Ice Cream with a Hint of Lime

For over a year now I have been wanting to experiment with avocados in ice cream. Yes, you read correctly: avocados! Yesterday, the stars aligned. I had three delicious avocados that needed to be used and a sudden surge of energy on a weeknight. (Nevermind that it was blizzarding outside and the rest of the sane world was making soup!) The girls were playing contently and I still had energy after making dinner so I pulled out my recipe, checked my refrigerator for ingredients and was short on one. That's when dear neighbors come to the rescue. I texted. She had just what I needed and I was on my way to making a dream come true. Literally.

If you're hesitant, give it a try. Remember, avocado is a fruit and in South America, they eat it as such (with sugar and milk in the middle) just like we do with a dash of salt and a spoon to scoop it out. So ice cream or smoothies with nature's butter isn't stretching it.

I found this recipe and made some adjustments. Here's what I did:

Mix the following ingredients in the blender:

3 ripe avocados
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
a dash of salt

Place in ice cream mixer/freezer with ice on the outside and run until it thickens. Ice cream will be soft. Place in freezer for 1-2 hours to harden.

I loved the results. It was super creamy with a slight hint of lime. I am already thinking of some new ideas for a slightly different concoction. I can't wait to try more variations and share them.

Now, you can try it, just in time to make something a little green for St. Patrick's Day. Want to try other green recipes from delightsbydaisy? Try my green smoothie or to-die-for lime cupcakes!

To-Die-For Lime Cupcakes

Sometime last summer I had a sudden craving for lime cupcakes. Weird, I know. But I went recipe hunting and found a d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s one that I thought I'd share this month since it's green and St. Patrick's Day is coming up. And don't be alarmed by the amount of limes in the bowl . . . I was on a lime kick, you'll really only need 4 limes.

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1/4 teaspoon green food coloring
3/4 cup buttermilk*

Frosting Ingredients:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1 tablespoon lime juice

Step 1: Finely grate peel of 4 limes

Step 2: Preheat oven to 350 and line standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk both flours in medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar; beat to blend. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Step 3: Measure your finely grated lime.

Add lime juice, peel, and food coloring to batter. (batter may look curdled).

Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions. Spoon scant 1/3 cup batter into each liner. And if you have children around, give them the beaters and let them do the "washing."
Frosting Step 1: Measure powdered sugar and dump into bowl.

Frosting Step 2: Measure and add remaining ingredients. Beat until smooth and spread over cooled cupcakes.
I was in a festive mood and piped my icing on and used one of my extra limes to make small quarter-slices to place on top.
These cupcakes were super-moist and had a very creamy texture and a perfect sour bite with the lime. I do believe I will have to be whipping up a batch myself come the 17th.

Mantecaditos con Guayaba / Butter Cookies with Guava

The Pioneer Woman pointed me to a site the other day that I have fallen in love with: The Noshery. This girl has a Puerto Rican background and lives in the south. So she's got some great culinary background and I'm dying to try so many of her recipes. The one I found her through were these Mantecaditos con Guayaba (Butter Cookies with Guava) - a latin twist on a quite popular Christmas Cookie. I had just happened to buy a whole tub of guava paste and after we'd eaten a quarter of it with saltine crackers, I was wondering what to do with the rest of it. And plop, this recipe just fell into my blog reader. Perfect.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup guava paste, diced

Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugar, shortening, and butter in a large bowl. Mix in egg yolk and almond extract. Blend in flour a little at a time until well combined and chunky. Shape a tablespoon of dough into a ball. Repeat with remaining dough. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet. Using your thumb, press down on the center of the cookie. Fill the dimple with about 1 teaspoon of guava paste.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until light golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack and enjoy a little tropical twist on your Christmas classic.

Orange Cookies

There's something about Christmas that reminds me of oranges. Perhaps it goes back to the visits from Santa Claus at our annual church Christmas party where he would make an appearance and bring a bag of goodies for all of the children. The contents were the same year after year: an orange, a handful of whole peanuts and old fashioned hard candy. The other day I was in a citrusy Christmas mood and decided to whip up a batch of my grandmother Leann's yummy orange cookies.

Cookie Ingredients:

2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons finely grated orange rind
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs. Stir in orange juice and rind. Stir dry ingredients together and blend in other mixture. Drop by teaspoon 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes or until delicately brown.

Orange Butter Icing:

2 1/2 tablespoons soft butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons finely grated orange rind

Mix all ingredients together and beat until well blended. Frost cookies while still warm.

Makes 4 dozen.

Watermelon Lemonade

Prepare Fresca de Sandia as mentioned in the previous recipe and add fresh squeezed lemon to taste. If you're entertaining, it's fun to garnish with a slice of lemon and a wedge of watermelon. If not, you probably won't have enough time to garnish before you chug this down and make another glass.

Fresca de Sandia / Watermelon Juice

Depending on where you're from, this summery delight could be called Agua de Sandia, Fresca de Sandia, Jugo de Sandia. And in the end, it's all the same . . . delicious, refreshing, summer in a cup. I love summer's fruits that fill our pitchers with delicious, fresh "frescas" on a regular basis. My favorite is probably watermelon because I can make the most with it.


Slice Watermelon in half. Place the open side down (flat) and slice in half again. Now slice that half in half so you have a fourth. I like to slice that in half again and then cut the watermelon right along the curved line of seeds so that I can easily remove them. Place the large chunks of watermelon in the blender. Blend with sugar and water to taste.

1/2 Watermelon
Sugar to taste
Water

Most official recipes I've read online direct you to make a "syrup" out of the sugar and water because sugar granules don't dissolve well in cold water. In all my time amongst Latin-Americans (where this drink is like OJ on their breakfast table) I have never seen them do this. And quite frankly, I'm lazy.

Another tip I have learned from my in-laws is that they go to the market and buy all their fruit once a week. So, when they don't get around to eating it right away, they slice it up and freeze it to make "frescas" later. Sometimes they even slice it and freeze it right away if they know they will be making the fruit into juice. I'm following suit and right now I have strawberries, mangoes, pineapple, watermelon, and cucumber in my freezer just waiting to be turned into some delicious juice concoctions. More on that to come.

Salsa Mexicana con Aguacate: Mexican Hot Salsa with Avocado

I have always loved me a good batch of fresh salsa on . . . anything. And generally would make a "pico-de-gallo" mild version. But since we've moved west, I have made friends who would laugh at the thought of eating something like my "fresh salsa." They say "sin chiles, no tiene sabor!" (without hot peppers, there's no flavor!) I do still appreciate the flavor blends of pico de gallo, but I think I am finally beginning to understand that hot peppers really do give flavor . . . they're not just meant to burn your lips and throat.

A neighbor taught me how to make this delicious salsa a few days ago and Armando and I are both hooked. The first [huge] batch only lasted about 3 days and I've made about 3 batches since then.

So, this is what you'll need:

About 10 roma tomatoes
10 dried chile de arbol (you can find this in the Mexican spice section of your local grocery store)
a bunch of cilantro
1-3 cloves of garlic
a thick slice of onion
3-4 avocados
Salt (to taste)

Place about 10 Roma tomatoes in a large pot with water.


Remove the stems from the dried chiles de arbol (my neighbor explained that if you leave these on, they leave a bitter taste).


Drop the tomatoes and chiles into a pot of boiling water and leave them in just long enough so that the skins break on the tomatoes.

Put a little cold water in the blender (around a cup). Then add all of the ingredients and chop/blend until you don't see big chunks of the chile pepper.

(Note that my pictures are of me blending two tomatoes and 1 chile at first . . . I was so chicken . . . so I blended the chiles separately and added them little by little until I realized that the expert that was teaching, indeed was right. The more chile pepper, the better. We ended up putting the rest in! That's right . . . 10 peppers with 10 tomatoes!)


The consistency should be about like this...quite watery I think with just a little tomato that remains on the spoon.

Now for some flavor boost: Cilantro. My friend instructed me on choosing quality cilantro - she said "the smaller, the better!" You don't want the larger, overgrown leaves because they are so much more bitter.
Chop a bunch. Leave out the stems.

Dice the avocado to your liking. I like chunkier. Armando likes smaller. It's all up to you. The second time around, I didn't have avocados, but I still made the salsa and we ate it all up.

Dump it all in.

Stir slightly.

Serve on just about anything.

I made some for my mom and she said, she'd just like to eat it as a cold soup. I like it with chips, tostadas, jicama, tacos, enchiladas hondureñas, you name it. No matter what you eat it with, it's delicious!

Orange Avocado Salsa

I stumbled across this recipes a few years ago, made it in the same day and it has remained among our favorite to garnish fish tacos. The mix of flavors and the exploding citrus makes it perfect for fish.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tsp honey
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 large navel oranges
1 firm, ripe avocado, pitted and diced
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

In a medium bowl, whisk lime juice and honey until combined. Season with salt and pepper; set aside. Slice off both ends of each orange. Following the curve of the fruit, slice away peel and white pith. Cut oranges into quarters lengthwise; slice sections crosswise into 1/4-inch thick pieces. Transfer to bowl along with onion and avocado; toss gently to coat with dressing. (Make sure not to stir this up too much or the avocados will fall apart. The mix of the honey and lime with the pepper on the oranges is absolutely divine!) Set aside to serve.

Raspberry Coffee Cake

Three and a half years ago, my sister Annie and I traveled to Wyoming. I was expecting Marcela and my sisters and mother were throwing me a baby shower. This is what they served as dessert and it was soooooo delicious! I've been making it ever since. My little sister Makayla is expecting and has requested this as dessert for the shower we're throwing her next week. The blend of the almond with the raspberries and a little cream cheese is the perfect balance. And it's fun in winter or summer. At my winter shower, they served it with hot cocoa. At Makayla's summer shower, I think we'll serve it with some fresh squeezed lemonade.

So here's what you do:

Grease and flour bottom and sides of 9" or 10" spring form pan.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c flour
1 c sugar, divided
3/4 c margarine (I use butter)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c sour cream
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs, divided
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c rapsberry preserves
1/2 c almonds, sliced

In large bowl, combine flour & 1/4 c sugar. Using pastry blender or for, cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 cup of crumb mixture. To remainding crumb mixture, add baking powder, baking soda, salt, sour cream, almond extract & 1 egg; blend well. Spread batter over bottom and 2 inches up sides of greased and floured springform pan. Batter should be about 1/4 inch thick on sides.

In small bowl, combine cream cheese, remaining sugar, and 1 egg; blend well. Pour into batter-lined pan.

Carefully spoon preserves evenly over cream cheese mixture.

In small bowl, combine reserved cumb mixture & sliced almonds.

Sprinkle over preserves.

Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or until cream cheese filling is set and crust is deep golden brown.

Cool for 15 minutes.

This is definitely a family favorite and I'm looking forward to making it again for Makayla's shower.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

I'm playing recipe catch up. I have pictures from 2007 I haven't posted. Did I just admit that? Yes! We'll see if I get to them. I'm really enjoying my first summer vacation as a full-time mom so who knows how much I'll post, but for now, here's one that's worth it.

I found this recipe from my favorite cooking blog: smittenkitchen.com. And let me tell you, Deb's photos are as delicious as her food!

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup *dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk or yogurt
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 450 F. Grease and flour an 18 cup muffin tin and set aside.

Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix in the buttermilk gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle.) Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.


Divide the batter evently among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400F and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

*I personally didn't like the strong flavor of the dark brown sugar and would use regular brown sugar in the future - or maybe I wouldn't top them with sugar at all. I like muffin toppers, but the dark brown sugar didn't do it for me. Perhaps a mixture of sugar, butter, flour and nuts next time.

Also, I would store these in the refrigerator as the moisture in the apples made them go bad quickly. All in all they were quite delicious and filling!